Xmas thread about Amazon returns

[zap]

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Originally Posted by BobbyJones

This thread had gotten me a little more curious so I did some internet poking around.

This thread brought back some memories. I worked on a production floor and stock room (started just above minimum wage) for a few years while I went to college at night.

The linked complaints are all too familiar and far from unique. A few may be legit.......supervisors who suck are a dime a dozen. The larger a business becomes the more difficult it is to manage.

[zetroc]

The death of retail is a huge, complex problem with numerous factors, of which the rise of Amazon is certainly a contributor.

But small businesses are also getting crushed in the vise of high housing costs for employees, which leads to wage pressures and high turnover. High housing costs (read: high land prices) go hand in hand with high prices for commercial real estate, which means higher rents and more retail vacancies. More and more this is a byproduct of consolidation in property holdings as large companies like Blackstone become owners of vast numbers of buildings across the country.

There isn't one solution, but it's naive to say that businesses are solely responsible for their own destinies and are doing commerce wrong. That's definitely not true in every case.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by zetroc

The death of retail is a huge, complex problem with numerous factors, of which the rise of Amazon is certainly a contributor.

But small businesses are also getting crushed in the vise of high housing costs for employees, which leads to wage pressures and high turnover. High housing costs (read: high land prices) go hand in hand with high prices for commercial real estate, which means higher rents and more retail vacancies. More and more this is a byproduct of consolidation in property holdings as large companies like Blackstone become owners of vast numbers of buildings across the country.

There isn't one solution, but it's naive to say that businesses are solely responsible for their own destinies and are doing commerce wrong. That's definitely not true in every case.

High commercial rent is a huge business killer. At some point the rent will have to be driven down when there is a glut of vacancies. Running a storefront is so hard with the rent overhead. This also presses down hard on wages as stores have a hard time paying decent wages when margins are razor thin and overhead is heavy. Crazy cycle.

[shinomaster]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I get that you don't like Amazon and WallMart but don't start throwing 'you sound like a republican'..that's BS and outta line.

You sir, are correct, and I owe you a big apology. I am truly sorry I was a jerk last night. I was all fired up, I am so full of despair over how the GOP has hijacked this country and deregulated everything they possibly can. And of course who suffers? The little people, the environment, animals, you name it. It's illegal to film what goes on in slaughter houses in some states. They are passing laws that will let them regulate themselves, just like in olden times. THe Jungle comes to mind.. Business can't regulate themselves when billions of dollars are at stake. Corruption is and always has been in human DNA. Power corrupts... Trump seemingly wants to undo any good thing Obama ever did just to be mean it would seem. Mitch McConnell is trying to re-brand Social security as an "entitlement" so they can take it away to pay for tax cuts on the super rich. I guess I see Jeff Bezos aligned with this mentality even if he doesn't know it yet. Amazon is growing and when will it end? I used to like Amazon and was a member but I saw something in it which seemed wrong to me, and so now I spend my money locally whenever possible. Fortunately I can do that in Portland still. FWIW I don't own a car and am using a 8 year old Lenovo laptop. I guess Asian assembly lines are expected to be sweat shops. I think we Americans are ruing the days when we sent all of out technology to China to save some bucks. How short sighted.
I guarantee that there are all kinds of people working in Amazon warehouses, not just kids right out of high school. Comparing an American job on American soil to a Chinese assembly line, isn't really fair imho. We are supposed to be better than that, at least we were for a while. Happy Thanksgiving. And peace.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by shinomaster

You sir, are correct, and I owe you a big apology. I am truly sorry I was a jerk last night. I was all fired up, I am so full of despair over how the GOP has hijacked this country and deregulated everything they possibly can. And of course who suffers? The little people, the environment, animals, you name it. It's illegal to film what goes on in slaughter houses in some states. They are passing laws that will let them regulate themselves, just like in olden times. THe Jungle comes to mind.. Business can't regulate themselves when billions of dollars are at stake. Corruption is and always has been in human DNA. Power corrupts... Trump seemingly wants to undo any good thing Obama ever did just to be mean it would seem. Mitch McConnell is trying to re-brand Social security as an "entitlement" so they can take it away to pay for tax cuts on the super rich. I guess I see Jeff Bezos aligned with this mentality even if he doesn't know it yet. Amazon is growing and when will it end? I used to like Amazon and was a member but I saw something in it which seemed wrong to me, and so now I spend my money locally whenever possible. Fortunately I can do that in Portland still. FWIW I don't own a car and am using a 8 year old Lenovo laptop. I guess Asian assembly lines are expected to be sweat shops. I think we Americans are ruing the days when we sent all of out technology to China to save some bucks. How short sighted.
I guarantee that there are all kinds of people working in Amazon warehouses, not just kids right out of high school. Comparing an American job on American soil to a Chinese assembly line, isn't really fair imho. We are supposed to be better than that, at least we were for a while. Happy Thanksgiving. And peace.

No worries and I share your angst over the things you mentioned above. Very scary and depressing times these..much more so than in the last 2 crisis I was around for..VietNam and the Great Recession...

I was wrong in 2016, maybe I'll be wrong in 2020 but I think voter turnout and a recorded 'history', a track record, of the guy in the big chair will be his undoing..hope so.

Apology accepted, no worries and peace to you as well.