I only have one viewpoint of Amazon, that of Joe-Consumer. I’ve tried everything on their site from Christmas shopping to grocery subscriptions, digital books to streaming videos, (holy cow I can’t wait to get a look at the new phone!) I guess I don’t get what all the controversy is about. From my admittedly narrow perspective this is a self-absorbed consumer’s dream. Practically before I know I want something it’s on my doorstep and I almost never pay for shipping. I am thoroughly appreciative that Amazon has absolutely everything but I’m pretty mindful of price too. If something is significantly higher priced on Amazon than anywhere else I won’t buy it, but it almost never is. I truly don’t care how they are able to price things lower or ship them free, that’s their concern. I only care that they can. If there is a really good reason for me to pay more and burn (fairly expensive) gas to drive around (in 108 degrees right now) searching for something as obscure as a zero-gravity patio chair, please, feel free to clue me in.
The argument that brick and mortar stores are being ravaged may have a trace of validity, I really don’t know, but I find that a fair portion of the items I purchase on-line are things like that chair. It very likely would not have inspired me to get up off my ass to hunt one down (ironic eh?) but if simply wishing makes it so I’ll take it. True, this is conspicuous consumption at its most conspicuous. I am baffled as to why this is a bad thing. Additionally, have you noticed how many brick and mortar stores sell stuff on Amazon? Tell me again how is this hurting their sales? Not to belabor this point too much but there are new malls and retail plazas popping up everywhere around here. I’m not convinced that they are suffering that badly.
As for Amazon’s price structure, I’ve heard a lot about artificially low prices, notably on books. I am a real estate agent. Real Estate agents know that there is no such thing as an artificial price, low or high. The price of anything, just like the price of a home, is what a willing seller will sell for and a willing buyer will pay for that particular product. Period. That is the very definition of “fair market”. If one of the buyers that I represent were to offer, say $30,000 higher for the exact same house that is available right next door for $30,000 less, I’d tell them they were being… unwise.
I’ve read some remarkably eye-opening articles about Amazon’s shoddy treatment of their employees, in particular the warehouse workers and I have to agree with the author, poor treatment of your employees is inexcusable. But in this arena Amazon cannot lay claim to being innovative. I’ve been a card-carrying member of the workforce far longer than I care to admit and there are places I’ve worked that I would never, ever consider working again. You too right? And there you have it… if you’re being treated poorly for Pete’s sake stop working there! There is a simple solution. Consider where you would work if Amazon did not exist, then go there. By the way, how many people do the Amazon warehouses employ anyway?
I just can’t get enough of Amazon. No matter how many industries they break into I’m gonna be right there to cheer them on (did I mention that phone I’m so excited about?) Besides, I believe my personal Amazon account is single handedly keeping FedEx and UPS in business, trickle-down economics at its best. Amazon is not destroying the competition, they ARE the competition. So I say to every other business on earth, don’t fall victim to Amazon, COMPETE!
