Do tell. I can't remember anything older than three years. It's in my contract. WMD whatever. A lotta people were dying then and a lotta people are dying now. How? For what? Same song different pin different tale different donkey...
The machine, similar to a blimp, could fly as high as 1,000 feet, the application says, and it would be operated either autonomously or remotely by a human pilot.
Do tell. I can't remember anything older than three years. It's in my contract. WMD whatever. A lotta people were dying then and a lotta people are dying now. How? For what? Same song different pin different tale different donkey...
As Rich notes, laziness does have a lot to do with it. Plus I think there is a major generational thing where people want stuff delivered - It's like getting presents every day! I've had versions of this conversation with my younger workers and have legitimate responses that are effectively "I don't want to go get stuff, plus they'll carry it right to my door".
How about, gas was over $4/gallon, and the nearest shopping meccas are 30 miles away. Sometimes it makes a lot more sense to have UPS visit regularly.
As Rich notes, laziness does have a lot to do with it. Plus I think there is a major generational thing where people want stuff delivered - It's like getting presents every day! I've had versions of this conversation with my younger workers and have legitimate responses that are effectively "I don't want to go get stuff, plus they'll carry it right to my door".
And some of it is even understandable. Time already spent commuting, running around, crowded or noisy malls, busy, busy, busy, etc., etc.
What's weird is I don't understand how places like Amazon got much of a foothold in urban areas. Except for how you can comparison shop price without much hassle, if I want something and I live in San Francisco, I go to Fox Hardware and get it. None of this Free 2-Day Shipping nonsense: I get it now. But I'm out here in the hinterland, where a shoe-buying expedition is at least the next town and probably a 200 mile round trip. Our last shoe store went out of business in the 70s, except for places that have work boots and cheap sneakers. So we can't blame that on Zappos!
As Rich notes, laziness does have a lot to do with it. Plus I think there is a major generational thing where people want stuff delivered - It's like getting presents every day! I've had versions of this conversation with my younger workers and have legitimate responses that are effectively "I don't want to go get stuff, plus they'll carry it right to my door".
Just the general shady business practices. Treating their vendors and employees like crap. They pay them more, but they still treat them like chattel. They have a fantastic logistics operation, but many of their practices are straight from the walmart playbook. They just have a better demographic so people don't speak out about it much.
I shop there too, so hey it's a trade off. But I do try to avoid them when possible, and I find myself cross checking my process when I'm looking at a difference of a few dollars.
What's weird is I don't understand how places like Amazon got much of a foothold in urban areas. Except for how you can comparison shop price without much hassle, if I want something and I live in San Francisco, I go to Fox Hardware and get it. None of this Free 2-Day Shipping nonsense: I get it now. But I'm out here in the hinterland, where a shoe-buying expedition is at least the next town and probably a 200 mile round trip. Our last shoe store went out of business in the 70s, except for places that have work boots and cheap sneakers. So we can't blame that on Zappos!
Sure but Walmart's practice of forcing manufacturers to supply an inferior product to what they sell at Amazon or Brick-and-Mortar stores so that they can muddy the waters with their pricing is far worse. Suppliers get hurt, other retailers get hurt, consumers get hurt. Amazon takes what you make and sells it. Maybe they also price things so low that local stores fail, but the awesome ability to get exactly what I'm after rather than a Walmart or Target "sort of" option or a dusty shelf model from the local place is pretty great.
Having said that, if I didn't live in the middle of nowhere, I'd be a lot more likely to shop local: I like to touch the stuff I'm buying. So much that it would be worth an upcharge. If Amazon offered free returns/free return shipping that'd be the end of it all. Well except I don't like asking for refunds and dealing with shipping something back, even if I don't pay. I just want to get the right thing the first time.
Just the general shady business practices. Treating their vendors and employees like crap. They pay them more, but they still treat them like chattel. They have a fantastic logistics operation, but many of their practices are straight from the walmart playbook. They just have a better demographic so people don't speak out about it much.
I shop there too, so hey it's a trade off. But I do try to avoid them when possible, and I find myself cross checking my process when I'm looking at a difference of a few dollars.
Amazon also has many of the same practices and collateral damage, but they are revered. I suspect a strong element of "selling to the choir".
Sure but Walmart's practice of forcing manufacturers to supply an inferior product to what they sell at Amazon or Brick-and-Mortar stores so that they can muddy the waters with their pricing is far worse. Suppliers get hurt, other retailers get hurt, consumers get hurt. Amazon takes what you make and sells it. Maybe they also price things so low that local stores fail, but the awesome ability to get exactly what I'm after rather than a Walmart or Target "sort of" option or a dusty shelf model from the local place is pretty great.
Having said that, if I didn't live in the middle of nowhere, I'd be a lot more likely to shop local: I like to touch the stuff I'm buying. So much that it would be worth an upcharge. If Amazon offered free returns/free return shipping that'd be the end of it all. Well except I don't like asking for refunds and dealing with shipping something back, even if I don't pay. I just want to get the right thing the first time.
After having to deal with Walmart in the past with two companies who were suppliers for them, as well as knowing some people who worked there, I cannot find any sympathy for this company. The only ones I feel sorry for concerning the store closures they've announced are the workers who will lose their jobs, along with the mom-and-pop stores in the area that were initially driven out of business when Walmart first came to town.
Amazon also has many of the same practices and collateral damage, but they are revered. I suspect a strong element of "selling to the choir".
Almost every piece of price-fixing legislation produces results opposite to those intended. Whether one examines the outcome of interest rate regulation or minimum wage legislation, the lesson repeats itself; interferences with the price system lead to unintended and unexpected consequences. And more, the consequences aggravate the original situation the legislation had meant to ameliorate. Finally, the aggravation caused by the initial legislation generates further clamor for bigger governmental programs and stiffer Federal controls.
At this point even the most informed citizen loses the ability to differentiate sense from nonsense. Thoroughly confused, he resigns himself to the fact that free enterprise has obviously failed, and that like it or not, it’s time that the government "did" something. He is usually completely unaware that it is the government intervention which has failed, and not the free market. The following analysis will attempt to highlight the evidence for this contention...
Keeping wages down (also by regulation or obstruction to legislation) also keep standards of living down (i.e. trying to match the wages of countries where commodities are made cheaply), esp. when inflation (and other economic factors) increase the prices of essential items such as food. You end up with people working for WalMart and still needing food stamps (which they can use at... WalMart). Thus WalMart's profit comes at the expense of tax payers/government assistance. Big Retail is then no different than Big Agriculture or Big Oil. They do love the subsidies which improve the bottom line.
