a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by b_b
b_b  ·  3639 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Once each year, Amazon offers employees up to $5k to quit.

    I buy from them all the time. But if they ceased to exist I would celebrate. They're evil.

This captures my sentiment exactly. It's almost impossible not to buy from them right now. It's too cheap, too convenient, and the products are too ubiquitous to avoid. A large Barnes and Noble just closed in a highly prosperous, highly foot trafficked part of the Detroit area the other day. Not that BN is any model company, but when they can't even compete anymore, especially in the absence of Borders, you know that retail is fucked...FUCKED. Not just book retail; all retail.





wasoxygen  ·  3638 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    It's too cheap...

You openly disparage Amazon for not spending money to give their employees a better deal.

Yet you buy from them, instead of their many competitors, in part to save money.

PEBKAC.

b_b  ·  3638 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I know. It's fucked up, right? Serious question. Is there, in the libertarian way of thinking, a such thing as prices so low that they're harmful?

wasoxygen  ·  3638 days ago  ·  link  ·  

To my mind, a price is just a piece of information. It is an expression of willingness to trade. When voluntary trade happens, I assume it is because both parties believe they will be better off as a result of the exchange. (They are not always right; people make mistakes, but I also believe that this is part of life, and trying to prevent people from making mistakes can cause more harm than good.)

kleinbl00  ·  3639 days ago  ·  link  ·  

BN tried to buy Ingram back in '98 so that Amazon would be forced to buy from them. The sale was blocked on anti-trust grounds because it would be bad for independent booksellers.

b_b  ·  3639 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Turns out they were able to crush small booksellers as competitors :D And all is right in the world of capitalism.