Amazon Prime: $67 for new 'members'

[Speedy]

This offer was posted earlier to the forum by Steve G.

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,1909862

[vision63]

Well Amazon did spend a decade and half selling products without charging for taxes and offering free shipping for purchases over $25 while the competition they destroyed had to collect full taxes while maintaining a brick and mortar presence.

That was "totally" unfair. But it is what it is now.

[mrlynn]

FWIW, heard on the radio (financial show) recently:

Fully 90% of retail sales are still from brick-and-morter stores, and only 10% online. Of course the 90% might include groceries, which few purchase online, and I would assume most clothing as well. But while Amazon may be the online elephant in the room, it still is far from dominating the retail economy overall.

/Mr Lynn

[Acer]

Who did Amazon destroy? CircuitCity? The Mom & Pop stores all died decades ago in an earlier retail revolution. Shall we cry a tear for struggling BestBuys or K-Marts?

[silvarios]

Acer wrote:
Who did Amazon destroy? CircuitCity? The Mom & Pop stores all died decades ago in an earlier retail revolution. Shall we cry a tear for struggling BestBuys or K-Marts?

That's my feeling too. It's like weeping because Amazon wiped out Borders. Yeah, and Borders destroyed far more local book stores. That's big business unfortunately.

[mrlynn]

Circuit City? Ours was in a location that has seen a succession of stores, none of which has succeeded. There was CompUSA, too; remember their Apple corner? Amazon didn't kill them; they went out with the consumer's desktop PC. Now people buy laptops at Staples, or Best Buy, and itty-bitty computers (i.e. smartphones) at Verizon and the Apple Store.

Business is tough, whether it's small or large. Nothing is permanent. Malls were the going thing a while ago; now seem to be languishing. Mom and pops are thriving in revived downtowns. Our area has seen a succession of 'one-floor department stores': Zayres, Kings, Ames, Bradlees, Caldor, Lechmere. . . even Kmart came and went; Sears remains so far; Walmart arrived only recently; as did more specialized stores like Bob's (clothing), Dicks (sporting), Bed and Bath, etc. Borders died off, but we still have a terrific Barnes and Noble in town.

/Mr Lynn

[vision63]

silvarios wrote:
[quote=Acer]
Who did Amazon destroy? CircuitCity? The Mom & Pop stores all died decades ago in an earlier retail revolution. Shall we cry a tear for struggling BestBuys or K-Marts?

That's my feeling too. It's like weeping because Amazon wiped out Borders. Yeah, and Borders destroyed far more local book stores. That's big business unfortunately.
That's TOTALLY ignoring the fact that Amazon did their dirt via the major advantage of not having to collect taxes. But it's all cool now that all the Indians are dead.

Mom and Pop's suffered many disadvantages battling Big Boxes and Power Centers. But having to collect taxes when Amazon etc., were exempt was simply criminal. Why is this ignored?

[mrlynn]

Amazon now charges me sales tax (6.25% in MA). I still buy from them, because of (a) convenience: ease of ordering and returning; (b) huge selection; © excellent customer service. I also buy locally (food, clothing, hardware, etc.), and sometimes from other e-tailers (especially when I'm trying to find something specialized, like bags for my old Electrolux, or a motor for my whole-house fan). I really don't understand this animus towards Amazon.

/Mr Lynn

[dk62]

Don't forget that honest citizens had to pay use taxes anyway.

[DeusxMac]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
...just like Walmart used to do by demanding suppliers to cut prices.

Sears did this LONG before Walmart appeared on the scene.
Place big orders for the manufacture of in-house branded items (like Craftsman tools); large enough that the supplier would invest heavily, hire, and tool-up to meet those orders. Then after a few years Sears would tell the supplier (now dependent on the Sears relationship) that they didn't want to pay as much for the supplied product any more - "lower your cost to Sears, or we'll look elsewhere for another supplier."