Posted on 01/06/2017 1:19:13 PM PST by jfd1776
VHS to DVD recorder, Espresso Machine, PS4, DVDs, wine bottles, Video MP3 players, and other things bought by myself and wife for Christmas were ALL through Amazon.
All of that 10 years ago is bought at Macy’s, Sears, Best Buy, etc.
The author misses an important point here. The U.S. has something like 23 square feet of retail space for each person living here. This is a very high number and can’t be sustained over time. Many stores would be likely be closing even if Amazon didn’t exist, and even if the U.S. economy was very strong today.
More and more American shopping areas, however, have become dangerous. While terrorism threats are a rare and special risk, relatively and hopefully controllable with rational federal policy, the more general crime risks of our cities and malls have been growing steadily for generations. Malls and localities must spend more on security measures and personnel, and even with such spending, shoppers know which retail establishments are no longer safe, and wisely avoid them.
Anecdotal evidence, is that this is a bigger factor than most are willing to say out loud.
Since it violates political correctness to say anything about this aspect of the problem, it goes unsaid.
But people vote with their feet, and avoid malls which attract a bad crowd. They just don’t publicly announce it, they just shop elsewhere, or online to the extent that they can buy what they need online.
Shoppers purview and try on the wares at the Mall stores and then go place orders to buy on Amazon.
Amazon gets your orders to you in two days. How can local shops compete with that? Amazon also has stuff you can’t find locally, or at least can’t find without a lot of looking and store hopping.
I’ve never been mugged in an Amazon parking lot. ;-)
We are in the Obama Walmart and Dollar General economy where the increasing population of low wage earners can only afford buy cheap Chinese imports from large big box discount chains.
When Obama was elected , George Soros crowed that now that Obama was in office, he hoped that Americans would learn to love their new third world wages.
After 8 years of Obama, Americans are now waking up to the fact that they are heading towards living a third world standard of living.
All those arrogant and snarky liberals that used to denigrate and ridicule the American suburban lifestyle and standard of living that they took for granted because they had never known anything else but a high standard of living are now seeing their futures are not so bright
.
You don't know what you have got till it's gone. Clueless Americans gave it away and are finding out that they have lost a lot and it's not going to be easy to get back.
“Amazon gets your orders to you in two days. How can local shops compete with that?”
How about the rest of us who need the damn thing NOW? I’m not the type of person who waits. Time is money (except being on FR). I know the difference at WalMart vs Amazon is $5, why the heck am I gonna wait days? My GF does Amazon only if she has the “I dont really need it now” attitude but if she wants to go to the mall (and drag me), she’ll do it.
I moved from the Seattle area to a very rural area in KY. I never really did much online shopping before. I live by it now. And I’ve become rather savvy in doing it as well as managing my expectations. I’m shocked at the diversity of merchandise, reviews, free shipping, etc.
And it’s paid off big dividends. Heck, I bent a pushrod in my v-twin lawn mower and was able to get a new one from amazon for less than 3 bucks. That opened up the floodgates. I’ve found antique tractor parts, auto parts, you name it - ridiculously obscure stuff, at very low prices. Yeah, I even replaced the capacitor and a rusted out high voltage switch in my HVAC system using amazon. And even when I lived in Seattle, I didn’t even know where I would need to go for some of that stuff.
For me, online has changed my life regarding keeping the things I own working reliably. And I only have to plan a few days in advance to receive the items.
They keep saying that obozo created millions of jobs. No one talks about how many jobs were lost. I bet the net loss/gain is in negative numbers. Plus 94% of the jobs created are part time jobs.
No it’s Amazon (and the whole online retail world). The world has changed, brick and mortar retail is no longer the most useful or efficient distribution method. The combination of smartphones and online retail has turned the entire planet into a giant home shopping network. You can see an item (possibly advertised on TV, or billboard as you drive past, or just see somebody using it), order it 2 minutes later and get it 2 days later. Brick and mortar quite simply cannot compete with that. These trend lines were in place before Obama and they really didn’t change much during his tenure. He even has the mall problem backwards. Malls were already starting to die, when legitimate shoppers left they were replaced by illegitimate truants, busy malls (the few that are left) don’t have that problem because they haven’t been abandoned by the legitimate shopper.
Most of the American economy isn’t driven by things we need now. It’s driven by things we want next time we go out. And when you can order from your couch and get the item BEFORE you go out that’s going to win every time.
I don’t feel safe in the malls me (North Houston).
How about the rest of us who need the damn thing NOW? I’m not the type of person who waits. Time is money (except being on FR). I know the difference at WalMart vs Amazon is $5, why the heck am I gonna wait days? My GF does Amazon only if she has the “I dont really need it now” attitude but if she wants to go to the mall (and drag me), she’ll do it.
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Well of course if you need it right now you go to the local store. Most of the stuff I order can wait.
Amazon is opening a store in NYC at the Time Warner Building. I don’t understand that exactly but that’s what they are doing.
Can you tell me what were the benefits of moving from a west coast area to such a state? I’m an east coast person always looking towards the future. Kentucky has always fascinated me.
Grandson and I went to mall south of Houston in the suburbs during early December in the evening to get a game at Game Stop. Only other people there were Black youths and lots of Muslims. We’ll find another stand alone location to visit and won’t be going back to the mall, particularly at night.
Which is completely unethical.
Perhaps if you give them 99.00 a year for Prime, but as one that does not, but has placed many orders using the 29 and now the $49 free shipping option, i can say it takes about 5 or more days.
But its web site and service is more professional and better, than Walmart, which is hurting itself by substandard web site (less variety, wasted page space, sparse details, many out of stock or over priced 3rd party vendors. Basic foods are cheaper than Amazon though. and things like major appliances and cheap bikes are laid out well).
Thank God we have such though.
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