Posted on 08/14/2015 7:12:00 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
I’ve found that Land’s End and LL Bean have both gone downhill in quality. Only Orvis has top-quality clothes at something like a reasonable price. There are other catalogs that have very high prices. I’m sure their stuff is very good, but really, $600 for a pair of pants?
NEVER!! This was the high-end name brand, even some natural fabric selections.
Yikes. $100 for a white oxford shirt.
It better last me the rest of my life...
I got Prime for $55 for a special offer and couldn’t refuse. It’s so amazing to buy little things here and there with free 2-day plus streaming. Their streaming selection is kinda crappy but for what I paid I can’t complain.
You outta see my list of things I have bought at Amazon. They let you download what you bought over time and it is an eye opener how much I have bought.
Has Amazon turned a profit yet?
Their stock has doubled since the January.
Has Amazon turned a profit yet?
Their stock has doubled since the January.
You know the two aren’t related, right?
If you own the stock you make the profit : )
Amazon is Sears. You can find everything. And it assumes like Sears did, that you are not going to go any further.
Often if you go back to the original sellers site if they have one, you can get the object much more cheaply.
Example, I bought six stained glass night lights recently. Amazon had them for 21 dollars each, but the regular retailer had marked them down to 11 each on their site. I bought from the retailer.
Kohls has terribly cheap clothing. They sell at a cheap price. If you go to Asian wholesale sites you will find that clothing is usually less than a dollar an item.
Lands End is my go to for basics. Great store
In all the ways that matter yes. The only reason Amazon doesn’t SHOW a profit is because they reinvest everything to expand the business. But the MAKE a ton of profit, they just don’t let it sit around in the bank gathering dust.
Don't make me look up words.
That means less goods sold overseas and to tourists.
This is the conventional wisdom. Devalue your currency, let the foreigner buy the same amount of your currency for less of his, and in effect you have reduced the price for the foreigner, increasing sales.
However, that's less than half the story.
Consider an American firm that sells widgets. The dollar price is set to cover wages, raw materials, interest on borrowed money, amortization of invested capital, and taxes, and if there's anything left over, profit. The firm wants to sell in Europe. However, in Europe they don't use dollars, they use Euros. So it must set the Euro price so that when converted into dollars, all those costs are met.
Suppose that another country (China? Japan?) sells an equivalent product at a lesser Euro price. Our firm can't sell in Europe. To meet the competitive price, the firm will have to sell at a loss.
Suppose then that the Fed devalues the dollar to make our widget exporter competitive in the Euro market. Fewer Euros will be needed to get the required dollar return.
According to the conventional wisdom, which you have cited, now everyone's happy. Our manufacturer sells in Europe, and gets enough Euros that when converted into dollars cover all the costs enumerated above. Right? The magic of devaluation has turned what would be a loss into a profit.
Unfortunately, there's more to the story than that. The loss hasn't disappeared. It's just been spread around. Everyone who is paid in dollars, or has dollars in the bank or his pocket, or gets an annuity or pension in dollars, will now find that those dollars don't buy as much as before. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. Imported finished goods will cost more in dollars. Imported raw materials will cost more in dollars, and the increase will be factored into selling prices. The effect of the devaluation cannot be restricted to the export market only, but will be felt in the domestic market as well.
As for the Chinese after the recent devaluation, yes, Chinese firms will sell more goods abroad. However, part of the cost of those goods has been shifted to the Chinese consumer, who does not share in the increased export sales. Even workers in the exporting industries will find that they are worse off because their pay won't go as far.
Deliberately devaluing a currency, in the hope of increasing exports, only means that the exports are being sold below cost, and the loss is being spread around to all those who use that currency.
I do price shop as well. I still buy from eBay. However, you did not quote shipping in your example.
Best Buy: Come on down and try it out before buying on Amazon.
More double-talk that doesn’t mean anything. It’s kinda like how the media talks about Christmas. Spending at Christmas is always at a new low and the media chastises us for being a bunch of cheap-asses. At the same time, we’re told that we’re a bunch of gluttonous pigs who spend way too much at Christmastime and run up a bunch of debt. The media coverage is schizophrenic on this.
You get good help, and from the manager no less—if you’re a good-looking college-aged chick. I’ve said before through clenched teeth, “It takes 3 of you to tell her that sh—? One of you, get over here!”
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