Posted on 01/23/2017 3:36:10 PM PST by Lorianne
Millions of retail jobs are threatened as Amazon’s share of online purchases keeps climbing ___ Amazon.com has been crowing about its plans to create 100,000 American jobs in the next year, but as with other recent job-creation announcements, that figure is meaningless without context.
What Amazon won’t tell us is that every job created at Amazon destroys one or two or three others. What Jeff Bezos doesn’t want you to know is that Amazon is going to destroy more American jobs than China ever did.
Amazon has revolutionized the way Americans consume. Those who want to shop for everything from books to diapers increasingly go online instead of to the malls. And for about half of those online purchases, the transaction goes through Amazon.
For the consumer, Amazon has brought lower prices and unimaginable convenience. I can buy almost any consumer product I want just by clicking on my phone or computer — or even easier, by just saying: “Alexa: buy me one” — and it will be shipped to my door within days or even hours for free. I can buy books for my Kindle, or music for my phone instantly. I can watch movies or TV shows on demand.
But for retail workers, Amazon is a grave threat. Just ask the 10,100 workers who are losing their jobs at Macy’s.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
My thought exactly. It’s like saying 100 years ago that Sears was going to “destroy America” by coming up with a better way to get products to customers. Or blaming Henry Ford for putting carriage makers and blacksmiths out of business.
Chris Rock said there are two kinds of malls in America; malls that white people go to, and malls that white people used to go to.
They have their own Amazon Delivery Trucks too.
I have a friend whose son got hired (not a college grad) at an Amazon distribution center near Allentown, PA, and moved up through a number of jobs into some sort of technical position and just got transferred to somewhere south — Raleigh? or Atlanta? I forget. He has gotten great opportunities, and my friend is so happy about it, she thinks Amazon is a great employer.
I don’t know about this. Things are being bought, just from someone else. Products are still being made. This sounds like BS to me. When change occurs you can either get on board, change with it or STFU. There will be no loss of jobs!
Well this is an area where I admit to ignorance. The only clothing I ever bought online were socks. Gold Toe brand.
.
I have bought electronics, books, music, digital instant read thermometers for BBQ, an induction cooktop, more electronics, a stainless steel pail to use as a dog dish, and well, just about everything except clothing, which I prefer to try on before buying.
I have found with electronics and computer related stuff the trick is to look for a sale on the items ONE STEP BACK from the latest. You pay a premium for the latest.
That is SO true.
And I don’t want the latest, nor do I need it.
And I’d rather have something that is time tested and proved itself than something that I have to learn the hard way isn’t what it was cracked up to be.
I don’t have that kind of money to be a self-appointed guinea pig or electronics tester.
I agree with you about salespeople.
The helpfulness of salespeople has been steadily declining for years. You’re lucky if they will point you to the right direction if you ask were something is. Usually they say something to the effect of “if you didn’t see it, we don’t have it”.
I was looking for a mattress pad and asked a salesperson where to find them. She said “what is a mattress pad?” I explained what it was and she looked bewildered ... never heard of this item even though she was working in the linens department of a department store and ... hello ... doesn’t everyone know what a mattress pad is? This person was not an immigrant and spoke perfect English by the way.
Go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and you have at best a 50% chance of finding someone knowledgeable about products. You either get someone who is extremely helpful and knows a lot about the products of a particular section (you cling to this person like gorilla glue until you have found all you need) .... or you get the blank stare of a person from another planet who has never heard of hinge much less the type you are looking for. My husband and I have a game we play where we try to pick the person most likely to be able to answer a simple question.
Of the last 100 items I purchased from amazon, almost NONE of them would have been available in retail stores in my town, and of the ones that probably were available, I would have had to spend hours and hours driving from store to store to find them, find parking, find them in the stores myself, stood in line to checkout, and would have had no ability in the stores to read feedback from other customers about whether the item was any good or not.
Online shopping has tremendously enriched my life, saving me time, saving gas, allowing me to purchase hundreds of items over the years not available where I live, and allowing me to comparison shop based on the experiences and feedback from millions.
Taking the path of least resistance. Smart.
I have an Amazon company and am about to start a new one. There would be no way I could do that without Amazon’ fulfilling our products. They do all of the warehousing and shipping. I would have to own a warehouse. Glad to be a part of it.
Retail evolves - always has. I get almost everything from Amazon except groceries. Would not go into a mall or large department store these days if they paid me to show up. My medium-sized city doesn’t have what I want half the time, anyway - Amazon does and at a good price. My only request of them is to quit using the post office, who drops packages on my porch to be stolen before I see them. They need to use UPS exclusively. My slovenly mailman should be fired (of course he won’t be) but I Love my UPS man.
Amazon has been getting super tax breaks in many States despite the laws that govern internet sales taxes. The table has been tilted way in their favor - that’s one of the reasons that they are loved by those that save when dealing with them and hated by those who ‘compete”.
Macys isn’t that upscale anymore, and as the clothing manufacturing process gets more automated and therefore more consistent online purchasing gets bigger. Once you know Brand X runs to this type of fit you can get your size online without having to poke through all the other sizes in a store.
Agree.
70,000 factories were closed since the mid 90's. The weren't automated, at least not here anyway.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.