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 ...
It wasn't that long ago that Americans bought many items through catalogs (which is essentially what Amazon is) and it was delivered to their town via train most likely and they picked it up at the train station or some local warehouse (or had it delivered). This created jobs at both ends handling the catalog orders, transportation, storage at both ends of the transaction plus possibly more transportation getting the items to your house or farm or whatever.
So while retail stores might be declining, other jobs throughout the supply chain are created ... unless more of these jobs are automated.
Still, the person who delivered your catalog order by wagon got supplanted by the railways and the people working for the railways and loading an unloading from trains got jobs.
So I don't really see how jobs are "lost" per se. They just switch to other jobs.
The main loss of jobs is that we are not making items here. Nor are we sourcing the materials here to make the items. So material extraction and manufacturing jobs are lost (were already lost). Retail jobs won't be "lost" but will be replace by other jobs getting the products to the consumer by other means.
Henry Ford wiped out the buggy makers, blacksmiths, cartwrights, wheelwrights, stableboys and etc.
I like having a retail store I can visit, particularly for big purchases. I like to touch and see or “test drive” what I’m buying.
And those darned grocery stores are putting the grist mills out of business!
I also don’t like going through the hassle of returning items.
Well said.
My biggest grief with Amazon is that they now typically drop your purchases in the mailbox instead of using UPS and they often get ‘lost’.
Most of us remember telephone operators. Now, I don’t even know what happens if you dial “0”. I’m afraid I’m doing something forbidden if I try.
Amazon is fine for some things, but stuff like cloths, I want to try on.
I didn't realize people bought upscale clothing online.
In the 16 years or so, I’ve had maybe two Amazons get lost in transit.
“Nutting” is an appropriate last name for this nitwit.
A lot of people do.
Also, most of Macy’s merchandise is not ‘upscale’.
Hasn’t been in a long while.
Retail executives don’t know how to run retail establishments anymore. Everyone thinks “manager” is a career field and not merely a position. Managers are supposed to know how to do things, but they think the skills needed to organize a sock drawer is all that is needed.
Handmade
Catalog
City-centered Department Store
Mall-centered Department Store
Online
3D Printed?
I love Amazon, as well as other online sites. It takes no time at all to locate, compare and buy what I need. Awesome.
Yes, they do. :)
Amazon is making retail workers more productive by investing in technology.
That is not a bad thing—it is a good thing.
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