Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon "Invades" College Campus With Media Center (businessinsider.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the everything-campus dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Amazon opened its first media center on a college campus, including couches, conference tables and TVs with game controllers, as well as a full-time Amazon staffer and a package pickup station. Since 40% of the boxes delivered to Penn are from Amazon, it will be installed in one of the dining halls, according to CNET, offering Amazon Prime members same-day or next-day delivery for more than 3 million items, from textbooks to toothpaste. Amazon already has pickup points on five college campuses, and hopes to add five more by the end of the year, in an effort to compete with 748 college bookstores run by Barnes and Noble.
One analyst told CNET, "They just want to hook you when you're 20."

59 comments

  1. But if only 30% were from Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They'd put in a laundry room?

  2. Not a surprise by jbmartin6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One analyst told CNET, "They just want to hook you when you're 20."? Hardly a difficult piece of analysis. I'm sure any business would like to "hook" people of any sort.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    1. Re:Not a surprise by WarJolt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm surprised only 40% of packages come from Amazon. Students are already hooked. I'd imagine most of the other 60% comes from clothing stores that refuse to market through Amazon and I'm sure Amazon has a plan to assimilate them.

    2. Re:Not a surprise by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 1

      Can't be allowed to cater to customers, they might actually like it.

      --
      Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
    3. Re: Not a surprise by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In the 80s and 90s, Apple was in all the schools with donated computers. Seemed to work out pretty well for them.

      --
      God spoke to me
    4. Re:Not a surprise by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "They just want to hook you when you're 20."

      As does Apple, who sells their computers on campus at 10-20% less than retail.

      As does Microsoft, who routinely gives much of their software away for free to students.

      As does Google, who offers Google Apps for Education to pretty much any college that wants it.

      As does every cereal manufacturer - no, wait, they're trying to hook you while you're still a little kid.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    5. Re:Not a surprise by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      I don't know where the expression originates, but it holds true: "The market is a game all must be required to play, but none may be permitted to win." Or something like that. Every company strives to gain market share, but the system only works so long as no-one actually achieves dominance.

    6. Re:Not a surprise by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Unless things have changed Drastically since I went to college, the BULK of college students are poor. Buying things from amazon are not high on their priority list. When you are robbed blind by the college for overpriced tuition, overpriced housing, and obscenemy overpriced textbooks... you dont have money for things from Amazon.com

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    7. Re:Not a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They may be poor, but according to the Student Monitor http://www.studentmonitor.com/ (which is a well regarded stats publisher about students and their trends), they have between $300 and $500 available money for free spend. Some students choose to spend this on beer. Some choose to spend it on video games, and some decide to spend it on consumables from Amazon. There isn't any one-size-fits-all for students.

    8. Re:Not a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow you're bright. I bought a lot of my obscenely overpriced textbooks USED on Amazon with my free for students Prime account from fulfilled by Amazon booksellers.

      Five years out of college, I didn't give up my Prime account but I now pay $99/yr for it and buy a LOT of stuff from them.

      Sounds like they know what they're doing to me.

    9. Re:Not a surprise by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the book publishers and their complicit teachers merely didn't manage to plug the used book loophole in your particular case. Don't worry, they're working on it.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    10. Re:Not a surprise by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

      Sounds like Ginsberg's theorem on the Laws of Thermodynamics:

      1st Law: You can't win.
      2nd Law: You can't break even.
      3rd Law: You can't quit the game.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    11. Re:Not a surprise by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      "They just want to hook you when you're 20."

      As does Apple ...

      As does Microsoft ...

      As does Google ...

      As does Code Pink, as does Black Lives Matter, as does every other political/social movement. So what? Why shouldn't everybody and every organization that considers itself to be more successful if it has more interest from more people ... you know ... try to make that happen? So what?

      Maybe one of Amazon's competitors, which offers the same sort of services and huge range of products with similar pricing and delivery should do exactly the same thing. Oh, right - nobody else has bothered to do grow a competing business yet. As does every cereal manufacturer - no, wait, they're trying to hook you while you're still a little kid.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    12. Re:Not a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, they got a moron addicted to their store.

    13. Re:Not a surprise by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sounds like the book publishers and their complicit teachers merely didn't manage to plug the used book loophole in your particular case.

      Usually, the only difference between textbook editions is that they shuffle and renumber the problems at the end of each chapter. So you borrow the latest edition from a friend, and photocopy the problem sets. Then you can use the old book for learning, and the photocopies for homework.

    14. Re:Not a surprise by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      the system only works so long as no-one actually achieves dominance.

      Amazon has no lock on the market. If another site offers products 2% cheaper, people will switch. Amazon undercuts their competition through cost control and economy of scale, not through monopoly power.

    15. Re:Not a surprise by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      No pretty much amazon undercut the competition through tax avoidance. With the VATMOSS scheme in place in Europe it's quite common that Amazon are not the cheapest. Or the most convenient.

      I get bulky and heavy groceries delivered by Sainsbury's (UK supermarket of which there are a few that deliver all with about the same level of service), because the 1 hour timeslots are super convenient. For more niche items, ebay (or Aliexpress for REALLY niche items) shops are the best bet, there's a far far wider range of things than amazon offers.

      For everything else I usually spend a few minutes searching anf there's often not mich in it, but Amazon is frequently not the cheapest.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    16. Re:Not a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like the book publishers and their complicit teachers merely didn't manage to plug the used book loophole in your particular case. Don't worry, they're working on it.

      Many colleges and universities in Canada routinely change editions on a yearly basis to prevent a used book market. Even campuses that do not change editions often only pay a pittance for used textbooks and resell them at 75% of the new book price.

    17. Re:Not a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Honestly, if another site offers products at 2% cheaper it will still usually end up being the same price because competing with Amazons shipping rates is almost impossible.

      Also based on how pleased I am with Amazon services a 2% savings is not enough to tear me away from prompt and reliable delivery with a 100% guarantee that I will be satisfied. They know how to please customers and if something is lost in transit then they will send you a replacement free of charge. I have no idea if a smaller site I have never heard of will offer the same until it happens. Getting a bunch of unrelated/different things is also much easier the bigger the service is, if I wanted to get the same list of items from anywhere else I would most probably have to use multiple sites and make multiple payments and hope for the best from all of them individually.

    18. Re: Not a surprise by Mark+of+the+North · · Score: 1

      Not really. It kept Apple alive, but not much more.

      Maybe a quarter of the school labs I saw from the late 80s to mid-90s were Macs. (Keep in mind that the computer market was much more diverse back then.) Most school Mac "labs" consisted of four computers, because that's all they could afford, even with heavy discounts. Outside of school, my circle of about a dozen nerd friends only included one Mac guy until the early 2000s. I knew of only one business, an advertising firm, that used Macs, and they only had two.

      Of course, the education sector did keep Apple's heart beating until they could come up with the iPod...

    19. Re:Not a surprise by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Unless things have changed Drastically since I went to college, the BULK of college students are poor. Buying things from amazon are not high on their priority list. When you are robbed blind by the college for overpriced tuition, overpriced housing, and obscenemy overpriced textbooks... you dont have money for things from Amazon.com

      Uh, the best way to save on textbooks is to order them THROUGH Amazon!

      Overpriced textbooks, yes, but Amazon usually has a good discount over the bookstore. In fact, I think when Amazon introduced textbooks into their lineup the sales at the bookstores dropped dramatically.

      I think the other packages are from discounted textbook retailers as well (there was the case of the student who was reselling textbooks he bought overseas)

    20. Re:Not a surprise by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      How is another competitor supposed to compete when Amazon already has economy of scale? It's very hard to displace an incumbent market leader.

    21. Re:Not a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the markup is too high, then buy up and store used books and eat their lunch. Hint, the risk of an edition change making them nearly useless and the costs incurred to store and have a generous return policy help explain the markup.

  3. Microsoft Cometh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just wait you plebeii and plebeiae, Microsoft cometh and taketh it away!

  4. Exclusivity by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 2

    A package pickup point? Like mobile phone antennas: more useful the more there are. Preferably nearby.

    But one that exclusively caters to one company X? Not good. Sure, a big % of packages may be theirs. But what about the rest? And who's to say where company X will be in a couple of years? If it only does 10% of packages by then, pickup point for company X wouldn't be so useful anymore. A shared pickup point for <any companies' shipments> would be, though.

    So summary has it right. Smells a lot like "hook 'em while they're young". Not to mention fair competition considerations...

    1. Re:Exclusivity by Ksevio · · Score: 1

      It's really not much different than Barnes and Nobles opening a bookstore somewhere to hook people while they're young.

    2. Re:Exclusivity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But one that exclusively caters to one company X? Not good.

      Why, exactly? If they opened this one block away from the campus center, in a private storefront, would you shriek about how that was "not good"?

      And who's to say where company X will be in a couple of years? If it only does 10% of packages by then, pickup point for company X wouldn't be so useful anymore.

      At which point, I would expect Amazon and the college to acknowledge that fact, and repurpose the space - perhaps to an Amazon competitor whose fortunes had improved, or to a computer lab, or to a dining facility, or to a recreation area, or to any of the hundreds of other uses a college may put some space to use for.

      A shared pickup point for would be, though.

      That's called the student mailroom. And if this offloads a significant portion of storage required for that, and makes things cheaper and more convenient for students - why would this NOT be useful? It's very likely that they don't have space for every one of the thousands of retailers with whom students conduct business to have a desk in this space. But if a single retailer accounts for 40% of the packages - this arrangement seems like a no-brainer. Hardly cause for "sky is falling" purple prose.

  5. Isn't this an unfair advantage.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm not surprised by anything the shallow corporatism pushes in the USA any more, it always has a subversive agenda. You know the CEO's of Amazon are just tapping their fingers together and cackling with glee at the captive audience of kids they can brainwash.

  6. Not the first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not the first: There's already one of these at UC Berkeley.

  7. "They just want to hook you when you're 20." by Black+Parrot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unlike all the fast-food outlets and vending machines all over most campuses, and the businesses and Scientologists competing for the real estate right across the street.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:"They just want to hook you when you're 20." by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

      20? That's leaving it a bit late.

      Yours sincerely,
          The Jesuits.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:"They just want to hook you when you're 20." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Yep, the Catholic Church is tapping that ass at 6. Amazon is getting sloppy seconds.

  8. Students still read BOOKS?! by Bruce66423 · · Score: 1

    Surely not...

    1. Re:Students still read BOOKS?! by Wizarth · · Score: 1

      At this point I think Amazon considers actual books a sideline. Textbooks, on the other hand, are more of a required artefact to prove you have made your sacrifice at the alter of consumerism, than something intended to share knowledge.

  9. Amazon is Wal-Mart by SumDog · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I left America in 2012, came back in 2016 to find that Amazon is pretty much the new Wal-Mart. I really hate buying anything off Amazon now.

    1. Re:Amazon is Wal-Mart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      what does "Amazon is the new wal-mart" mean? Are you saying it's not cool to shop at amazon or something that you're just too smart for that?

      what are you even trying to say?
      maybe someday Amazon will be available outside the us?
      is wal-mart available outside the us?

      what is your point?

    2. Re:Amazon is Wal-Mart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're saying that you're a dog fucker.

    3. Re:Amazon is Wal-Mart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what does "Amazon is the new wal-mart" mean? Are you saying it's not cool to shop at amazon or something that you're just too smart for that?

      what are you even trying to say?
      maybe someday Amazon will be available outside the us?
      is wal-mart available outside the us?

      what is your point?

      I am not the original poster, but what I have seen is:

      1. Large influx of chinese sellers shipping directly from China

      2. Large influx of sellers reselling cheap chinese goods, shipping from USA warehouses

      3. Gaming of the review system of the above two types of sellers. This includes giving free product out to reviewers who all seem to write 5-star reviews, selling at "dumping" cost until a number of reviews have been accumulated, etc.

      4. Bait and Switch - I have bought several items with glowing 5-star reviews that have turned out to be the cheapest possible crap. After reading Poorly Made in China, I understand why this is happening. The book details many examples of how Chinese factories first make samples to be high quality, then once the market is hooked on the product, the quality degrades in difficult-to-notice ways.

      I look at all Amazon reviews with very deep suspicion now. A number of 5-star reviews bears no indication on the quality of the product anymore. You have to watch the "estimated delivery date" like a hawk to make sure that estimated delivery isn't 30 days. Amazon used to be a safe place to mindlessly shop, and if you ordered a well-reviewed product, you were reasonably safe to assume that you wouldn't have a problem. Now I feel like every purchase is "Buyer Beware" and it takes a lot more effort to shop there. Just like Wal-mart.

    4. Re:Amazon is Wal-Mart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd make the point that the site is increasingly top heavy and deceptive. By top heavy, it loads up lots of links to things THEY want you to see but makes it increasingly hard to find the things YOU want to see (like a simple page of reviews, user selectable up to say 100 reviews per page sorted from the lowest to highest - filters suck as you have to iterate between 1-star, 2-star, 3-star, 4-star, 5-star to see things in a bottom up fashion).

      Little things I notice like the UPS tracking number doesn't track to UPS nor does their 'more details' give the details that are available from UPS. It's kind of odd like they want to be where I track that package but their mousetrap is unambiguously worse than UPS. But why not just hyperlink the UPS number so it goes to UPS.com? They have no problem puting a hundred links on a page of shit I don't want to see.

      The front page of the site is beyond useless (loads too much media/fashion crap for my - admiteddly dog-ass slow - atom, fanless PC). I use Duck Duck Go with a "******* !a" search to find stuff fast.

      Their drill down kind of sucks. McMasterCarr is a much better site that lets you see all products quickly (and they hyperlink the UPS tracking numbers). I have some pet peeves there, but they are minimal in comparison.

      All that said, THE BEYOND WORST part of it is the promotion of all the Amazon Prime/media crap. Even just to change your settings, your eyes are assaulted with marketing and areas that have no interest to the person that wants to buy physical STUFF.

      What Amazon really needs is to just have somebody provide an alternative interface to their store. Prime free, you may be interested in free, people who looked here looked here free, et cetera.

      Like Wal*Mart, I don't mind patronizing them ($$$$ ----> there, here ----- STUFF). But that's all I fucking want.

  10. Flame/click bait? by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Invades"? "They want to hook you"? Really?

    How is this different from any other retailer that opens up a shop on or near campus? An "invasion" implies that they're unwelcome interlopers forcing themselves in. If 40% of the packages coming into the school are already being ordered from Amazon, it's more like a significant portion of the student body has invited them in. And invoking the tobacco industry is sleazy sensationalism, and totally un-called for. They're not pushing an addictive and deadly drug onto an unwitting populace. They're providing a more convenient way to buy stuff you'd be buying anyway.

    --
    Imagine all the people...
    1. Re:Flame/click bait? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Invades. Like what a Catholic priest does with his cock to the alter boy's anus.

    2. Re:Flame/click bait? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of college students don't have cars. Not a big deal for NYU students, but a lot of students have to take a city bus to go shopping or walk a really long distance. Amazon is a godsend for them.

  11. Amazon State Campuse ® by khz6955 · · Score: 1

    Remember when college campuses were about advancing education rather then selling product.

  12. We've come full circle by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Putting the "retail" back into "non retail" sales. Seriously wtf - how does this add any value?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:We've come full circle by itsdapead · · Score: 1

      Putting the "retail" back into "non retail" sales. Seriously wtf - how does this add any value?

      Uh, how about the website where you can choose from a massive range of products (beyond the dreams of any old-school mail order catalog, let alone an actual store) and pick them up the next day?

      Sure, you could order books (and not a lot else) from a regular bookstore if you knew exactly what you want and didn't mind paying a premium price and waiting a week or so...

      ...and from Amazon's POV, at a university you've got a large, captive audience of potentially valuable customers, many of whom might otherwise be put off using Amazon because they are living in shared accommodation where it is awkward to get stuff delivered safely (especially, to be fair, by the tender hands of Amazon Logistics and other cut-price couriers spawned by the Internet Shopping age).

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
  13. Great report Cnet! by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    In past news, large department store "Sears" has caused an uproar in the shopping market by actually allowing its shoppers to peruse aisles of goods, allowing them to pick out what they want and put it in a "cart" to bring to the cashier. As you know, we much like the current system of simply telling the clerk what we want, and have them grab the items from the back and then ringing them through.

    One analyst told us "They just want to hook you when you're 20!"


    On a serious note, why is this even an issue? How are they trying to hook anybody? This is fucking 2016. The goddamn 21st century. Is buying shit online at a good rate supposed to be some evil shit? Are we still stuck in this "CONVENIENCE IS BAD" mindset? Fuck off CNet. One analyst might go so far as to say CNet is a dinosaur stuck in dinosaur ways.

  14. BN = Campus Stores, not 'Book' Stores by Potor · · Score: 1

    Barnes and Noble, in my experience, does not run book stores but campus stores.

    Except at the beginning of the semester, there are no books available for sale at my BN-run mid-major store.

    Well, there is an ignored rack of faculty-authored books....

  15. Amazon came into our college (nonfanfic) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazon made headlines when they arrived at our college campus. The guys wanted to work there, buy stuff for their girlfriends, "I got a job" bragging rights.

    Then the drones came.

  16. Success! by Alomex · · Score: 1

    Amazon was going to succeed because it didn't need to have inventory...

    no wait, Amazon will succeed because it only needs one large warehouse...

    no wait, Amazon will succeed because even though it needs many warehouses, it can outsource distribution...

    no wait, Amazon will succeed because even though it needs its own robot distribution network, it will have warehouses in every major city, same day delivery and brick and mortar stores and lounges where you can pick up stuff...

    no wait, Amazon will succeed even though now its just like Walmart because it will compete with Netflix, Azure, and iTunes...

    I'm starting to be just a wee bit skeptical....
     

    1. Re:Success! by ShooterNeo · · Score: 2

      Amazon, by any reasonable metric, IS succeeding. Many of their businesses make more than adequate profit margins (especially their cloud business), and Amazon's business strategy is to grow into as many markets as possible and to take advantage of vertical integration. Amazon is effectively the publisher, the store, and the printing press when they sell you self published books to read on your kindle. They even effectively are the designers of that printing press - they write the Amazon PC software, design the hardware of the kindles, and all the web software and servers.

      Similarly, when they sell groceries, they are both the distributor and the store.

      Having multiple huge warehouses is a compromise - apparently, at their scale, they save more in reduced shipping costs to individual buyers than the losses from having to stock multiple warehouses with the same item pool.

    2. Re:Success! by Alomex · · Score: 1

      LMFTFY

             

      Only on of their businesses make more than adequate profit margins (namely their cloud business)

    3. Re:Success! by ShooterNeo · · Score: 1

      Sort of. Yes, their retail store is basically a Wall Street funded charity, operating at about 3% profit. On the other side of things, Walmart isn't doing any better. Retail is a race to the bottom.

  17. Regulate Amazon and other tech companies. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Begin anti-trust proceedings. They've all become too big for their britches.

  18. Even though they are on campus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rememeber kids , its not tax evasion if you are a Luxembourg company ! check your receipt

  19. Not just Penn State by tmshort · · Score: 1

    I was on a recent college tour with my son. UMass, RIT, Purdue and Penn State all have these centers. They make it very convenient to pick up from and return items to Amazon. They also support textbook rentals. Purdue claims to have had the first Amazon center. Just Google "Amazon @".

    1. Re:Not just Penn State by tmshort · · Score: 1

      Ok, it's UPenn, not Penn State. But this has apparently been around for a while at other schools:

      http://www.wsj.com/articles/am...

  20. Typical conservative/libertarian solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Typical conservative/libertarian solution:

    "So you borrow the latest edition from a friend..."

    Wealth building by externalizing costs to others.

    With friends like you, who needs oligarchs (to screw them)?

    1. Re:Typical conservative/libertarian solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mmm. Somebody just finished their Econ101 class with an A+!

      I bet that line gets lots of polite chuckles in good socialist company!

  21. Typical simplistic understanding of the market. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Typical simplistic understanding of the market.

    Sorry, but competition and market dominance (aka monopoly or monopoly-like power) are supported by a much more complex and labyrinth set of circumstances than just price.

    Get a real economics education before spouting such puerile BS.