Amazon's 1.7 Million Free Bananas 'Disrupting' Local Fruit Economy (consumerist.com)

Amazon has transformed businesses including retailing, filmmaking and data storage. But no one anticipated the bananas. It started with a brainstorm from founder and CEO Jeff Bezos that Amazon should offer everyone near its headquarters -- not just employees -- healthy, eco-friendly snacks as a public service. After considering oranges, Amazon picked bananas, and opened its first Community Banana Stand in late 2015. However, not everyone is pleased with the ecommerce giant's effort. From a report: Although there is no money in Amazon's community banana stands -- where the company has been offering free fruit to both workers and locals in Seattle since 2015 -- the tech giant's largesse is changing the banana landscape for some nearby businesses. [...] Thus far, the company says it's handed out more than 1.7 million free banana, reports The Wall Street Journal. But while many folks are fans of the free bananas, others say it's changing banana consumption in the community: Some workers say it's harder to find bananas at local grocery stores, while nearby eateries have also stopped selling as many banana as they used to.

Comments

I think bananas are the perfect food.

[Anonymous Coward]

They keep for a fairly long time, taste great, and come with their own packaging. When you're done eating, the packaging is also a source of fantastic comic relief if used properly. You also can always get a laugh by running around swinging a banana around and making monkey noises.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[ganjadude]

just be careful not to be called a racist with them

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[justthinkit]

You lead off with "they keep for a fairly long time", yet bananas barely last a week, despite being bought green-yellow.

If you are looking for a perfect food, consider parsley. Keeps two or more weeks, and has ten times the variety of nutrients, including protein.

Even nuts are "more perfect".

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[KiloByte]

Let's assume that parsley indeed has ten times the nutrients as bananas -- it really sounds like a figure of speech. Now, eat a kilogram of bananas. Then 100 grams of parsley. Oops...

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[ProudParanoid]

Bananas have sugar and potassium. Sugar being a minus. So you could buy sea salt for your potassium, and skip the sugar, and be better off than a mainly-bananas-eater.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[hey!]

I log everything I eat... because I'm a data geek. Then one day I noticed I was getting something like only 20% of the potassium I needed. Potassium has a huge number of roles in the body, so being low on it is not good.

So I decided that I'd try to get 100% of the 4700 mg a day you supposedly need, and it's hard. Even supplements typically only contain something like 3% of your RDA. Bananas contain only about 9% of your RDA; even so they're one of the highest potassium common foods. You'd have to eat 11 a day to get the 4700 mg, but that beats taking 33 potassium gluconate pills.

In fact, getting enough potassium is sufficiently tough (and impractical to get through supplementation), you could almost use potassium intake as an overall proxy for dietary quality. I eat a lot of bananas -- typically three or four a day, but I have to eat a huge variety of high potassium foods to hit my target; you can't do it on a single food unless you want to eat ten cups of beans or thirteen cups of yogurt a day. Avocados, when you can get one ripe, are packed with potassium -- almost a thousand gram of it apiece.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[Razed By TV]

Even supplements typically only contain something like 3% of your RDA

For some reason or another, Potassium supplements are restricted to a certain amount. It isn't that it is impractical to put it into a supplement. Somewhere there is a regulation on it (not that I can find it, but I don't accept as coincidence that none of the supplements exceed a certain amount.)

Go on Amazon and search for potassium chloride powder. You can get 227 grams for a little over 7 bucks.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[Anonymous Coward]

I log everything I eat... because I'm a data geek. Then one day I noticed I was getting something like only 20% of the potassium I needed. Potassium has a huge number of roles in the body, so being low on it is not good.

So I decided that I'd try to get 100% of the 4700 mg a day you supposedly need, and it's hard. Even supplements typically only contain something like 3% of your RDA. Bananas contain only about 9% of your RDA; even so they're one of the highest potassium common foods. You'd have to eat 11 a day to get the 4700 mg, but that beats taking 33 potassium gluconate pills.

In fact, getting enough potassium is sufficiently tough (and impractical to get through supplementation), you could almost use potassium intake as an overall proxy for dietary quality. I eat a lot of bananas -- typically three or four a day, but I have to eat a huge variety of high potassium foods to hit my target; you can't do it on a single food unless you want to eat ten cups of beans or thirteen cups of yogurt a day. Avocados, when you can get one ripe, are packed with potassium -- almost a thousand gram of it apiece.

Or the nutritional advice you have to eat 4700mg a day is wrong.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[guises]

Textured vegetable protein. Super cheap, keeps almost indefinitely, easy to prepare (just add water ... and also cook), high in protein, low in fat, high in fiber, environmentally friendly, and it doesn't taste like much on its own so you can make it taste like whatever you want.

Alternative answer: dry dog food. All of the above, plus it's nutritionally complete.

Re: I think bananas are the perfect food.

[guises]

I do not want 0 carbs, and also: that is nonsense. Here is a nutrition label for textured vegetable protein. As you can see: it does have protein, and: it does not have 8 times more carbs than protein.

Where do people get these crazy ideas about nutrition? "Anything vegetable does not have protein."? Where do you think protein comes from initially? Hint: it's not cows.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[drinkypoo]

I cannot digest TVP. A little bit in a burrito makes me urpy. A whole bunch in anything makes me pukey. I can actually detect TVP or tofu in foods by the specific kind of indigestion it gives me, even when I cannot taste it.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[dj245]

I log everything I eat... because I'm a data geek. Then one day I noticed I was getting something like only 20% of the potassium I needed. Potassium has a huge number of roles in the body, so being low on it is not good.

So I decided that I'd try to get 100% of the 4700 mg a day you supposedly need, and it's hard. Even supplements typically only contain something like 3% of your RDA. Bananas contain only about 9% of your RDA; even so they're one of the highest potassium common foods. You'd have to eat 11 a day to get the 4700 mg, but that beats taking 33 potassium gluconate pills.

In fact, getting enough potassium is sufficiently tough (and impractical to get through supplementation), you could almost use potassium intake as an overall proxy for dietary quality. I eat a lot of bananas -- typically three or four a day, but I have to eat a huge variety of high potassium foods to hit my target; you can't do it on a single food unless you want to eat ten cups of beans or thirteen cups of yogurt a day. Avocados, when you can get one ripe, are packed with potassium -- almost a thousand gram of it apiece.

Where are you getting 4700 mg as a RDA? The Mayo clinic says "Because lack of potassium is rare, there is no RDA or RNI for this mineral. However, it is thought that 1600 to 2000 mg (40 to 50 milliequivalents [mEq]) per day for adults is adequate."

Re: I think bananas are the perfect food.

[war4peace]

...sperm?

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[Jason Levine]

Try wrapping the banana stems in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Your bananas will keep longer.

If they do get too ripe, don't throw them away. Peel them and place them in plastic bags in the freezer. From there, you can make them into Banana Peanut Butter ice cream (puree the bananas in a food processor and add a tablespoon of PB - I prefer dark chocolate PB - for each banana, freeze the result) or banana bread.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[PoopJuggler]

They keep for a fairly long time

Uh, no they don't.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[LunaticTippy]

sea salt is close to 100% NaCl. If you're interested in potassium you can buy KCl which is marketed as a "salt substitute"

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[LunaticTippy]

I get a ton of potassium. There are many foods that are high, many higher than bananas: squash, beans, spinach, sweet potato, pomegranate, apricot.

I also use KCl instead of NaCl, and K based baking soda / baking powder

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[WillgasM]

Slow down there, Ray Comfort.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[ThePawArmy]

Great, now I'm banned for life from all safeway stores and must go to court.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[ProudParanoid]

No one eats a kilogram of bananas. Try one, and get 450 mg potassium.

As to that 100 grams of parsley? 554 mg of potassium. Oops.

As to the your 'ten times sounds like a "figure of speech"' slight:
Carbohydrates 6.33 g
Sugars 0.85 g
Dietary fiber 3.3 g
Fat 0.79 g
Protein 2.97 g
Vitamin A equiv.: (53%)
Thiamine (B1): (7%) 0.086 mg
Riboflavin (B2): (8%) 0.09 mg
Niacin (B3): (9%) 1.313 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5): (8%) 0.4 mg
Vitamin B6: (7%) 0.09 mg
Folate (B9): (38%) 152 μg
Vitamin C: (160%) 133 mg
Vitamin E: (5%) 0.75 mg
Vitamin K: (1562%) 1.64 mg


Minerals
Calcium: (14%) 138 mg
Iron: (48%) 6.2 mg
Magnesium: (14%) 50 mg
Manganese: (8%) 0.16 mg
Phosphorus: (8%) 58 mg
Potassium: (12%) 554 mg
Sodium: (4%) 56 mg
Zinc: (11%)


I count twenty items (aside from the sugar ones).

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[KiloByte]

No one eats a kilogram of bananas

Why not? That's just 5-6 bananas. When I buy them, after splitting with the family the usual share is 3 or so, and they get devoured pretty much instantly -- eating a bit more wouldn't even make you engorged.

As to that 100 grams of parsley? 554 mg of potassium. Oops.

What's wrong with a bit of potassium, that's hardly above what you'd get from a bunch of bananas?

On the other hand, you can eat a sprig or two of parsley, but anything more and you'll puke it out.

As to the your 'ten times sounds like a "figure of speech"' slight:
[snip]
I count twenty items (aside from the sugar ones).

Newsflash: bananas do also include all the items you mentioned. They also contain gold, arsenic and plenty of other substances, at well above homeopathic levels.

Comparing the counts is meaningless, you'd have to dig up the equivalent data for bananas, and compare the contents. And take the usual dosage in mind: a serving of bananas is 3 (0.5kg), a serving of parsley is like 5 leaves (won't even trigger a kitchen scale).

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[ProudParanoid]

They also contain gold, arsenic and plenty of other substances,

Nice troll response there. That conveniently ignores the percentages I (wiki) listed for eighteen of the twenty items.

Let's emphasize a few of them, shall we? 53% of the Vitamin A! 38% of the Folate. 160% of the Vitamin C. 48% of the iron one needs in a day.

- - -

BTW, when I said "Oops" regarding the 554 mg of K in parsley, the point I was making (that you missed) was that parsley has *more* K than bananas. Ironically trumping that much vaunted K source.

Re:I think bananas are the perfect food.

[KiloByte]

Yes, you'd get 53% of daily requirement of vitamin A had you consume 100g of parsley. My point is, eating that much is not humanly possible.

We're comparing a condiment you eat in tiny amounts with a fruit typically eaten in bulk.

People are going bananas

[trevc]

Over Amazon giving away bananas. I think they should add one to every Prime order they ship out.

Re:People are going bananas

[Pontiac]

That is the last thing I need. Hey lets chuck a banana in this box with a 30 lb sack of dog food.. SPLAT! or I'll get a giant damn box with nothing but 300 air packs and frickin banana because the my item shipped form a different warehouse than the bananas. At a minimum my cat will enjoy the box.

OMG!

[JMZero]

They just have to stop doing this, then. I mean, it's tragic when any business is harmed in any way - but this is just too far. The banana eatery business is what this country was built on, and I can't imagine the hardships faced by grocers selling less bananas than normal.

God only approves of food consumption if it's part of a legal financial transaction.

Re:OMG!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure about your assertions on God, but it still is part of a legal financial transaction. Amazon is still buying the bananas - just not from the local stores any more, effectively cutting off that part of their revenue supply. It may not be important to you, but then again it's not your revenue that's getting lost....

Re:OMG!

[JMZero]

You free food hippies need to just get out of here: the fact that Amazon has a proper financial relationship with the distributor makes it worse, not better.

Do you really think the distributor wouldn't call it quits if they knew who Amazon was giving the banana to? They're the ones I feel for. Well, and the children who have to live in this neighborhood - what are they going to grow up thinking?

Re:OMG!

[ozduo]

only EVIL commercial gods. The only true god promotes spaghetti!!!!

Re:OMG!

[JMZero]

But of course it's fine to bundle a free browser with your OS...

Jebus yeah, I hear you man - I lived through that era! Kids today don't understand why we have to stay watchful. Stay vigilant.

But you watch - one day, one of these unscrupulous banana companies is going to try giving us a free browser again (that's the pattern through history: banana, bears, beats, browser) - but they won't get me. Je me souviens. I'll be there to say NON!

Re:OMG!

[Jarik C-Bol]

Food items, such as fruit, vegtables, meat, beans, rice, etc are not taxed in WA.

This shows why Government welfare is a naive idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fake supply chains for resources (e.g., 'welfare') ruin real supply chains.

What happens when the fake supply chain decides to close shop, or indeed runs out of resources without anybody realizing it? You get catastrophe.

Foreign aid, welfare, subsidies, etc., all force the local market to build itself around fake infrastructure (look at Walmart, where employees make ends meet with food stamps), and the only way to keep that fake infrastructure going is to keep pouring more resources and transferring more authority to the illusion, until it collapses into chaos and horror (see Venezuela, or any other failed empire, such as the USSR, Rome, Egypt, and anything else you could possibly look at).

the "why we can't have nice things" department

[enjar]

Private company hands out free healthy snacks to anyone who wants one, paying out of their own pocket, as a community service, and people find something to bitch about.

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[Anonymous Coward]

Have they been cited for feeding the homeless yet?

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[kangsterizer]

The problem is that it kills competition with an unfair advantage, even thus in this case this is clearly not Amazon's main reason for doing this (unless they're playing 6D evil chess). This is similar to the monopoly problem.
Step 1: provide service for free, pay users to use it, because you've more money and resources than many countries.
Step 2: wait until all smaller competing businesses collapse as they cannot keep up with you paying people to get free stuff.
Step 3: change the service price to now cost 100x more than during the step 1 period.

Imagine if Amazon did this for all fresh products all the time, then directed people to their Amazon Fresh Prime after all competition collapsed?

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[ark1]

We are talking about a single product here and bananas tend to be loss leaders at supermarkets anyway. 1.7million in a about 18 months thus around $100K per month. A lb is about 2 bananas at a cost of 0.50 per lb -> around $25K/month in sales of bananas potentially taken out of local economy.

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[enjar]

I pay very little for water from my household tap, yet there's an aisle in the supermarket filled with water in plastic bottles, and people buy it all the time. A lot of it comes from municipal taps just like mine.

Also, the local yogurt place could just offer other fruits to put in their yogurt. Also, should Amazon ever try making it to step 3 it's not like redirecting a ship or truck to bring back reasonably priced bananas is going to be impossible.

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[narf0708]

Step 1: provide service for free. ... Step 3: change the service price to now cost 100x more than during the step 1 period.

Something tells me you didn't do the math on this one.

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[psycho12345]

The existing company has already recouped their capital costs and often can draw upon other successful (as in they can stand alone) parts of their business to finance during step 1.

The new player has to establish and pay all the same capital costs as the incumbent, but must now survive long enough to recoup those costs. If they can't, their loans come due and they go bankrupt.

The only way out of this is for another major economic player to finance the new player and by proxy compete with the incumbent, which is venture capital today.

In general, the monopolist will come into being because they possess a unique leverage, either in terms of government backing (crony capitalism), innovation that leads to vastly reduced capital costs, or vastly reduced marginal costs.

The problem with Amazon is they, as a tech firm, possess massively reduced marginal costs (software has almost none).

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[lifeisshort]

Step 3 has this small flaw: when other people observe seemingly large profit opportunity, they will enter the market in droves, which will bring the price down to where it belongs. Amazon is not the only entity on earth with plenty of resources.

P.S. How does one include paragraph break in /. comment anyway?

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[tlhIngan]

We are talking about a single product here and bananas tend to be loss leaders at supermarkets anyway. 1.7million in a about 18 months thus around $100K per month. A lb is about 2 bananas at a cost of 0.50 per lb -> around $25K/month in sales of bananas potentially taken out of local economy.

It's less about the free bananas and more about unintended side effects.

First, Amazon gives away free bananas. Great for everyone. But it also means local shops won't want to carry them - why woiuld people buy them if they can get them for free?

This has a follow on effect - local shops can't buy bananas. Presumably, Amazon is only giving them to people, and if you want to buy 10 bunches for the day's usage as an ingredient, you can't. This, coupled with the first point means local shops cannot buy the bananas they need without having to shop outside the local area or finding a non-local distributor (local distributors, noting the lack of banana demand, also stop carrying bananas).

Generally speaking, the non-local distributor will charge more, so either the shop charges more for banana-containing products, or stops carrying them.

And the end result is a lot of shops simply stopped carrying them. Where once you could add a banana to your smoothie, it's not an option anymore. Or if you wanted a banana split,. also gone off the menu unless you pay up.

That's the real problem - it distorts the local market and now everyone got screwed over. All for a simple banana.

As for bottled water, most people are too stupid to realize it's just bottled tap water, or they assume because they bottle it, they "process" it in some way. (Granted, there are a few that aren't bottled tap water - Evian, Perrier and the like actually do come from the sources and are imported. They also cost a lot more, unsurprisingly).

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[LunaticTippy]

When I was in seattle a few months ago I saw bananas everywhere that I normally see bananas. Grocery stores, convenience stores, hotel breakfasts, smoothie shops, tiki bars even.

I'm not disputing the fact that 1.7m bananas or whatever it is will affect the local market, but as far as I could tell as a tourist everything was working fine for bananas.

Re:the "why we can't have nice things" department

[LunaticTippy]

I use html -

at the end of a line will give you a new paragraph. a single
gives new line. There are other ways.

Money in the banana stand?

[Tom Veil]

"Although there is no money in Amazon's community banana stands"

That's ridiculous. There's always money in the banana stand.

Re:Money in the banana stand?

[E-Rock]

Where are my mod points when I need them?!

Re:Money in the banana stand?

[mydn]

+1

Re:Money in the banana stand?

[pointybits]

Was expecting this to be closer to the top.

Re:Money in the banana stand?

[gregarican]

Reminds me of a joke I heard as a kid. That a clown told me outside of a tent at our county fair.

"Who was the first carpenter?"

"Eve. She made Adam's banana stand."

It took me about a week to understand the joke. But I was only like 9 years old and looking back I shouldn't have been hanging with a old clown smoking a cigar that was telling dirty jokes behind a fair tent...

Re:Money in the banana stand?

[LunaticTippy]

It's possible not getting the joke is why you weren't pursued any further by pedo the clown.

Bananas are not deer

[Quirkz]

As in, the plural requires an S. I counted at least two instances of "banana" used as the plural. What else about this report is half-assed and slapdash?

Re:Bananas are not deer

[Quirkz]

How is this redundant? I've read every comment on the page and nobody else has mentioned the weird plurals/typo issue yes.

Re:Bananas are not deer

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of people here don't actually know what "redundant" means.

A lot of people here don't actually know what "redundant" means.

Re:Bananas are not deer

[Quirkz]

Hah! Well played.

Knock Knock

[slomike1]

Knock Knock ... Who's there??? Banana... Banana Who...

Re:Knock Knock

[Snard]

(repeat at least 2 more times) Knock knock ... Who's there? Orange ... Orange who? Orange you glad I didn't say Banana again?

Re:Knock Knock

[bickerdyke]

Now try to get this out of your head....

Re:Wow

[ShanghaiBill]

Also, free air disrupts the sale of bottled oxygen.
Free water from drinking fountains disrupts the sales from nearby soda machines.
The sun disrupts the sales of light bulbs.

Yes - we have no ...

[VikingNation]

Bananas...

Harry Chapin's 30,000 pounds of Bananas

[cyberchucktx]

All:

When I saw the headline of this article I immediately thought of Harry Chapin's song

30,000 pounds of bananas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfFM4Ilt4Rs

Lyrics here:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/30000-pounds-of-bananas-lyrics-harry-chapin.html

Opening stanza:

It was just after dark when the truck started down
The hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.
Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas.

Re:Harry Chapin's 30,000 pounds of Bananas

[Quirkz]

That's a classic. It's been too long since I listened to the Verities and Balderdash album, I'm reminded.

TANSTAAFL

[dgatwood]

They just have to stop doing this, then. I mean, it's tragic when any business is harmed in any way - but this is just too far. The banana eatery business is what this country was built on, and I can't imagine the hardships faced by grocers selling less bananas than normal.

I can't wait to see your face when you find out about Google's free lunches. :-D

Re:Wow

[Frosty Piss]

Also, free air disrupts the sale of bottled oxygen.
Free water from drinking fountains disrupts the sales from nearby soda machines.
The sun disrupts the sales of light bulbs.

* Air is not just oxygen, oxigen is not air.
* Drinking water is not soda.
* The sun does not penetrate my mom's basement.

You fail.

Re:This shows why Government welfare is a naive id

[Opportunist]

Yeah, it will get a lot harder to "sell" those jobs where you break your back for pennies.

Here, allow me to play the world's tiniest violin for you.

Re:Wow

[nobuddy]

* The sun does not penetrate my mom's basement.

but everyone else has.

Wrong product to give away!

[uncqual]

Amazon should instead give out Nutraloaf. It provides most of a person's nutritional needs and no local businesses will complain as few, if any, sell it (although some government agencies also give it away to selected individuals so Amazon might face some competition there if they are not careful when selecting their distribution channels).

Re:Wrong product to give away!

[drinkypoo]

Bananas are stupid cheap for various typical reasons, most of which involve taking advantage of brown people. How much is Nutraloaf(tm)?

Re:Wow

[stephenmac7]

Yes, the sun does disrupt sale of lighting equipment. That does not mean we ban it.

"Banana landscape"

[trash eighty]

When you are able to include "banana landscape" in some published copy you can go home with a smile on your face.

Re: Basic Income is Bananas

[EricTDuckman1414]

Funny how people born wealthy seem to lead fulfilling lives without the need to scramble for a living to provide them with meaning and purpose.

This shit is bananas ...

[NoSalt]

B - A - N - A - N - A - S