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Amazon Just Made Shopping at Whole Foods Cheaper (businessinsider.com)
Whole Foods just got less expensive. From a report: On Monday, the day that Amazon's $13.7 billion acquisition of the grocer went through, prices on certain Whole Foods items immediately dropped. On Friday, Business Insider visited a Whole Foods location in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and checked the prices on 15 items (including a few variations on similar items) mentioned by the companies. The total cost of the basket on Friday -- pre-acquisition -- was $97.76. On Monday, we returned to the Gowanus Whole Foods and checked back in on the same items. This time, the total cost of the 15 items was $75.85. That's a nearly 23% drop in the total cost. Whole Trade Banana: 30 cents (Price dropped to $0.49 a pound from $0.79). Lean Ground Beef: $2 (Price dropped to $4.99 a pound from $6.99). Local Grass-Fed 85% Lean Ground Beef: $4 (Price dropped to $6.99 a pound from $10.99). Four-pack of Organic Avocado: $0 (Price stayed at $6.99 for a pack of four). Hass Avocados: $1.01 (Price dropped to $1.49 each from $2.50) for instance.
They're now within one order of magnitude of the prices at Publix.
Do you have ESP?
I missed the part in the article where it mentioned the new technologies they are utilizing to achieve this price reduction.
Do we really need grocery store slashvertisements?
I understand that Amazon hasn't been profitable for a while. Why would a company with such an ugly statistic slash prices this much? I do not get it!
Given how utterly fucked up your entire premise is, I bet there are a LOT of things you "do not get", mostly related to reality.
Not really, Amazon is really big and very 'horizontal', so there may be abuse of dominant position issues (see second bullet point) starting to appear. Of course, I'm a European so very nearly a socialist by definition, even if right-wing.
Also, I'm expecting (fearing) that all the data and computing fire-power will be used for surge pricing, sooner or later. The stockholders would love it.
They hardly pay taxes where I live, but they do use all our infrastructure, our legal system, benefit from policing etc. etc. so, like Starbucks and the others, they're not my favourite company.
On y va, qui mal y pense!
"Whole Trade Banana: 30 cents, Lean Ground Beef: $2 - that can't be good for neither the environment nor the people nor the animals.
Much better: buy locally produced stuffed"
OK, I'll buy locally produced bananas in Montana, good advice, Sir.
Or, buy the cheapest you can find, because price is intrinsically linked to the number and extent of median processes and it costs less to fly bananas to countries than it does to try to heat greenhouses to grow them in that country.
And then give the difference to Greenpeace or whatever. Or use it to plant your own garden.
Just because you want to save the planet, doesn't mean you need to be a hippie living in a tree.
If food is this cheap, people won't see the value in socialism...
Oh? Well in that case, I suppose the government should stop subsidizing farmers. What's that? You dont know shit about agriculture? Oh my.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
"Whole Trade Banana: 30 cents, Lean Ground Beef: $2 - that can't be good for neither the environment nor the people nor the animals.
Much better: buy locally produced stuffed"
OK, I'll buy locally produced bananas in Montana, good advice, Sir.
Sorry. No banana for you! Local Produce only.
You live in Montana, you're only allowed to eat potatoes and cabbages and things that grow locally. At least you get to eat beef. People in New York City have to eat pigeons.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Total tax rate for average person in the US is lower than most European countries... but not by much.
VAT obviously higher than Sales Tax over here but made up in other ways.
But what do Europeans get for slightly more taxes?
Public Healthcare (lower infant mortality, fewer chronic diseases and high expected lifespan).
Clean-efficient public transport.
More parks and public spaces in urban areas.
All schools properly funded, not just ones in areas with wealthy residents.
Lots... lots... more...
I'd trade slightly higher taxes if it meant the perks that you get in Europe... ... of course, higher taxes in the US means more money to spend on the military, not on anything useful.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
They really should stop subsidizing farmers though. The U.S. spends billions of dollars on farm subsidies that keep prices artificially high while at the same time spending billions of dollars on food stamps because some people can't afford food. It's utter madness to be doing both at the same time. The original justifications for having farm subsidies are no longer relevant and most of the subsidies aren't going to small family farms, but to corporations or those who don't need them.
I eat them because they're delicious.
However, it's pretty hard to find good ones. Avocados are everywhere. Avocados that are worth eating are harder to find when they're in season, and impossible to find out of season.
People in New York City have to eat pigeons.
I believe they're called organic free-range squab there. Only high-end restaurants carry them.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Yes, it is. Specifically monopolies are one of the oldest and best-understood failings of the free market. As soon as you drive the competition out of business, there's no longer a free market, and you reap the rewards of being the only provider. Meanwhile no new competition arises, because everyone knows that the minute they enter the market the monopolist can drop prices long enough to drive you out of business, so trying to compete is just an exercise in throwing away your startup investment, which could have been better spent entering a market not dominated by a monopolist.
Capitalism and the free market are social technologies, not holy edicts. Only a fool ignores their very real failings while clinging to an idealized fantasy.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.