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Amazon Wants To Curb Selling 'CRaP' Items it Can't Profit On, Like Bottled Water and Snacks: Report (wsj.com)
Amazon is rethinking its strategy around some items it sells which it calls internally "Can't realize a profit" -- or "CRaP" for short, according to the Wall Street Journal. From the report: Inside Amazon, the items are known as CRaP, short for "Can't Realize a Profit." Think bottled beverages or snack foods [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. The products tend to be priced at $15 or less, are sold directly by Amazon, and are heavy or bulky and therefore costly to ship -- characteristics that make for thin or nonexistent margins. Now, as Amazon focuses more on its bottom line in addition to its rapid growth, it is increasingly taking aim at CRaP products, according to major brand executives and people familiar with the company's thinking.
In recent months, it has been eliminating unprofitable items and pressing manufacturers to change their packaging to better sell online, according to brands that sell on Amazon and consultants who work with them. One example: bottled water from Coca-Cola Co. Amazon used to have a $6.99 six-pack of Smartwater as the default order on some of its Dash buttons, a small device that allows for automatic reordering with a single press. But in August, after working with Coca-Cola to change how it ships and sells the water, Amazon notified Dash customers it was changing that default item to a 24-pack for $37.20.
In recent months, it has been eliminating unprofitable items and pressing manufacturers to change their packaging to better sell online, according to brands that sell on Amazon and consultants who work with them. One example: bottled water from Coca-Cola Co. Amazon used to have a $6.99 six-pack of Smartwater as the default order on some of its Dash buttons, a small device that allows for automatic reordering with a single press. But in August, after working with Coca-Cola to change how it ships and sells the water, Amazon notified Dash customers it was changing that default item to a 24-pack for $37.20.
Wasn't Amazon trying to get into the grocery delivery business? I can imagine there are lots of items in grocery that would be unprofitable especially when delivery is factored into the cost.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The post office cannot make a profit because what they owe to the previous retirees is too much.
If the post office raises prices such that the can make a profit and pay for the retirees then the lose all of the business to UPS/Fedex because the price is too high compared to their competitors. The reality is they undercharged 20-30 years ago and did not pay for benefits they promised as they were going. If they attempt to pay for the retirees and make a profit, they *WILL* go out of business and will cease to exist or end up getting bailed out by the US government.
It is really the same problem most of the big US corporations have, they promised benefits/pensions in the past and never worried about paying for it then, but now when it comes time to pay for it they cannot as they promised too much and did not save anything for the future costs.
Most of the "very green" people are ideological. In my experience, to the point where there's no real differentiator between "ideology" and "godless religion" like Buddhism.
(Referring to actual Buddhists in Asia rather than the hip Buddhists in the West).
It's the moderately green people that are reasonable and can be convinced via logic and facts. Because they arrived at their position not because they looked for something to replace what seems to be the void in them that would be filled with traditional religious belief throughout most of history of humanity as species. But because they looked for something that would explain changes around them, and how they could be affected by their actions, as individuals or on a collective level.
Unfortunately like on most topics, it's the religious ones that will scream over everyone, making themselves heard and everyone else silent.