Amazon Wants To Curb Selling 'CRaP' Items it Can't Profit On, Like Bottled Water and Snacks: Report (wsj.com)

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Amazon Wants To Curb Selling 'CRaP' Items it Can't Profit On, Like Bottled Water and Snacks: Report (wsj.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Monday December 17, 2018 @03:31AM from the tough-luck dept.

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.

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Bottled water... by b0s0z0ku · 2018-12-17 03:37 · Score: 4, Interesting

I don't get it -- much of the US outside of places like Flint, MI already has a reliable water delivery system. Trucking it in via tiny bottles is pretty silly.
1. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-17 03:39 · Score: 1
  
  Bottled water even in places where tap water is perfectly drinkable to the point where water being bottled is taken straight from the tap and ran through a simple filtering system that doesn't really do anything is extremely profitable because of marketing.
  So it's sold.
  That said, in places where tap water is of too low quality to drink, there's a genuine market for bottled water.
2. Re:Bottled water... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 03:47 · Score: 1
  
  Ironically, I've met many very "green" people who insist on bottled. I'm not surprised Amazon is doing this. But for cloud, they are barely profitable. Now that they practically own internet retail, profit is going to become centerstage.
3. Re:Bottled water... by Tomahawk · 2018-12-17 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  I too find bottled water very confusing. We have potable water being pumped into our homes, and here (in Ireland) there were riots when the Government introduced water charges (which the Government eventually backtracked on). Yet people here still buy bottled water!
  To put this in context, the water charges were something like 3.3c (that's €0.033) per 1000 litres of water.
  A 500ml bottle of water is typically about €1. So for the cost of buying a single 500ml bottle of water you would have paid for over 30,000 litres of water from the tap. That's enough drinking water for 10,000 people for a day, or enough drinking water for 83 people for an entire year.
  So, yeah, the mind boggles when I see people so every so casually spending money on bottled water.
4. Re: Bottled water... by KixWooder · 2018-12-17 04:22 · Score: 1
  
  Tap water taste different deepening on where you are, same as anything else. My water company's water taste completely different than the one a town over from me.
  
  --
  I hate fat people.
5. Re:Bottled water... by bluefoxlucid · 2018-12-17 04:23 · Score: 1
  
  I need you to send written expert testimony to my State legislature, as I'm proposing we eliminate the water and sewage charge. We've been force-selling people's houses as the charge increases, and I believe a 0.11% income tax would cover the reasonable use load. I need information about anywhere already doing this.
  
  --
  Support my political activism on Patreon.
6. Re:Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 04:32 · Score: 1
  
  It's not always about health. Sometimes it's literally a matter of taste.
  At least where we live now, we have a large quantity of naturally occurring sodium in our ground water. When combined with the chlorination of the water treatment system, the result is tap water with an excessively salty taste. As in, it ruins what would otherwise be perfectly good tea or coffee and can affect cooking recipes to a lesser degree. Put simply, it isn't at all pleasant to drink by itself unless it's been filtered several additional times or you dump additional flavoring into it (e.g. I'll always order water with lemon or lime when we eat out, just to mask the flavor of the water). It's perfectly safe to drink, of course, but the taste of it...blech.
  Mind you, I grew up drinking water straight from the tap as we moved from Los Angeles to Palm Beach to Houston by the time I was 16, so I'm not picky about my water needing to taste a particular way. Whether it's collected on the second Tuesday after the vernal equinox from the shavings of an Alaskan glacier or "collected" from a rubber hose behind a seedy industrial park, it's generally fine by me...so long as that hose is attached to a tap at least 100 miles from where I live. Anywhere else I go, I'm happy to drink water straight from the tap, but we rely on drinking the cheapest stuff they sell at the store at home, which was almost certainly filledfrom the aforementioned rubber hose. We do use a Brita-filtered pitcher for the water we use in our tea and coffee, since it does a good enough job at taking the edge off, but for drinking water by itself, the taste here just isn't something we've ever been able to get used to and I honestly can't be bothered to set up a more advanced filtration system, so simply as a matter of taste, I'm sadly one of those suckers who buys bottled water.
7. Re:Bottled water... by DogDude · 2018-12-17 04:36 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  And of course, each of those water bottles that you use is going to be around on the planet for thousands of years. That's a tremendous amount of environmental damage you're creating for no good reason.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
8. Re:Bottled water... by aaarrrgggh · 2018-12-17 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  Pretty sure you are wrong on the cloud margins; it might not be cash-flow positive due to reinvestment, but I understand it generates significant and growing profit in absolute terms.
  As for bottled water... they should push for water filters and refillable bottles. Filtering things like heavy metals is very easy, and RO will get just about anything else out. Add a mineral bed for post-treatment and you have great water with minimal shipping costs. (Pump your concentrate/reject water from the RO system back to your hot water tank or to the garden.)
9. Re:Bottled water... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  I was going to ask for a source on your "most municipalities... [have] poor quality water", given that it's highly regulated. But then I expanded the rest of your post, and saw that you're a hypochondriac in the same vein as people "allergic" to wifi, and realized it would be pointless.
10. Re:Bottled water... by DNS-and-BIND · 2018-12-17 04:47 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  It's a class marker. People do it to distinguish themselves from the flyover morons. Drinking tapwater marks you as deplorable. You really make so little you can't afford Evian? Bet you drive a pickup truck, too.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
11. Re:Bottled water... by Fly+Swatter · 2018-12-17 04:49 · Score: 1
  
  The soda companies pretty much market all the bottled water, they simply switched to something cheaper to manufacture. They had existing distribution channels and an advertising department very familiar with selling useless products.
  
  They used their leverage as a soda company to create a market for bottled water.
  
  I remember in the 80s every grocery store used to have an entire aisle of soda, one side was two liters and the other 6 packs of cans. Now you go into a store and it's maybe 1/4 soda and 3/4 bottled water in that same aisle. Did they adapt to changing times, or are they just that good at selling a blind man glasses?
12. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-17 05:01 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  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.
13. Re:Bottled water... by thegarbz · 2018-12-17 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  So, yeah, the mind boggles when I see people so every so casually spending money on bottled water.
  I know right! Last time I went hiking people looked at me like some kind of weirdo when I simply held my backpack under the tap so I could take some with me.
  Ok that post was only 50% sarcasm, my backpack had a water bladder inside it.
14. Re: Bottled water... by phantomfive · 2018-12-17 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  If it goes into a landfill, the environmental impact is basically zero. It's only a problem if it somehow gets into the ocean and starts floating around. It's not actually going to cause problems for a thousand years.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
15. Re:Bottled water... by urusan · 2018-12-17 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  Trucking it in via tiny bottles is very silly, but I drink mostly "bottled" water.
  Where I live the water is extremely gross to drink, even though I'm fairly sure it's safe to drink. We use our tap water freely in any situations where taste doesn't matter, like cooking (the taste of the water is overwhelmed by the taste of the food), showers, washing things, etc. It's so bad tasting that I am willing to pay extra to get less terrible tasting water.
  However, individually packaged bottled water is still extremely stupid even in this situation. Why? Because we have several 5 gallon jugs that we cycle through, and get them refilled at the grocery store. The water out of their machine is incredibly tasty and only costs $0.39/gallon. Even at a gallon per person per day, it's only $11.86/month per person. Although this is outrageously expensive compared to tap water ($0.01/gallon locally, or $0.30/month per person), this premium is definitely worth it to me. It's definitely much better cost-wise than bottled water, which in disposable 1 gallon jugs is around $1/gallon ($30/month per person) and in disposable bottles it's around $6.30/gallon ($189/month per person).
  You don't need an expensive dispenser machine to get started doing this, I just bought a manual water pump that attaches to the top of the jug and pumps the water out with a few presses of my hand. It's inexpensive, portable, and requires minimal maintenance. I also bought proper reusable dew caps for the jugs, instead of the expendable ones they try to sell you in stores, so the jugs and caps basically last forever, only needing to be washed out every once in a while.
  It's also relatively good for the environment. Unlike the disposable options, it doesn't produce a ton of plastic. I'm pretty sure the grocery store is able to produce the water very cheaply and so these machines are pretty much pure profit for them, hence why they still have them instead of trying to get you to buy their even more expensive bottled water options. I don't know exactly what kind of filters they use (I think it's based on reverse osmosis), but the disposable parts are probably based on carbon.
  I looked into running my own filtration machine (not the little filters that don't really do anything, but the real deal), and it's even more cost effective, at least a quarter the cost of buying it from the store, even at the small scale I would have been operating it at. I bought a high quality gravity-based machine (good for camping), and the problem with it is that the water tastes terrible using that option as well (I think it's removing too much, so there's no remaining tasty minerals). If I owned a house in an area with crappy water and had higher water demand, I'd probably install a full-scale reverse osmosis filter, just like the store has. As long as I'm renting though, the extra cost of buying the water at the store and the inconvenience of lugging it home is just fine.
  One last side note: it is nice having an emergency water supply. I usually have about 4-8 days of good quality water on hand. If there were ever a serious outage, we would hardly be impacted by the situation. We wouldn't need to start boiling our water, we would just avoid the use of tap water for a while.
  tl;dr Don't buy individually bottled water! There's so many better options, even if you want bottled water.
16. Re:Bottled water... by jellomizer · 2018-12-17 05:54 · Score: 1
  
  Where I live we have PFOA leaking into our water system, even well water is affected. While the state has put in water purifiers the population still really doesn't trust it.
  That and a lot of the water from wells, has a lot of minerals smells like rotten eggs (sulfer) and tastes like crap.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
17. Re: Bottled water... by PastTense · 2018-12-17 05:55 · Score: 2
  
  What happens is that you get used to the taste when you are drinking it constantly. You go to a different city with different tasting water--and that tastes funny.
18. Re:Bottled water... by TimMD909 · 2018-12-17 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  It's a class marker. People do it to distinguish themselves from the flyover morons. Drinking tapwater marks you as deplorable. You really make so little you can't afford Evian? Bet you drive a pickup truck, too.
  When it costs $80 to fill up the tank, I'd not want to spend money on Evian either. Then again, I don't think either is a wise choice. That's why I drive a go-kart around (i.e. Nissan Sentra).
19. Re:Bottled water... by jellomizer · 2018-12-17 06:07 · Score: 1
  
  Well I live in an area where PFOA have been polluting the water supply for decades. And this Highly Regulated system, just ignored it. Until a citizen realized that a lot of his neighbors were getting cancer, and did the study himself.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
20. Re:Bottled water... by tlhIngan · 2018-12-17 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  I too find bottled water very confusing. We have potable water being pumped into our homes, and here (in Ireland) there were riots when the Government introduced water charges (which the Government eventually backtracked on). Yet people here still buy bottled water!
  To put this in context, the water charges were something like 3.3c (that's â0.033) per 1000 litres of water.
  A 500ml bottle of water is typically about â1. So for the cost of buying a single 500ml bottle of water you would have paid for over 30,000 litres of water from the tap. That's enough drinking water for 10,000 people for a day, or enough drinking water for 83 people for an entire year.
  So, yeah, the mind boggles when I see people so every so casually spending money on bottled water.
  It's all marketing. Because most bottled water is simply local tap water! Sure they "filter it and stuff" but in general it's the same stuff that comes out of the tap.
  As a result, the profits on it are huge - a bottle of water costing maybe $1 really only costs around $0.02 all in - the actual water cost from the tap is basically nothing of that (it's all in the warehousing and distribution that costs the couple of pennies).
  And what do you do with those profits? Spend it on advertising of course.
  And to increase the silliness, a bottle of water can cost more than the equivalent in gas.
21. Re: Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 06:42 · Score: 2
  
  The last time I was in Europe, the tap water tasted horrible. Then I hopped on a train to a different part of Europe, and suddenly the tap water tasted fine. I, like you, had assumed that all water in a large region tastes exactly the same. Imagine my shock to discover that the water in one place tastes different than the water in a different place!
  </sarcasm>
  Likewise, given that the US is several thousand miles across, and that depending on where you're located you may be dealing with deserts, glaciers, mountains, tropics, forests, prairies, urban centers, or more, you might find that the water tastes different from place to place. Everywhere else I've lived (Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts), it's been fine. Where I'm at now, it's terrible when it comes to flavor. It's perfectly safe to drink, of course, but it's salty as all get out, enough to ruin tea and coffee. Just depends on where you live. *shrug*
22. Re:Bottled water... by GuB-42 · 2018-12-17 06:47 · Score: 1
  
  Tap water that tastes like crap is a good reason for buying bottled water.
  And it won't make a "tremendous amount of environmental damage" if disposed of properly.
  The problem with bottled water is that because of aggressive marketing, some people are persuaded that bottled water is healthier when it is not. It is indeed a problem. But blaming someone for drinking bottled water after making a personal choice is going too far.
  What's next? Criticizing people for taking daily showers. Latest research seem to consider that daily showers for people with a sedentary lifestyle actually do more harm than good when it comes to health. Even worse, people take hot showers more than 5 minute long, just because they enjoy it, how unthinkable.
  It is good to be mindful of the environment, but refusing comfort as basic as good tasting water just to save a bit of gas and recyclable plastic is counter-productively extreme. I say counter-productive because there are probably many other areas where you could be environmentally friendlier without negatively affecting your confort. Maybe you are heating parts of the house that don't need heating, maybe you need to fix that dripping faucet, maybe you have a bad habit of letting food spoil, maybe you are using too much soap, ... There are no negatives to addressing these issues, and you do it before even thinking about things that affect your confort.
23. Re:Bottled water... by OrangeTide · 2018-12-17 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  if you've ever tried to bottle your own water you'll know that:
  1. it doesn't keep fresh that long
  2. TSA won't let you take filled bottles past the security checkpoint
  Packing a bottle of water in a gym bag or sack lunch is about convenience. It has nothing to do with the perceived safety of tap water.
  
  --
  “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
24. Re: Bottled water... by OrangeTide · 2018-12-17 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  Chlorine is not very appealing, but I like the taste of cholera and legionnaires' disease less.
  Fun fact, charcoal filters can harbor legionnaires' disease if left in warm conditions for long periods of time. You can change them more frequently than every year, or keep the filter in the fridge. (dying the filter between uses tends to ruin its effectiveness, so it's not a practical option)
  
  --
  “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
25. Re: Bottled water... by DogDude · 2018-12-17 07:34 · Score: 1
  
  There's the wasted energy that goes into making that plastic bottle. And of course, the toxic chemicals that must be used to make it aren't good. And the oil that went into that plastic bottle won't be usable by humans likely ever again. There's no upside to it, for sure, but there are certainly downsides.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
26. Re: Bottled water... by phantomfive · 2018-12-17 07:41 · Score: 1
  
  How much wasted energy? You don't know, you have no idea. Your problem is you don't like them, so you imagine reasons for them to be bad. That's why you come up with ridiculous ideas like bottles in landfills are hurting the environment.
  
  Instead of trying to support your ideas, attack them: that is the scientific way.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
27. Re: Bottled water... by viperidaenz · 2018-12-17 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  Can't you just boil the filter every now and then to kill anything growing in it?
28. Re:Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 08:24 · Score: 1
  
  And of course, each of those water bottles that you use is going to be around on the planet for thousands of years. That's a tremendous amount of environmental damage you're creating for no good reason.
  If a desire to drink something that doesn't taste like salt water isn't a "good reason" to you, I'd suggest that you've valued dogmatism more than you've valued having a proper regard towards your fellow man.
  I'm not a "I don't get what the big deal is" person. I'm not a "I simply must have water from a spring-fed river" person. I'm a "I hate getting bottled water, but see no reasonable alternative" person, which should have been clear from my previous post. I'm already avoiding bottled water where I can (e.g. using filtered water for coffee and tea), but I see no way to avoid it when it comes drinking plain water, since Brita simply isn't doing enough. If you actually had any interest in the cause you're espousing, you'd have jumped at the opportunity to help someone like me get over the sorts of hurdles I'm describing, since the only thing keeping me from joining your side is an awareness of a means to reasonably do so! As best I can figure, however, your goal in posting was simply to stoke yourown ego with a self righteous proclamation at my expense.
  Congratulations. It was a great success.
  Again, I would gladly drink tap water here at home—just like I do everywhere else and just like I have for the rest of my life—if I knew how to make it tolerable. I'm aware of the environmental problems with bottled water (aside: does recycling not exist where you live?). I'm aware that even at just $0.10/bottle for the stuff we buy, it's still orders of magnitude more expensive than what we get from the tap. Despite that, it's still our best option when it comes to plain water. If our tap water tasted anything like it does 50-100 miles in any direction, we'd be drinking it. If it tasted anything like it does literally anywhere else that I've ever lived or visited in my life, we'd be drinking it. But it doesn't. Our water here tastes bad, really bad, and that situation hasn't changed in the 16 years that I've been here. The locals all talk about it. The transient students and workers all talk about it. The professors at the university talk openly about it in class and even discuss its causes. It's a well-known problem that everyone here is aware of, but the municipality hasn't chosen to take whatever steps would be necessary to address it on their end.
  Give me suggestions to address the issue on my end and I'll consider them, but don't expect a gracious response if you insist on unhelpfully beating people up with the mantra that "bottles are bad" without even trying to show the slightest bit of regard towards the hurdles in their way.
29. Re: Bottled water... by registrations_suck · 2018-12-17 08:25 · Score: 1
  
  I wish I lived in one of those places.
30. Re: Bottled water... by OrangeTide · 2018-12-17 09:03 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe you could, if the plastics holding the filter are heat safe. I'm not sure it's worth while to try.
  If you bake it in a hot oven and completely dry it, it will drive off volatile compounds the carbon has absorbed and extend its life further while at the same time making it sterile.
  
  --
  “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
31. Re:Bottled water... by b0s0z0ku · 2018-12-17 09:34 · Score: 1
  
  Empty bottles, fill at a drinking fountain or soda fountain once you go through the TSA smurfpoint. Or I've just taken full ones and dumped them if they bitched about it (maybe 25% of the time). Rules are meant to be broken :)
32. Re: Bottled water... by DogDude · 2018-12-17 09:42 · Score: 1
  
  It uses more water to mine the oil and other chemicals needed to make and ship a plastic bottle than it does to move a bit more pressurized water through already existing pipes. I don't know how much, but definitely more. That's all I need to know to say that it wastes energy. It does. It's science. Deal with it, snowflake.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
33. Re: Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 09:49 · Score: 1
  
  If you're willing to ignore the upsides that people have repeatedly cited in this thread and in response to you, then sure, plastic bottles are nothing but downside. But why stop at plastic bottles, when—once you're willing to ignore upsides—there are much bigger targets for your concern?
  I trust that you're walking around naked so as to avoid contributing to the wasted energy used in the production of fibers (e.g. raising sheep/llamas/spiders, synthesizing polyester, etc.), manufacturing of cloth (e.g. spinning wheels, looms, etc.), assembly of clothing (e.g. sewing machines, presses, A/C for the workers, etc.). And of course, the toxic chemicals that must be used to make them (e.g. glues, dyes, softeners, etc.) that aren't good. And the oil that went into that polyester/buttons/batting won't be usable by humans likely ever again. There's no upside to clothes, for sure, but there are certainly downsides.
  Likewise, I trust that you avoid making use of transportation, public or otherwise, since there's a lot of wasted energy that goes into making cars and trains, as well as making them move uselessly from place to place. And of course the toxic chemicals that must be used to make them and make them move aren't good. And the oil that went into that gasoline/chassis/wire insulation won't be usable by humans likely ever again. There's no upside to transportation, for sure, but there are certainly downsides.
  And let's not even talk about what a waste of resources electronics are. They're nothing but plastics, rare earth metals, third world mines, and bad factory conditions. Right? Bad all around, no upsides at all! You're personally killing the planet by using or owning electronics, no exceptions, no redemption.
  Or, perhaps some of us are rational human beings with reasons for the actions we take (reasons which we've even explained to you). Perhaps some of us have even given significant thought and consideration to our decisions and make a point of seeking out responsible producers and manufacturers, inasmuch as we're able to do so. Perhaps some of us recognize upsides that you seem incapable of acknowledging, which drive us to make different choices than you do. Perhaps some of us would love for the math to work out differently in our situations, but we acknowledge the reality of the situations we face, rather than falling back on a hardline ideology that falls apart once you try to apply it outside of the hypothetical, frictionless vacuum in which it was conceived. Perhaps some of us think that you would immediately cave on your stance too if you faced the situations we're facing.
  Perhaps.
  But hey, it's a good thing that choices other than the ones we make have no upsides, right? We wouldn't want to have to weigh matters or give alternative points of view any actual thought!
34. Re:Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 09:58 · Score: 1
  
  Oh, Heaven forbid you have something cross your palette that is less than perfect. I'm sorry you're so delicate. I drink tap water that tastes like chlorine, but I deal with it, because my precious, precious taste buds aren't as important as my contribution to cancer all over the world due to increased externalities from a plastic bottle.
  My suggestion is: suck it up.
  Thanks for proving everything I said about you true:
  
  If a desire to drink something that doesn't taste like salt water isn't a "good reason" to you, I'd suggest that you've valued dogmatism more than you've valued having a proper regard towards your fellow man.
  
  If you actually had any interest in the cause you're espousing, you'd have jumped at the opportunity to help someone like me get over the sorts of hurdles I'm describing
  Telling someone to suck it up does nothing to help the environment. If you actually cared about the environment, you'd do better than that, since I actually want to be doing better, but see no way to do so myself. Stop being a condescending prick and actually do something to help the cause you say you support.
35. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-17 10:09 · Score: 1
  
  I'm saddened by how you removed context to make that critique. Did I hurt your feelings so much that you had to tear my argument down regardless of merits of it?
36. Re:Bottled water... by grep+-v+'.*'+* · 2018-12-17 10:22 · Score: 1
  
  Errr: Yes, yes, and yes. But then again I've never considered myself to be Hip, Elite, or Cool. Ever.
  
  I'm just happy if I'm wearing a shirt and pants on when I go outside, never mind looking like the fashion of the month. (It seems my neighbors and the police are usually happier when I remember both of them though.)
  
  --
  If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
37. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-17 10:27 · Score: 1
  
  If your water actually tastes metallic to such a great degree, it's probably not safe to drink in the first place.
  YMMV obviously, and placebo/nocebo effect is a problem of its own.
38. Re:Bottled water... by DogDude · 2018-12-17 10:40 · Score: 1
  
  I do my part. I'm actually studying to be a biologist, so I know how badly I am damaging the environment in many different ways, and I do as many things as possible to ameliorate it. Some of those things make me more uncomfortable than if I were to just indulge in what most people do. I'm not asking for a cookie for it, and I'm not encouraging others to follow my lead.
  
  The Earth is fucked as a habitat for humans largely because people don't really give a shit to inconvenience themselves to do anything about it. I have no interest in trying to convince you or anybody else to make yourself be the slightest bit uncomfortable on order to help others. Best of luck. If you need somebody to pat your head and rub your tummy so that you don't have to buy those awful water bottles, then quite frankly, fuck you. You're not only part of the problem, but representative of the worst of the problem. Buy all the water bottles you want. Buy extras, and just throw them in the trash, for all I care.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
39. Re:Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 10:54 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not encouraging others to follow my lead.
  Why the hell not? I discourage people from following my lead when it comes to bottles. Sure, I'll explain my reasoning, but I'll just as quickly explain to people that my reasoning almost certainly doesn't apply to their situation, since I've never tasted water this bad anywhere else.
  
  I have no interest in trying to convince you or anybody else to make yourself be the slightest bit uncomfortable on order to help others.
  You don't have to. I already said I'm inconveniencing myself, gave examples of it, and indicated a willingness to do even more, if only I knew how to do so in a reasonable way. I hate the bottles, but I don't see an alternative. Perhaps, in your efforts to do better, you've become aware of filtration systems that would help my situation? Or ways to buy water from elsewhere in bulk that don't involve plastic? I'm all ears. Really.
  
  If you need somebody to pat your head and rub your tummy
  Doubling down on the role of condescending prick, I see?
40. Re:Bottled water... by OrangeTide · 2018-12-17 11:27 · Score: 1
  
  Empty bottles, meaning you aren't filling them with tap water at home. original points stand.
  
  --
  “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
41. Re:Bottled water... by sarren1901 · 2018-12-17 11:51 · Score: 1
  
  If they were really green they would buy a reusable water bottle. We buy drinking and cooking water from a local water store and refill our water bottles. What really pushed me was the sheer amount of plastic waste we were generating.
  I do what I can to be sustainable and green but it can be quite disheartening. From plastic bottles to SUVs to single use anything. It's all wasteful and its cost more too.
42. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-17 11:59 · Score: 1
  
  It would be indeed. Which is why I said no such thing. You're cutting words out of what I said to change the context into a completely different meaning.
  Which is why I find it sad that you're doubling down on your misrepresentation of what I said to such a gross degree.
43. Re: Bottled water... by sarren1901 · 2018-12-17 12:04 · Score: 1
  
  Don't forgot the wasted energy to truck the extra trash to the dump or the extra energy used to recycle the water bottle if it was separated ahead of time. That water bottle that should not exist definitely waste lots of energy just so a company can profit at the expense of your environment.
44. Re:Bottled water... by sarren1901 · 2018-12-17 12:14 · Score: 1
  
  Why isn't buying a reusable water bottle an option? For what you spend on cases of water, you could likely buy water from a water store in 3-5 gallon refillable containers.
  I'm able to buy 80 gallons of water for $20 across the street from where I live. I go over, fill up my 5 gallon water bottle and then we have good quality water for drinking and cooking. If you don't cook with it, how long would 80 gallons of water last?
  If you were to buy $20 of water bottles, you probably only get about 5 cases on a super cheap sale (includes CRV). Or in other words, a bit less then 16 gallons of water AND you produce a ton of plastic waste.
  It's a great option for better water and less waste and you save money.
45. Re: Bottled water... by Xenx · 2018-12-17 13:11 · Score: 1
  
  To be perfectly fair, you already said you aren't setting up a filtration system at your house and instead opt for bottled water. Unless you're renting, that is on you. The way it was worded implies you have the option to, and just don't. A water filtration system, while not cheap, is not prohibitively expensive. Plus, it would pay for itself in a relatively short amount of time.
  
  Now, I'm not trying to single you out for your choice. While bottled water specifically isn't my thing, I have my own wasteful vices. I only have issue with what you classify as a reasoned excuse for drinking bottled water.
46. Re:Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 18:15 · Score: 1
  
  Water store? Honestly ignorant here, since that isn’t something I’ve ever heard of. The closest thing I know of are water delivery services that deliver those large tanks of spring water to your home. I did some quick searching, but I don’t seem to know what I’m looking for, since the results I found didn’t look too fruitful. Could I get a link?
  But yes, refillable, large containers would be my idea of an ideal solution if I knew where to get them filled with water from somewhere else. I wasn’t aware that that might actually even be a thing, so I’d love more info.
47. Re: Bottled water... by Anubis+IV · 2018-12-17 18:25 · Score: 1
  
  A very fair point, and yes, that’s on me. My understanding was that they were prohibitively expensive when done at the whole-home level and that they require regular maintenance as well, hence my statement that I couldn’t be bothered. If you’re suggesting they may actually be cost effective, however, it’s something worth revisiting, since it’s entirely possible that I am either wrong or misinformed about their costs.
  And it’s also worth saying: thanks for keeping me honest by calling me out on my apparent hypocrisy. Comments like yours here are what I appreciate most about this site.
48. Re:Bottled water... by mrclevesque · 2018-12-18 01:52 · Score: 1
  
  "Referring to actual Buddhists in Asia rather than the hip Buddhists in the West"
  False dichotomy ?
49. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-18 04:01 · Score: 1
  
  Notice that one word that you put back into the quote that was missing from his statement.
50. Re:Bottled water... by mrclevesque · 2018-12-18 11:15 · Score: 1
  
  I quoted your statement, this one:
  https://slashdot.org/comments....
  It reads like a false dichotomy, if you don't agree I'm curious why.
51. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-18 13:27 · Score: 1
  
  So you didn't notice the removal of the key word in that reply?
  Ok.
52. Re: Bottled water... by Rande · 2018-12-18 20:28 · Score: 1
  
  If you can smell the chlorine, then the water isn't clean.
53. Re:Bottled water... by mrclevesque · 2018-12-19 02:21 · Score: 1
  
  "So you didn't notice the removal of the key word in that reply?"
  No, I'm not sure what comment your talking about, maybe you could link to it and clarify what word you think he left out.
54. Re:Bottled water... by Luckyo · 2018-12-19 06:57 · Score: 1
  
  Compare your quote to that reply in the post immediately prior. If you're still confused, ask someone next to you.
55. Re:Bottled water... by mrclevesque · 2018-12-19 08:13 · Score: 1
  
  "Compare your quote to that reply in the post immediately prior. If you're still confused, ask someone next to you."
  If your going to be like that I've lost interest.
  "Referring to actual Buddhists in Asia rather than the hip Buddhists in the West"
  Still reads like a false dichotomy.
56. Re:Bottled water... by friedmud · 2018-12-27 08:17 · Score: 1
  
  It's not always about water quality. Everywhere that I've lived has had "drinkable" water... but for the longest time I still preferred bottled water. Why? Because of convenience.
  It's rare for me to sit down in one place and drink a whole glass of water (other than at meals). Even if I'm at home I'm moving all over the place and it's easier to just bring a bottle of water along with me to make sure I drink enough during the day. Also: everytime I would leave the house I would grab a bottle of water to drink while I'm out. Super simple.
  But: I didn't like the waste it was generating (even if they go the recycling bin - it's still waste). So, lately I switched to an army of "Contigo" water bottles that I just keep refilled instead. It's a bit more work... but generates MUCH less waste and is definitely less expensive!
57. Re:Bottled water... by sonamchauhan · 2018-12-27 10:54 · Score: 1
  
  You misunderstood the AC poster -- when he wrote "but for cloud", he meant "except for cloud".
  Yes, Amazon reaps rich profits from its cloud division.
I ordered a "pallet" of soda by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 03:38 · Score: 5, Interesting

During cyber week, I found 12 packs of Fanta Grape on sale for $3.99 on prime pantry. I ordered 100 of them just to see what would happen.
Amazon is so inefficient that they actually sent 100 individually-boxed 12-packs. Plus I got free shipping.
Talk about "can't realize a profit." Their own stupidity probably cost them well over $1000 in shipping on a $400 order of soda.
1. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 03:43 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Sounds like you, alone, maybe the sole reason for this change! LOL.
2. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by LostMyAccount · 2018-12-17 04:02 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  That reminds me of a (probably urban legend) story about a guy who was building a masonry building in a remote location. It was fantastically expensive to ship the masonry in. The location did have postal delivery, and the guy figured out he could flat-rate ship individual blocks for a total amount that was much less than regular shipping, so he wound up mailing them.
3. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by srmalloy · 2018-12-17 04:06 · Score: 2
  
  Reminds me of an article on theregister back in 2008 about an incredibly inefficient packing job -- HP shipping two large cardboard boxes taped together, containing sixteen smaller boxes, each of which contained -- in foam packing -- two sheets of A4 paper.
4. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by Brett+Buck · 2018-12-17 04:12 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Spent $400 to get 1200 cans of grape soda? And Amazon is the sucker in the story?
5. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by avandesande · 2018-12-17 04:58 · Score: 1
  
  I bought some kind of washer (small part for something) it came in one of those big amazon boxes with bubble wrap etc. So incredibly wasteful.
  
  --
  love is just extroverted narcissism
6. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by TheCastro1689 · 2018-12-17 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  A town wanted a brick bank, the railroad cost too much, but they found out they could ship 50 pound of bricks via USPS for cheap. So every household in town got 50lbs of bricks so they could build the bank.
7. Re: I ordered a "pallet" of soda by spire3661 · 2018-12-17 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  $0.33 per can isnt bad at retail. Sure he could have gotten a better deal at that volume, but he would gave had to broker it.
  
  --
  Good-bye
8. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by magarity · 2018-12-17 05:34 · Score: 2
  
  It was a building supply company shipping them to Alaska, not "a guy", but it was a real story: https://www.apnews.com/281d3e6...
9. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by AmiMoJo · 2018-12-17 05:36 · Score: 1
  
  You would agree with him after the 1200th can of grape soda.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
10. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by cascadingstylesheet · 2018-12-17 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  I bought some kind of washer (small part for something) it came in one of those big amazon boxes with bubble wrap etc. So incredibly wasteful.
  Eh, maybe, maybe not.
  The cardboard is obviously renewable. They usually use inflatable plastic stuff that once the air is out is very low volume.
  The question is whether it's any worse than driving all over town looking for the washer would be.
11. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  During cyber week, I found 12 packs of Fanta Grape on sale for $3.99 on prime pantry. I ordered 100 of them just to see what would happen.
  Amazon is so inefficient that they actually sent 100 individually-boxed 12-packs. Plus I got free shipping.
  Talk about "can't realize a profit." Their own stupidity probably cost them well over $1000 in shipping on a $400 order of soda.
  Are your diabetes meds also delivered in bulk? Perhaps by dump truck?
12. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by lgw · 2018-12-17 06:47 · Score: 1
  
  So incredibly wasteful.
  It was packed in the smallest box the packing guy had at his station. The "air fill" (what they use instead of bubble wrap) is spit out by computer at the station, calculated to fill the box.
  It was a huge step forward at distribution centers when Amazon discovered padded envelopes. It cost millions to change their systems to start using them, of course, but they got 20% less silly in their packing.
  But it was never wasteful: Amazon is optimizing for the labor cost of sending that item. As that's the dominant cost of the entire process, they're optimizing on the thing that matters most.
  
  --
  Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
13. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by Brett+Buck · 2018-12-17 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  I would cry uncle after about two sips...
14. Re:I ordered a "pallet" of soda by sarren1901 · 2018-12-17 12:30 · Score: 1
  
  Are you a Prime member and still don't get free shipping on items under 29 Euros? That's crazy to me. It may be that living in San Diego I have a local distribution center so getting stuff is really fast, but I'm quite sure we have no minimum price to hit for the free shipping.
  Just strange how things like that are different in different parts of the world.
The Empire Strikes Back! by XxtraLarGe · 2018-12-17 03:38 · Score: 4, Funny

Lando Calrissian: That wasn't part of the deal! You said the $6.99 six-pack of Smartwater was the default order on my Dash button!
Darth Bezos: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

--
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
What does this mean for Amazon Grocery? by UnknowingFool · 2018-12-17 03:38 · Score: 4, Insightful

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 Truth? by bigpat · 2018-12-17 03:44 · Score: 4, Interesting

Dear Amazon, How about, for Prime Customers especially since you now have Whole Foods and other local brick and mortar stores, just tell customers when they are better off driving over to Whole Foods. If you know who we are, where we are shopping from then how about give us a break and straight up tell us when we can find a better price local without the overhead of curbside shipping.
Some things will likely always be cheaper to ship bulk and then pick up local.
Thanks,
Pat
1. Re:The Truth? by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2018-12-17 04:15 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  If I’m driving to a brick and mortar grocery store, I’m going to the Winco that’s 4 minutes away - and a lot cheaper than Whole Paycheck.
  
  --
  #DeleteChrome
2. Re:The Truth? by AmiMoJo · 2018-12-17 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  Prime isn't worth it, and this just makes it an even worse deal. Items eligible for Prime delivery cost more anyway, i.e. they already have the cost of expedited shipping added in. Amazon isn't all that cheap anyway for most things, it's only the free super-saver delivery that saves it.
  Being able to get basic stuff delivered added a lot of value to Prime, in terms of convenience. They are really trying to make it unattractive.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
3. Re:The Truth? by David_Hart · 2018-12-17 05:17 · Score: 1
  
  Remember to use your qualifiers kids.... Prime isn't worth it if all you use it for is free shipping....
  Prime is worth it if you borrow Kindle books for free (vs buying), use Amazon's streaming service, etc. Like any other subscription plan, the more features that you use, the more of valuable it is.
4. Re:The Truth? by squiggleslash · 2018-12-17 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  I think AmiMojo lives in the UK, which, from all accounts, has a crappier (if less expensive) version of Prime than us 'Merkins have.
  Between the free video, the free music, and other little extras, I think it's worth it on this side of the Atlantic. But I can certainly see how it wouldn't be if all it gets you is free shipping.
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
5. Re:The Truth? by bill_mcgonigle · 2018-12-17 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  Depends where you live. Outside of s metropolis Amazon lets you get stuff that's not available locally and at a certain point in life you have all the hard goods you need that local places sell. Amazon lets you get things that city people can get at niche specialty stores without living a city life. We probably average three Amazon deliveries a week and the gas savings alone are worthwhile, even if the labor cost of trying to find obscure items is set at zero.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
6. Re:The Truth? by petermgreen · 2018-12-17 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  As someone who lives in the UK afaict UK prime is better than us prime. AIUI US prime only gives free 2-day delivery while UK prime gives free next day or if you prefer nominated day on most Amazon-stocked items (some items seem to have more restrictive options, probablly as a result of being in different warehouses). Also unlike most next-day and nominated day services Amazon offers weekend deliveries at no extra cost.
  Prime is great when you are doing something like preparing for an event when you want to order a bunch of stuff over a short period (but not all at once because you inevitablly find you need more stuff as the preperations proceed). I haven't yet found motivation to stay subscribed all the time though, I just buy a month when I want it.
  I know amazon UK has a video service, but I dunno if it's better or worse than the US one, I haven't tried it personally.
  
  --
  note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
7. Re:The Truth? by AmiMoJo · 2018-12-17 06:19 · Score: 1
  
  I used to live in the UK where you could get the TV and I think some music. There is some good stuff on the TV, like The Man in the High Castle, but after about a month you have exhausted the original content and it's not worth renewing.
  In Ireland you can't seem to get the TV. At least my smart TV tells me it's not available in my region. There is no Amazon Ireland per-se, they have a distribution centre in Dublin but you use the .co.uk domain and pay in Sterling.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
8. Re:The Truth? by jittles · 2018-12-17 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  As someone who lives in the UK afaict UK prime is better than us prime. AIUI US prime only gives free 2-day delivery while UK prime gives free next day or if you prefer nominated day on most Amazon-stocked items (some items seem to have more restrictive options, probablly as a result of being in different warehouses). Also unlike most next-day and nominated day services Amazon offers weekend deliveries at no extra cost.
  Prime is great when you are doing something like preparing for an event when you want to order a bunch of stuff over a short period (but not all at once because you inevitablly find you need more stuff as the preperations proceed). I haven't yet found motivation to stay subscribed all the time though, I just buy a month when I want it.
  I know amazon UK has a video service, but I dunno if it's better or worse than the US one, I haven't tried it personally.
  I live in the US and can get free same day delivery on many items. If its a common item that is ordered a lot in my metro area they will deliver it the same day for free, up until noon. If I order after noon then I will get it the next day. Rarer and more expensive things typically come next day - though again this depends on popularity.
9. Re:The Truth? by squiggleslash · 2018-12-17 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not sure it's "better" unless the video and music services are comparable. Remember as far as delivery times go, there's a difference in expectations. In the UK, you should be able to get next day delivery on any package anyway (FFS, the warehouse it's coming from is normally less than 200 miles away), so what you're getting is "Free" rather than "Fast".
  Yes, I'm aware that many places don't do next day delivery, but that's mostly intentional. When I ordered stuff during the 1980s (the 1980s!) it usually took 28 days, but that's because the companies involved would wait until the 27th before handing it over to the post office or whoever was doing the delivery.
  On the other hand, the US is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the ... well, it's big. If I send a letter to someone else in Florida, then I expect it to arrive the day after I mailed it. If I send it to someone in California, it may well take weeks. And parcels are much the same. If you choose a standard delivery method, the usual rule is it'll take anywhere between two days and two weeks to get from an arbitrary warehouse in the US to your door.
  So Amazon Prime's 2 day delivery thing really does fit this use scenario:
  
  Prime is great when you are doing something like preparing for an event when you want to order a bunch of stuff over a short period (but not all at once because you inevitably find you need more stuff as the preparations proceed).
  
  in the US, whereas if you have to subscribe to Prime in the UK in order to be able to do the same thing, then your problem isn't that Prime is making things possible, it's that Amazon is fucking you around if you're not a Prime customer. Because, again, they can deliver pretty much everything to your door within 12 hours anyway.
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
10. Re:The Truth? by sarren1901 · 2018-12-17 12:45 · Score: 1
  
  The time you save not going to the store, dealing with customers and sales staff, the parking lot or the drive home from the store, not to mention gas and the potential of getting in an accident makes paying the Prime membership worth it.
  Like bill_mcgonigle my house gets at least 3 deliveries a week. Well worth it.
11. Re:The Truth? by N1AK · 2018-12-27 08:16 · Score: 1
  
  On the other hand, the US is big. Really big.
  
  True, and not overly relevant as justification for the difference in service or customer expectation. America is rich and it's not like Amazon have to ship everything across 8 states, in the same way that generally what I order doesn't come from a distribution centre in Austria.
  
  There's never been a good way, other than by going to stores with time and cost involved, to order individual relatively low priced items in the UK for next day delivery without paying a premium for it. You can claim that should be people's reasonable expectation but that isn't the reality of online retail in the UK.
Lewis Black explained the situation well: by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 03:46 · Score: 1

Lewis Black on bottled water
Bottled water makes sense by rsilvergun · 2018-12-17 03:46 · Score: 1

but Amazon's the #1 place for odd ball snacks and assorted dry goods. Plus there's bulk. I buy curry mix from them because it's 1/3 the price I pay in town, but I buy it bulk. I can't imagine they don't make profit on that. Maybe they mean a generic thing of pretzels. Are folks actually buying that?

--
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
1. Re: Bottled water makes sense by UnknowingFool · 2018-12-17 03:52 · Score: 1
  
  Well Amazon is trying to get into the grocery delivery business. Delivering small quantities of non-bulk items would be part of that business.
  
  --
  Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The other playbook by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-12-17 03:53 · Score: 1

Amazon should use their other playbook and just start selling their own Smartwater (TM) forcing the Coke Dealers out of business. And even when they sell it at a tenth of the price, they'll still finally make money on something else besides AWS.

--
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Just what Amazon needs by stealth_finger · 2018-12-17 03:57 · Score: 1

Just what Amazon needs, more profits. How long before Amazon gets too big and bloated seeking more and more profits that an upstart comes in doing what Amazon used to do and steals all the business thus restarting the cycle?

--
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
1. Re:Just what Amazon needs by AvitarX · 2018-12-17 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not convinced a start up is going to want to start selling things that cost too much to ship online.
  
  --
  Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
2. Re:Just what Amazon needs by stealth_finger · 2018-12-17 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  It's probably started now, some kid flogging useless crap out of their garage, these things start small and grow.
  
  --
  Wanna buy a shirt?
  https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
3. Re:Just what Amazon needs by avandesande · 2018-12-17 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  More fundamentally why are we so wasteful with fuel and packaging on items that people can just buy locally? It was a dumb idea when Amazon started doing it and it is dumb now.
  
  --
  love is just extroverted narcissism
4. Re:Just what Amazon needs by EndlessNameless · 2018-12-17 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  If Amazon, with its incredible logistics and economy of scale, cannot profitably sell these goods online for a reasonable price... why do you think anyone else can? They will face the exact same challenges, probably without some of the advantages that Amazon has.
  They're competing with bulk delivery at supermarkets, which has a tremendous cost advantage.
  Supermarkets will offer lower prices for the foreseeable future. If people aren't willing to pay a hefty premium for the delivery of (some) household goods, then the supermarkets will win.
  
  --
  
  ---
  According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
Re:Maybe if they worked for the money... by bws111 · 2018-12-17 04:02 · Score: 1

Are you really this stupid? PROFIT is the money the business EARNED. Exactly how do you think a business can EARN money without making a profit?
Remember the 2nd rule of acquisition by DontBeAMoran · 2018-12-17 04:11 · Score: 4, Interesting

Rule of acquisition #2: "Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to."
Amazon used to have a six-pack of Smartwater for 6.99$.
Now it's going to be a 24-pack of Smartwater for 37.20$.
So either the size of the bottles has changed or each bottle of Smartwater will now cost 1.55$ instead of 1.17$, which is a 32.5% price increase.

--
#DeleteFacebook
1. Re:Remember the 2nd rule of acquisition by avandesande · 2018-12-17 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  I can't put my finger on it but something about either of these transactions doesn't sound very 'smart'.
  
  --
  love is just extroverted narcissism
2. Re:Remember the 2nd rule of acquisition by TheCastro1689 · 2018-12-17 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  Correct. You are paying more, but less likely to realize it. Covering the increased shipping cost as well.
3. Re:Remember the 2nd rule of acquisition by DontBeAMoran · 2018-12-18 08:44 · Score: 1
  
  http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/...
  Indeed. Second on the list but actually the third rule. My mistake.
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
I love Amazon by WCMI92 · 2018-12-17 04:12 · Score: 1

But they, like Google have got to be broken up. Sorry Microsoft, Apple is more of a monopoly than you.
I can hear Bill Gates crying over that.

--
Corporatism != Free Market
Re:I wish Amazon published a list of CRaP items by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2018-12-17 04:12 · Score: 4, Funny

I think it’s been pretty obvious for years that a lot of what Amazon sells is crap.

--
#DeleteChrome
Re:The Post Office Should Do the Same by crow · 2018-12-17 04:13 · Score: 4, Informative

Amazon is weaning themselves off of the USPS. I expect the post office's finances will look a lot worse when Amazon is out of the picture.
It's insane by reanjr · 2018-12-17 04:13 · Score: 1

It's insane to use Amazon logistics to deliver beverages. That shit is all shipping costs, and Amazon will never compete with large scale grocery deliveries.
1. Re:It's insane by DogDude · 2018-12-17 04:30 · Score: 1
  
  They're just going to keep it up long enough until they extinguish all of their competition. Then, they can jack up their prices. Unfettered capitalism at its finest.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
2. Re:It's insane by belg4mit · 2018-12-17 11:44 · Score: 1
  
  Except that they have grocery delivery services, and I doubt CRaP will be pulled from that. If you want CRaP delivered to your door, move out of the hinterlands I guess?
  
  --
  Were that I say, pancakes?
Why they Buy by SuperKendall · 2018-12-17 04:14 · Score: 2

In a lot of places the tap water can taste funny even if perfectly safe - lots of people canâ(TM)t be bothered to filter their own. Bottled water is at least usually consistent in taste... so a lot of people buy it for various things (like travel or events).

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re: Why they Buy by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  Fix your fucking phone.
2. Re: Why they Buy by SuperKendall · 2018-12-17 12:25 · Score: 1
  
  The phone works just great, fix your mind if it cannot parse broken unicode forums.
  
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3. Re:Why they Buy by Tony+Isaac · 2018-12-17 17:09 · Score: 1
  
  The tap water where I live, in suburban Houston, tastes terrible even if I DO filter it.
A little off topic by DarkOx · 2018-12-17 04:15 · Score: 1

I realize its not exactly the CRaP issue but it might be what shoves some products into that category. I use Prime alot because even Walmart means a 25 mile round trip here. So having stuff delivered is usually great value proposition for me in terms of my personal time and my own costs in driving to go get stuff.
Some of Amazon's packaging choices however are atrocities. I have lost count of the number of times I have got a shoeboxed sized or larger carton packed with bubble wrap when a padded envelope would have been fine. Padded to keep the product from puncturing the envelope not protect the product it from damage.
That and Amazon always uses bubble wrap, never paper? Why not paper Amazon - cheaper and more environmentally friendly (and I could use it for kindling like I already use your boxes!)

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1. Re:A little off topic by Vegan+Cyclist · 2018-12-17 04:22 · Score: 1
  
  They probably want to sell you the kindling as well.
2. Re:A little off topic by PPH · 2018-12-17 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  What do you get when you order a carton of bubble wrap?
  
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3. Re:A little off topic by Pascoea · 2018-12-17 05:07 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  That and Amazon always uses bubble wrap, never paper? Why not paper Amazon
  I have a small bit (about 2 years) of experience on this one. I used to pack boxes for a company that shipped all sorts of hardware. (Hardware store kind of stuff, not like computer hardware.) Paper is a HUGE pain in the ass. It certainly is an effective packing material, but I can't stress enough how much overhead is involved.
  We had two types: 30" wide rolls and 2'x3' sheets. (like this and this) The first problem, shit's heavy. 30-50 lbs per roll/bundle. It takes a lot of work to just move it around, it takes up a lot of space to stack it and store it. Likely Amazon's biggest problem with it, the labor costs to shove it into a box. A small-ish (6x8x4) box that's half-full of whatever takes about 3-5 feet off a roll, or 2-3 sheets off a stack. And it goes up fast for bigger boxes. I realize that doesn't sound like a lot, but if your job is to stuff 100 boxes/hour (probably more, for Amazon) that's a whole lot of paper you have to pay someone to shove into a box.
  From a labor perspective, the air pillow are amazing. The rolls of feed-stock are lighter. The pillows themselves are essentially weightless. It takes a lot less effort to pull them out of the hopper than to unspool/crumple up kraft. And they take less time to shove them into a box. Their downfall, and why we quit using them, they didn't hold up well enough for the type of stuff we were shipping... They don't do well with heavy/pointy things. But I can see why Amazon would use them, a lot of the stuff they ship is already in a box.
4. Re:A little off topic by DarkOx · 2018-12-17 07:34 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks for providing a bit of useful analysis.
  
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South Park did it by DontBeAMoran · 2018-12-17 04:16 · Score: 1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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1. Re:South Park did it by stealth_finger · 2018-12-17 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  As long as people are there singing Kumbaya when it implodes all will be well XD
  
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Re:The Post Office Should Do the Same by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 04:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

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.
Idiots deserve it by in10se · 2018-12-17 04:22 · Score: 1

What kind of idiot would spend $1.55 for a bottle of water - especially when purchased by the case? The original price of $1.17 per bottle in the 6-pack was already overpriced.

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1. Re:Idiots deserve it by DogDude · 2018-12-17 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  What kind of idiot buys plastic bottles of water?
  
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Re:Maybe if they worked for the money... by bluefoxlucid · 2018-12-17 04:26 · Score: 1

A business is organization, providing efficiency, lowering the total cost to supply something. Some people think a business is overhead and that artisan, hand-made everything would somehow be cheaper.

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cat litter by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 04:26 · Score: 1

I used to get 40 lb of cat litter with amazon prime for around $15. but a year or so ago, they stopped selling my brand for about 6 months (presumably coming to their senses) but then started selling again. I never understood how they made any money off that after paying for shipping. maybe this is what Trump was talking about -- maybe the USPS made some kind of weird deal where they delivered for a fixed rate no matter how much the thing weighed ...
Re:The Post Office Should Do the Same by Registered+Coward+v2 · 2018-12-17 04:35 · Score: 1

Amazon is weaning themselves off of the USPS. I expect the post office's finances will look a lot worse when Amazon is out of the picture.
very true. Analysts belive the USPS actually makes a profit off of Amazon. Losing Amazon will remove a revenue source without a simialr drop in cossta s they still will drive by every house every day. It's not just USPS that will be impact, FedEx as well since FedEx is the airline that carries US Mail. Amazon, once it has its delievry sysetm and logistics all in place, will probably start shipping services as well. After all, they'll have the hubs, trucks, and planes in place, why not move stuff both ways.

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what? by AndyKron · 2018-12-17 04:39 · Score: 1

I thought bottled water was bad enough, but mail ordered bottled water?
Can't profit on a trillion dollar market cap by xack · 2018-12-17 04:49 · Score: 1

What's the shipping cost of the words tiniest violin?
Re:Good by pgmrdlm · 2018-12-17 04:50 · Score: 1

Wish I had mod points. You are so right about the plastic. Last time I was at a baseball game, I bought one bottled water. But I then kept filling up that bottle through out the game. I also know that the baseball park that I was at is very huge into recycling. Food for the homeless, recycling, part of their energy is solar.

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Re:The Post Office Should Do the Same by Anonymous Coward · 2018-12-17 04:53 · Score: 1

???? the USPS is the only company forced to account for pensions this way.
if the workforce remains stable in size there is no problem. since the USPS has to physically drive by every house every day their workforce will remain stable unless its function is positively gutted.
USPS also charges far less than postal services from similar countries like Australia, Japan or the UK. however the USPS is not allowed to raise rates. the USPS could easily pay for whatever bullshit pension accounting charges if it could raise its own rates.
the USPS is pretty much engineered to go out of business to serve republican interests.
Re:That's like all I buy from Amazon by Fly+Swatter · 2018-12-17 05:37 · Score: 1

Find a grocery store, value the newfound savings. Perhaps you are homebound, at least around here in the suburbs the major grocery stores will also deliver the same day to your door or kitchen.
How You Make A Monopoly by Crashmarik · 2018-12-17 05:41 · Score: 2

Destroy the people that were selling it at a profit and then when they are gone raise prices.
Re:Good by magarity · 2018-12-17 05:44 · Score: 1

At least for the bottled water part. Maybe this will push some people to use a filter (where necessary, Flint I'm looking at you) and just begin to reduce the amount of plastic in our toilet...I mean the Pacific ocean.
Not sure how much its improved but Flint was waaay past end-consumer water filters at the worst.
The plastics waste in the Pacific is due more to Asian countries than the US: https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06...
sayanara, Everything Store by epine · 2018-12-17 05:54 · Score: 1

In Amazonian lore, the long tail is the killer Godzilla of lost leaders.
You come for the long tail, you leave with a flying carton filled with All the Usual Retail Suspects (AuRS).
And now here comes Bezos all in a huff, treading on his own tail after a sharp 180, having finally nosed his way to the realization that dragging a long, flashy appendage along in the dirt behind the poop orifice was never a genius design in the first place.
1. Re:sayanara, Everything Store by epine · 2018-12-17 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  "Sayonara", of course, but I guess my spelling checker (i.e. typo extractor) doesn't reliably activate in the subject line.
  I hesitate to call it a spelling checker straight up, because my typo extractor sure doesn't spell any better than I do, if you count half the valid words it still doesn't know. I've been patiently training it for ten years, and just now I had to add "irreproducibility" despite it knowing both "reproducibility" and "irreproducible". Dumb as a bag of hammers, truth be told.
  File under things you spot in your rear view mirror, while hastening out the door.
Grocery store will be more expensive by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2018-12-17 06:37 · Score: 1

After cherry-picking all the profitable items, if you leave only the CRaP to the grocery stores, it will be expensive there too.

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Isn't that the point of Prime Pantry? by Solandri · 2018-12-17 06:44 · Score: 1

To get free shipping for items in Prime Pantry, you have to order more than $35 worth of stuff. Or pay $5.99 in shipping if you order less than $35 (even with Prime membership).

The story here seems to be that Amazon's employees who are supposed to categorize which items go into Prime Pantry are doing such a poor job, that they're letting some items slip into their regular delivery system.
Re:The Post Office Should Do the Same by ixidor · 2018-12-17 07:23 · Score: 1

Both is and is not see the blurb from wikipedia. The USPS is often mistaken for a government-owned corporation (e.g., Amtrak) because it operates much like a business. It is, however, an "establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States", (39 U.S.C. 201) as it is controlled by Presidential appointees and the Postmaster General. As a government agency, it has many special privileges, including sovereign immunity, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail. Indeed, in 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that the USPS was not a government-owned corporation, and therefore could not be sued under the Sherman Antitrust Act
Locally optimal is ultimatly bad for business by WaffleMonster · 2018-12-17 07:25 · Score: 3, Interesting

Most stores don't have the luxury of selling only items that make them the most money. They have enough sense to understand if they did that the buyer will just go somewhere else where they can get everything they want and end up buying NOTHING at the store giving the customer a hard time.
But this is Amazon we're talking about. The same company that intentionally slows down shipping to uncompetitive levels (2-day is Free @ Walmart, most eBay purchases arrive before Amazon even ships) imposes minimum purchase requirements, prevents non-members from purchasing certain items commonly available elsewhere (e.g. Star Wars DVDs). Perhaps the rules don't apply to Amazon today but eventually they will.
Destructive criticism? Par for Slashdot by shanen · 2018-12-17 07:27 · Score: 1

Yours [WCMI92's] comment is one of only two that mentions the most insightful word on this topic: "monopoly". Nothing substantive to merit a mod point, even if I ever saw one to give. Mostly replying here from curiosity. Your sig suggests insight, but the Subject: suggests sucker. Perhaps it's a reversed satirical Subject:?
However, I'll throw out a rehash of my suggested solution approach: Change the tax system to make it pro-freedom, anti-greedom. What we have now is a system where the best bribers pay off the cheapest politicians to rig the game in favor of the biggest corporate cancers. What we need is a system that encourages competition and choice and freedom.
My proposal (but I'd be glad to hear if you have a better one) would be a progressive tax on corporate profits based not on size, but on market share. Any company that eliminates the other choices would get taxed accordingly, with part of the bonus taxes going (1) to regulating the monopoly and (2) for research into ways to break the monopoly.
Enough time spent for now, but ADSAuPR, atAJG.

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Obvious by dagarath · 2018-12-17 07:39 · Score: 1

It's obvious that bulk shipping some items is more efficient than individually shipping items. If there's enough demand for an item to ship it by train car, boatload or, truck load to an area, the cost of that shipping will be fractional to the cost of UPS / USPS / FedEx delivery. Bulk staple items like bottled water, toilet paper, paper towels, sodas, milk, laundry detergent, etc are just not good targets for Amazon.
With curbside pickup at Walmart, Target, and grocery stores now, it's arguably easier to stop by the store on the trip home and load up those items. Cuts down on packages left outside your doorstep that can be stolen.
Amazon just needs to rebrand this brick and mortar process. Call it 'AI PreShipping', Amazon can leverage their AWS power to analyze regional shopping characteristics and PRE-Ship your items to your convenient PRE-Ship Storage Location (re-branded from Whole Foods). As your Pre-Shipping items will be stored at our facility, rent will be covered by your Prime Membership.
Bottled water in my neighborhood by kaatochacha · 2018-12-17 07:47 · Score: 1

The tap water in my area isn't bad, just water: I assume if I don't notice flavor it's OK.
Certainly not unhealthy.
Yet I constantly see families from the poor part of town hauling off large water bottles from those machines in front of laundramats selling "non ionized/alkaline water".
They would appear to be the last people who could afford to buy water, but there they are standing in line doing it.
Unless their house/apartment water is godawful, I don't get it. The places they're living aren't more than 20 years old.
FYI water pipes have pressure - water comes out by raymorris · 2018-12-17 08:09 · Score: 1

Don't you hate it when you open the tap and all the stuff in the room gets sucked into the faucet?
Of course that's not what happens, water pipes are under pressure, so when there is a leak water seeps OUT, "stuff" doesn't seep in.
1. Re:FYI water pipes have pressure - water comes out by Smidge204 · 2018-12-17 08:31 · Score: 1
  
  1) Seeping is not the same as leaking. it's absolutely possible for a hairline crack in a pipe to let contamination in without letting water out, or for some chemicals that aren't water to diffuse through the pipe itself if it has become porous.
  2) Not all water pipes are under positive pressure all the time. It's very possible that some portions can end up under negative pressure, or are constantly under negative pressure. Think Bernoulli effect and/or siphoning action.
  3) It's also possible that there can be backflow from one customer back into the system. Many (most?) municipal water supplies require check valves at least at the commercial service level. More typically it's a Reduced Pressure Zone device, which is a double check valve assembly with a relief valve between the checks to create an air gap if the pressure inside the building ever becomes higher than the street mains, for any reason.
  And none of this has to do with the chemistry of the water itself, which is the problem they had in Flint.
  =Smidge=
Re:Good by lgw · 2018-12-17 08:35 · Score: 1

ust begin to reduce the amount of plastic in our toilet...I mean the Pacific ocean.
Don't throw your plastic into the ocean. Problem solved. It's not like plastic migrates from the landfill to the ocean for the winter.

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Books? by AHuxley · 2018-12-17 09:23 · Score: 1

Printed. The money stays an "author", "printer" and "publisher".
Are heavy or bulky?
But profitable to grow brand on?

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It has to be said by dhammabum · 2018-12-17 11:03 · Score: 1

Why don't they just dehydrate the bottled water. Saves a lot on shipping...

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Re:Maybe if they worked for the money... by sarren1901 · 2018-12-17 12:37 · Score: 1

Earned can be interpreted as revenue and revenue is not profit. Profit is revenue - expenses. So you could earn money as a business and still overrun your cost and would therefore not make a profit.
That's how a business could EARN money without making a profit.
Re: The Post Office Should Do the Same by reanjr · 2018-12-17 12:40 · Score: 1

Amazon is profitable for the USPS. Only a moron would think otherwise. It's actually against the law to lose a profit on USPS parcels.
Re:Maybe if they worked for the money... by bws111 · 2018-12-17 13:53 · Score: 1

That is the dumbest definition of earned ever. Earnings are monies received for labor or service. If all of your revenue goes to your expenses then you have earned exactly $0, because you have no money for your labor or service. By definition, earnings and profits are the same thing.
Cat litter by Tony+Isaac · 2018-12-17 17:16 · Score: 3, Funny

My cat was very picky, wouldn't use the cat box unless the litter was unscented. Our local stores didn't carry any decent unscented litter, so we bought it on Amazon, for $7 for a 40 pound bucket, delivered free in two days.
Amazon eventually figured out that this wasn't working for them, so they changed it to an "add-on item," requiring you to buy $35-worth of stuff for it to qualify for Prime. So I bought 5 buckets. The delivery guy wasn't too happy, but I got my cat litter!
Re: Maybe if they worked for the money... by UnknowingFool · 2018-12-19 02:58 · Score: 1

I guess I'm the classic accounting sense, earnings is not specifically revenue, however it is specifically not profit. That is a different number. When companies report "earnings" as part of quarterly/annual reports, it is often understood that to be all the numbers including revenue and profit.

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Re: Maybe if they worked for the money... by bws111 · 2018-12-19 03:27 · Score: 1

The actual 'earnings' they report ARE the profit (or loss). The earnings report does contain other numbers (such as revenue) that are used to help understand the earnings, but that additional information is NOT 'earnings'. 'Earnings' do not always refer to exactly the same thing (sometimes they are reported as 'after tax', sometimes pre-tax, sometimes 'after interest', etc), but they are ALWAYS some measure of profit, and NEVER revenue.
I use Subscribe and Save by unicorn · 2018-12-29 15:54 · Score: 1

Among other things I get 6 cases (12 ea) of SoBe LifeWater, and 3 cases of Ocean Spray Pact water delivered, because it's easier than going to the store myself. Getting them brought nearly all the way home, a variety of flavors, and a good price. It's a clear win for me.
Every month I am amazed at what stupid new tricks Amazon comes up with to make sure they lose money on the transaction. Aren't they supposed to be logistics geniuses? The order I get from them is routinely split into multiple shipments, sometimes multiple shipments on the same day, from the same Amazon warehouse 10 miles away. The most recent order included 2 of the cases being shipped via UPS instead of Amazon delivery even. That can't have been profitable.

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