Combined with services (Music, Movies, E-books, ect.) they offer other than just ‘Prime Shipping’, it’s all based on expansion.
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Amazon Set to Increase Prime Membership Fee By 17% for US Customers
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When your profits are as nose-bleedingly-high as those two companies, it's hard to find warrant in any increase. Everyone at the top working for them could retire today, take their gold retirement packages and never lift a finger again. They've all got (or have the equivalent of) mansions, sports cars, super model wives/mistresses... anything they want. So why charge more? So you can have more of those things? So you can see that retirement number maybe increase by another 0 or two? It's just almost impossible to come up with an excuse for them to charge more for anything, because they're all doing so well.
I think we can blame the out of control inflation of USD for this price increase. This graph is scary: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm
How does consolidating more power in giant corporations through capitalism make things better? The loss of control isn't because of the government, it's because of the rich and the corporations taking the control from the people. At least with democratic socialism the the people can exercise some control over the massively powerful corporations. The people should be able to exercise some control over the means of production. The amazing thing is they rich and powerful have been able to gaslight people into thinking that a democratic government, which is of by and for the people, is somehow worse than the rich exercising their power to control the masses and steal their wealth. They convince the people that it will only ever go to the extreme of communism, which history has taught us it rarely does unless the people are pushed so far that they over correct. Capitalism, to be a healthy system, requires a bit of democratic socialism. Otherwise it is brutal and will eventually result in crushing the disadvantaged to the point of rebellion. Survival of the fittest (pure capitalism) is brutal and antithetical to a healthy society.
Cus Amazon shopping is running in a negative. All people know about Amazon is the one line store. People don’t realize Amazon big profit is AWS. They run most of the internet. Without AWS Amazon would be running at a loss.
I hope you realize the profits go to the shareholders and then the shareholders and the board of directors votes on the CEO’s salary.
Sorry, but you don’t understand basic economics.
Anything the government touches, it becomes more expensive and less efficient than a truly free market.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense understands supply, demand, and the effect of price ceilings, government subsidies, and price floors and how they have an effect on the economy. The people who think a mostly Democratic government is best for prices and quantity is kidding themselves. Our current Democratic jokester in the the White House and our brilliant Democratic/big government run Congress and the current state of our economy is a great example of a poor understanding of economics.
Ever see the state of U.S student loans, healthcare, infrastructure, and the education system? Those are all government subsidized. All of those sectors cost the middle class endless amounts of money while the poor make out like bandits.
You obviously don't understand the reality of capitalism, or the definition of democratic socialism. What is a mostly democratic government anyway? Capitalism, in it's purest form creates winners and losers. If you have ever played a game of Monopoly, you would understand how wealth is used to create more wealth at the expense of the less wealthy. There is a tipping point, once the people with the most wealth reach a certain point, there is no way for the others to win. The original game (the landlords game) was created to show how that kind of system is inherently flawed and will only create many poor in the service of consolidating wealth for the few. True healthy economies have controls in place by the people which help redistribute wealth more equitably and protect the interests of the people. Capitalism may self regulate to a point, but the point where it reaches equilibrium is not fair or equitable and will only create rich and poor with little in-between. It's why labor unions, government regulation, and taxes are necessary keep the horrors of a truly free market from coming to a head. Democratic Socialism relies on capitalism for economic growth, but with regulations and rules that make the system more fair and equitable by allowing the people to have power over the means of production instead of the other way around. It does this via the democratic process where one person has one vote, instead of letting the market decide where the more money you have the more control you get.
Anyway, Amazon and Bezos have too much money and too much power. I'm doing the only thing I can in a capitalist system and canceling my subscription. Unfortunately, they have so much money and power, it will do little good because I will probably still be forced to purchase some things from them because the competition has been killed by Amazon using their huge economic advantage to force out their competition and game the system. Remember the people should have the power, not the people with the most money. Stop believing Reagan's myth of the government being the problem, and start working to make it the solution, because his economic policies have created much of the mess of income inequality.
The additional revenues and profits don't just benefit the Bezoses and Cooks, all shareholders can benefit.
There's also the risk of things going the other way too. If Wall Street sees a drop in revenue and/or earnings for a company, it can negatively impact stock value and investment holdings of all shareholders big and small.
As far as the Prime membership price increase goes (keep in mind, this is the first increase in about four years), customers can express their dissatisfaction with their wallets. If they feel the price has become too high, they can cancel their membership or not sign up if they don't already have one. They can also go a step further and do their shopping elsewhere. Amazon isn't the only retailer out there.
As if anyone should give a flying f*** about the shareholders.
I already cancelled my account. You should too. The value proposition that existed when we first signed up is no longer there. Amazon no longer has the best selection, the lowest prices, good customer service, nor "2 day shipping". Everything else they throw in—tv, music, etc.—is garbage.
I’m not sure you understand the negatives of socialism and the positives of capitalism, or even how it works in the real world.
Government doesn’t know how to spend and manage money, but you want them to do it even more than they would under a capitalism market. You want the government to tax people to death and then subsidize everything, which makes everything cost even more in the long-run… That isn’t how you run an economy. The lower-class and upper-class makes out like bandits while the middle class gets crushed. Personally, I’m tired of the lower-class making out like bandits from my taxpayer dollars when I’m working my butt off for 60 hours a week because I actually worked to move up and make more money.
Where exactly does government regulation help anyone, other than those who don’t work, or work part-time and expect to own a home and expect to live as well as those who work hard or obtain a degree? Do you have examples of this?
Look at the biggest problems in the U.S:
- Student loans. Government subsidized. The poor get grants that don’t have to be paid back, sometimes going to college for ”free.” The middle class has to pay an excessive amount of money to go to a state school. Government backed student loans and grants to go to a private school result in $80,000/year tuition for the middle-class. Take away the government subsidies and the price drops like a rock because nobody will pay those prices without the government stepping in. The student loan problem is north of $2,000,000,000.00 because of government involvement.
-Healthcare. Government backed. Again, people who don’t work or work part-time get these Cadillac plans for $0-$20/month with $0 deductibles, while the middle-class is stuck paying $500+ a month for an individual plan on the same marketplace with an $9,000 annual deductible. Why even work hard to make more money at that point? $100+ a week of your paycheck is lit on-fire, and then you still have higher bills when you go to the Doctor than the person paying $0-$20/month.
-Infrastructure. Government overpays union workers for contracts that take longer than they should and for the materials. What would cost $500 for a bucket of asphalt (example) now costs $1700 for a bucket because the government is willing to pay whatever the vendor charges.
- Hate those high gas prices? Well, some states charge about $0.60 or more per gallon of gas as a tax, or $12 for a 20 gallon tank. So your $4/gallon of gas could be $3.40 if they didn’t reach into your pocket and take this from you when you fill your tank. They say this tax is used for roads, but see my point above about infrastructure costs — they over tax you to pay for their inflated, apparently unlimited infrastructure budget.
Taxing the piss out of people and then overspending on goods, services, etc. is not a healthy way to run the economy.
Anyways, you are more than free to cancel your Amazon membership. Go to the store and get your items. You won’t have to wait for shipping or pay an annual fee. There are still plenty of clothing, hardware, grocery, and other stores around, so in reality, Amazon still has competition.
Many people should if they have an investments such as a 401K with mutual funds, a retirement plan, etc. all of which may have AMZ in their portfolio.
Publicly traded companies have a fiduciary responsiblity towards their shareholders as well. Raising prices to maintain margins is not an unexpected move, given it's been flat for 4 years or so and they've added content and features.
To each his own. I find Prime Video and Photos worth it; and generally can find on Amazon the products I want for less than elsewhere and with 2 day Prime. YMMV.
I wonder if shipping is a location specific issue. I live near a major city and rarely is 2 day late. Sometimes it gets delivered at 10PM but it still comes in 2 days or less. Oddly, I have sometimes gotten 2 separate deliveries on the same day; which tells me Amazon isn't too worried about delivery costs for their last mile vendors, or they optimize loads to get the most vehicle utilization.
As for customer service, I've never had an issue with it. For example, I bought a product from a 3rd party vendor identified as a name brand car part and the illustration showed it and the name brand box. I got a knockoff piece of Chinese made junk in a white box. Contacted Amazon, they contacted seller, seller gave full refund and paid postage to return the item. If Amazon sells it I get a refund as soon as I drop the item off or in cases where it's lost in transit as soon as the delivery date is passed by a few days. Even when they said something is delivered and I could not find it they reshipped the item. They're not perfect but I've never had an issue with how they resolve problems. Again, YMMV.
In reference to Amazon, it created Media Mail which lowered Amazon's, and 3rd party sellers', cost to ship books; helping many small business and those starting out. Regulation often helps businesses for example, despite their clamor against it.
Others off the top of my head:
1. It did a pretty good job of mobilizing the economy to help prevent the Germans and Japanese from conquering the world
2. Developed cures or vaccines for diseases so rare that there is no commercially viable market; yet they were important to me and my fellow sailors if we deployed to an area where they existed
3. Created land grant colleges which put higher education in the reach of those who could not get into the few elite schools that existed at the time and / or were in states far from the centers of education
4. Created commercial codes so people could create companies and protect trademarks and IP, enter into contracts, etc.
There are many problems with government but to claim there is no benefit is not correct.
Thanks govt for all the inflation. Hopefully it will be a useful lesson for this generation on how bad govt policies hurt us all (except politicians of course).
Umm… No.
Government interference drives up prices. Doesn’t matter if the poor can get it for free or not, someone is paying a higher price than the free market would charge (the taxpayers). The poor get to go to college for “free” while everyone else is stuck with the $2 trillion bill.
Basic economics 101 and it applies to every form of business. It’s done more harm than good.
Sounds great and assumes we will find the infallible humans to "run" this for us. Here's a hint, they don't exist. Also completely misses the point that those who regulate then get to pick the winners and losers. Check out who's been winning lately... the bigger corporations thanks to our genius democratic socialists who got to decide what is "essential" for us. The US is a representative republic with a basic federalism setup. Put this in practice, and power is naturally decentralized and placed locally with the people. It was built this way because there are not infallible humans.
1. Not regulation. Also, protecting citizens is the primary purpose of government - no argument here.
2. Not regulation. Also, protecting citizens is the primary purpose of government - no argument here.
3. Not regulation. Gone from that to what we have today... people thinking it's their right to have the government cancel student loans. Out of hand much?
4. Great example. Another good purpose of government... to protect capitalist constructs, not redefine them.
We're way off topic, but I would argue in each of those first 3 cases it was number of gov't regulations that enabled those to occur.
That's thing with regards to 4, companies use regulation to redefine how they compete in the workplace to their advantage. Bezos uses NASA safety regulations to ensure other competitors can't easily enter the market and would not doubt fight any effort to weaken them to make it easier for a competitor. Amazon benefits from government security regulations for cloud computing to limit a small company from easily entering and undercutting their price.
I'll sign off this chain of thought with a paraphrased quote (I do not remember it exactly) from one of my favorite economists:
We're free marketers, not anarchists. Regulation has its place - Merton Miller
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We all live under capitalism and it has good and bad aspects but a lot of your assertions are free-market fairy tales or outright incorrect.
Ironically, your argument on government inefficiency w/r/t infrastructure could be better solved by bigger government rather than small. The private sector will not serve broad infrastructure needs of this country without more unneeded urban consolidation of the population. So wholly privatizing it is not tenable. Meanwhile, the public-to-private interface (i.e. government contracting) is the biggest source of fraud against the taxpayer. It would seem to me that the solution would be to eliminate the contracting element of infrastructure and use state departments of labor source unemployed workers and direct them towards roadwork/construction labor as a wholly state-ran project.