alt Hacker NewsI keep getting these hail-corporate responses here. It's a wee bit strange to me.
Let me tell you about the bodega man.
I'd walk over there to his shop if I wanted to buy something -- a soda, some beer, a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk or some pasta sauce or whatever. It was a good bit of healthy exercise, and it was as local as it could get.
He didn't keep a ton of inventory (it was not a big shop), but he'd stock whatever his customers wanted to buy.
I used to smoke cigarettes. One day when I stopped into the bodega, the bodega man asked me why he kept seeing me walk past his place to the big corpo gas station next door.
"They carry my brand of smokes, and you don't," I said.
He asked me what I smoked. I produced a pack from my pocket and showed it to him. He said he wasn't sure if he could get them from his distributor but that he would try. He then asked me what I paid for them next door, and I didn't really remember so I guessed -- and I guessed low.
"I think they're about six bucks."
A few days later, I was back at the bodega to buy whatever it was and he was proud to show me that he'd made a spot for my cigarettes and got some in stock. They were marked at $7.42 (I remember that part very precisely).
He asked if I wanted some, and I'm thinking to myself "Sure, dude. Fine. I'll buy your expensive cigarettes that you got in for me."
The bodega man rang them up at $6.00. I paid the man, and said "Thank you!"
They were $6.00 for me from then on, which made it the cheapest place in town (remember, I guessed low). His employees charged me $6.00 without any prompting on my part, too. They were only stocked because I wanted them, and they were sold to me at a price that I was very happy to pay. If anyone random wanted them, I'm sure that the price was $7.42.
Or at least, this all lasted until one day, when the bodega man suddenly fell over dead while coaching his team at a kids' softball game. IIRC, it was a brain aneurysm. The bodega didn't open back up the next day or ever again. The last time I went by there -- years ago, now -- the windows that I could see past the plywood had been shattered.
Sometimes I wonder about the Bud Light-emblazoned Weber charcoal grill that his beer distributor placed there as a part of a promo display. It was still in there when he died.
I had asked him about that one day, just because I was curious: "Hey, so: What happens to stuff like that when the promotion is over and the next display shows up?"
And he thought for a moment, and said "I'll tell you what: When the promotion is over, you can have it. It's your grill."
I wish I could have made any parts of these stories up, but it's instead just kind of sad to recall.
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Anyway, enough stories of the bodega man.
I now have questions for you.
How many specialty items has Amazon kept in stock just because you, individually, wanted to buy them?
How many items have you successfully (even if accidentally) negotiated an ongoing price with Amazon on?
How many softball teams has your Amazon guy coached in your town?
How many minty new Weber grills has Amazon offered to give you before they fell over dead?
If your Amazon guy fell over dead tomorrow, would you even notice?
(I only lived near that bodega for a few months. Want me to tell you some stories about the next bodega man?)
Like most people, I always try to give preference to local merchants instead of giants like Amazon. And most of the times I regret it
I don't buy groceries online, have never liked the idea. But for other goods, Amazon or other corporate giants are normally the best choice. And you probably know it too.
> How many specialty items has Amazon kept in stock just because you, individually, wanted to buy them?
Places like Amazon are usually the only place to get specialty items. Go to a local merchant and their answer is always "We don't have them in stock, but we can order them for you". Even specialty stores never have specialty items which they know customers need. After having spent the day going to 5 different specialty stores and none of them having the item, you'll wonder why you didn't buy it on Amazon in the first place.
> How many items have you successfully (even if accidentally) negotiated an ongoing price with Amazon on?
Never, of course. Their prices are already cheaper than what you can get after successfully negotiating with a local merchant. And I don't enjoy negotiating. I have nothing against local stores being more expensive for the convenience.
> How many minty new Weber grills has Amazon offered to give you before they fell over dead?
About fourteen.
For most sectors, local merchants simply offer no convenience, no knowledge, no stock, annoying sales tactics, lying salesmen, predatory terms, no product guarantees, a hateful attitude, and jacked up prices. The local merchant is usually a multi-millionaire who gives as little a damn about you and the community he operates in as Amazon does.
With Amazon I can return a product if I need to and get my money back. I can purchase it in peace with all relevant information about the product presented clearly.