Online retail has just about got it all figured out

[tr21]

Walmart is the only one that can give amazon a run for their money. luckily I saw this coming back in Dec. when I was there with some older friends. me and my friend were sitting on the bench by the checkout and he asked me what the big orange tower thing was, I told him it was for online orders and you just walk in and pick it up or they will bring it out to you. about that time his wife walked up and we were talking about it, she looks at me and says my friend at church will not go to the self checkout because it costs somebody their job ! I said do you think she will go to the self checkout if they were to charge 10% extra to pay to use that cashier, i said i bet she will be at the front of the self checkout line! the next day I bought Walmart stock and have done very well buying and selling it, when they put on their gun restrictions I got out on principal but know they will eventually either buy or get bought by amazon

 

[transfixer]

I would buy local a lot of times if they had what I wanted in stock, but it seems they seldom do, and I don't like having to go to three or four different stores to find something, and I'm in the automotive repair business, when I need a part I don't want to hear " we don't have it in stock I can get it by tomorrow afternoon" when I can go on Amazon and buy the same part for 2/3 of what I was going to pay the parts store, and have it the next day in most cases, usually worst case 2days, also most parts stores don't carry true original equipment parts, you have to go to the dealer for that , mass air flow sensor for GM pickup, $150 at local discount auto parts, some off brand I don't trust, Amazon has true original equipment Delphi mass air flow sensor, exact same thing came on the truck new, $72 parts stores in particular carry aftermarket replacement parts because they have a larger profit margin off of them, and its a gamble whether they work correctly or as good as original equipment, if I can buy geniune original equipment parts online for a better price I'll do it all day long every day, many of the brick and mortar stores need to find a way to adapt, or they very well may become obsolete.

 

[transfixer]

Walmart is the only one that can give amazon a run for their money. luckily I saw this coming back in Dec. when I was there with some older friends. me and my friend were sitting on the bench by the checkout and he asked me what the big orange tower thing was, I told him it was for online orders and you just walk in and pick it up or they will bring it out to you. about that time his wife walked up and we were talking about it, she looks at me and says my friend at church will not go to the self checkout because it costs somebody their job ! I said do you think she will go to the self checkout if they were to charge 10% extra to pay to use that cashier, i said i bet she will be at the front of the self checkout line! the next day I bought Walmart stock and have done very well buying and selling it, when they put on their gun restrictions I got out on principal but know they will eventually either buy or get bought by amazon

Walmart can't give Amazon any real competition, they are trying to sell stuff online that they don't even carry in stores, trying to do it the drop ship method, sourcing it from a vendor and having it drop shipped to the customer, normally doesn't work out well, shipping time is much longer than Amazon, I made the mistake of trying to buy an antenna pole from Walmart last year, simply because they were about $70 cheaper than anyone else online, had to be shipped by truck, it was fairly long and weighed about 60 or 70lbs, listing mentioned nothing about using truck line for delivery, mentioned nothing about having to be home to sign delivery ticket, after placing my order I get contacted a few days later by shipping company, trying to arrange delivery ? after explaining I am not staying home from work to accept a delivery , and wasn't notified before buying it that was the case, I went back and forth with Walmart customer service and finally got a refund, Walmart prices on the items they actually do sell are always higher than I can find elsewhere anyway, Amazon would not benefit at all from trying to absorb Walmart, Amazon is much better run, more efficient, anything Walmart tries to do is already being done better by someone else.

 

[tr21]

you are right transfixer and I thought long about that. now where I work we have a parts dept. that has rows of shelves from floor to ceiling about 80ft high and id guess 150ft long, running down the rows is a parts picker that knows exactly where to go when I order a part and brings it to a person standing on the end who puts the pick ticket and part in a bag and puts it on a conveyor belt while the picker puts it back and is already on its next order. the day is coming when if Walmart is smart they will do this and how much inventory do you think a store can hold? ok now we know amazon is doing their best to get you the order same day, this is easy in the bigger cities, but out in the country its going to be more challenging, they can build warehouses in every town, costly and will take time, but hey there's already a store/warehouse in dang near every town in America ( now they get their warehouse's and take out their main competition) its a win win for both companys, the only ones that loose is employee's because the stock truck will back up, the parts picker will put them in their place no employee's needed. honestly the only part I haven't figured out is when everything is computerized and robots do all the work is A) who's going to have money to buy anything if nobody is working and B) who's going to pay to keep our guberment running

 

[BeerThirty]

I don't believe it pity buying. If a ma and pop store isn't savvy enough to compete at a reasonable price, i'm not going to give them my money because I feel sorry for them.

 

[mattuga]

That started changing when they started doing their own deliveries and relying less and less on the USPS, UPS, etc.

StripeRR HunteRR!!! Fyi, hope you are well. My first captain for my first striper!

Automation is quickly going to make this the norm. Amazon is ahead of the Union fight, robots at the warehouse won't need pay increases and self employed contractors for delivery will set the bar amongst themselves. Amazon is ahead of the game with this move, not sure how it works in states that are not right to work but they will "make it work" I'm sure.

 

[bassboy1]

Just remember the local business owners that you refuse to do business with are the same people you go to church with and your children go to school with. They are also the same people that do business with you

I've never had Amazon, eBay, Walmart….. Ever give me a dime of business

Actually, a lot of what is sold on Amazon, and a majority of what is sold on eBay is small local businesses with just a few employees. Amazon and eBay are just the way to reach the customer, but order fulfilling and whatnot is done by the local guy.

 

[bfriendly]

I don't believe it pity buying. If a ma and pop store isn't savvy enough to compete at a reasonable price, i'm not going to give them my money because I feel sorry for them.

Yea, I’d like to support local, but I kind of need to get the best deal I can find for me, not them.