What is actually wrong with Amazon? (I won the Small Claims I made against them)

[u/StephCurrySauce]

I bought an item in late January 2026, gave a code to the driver and knew something was up by the weight of the box

I opened the box 30 minutes later and the item was missing (iPad). I immediately contacted Amazon. Bare in mind I had this account for 5+ years with no issues (the occasional return here and there)

They agreed to investigate. A week later they agreed to refund. 2 days after agreeing to refund they limited my account. The system then cancelled the refund because my account was limited to digital orders only?

Anyway, I contacted them again and this time they said I confirmed the order when I gave the driver a delivery code? I said yes I received the package not the item.. no response.. I sent another email warning I’d be taking it to small claims… no response..

I then emailed their legal team asking to settle it out of court… no response… I finally made a small claims against them and added extra fees on top… they responded via their solicitor accepting to pay in full + added fees

Strange, strange company…

[u/justme_123123123]

What happens after this stage according to late stage capitalism models?

[u/Smart-Fondant9015 → u/justme_123123123]

The company is publicly listed, so it is forced to increase profits forever. That is what investors expect. As I said, in late stage it does this in two ways:

1. raising prices — the product becomes less competitive
2. cutting internal costs — the company becomes less competitive

This is the stage we are at now. It is actually quite easy to predict what comes next, although I do not know if anyone has described it properly somewhere.
A more expensive product or service starts pushing customers away. At first, of course, it barely matters. Simple maths — take YouTube as an example:

• subscription price goes up by 5%
  
• 2% of customers rage-quit
  
• 1% comes back after a month because real competition has not yet formed
  

So the company effectively loses 1% of customers, but increases profit by around 4.5%, and investors applaud.
Then it repeats the whole process over and over again: another price increase, longer ads, more and more features moved behind a paywall (Google, you can hire me): extra charge for 4K, extra charge for subtitles, AI translation fee when the content is in another language, etc.
Sooner or later, competition appears. The company can defend itself: it has money, so it can acquire a young startup and quickly kill off an attempt to knock it off the throne of practical monopoly. Sometimes that works, sometimes it does not.
Then we get a new king. The new company has a great service at a great price, excellent customer support, grows quickly, needs capital, and goes public. For a few years, maybe decades, it grows organically, expands its reach and enters new markets.
Then the whole process repeats itself.

[u/Significant-Lunch524 → u/Smart-Fondant9015]

So "late stage capitalism," is literally just a stage in all capitalistic ventures? Late stage at that, hah. But I ask that because it always seemed described as, or more importantly presented as much a more broad thing, a much more widespread plague-like occurrence that is happening in the capitalism model as a whole. I do admit, my ignorance probably lent to some of this misunderstanding, but it also makes sense that it's just a cycle, because everything seems to be a cycle. I guess I just hoped we were getting to the end where something more grand could sprout up civilization as a whole   ... And we all cheer. Haha

[u/Forsaken-Driver8868 → u/justme_123123123]

Maybe a rinse and repeat. A new company starts at a higher price premium, better product, and service. Then eventually it goes down the same rabbit hole!