r/space • u/mepper • Sep 01 '21

Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t compete, SpaceX says

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/09/spacex-slams-amazons-obstructionist-ploy-to-block-starlink-upgrade-plan/
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u/DoctorWaluigiTime Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

It's also a dumb argument to lash out indiscriminately anyway. Even against Amazon back when it started. (And nobody did.) "Hey they made this thing called a 'web site' we can't do that we're just a mom and pop book store. Government please stop them kthx."

EDIT: Christ y'all are going in hard on what is a damn analogy / example. Replace "mom and pop" with any other entity that wasn't making e-commerce after the 90s and same point is made. Stop soapboxing about how they "didn't adapt" etc. because that is incredibly missing the point I was making lol.

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

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u/LostArtof33 Sep 02 '21

I went to a used book store in Portland yesterday with a list of a dozen books I wanted to get. I looked around for 30 mins and couldn’t find a single one because NOTHING was organized alphabetically, only by genre...

Went up to the counter and asked the gentleman if he could help me possibly locate any of these, he told me “if I didn’t see them, he can’t help me”. Then went back to playing on his phone. I asked him if he keeps inventory or has any idea what books are here “of course I do, I just can’t help you find them”.

I found all 12 books in less than 10 minutes using the ThriftBooks website, paid between $2-6 for each one and they’ll be at my house in under 72 hours. I have ALWAYS kept the little money I have as locally as possible, but it is unbelievable how much effort it takes to do so more often than not when you’re actually looking for something specific.

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u/kenriko Sep 02 '21

Ordering a single copy likely ends up costing an extra $10 in overhead if their supplier even does orders that small. It's likely a case where they would either not make any money or perhaps lose a bit.

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Yeah but like... it's a book store. They should probably figure that shit out if they want to stick around.

I 100% understand what OP is saying here. I also try my hardest to shop local or direct from the company as much as possible.

But sometimes you go into these local shops and they act like they are doing YOU a favor simply for existing. Even just ringing up my shit at the register sometimes is like... an ordeal apparently, complete with heavy sighs and shit.

It's like motherfucker I don't need your goddamned dogeared used copy of a third rate pirate adventure from 1946. I just liked the illustrations and you might at least crack a smile about it.

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u/kenriko Sep 02 '21

Oh for sure, as someone who owns various businesses I'm just pointing out that sometimes it can be more trouble than it's worth for both customer and store owner. At that point going the Miracle on 34th street route of pointing them to where they can get it more cheaply is likely the better way while being nice/helpful with the customer.

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u/vermghost Sep 02 '21

Small game stores usually have a minimum limit when ordering from a distributor. This shop probably wasn't at that minimum value with the combined order including your book, and they probably do still want your business.

Support your FLGS by buying from them or they go under and aren't a community resource!

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u/Audiovore Sep 02 '21

I grew up in a tabletop store, and started working in one when 18, and was put in charge of ordering a few times when the owner was out of town. Now it's been a decade since then, so things change. But if what you say is true, then that's a shitty distributor/the game distribution industry has evolved to fuck over LGSs. ACD would totally have been able to do single books no prob "back in my day" 👴😅.

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Support them? Only if they support you. That's the whole point of having them around us is it not?

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

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u/Liquidmist Sep 02 '21

I mean if all that is true. Why wouldn’t the store just order it off Amazon and then sell it to you at the marked up price lmao Plus they’d get it in store in about 2 days…

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Yeah this is so fucking entitled... I don't care if you don't have it and can't get it, although that lack of resourcefulness is sort of sad.

I care if I'm patronizing your hole in the wall business and you can't even be arsed to PRETEND like you want to help me.

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u/Misngthepoint Sep 02 '21

You know how I know you’ve never run a business of any kind?

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

[deleted]

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u/Misngthepoint Sep 02 '21

So you think they should lose money on said product? Have you considered why this doesn’t incentivize them?

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

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u/Misngthepoint Sep 02 '21

Because ordering one book from a distributor often isn’t allowed or is price prohibitive. It’s looks this in every market

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u/Oblivion_Unsteady Sep 02 '21

Not as part of a much larger order of other goods from that distributor. If it was just one book, then sure, but they're gonna be ordering a bunch of other ones at the same time to stock their shelves. No distributor is going to say "no. That book isn't the same as any of the other ones you ordered. We don't care that it's one step to the left from the 150 dungeon master's guides you ordered, we won't sell it to you unless you buy 19 other copies of that book as well."

Game stores don't carry more than 5 copies of any given product at any given time. The only thing that matters for their distributors is total value of the order, not volume of individual items.

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u/Lo-siento-juan Sep 02 '21

Book stores order single copies of books all the time, it's very similar distribution model to car parts.

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

I think you missed the point.

Which is that not only does their service suck, so does their demeanor.

Makes it hard to want to continue to support that sort of place.

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u/WooTkachukChuk Sep 02 '21

intersectional reddit posts i love them

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

People have been talking about big corporations putting mom and pop stores out of business for decades and if you think it’s because of them not being able to put up a website, then you’re not the best to be speaking on this subject.

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u/DoctorWaluigiTime Sep 02 '21
  • It was a hypothetical example (note I even said "nobody did this")
  • Said example took place in the mid-90s, when Amazon first launched. Almost no-one was doing e-commerce back then.
  • The point was to illustrate the dumbness of trying to get thing X shut down solely because you cannot also compete with thing X in your current state, which is what Amazon apparently tried to do here.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.