I have a hard time reading this without a cringe. I'm too far gone down the anti-amazon path. Let's celebrate our climate pledge while encouraging people to ship items from all over the world one at a time & let counterfeits run rampant over your platform? Eesh. Amazon has definitely changed the world, I'm just not convinced it's been such a positive shift to our new cult of convenience.
Still, cynicism aside, it's remarkable what Bezos has achieved.
Let's celebrate our climate pledge while encouraging people to ship items from all over the world one at a time...
Streamlined supply chains and last-mile delivery can be surprisingly efficient. From this interesting article on meal kits:
Of course, shipping meal kits to millions of households causes emissions. But these kits are delivered alongside other mail on normal routes, and the researchers found that this last stage of distribution accounted for 11% of grocery store meal emissions but only 4% for meal kits.
Doesn't mean Amazon isn't deserving of criticism or that there might not be better alternatives, just something to keep in mind!
I also have a hard time reading information about certain people who I have little respect for their behaviour, ideas or attitudes. It’s a bit of rubbernecking that’s hard to quit. I’m drawn to know what they say about this world and their experience in it, however it’s not about learning something that I can implement into my life as much as it is needing to see where the pitfalls are. This email to his employees that mentioned invention multiple times makes me rethink what is needed to qualify as inventive. My conclusions about this are not fully formed yet but I’m leaning towards necessity being a healthy criteria for qualification. I just don’t see how JB thinks that his company is doing anything that is needed for humanity to progress. A real humanitarian is humble and compassionate. Good luck with your new endeavour Jeff hopefully you don’t just reinvent yourself as the King of the Foundations and end up destroying the ability of others to function in creating our collective futures.
It's undeniable that Amazon had a massive impact on the world. And yes, invention is great, but has Amazon created an environment where invention by other parties can be stifled because of Amazon's market dominance?
I recently watched the PBS documentary Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos. Recommended. If I remember correctly, the company has at least been under scrutiny for such anti-competitive behavior. And "Customer centricity" was their answer to every concern raised.
At the same time, I would recognize that Amazon's success, with implications good and bad, is the result of a capitalistic growth culture. A reflection of society. And high profile, big money inventors like Bezos and Elon Musk are trying to fix things within that framework, whether that's with electric cars or space colonies. They seem to be the only ones who can do so. And Bezos seems to focus more on that now. I hope it will work.
...but has Amazon created an environment where invention by other parties can be stifled because of Amazon's market dominance?
I'm sure this is the case on some level, but I think it's also important to keep in mind how many inventions might have only been possible because of Amazon. Readup has been running on AWS since day one, for free, for almost four years. First thanks to the Free Tier and then thanks to Amazon's partnerships with the accelerator we participated in and YC's Startup School. We've received thousands of dollars in free credits that have given us full access to all AWS has to offer.
Could we have gotten this far without free access to AWS? Possibly, but it certainly would have been much more difficult and at some point all the difficulties add up to an impossibility. I get that big things are scary. I certainly feel that way about both businesses and governments, but on balance I'm still a huge fan of Amazon.
Very valid point :) The sentiment will depend on whose perspective you're taking. An enterprise like Readup, or a new challenger cloud platform trying to enter the market.
I'm reminded of this article, which I might or might not have read on a different URL (my mind is playing tricks on me). I remember this part at least:
We say, “Oh my! It seems like we have level five security and your data center has level three security. Are you really comfortable staying where you are?” The customer figures, not only am I going to save money by going with AWS, I also just became aware that I’m not nearly as secure as I thought.
But then there's the argument that being much better is not necessarily being anti-competitive, of course. I don't know enough about it.
I have a hard time reading this without a cringe. I'm too far gone down the anti-amazon path. Let's celebrate our climate pledge while encouraging people to ship items from all over the world one at a time & let counterfeits run rampant over your platform? Eesh. Amazon has definitely changed the world, I'm just not convinced it's been such a positive shift to our new cult of convenience.
Still, cynicism aside, it's remarkable what Bezos has achieved.
Streamlined supply chains and last-mile delivery can be surprisingly efficient. From this interesting article on meal kits:
Doesn't mean Amazon isn't deserving of criticism or that there might not be better alternatives, just something to keep in mind!
Jeff, you'll always be my favorite free thinker. thanks for this point!
I also have a hard time reading information about certain people who I have little respect for their behaviour, ideas or attitudes. It’s a bit of rubbernecking that’s hard to quit. I’m drawn to know what they say about this world and their experience in it, however it’s not about learning something that I can implement into my life as much as it is needing to see where the pitfalls are. This email to his employees that mentioned invention multiple times makes me rethink what is needed to qualify as inventive. My conclusions about this are not fully formed yet but I’m leaning towards necessity being a healthy criteria for qualification. I just don’t see how JB thinks that his company is doing anything that is needed for humanity to progress. A real humanitarian is humble and compassionate. Good luck with your new endeavour Jeff hopefully you don’t just reinvent yourself as the King of the Foundations and end up destroying the ability of others to function in creating our collective futures.
OMG YES. You nailed it, esp the rubbernecking. I hate how I cant look away sometimes
I learned a new word today 👶
also, Achievement is not Enough is such a mantra. Slap that on a t-shirt, i'm in
I fully agree with this. I didn’t quite know how to put it m, but you said it perfectly
It's undeniable that Amazon had a massive impact on the world. And yes, invention is great, but has Amazon created an environment where invention by other parties can be stifled because of Amazon's market dominance?
I recently watched the PBS documentary Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos. Recommended. If I remember correctly, the company has at least been under scrutiny for such anti-competitive behavior. And "Customer centricity" was their answer to every concern raised.
At the same time, I would recognize that Amazon's success, with implications good and bad, is the result of a capitalistic growth culture. A reflection of society. And high profile, big money inventors like Bezos and Elon Musk are trying to fix things within that framework, whether that's with electric cars or space colonies. They seem to be the only ones who can do so. And Bezos seems to focus more on that now. I hope it will work.
I'm sure this is the case on some level, but I think it's also important to keep in mind how many inventions might have only been possible because of Amazon. Readup has been running on AWS since day one, for free, for almost four years. First thanks to the Free Tier and then thanks to Amazon's partnerships with the accelerator we participated in and YC's Startup School. We've received thousands of dollars in free credits that have given us full access to all AWS has to offer.
Could we have gotten this far without free access to AWS? Possibly, but it certainly would have been much more difficult and at some point all the difficulties add up to an impossibility. I get that big things are scary. I certainly feel that way about both businesses and governments, but on balance I'm still a huge fan of Amazon.
Very valid point :) The sentiment will depend on whose perspective you're taking. An enterprise like Readup, or a new challenger cloud platform trying to enter the market.
I'm reminded of this article, which I might or might not have read on a different URL (my mind is playing tricks on me). I remember this part at least:
But then there's the argument that being much better is not necessarily being anti-competitive, of course. I don't know enough about it.
Love this part so much.
Will be interesting to see Bezos’ next chapter. “Let curiosity be your compass.” Really excellent advice.
"Invention is the root of our success. We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal."
Jeff Bezos's exit email to his employees is worth pondering.