Amazon gives non-Prime members free shipping at $35 or more of eligible items. Instead of simply letting users get the product with free shipping, they’ve added a discount that prices it exactly one cent below the $35 limit, while only subsidizing the price with $3.38, which is about half of what they’ll then charge you for shipping.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zipEnglish
      82·
      3 days ago

      Seriously. Through some weird twist of fate, the Walton’s are suddenly looking like the best billionaire retail moguls.

      • plz1@lemmy.worldEnglish
        151·
        3 days ago

        Yeah…no. They ruin communities by undercutting local retailers into oblivion, and then pay starvation wages to force many of their employees onto government assistance just to scrape by.

        • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          In addition, ordering online from Walmart is every bit as bad as Amazon with the heaps and heaps of low quality Chinese junk sold under brand names that only exist for a few weeks at a time.

        • booly@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          31·
          3 days ago

          Amazon is worse for those communities, though. They undercut retailers by even more, and then don’t hire local employees at all. In the communities where they do set up warehouses, the working conditions are even worse than Walmart.

          • JasonDJ@lemmy.zipEnglish
            11·
            3 days ago

            This right here…as bad as Walmart is to communities and local businesses, Amazon is much worse.

            There’s only so much selection that can fit inside a Walmart. They aren’t going to carry every book, just the most popular, it’s harm to the local bookstore is limited. As an example.

            Walmart killed the general stores and the supermarkets more than anything. Even after acquiring Whole Foods, I still don’t think Amazon is a serious threat to the remaining supermarkets.

            And some other retailers that had limited time left for other factors, like record stores, got killed by walmart. But they can’t kill the more specific-needs stores nearly as easily. Those are getting killed by other big-box retailers (who themselves are struggling against Amazon now).

            Your local electronics store got killed by Best Buy, who is now pitted against Amazon.

            Your computer store got killed by CompUSA who got killed by Amazon.

            Your toy store got killed by Toys R Us, who got killed by Amazon.

            Your hardware store got killed by HD and Lowes, and they will probably only stick along until Amazon figures out how to cheaply ship lumber.