Don't Say the "M" Word!
Amazon Suppliers Panic Amid Purge Aimed at Boosting Profits!
Whoever enters here honors me; whoever doesn’t- pleases me.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Live Yet Pre-recorded- Episode Six of:
Don’t Say the “M” Word!
A Silent Radio Hour!
“I understand people believe I'm just a statistic
I say to them I'm different”
10th grader, Antwon Rose
“De l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace!” [“Audacity, audacity, always audacity!”]
-Georges Danton
“The power of the powerless!”
-Vaclav Havel
NO MORE!
TheBecka: Welcome back cherished listeners! And believe me when I say! Welcome back! Jonathan, please!
J: Indeed! We’re so glad that you’re back that we’d like to serenade all of “our” cherished listeners with this wonderful song written by John Sebastian! With loving care for “our” once again: Cherished listeners!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR: Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Your dreams were your ticket out Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] to that same old place That you laughed about Well, the names have all changed Since you hung around But those dreams have remained And they’ve turned around Who’d have thought they’d lead you Who’d have thought they’d lead you Back here where we need you Back here where we need you Yeah, we tease you a lot Cause we got you on the spot Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] We always could spot a friend Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] And I smile when I think How you must have been And I know what a scene You were learning in Was there something that Made you come back again And what could ever lead you What could ever lead you Back here where we need you Back here where we need you Yeah, we tease you a lot Cause we got him on the spot Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] And I know what a scene You were learning in Was there something that Made you come back again And what could ever lead you What could ever lead you Back here where we need you Back here where we need you Yeah, we tease you a lot Cause we got you on the spot Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Yeah, we tease you a lot Welcome back [Cherished Listeners], welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Cause we got you on the spot Welcome back [Cherished Listeners], welcome back [Cherished Listeners] Yeah, we tease you a lot ‘Cause we got you on the spot Welcome back [Cherished Listeners]!
TheBecka: And with that! We’re on “our” way! Jonathan? Drew? And Warren? Are you all ready?
J&D&WAR: Ready Freddie!
TheBecka: You ready there on the phone TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: In pain with the hernia! But yeah! I’m ready to go!
TheBecka: And we’re off and running! Warren and TheSASMO, please!
Amazon reportedly halts orders from wholesalers, prompting concern about major changes to vendor platforms!
TheSASMO: Wholesale suppliers that sell items directly to Amazon? Seems they have reportedly stopped getting purchase orders from the tech giant!
J&D: What TheAmazon?
WAR: Instead! They’re being encouraged to sell directly to consumers via the third-party marketplace! Vendors heavily dependent on Amazon are concerned that these changes could have a major impact on their businesses!
J: Like what? And what does the third-party marketplace have to do with this? TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: TheAmazon doesn’t have to store! Handle! And most importantly! Ship! These third party dealers just get to use Amazon’s marketplace but all the costs stay with them!
WAR: Forbes detailed how some suppliers are receiving notifications about technical issues with the ordering systems! While others are being told not to expect future purchase orders!
J&D: What TheAmazon?
WAR: Bloomberg News reported that this trend started in just the last two weeks and it’s meant to boost the profitability of the company’s core e-commerce business!
J&D: What TheAmazon?
TheSASMO: TheAmazon’s mortally afraid of being brought-up on anti-competition charges by the feds! United States anti-trust law? It’s called monopolization!
J: Explain please, TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: An anti-competitive practice or monopoly’s a viable attempt to prevent or reduce competition in a market! The term suggests use of significant power and typically only applies to a dominant competitor or government!
J: Might we have some clarifying somewhat instructive examples? TheSASMO, please?
TheSASMO: I’ll give you ten examples!
Dumping:
TheSASMO: A government subsidies farmers to produce a commodity. This causes farmers to produce a large surplus which they end up exporting. The price of the exports’ below a reasonable cost for producing the commodity! Thus causing bankruptcies of farmers who don’t receive the government subsidies!
Price Fixing:
TheSASMO: There are three pubs in a small town. One sets lower prices and gains most of the customers! Distressed! The other two owners contact the third and set up a meeting. They agree to a minimum price for food items and drinks.
Refusal to Deal:
TheSASMO: A telecom company has a monopoly on internet connections in an area. They also own a television network. They develop a strategy to deny competing television networks with internet services in an attempt to put them out of business.
Dividing territories:
TheSASMO: A country has two dominant breweries. They meet and agree to divide up the country with a monopoly for each in several regions.
Tying:
TheSASMO: A telecom company owns television stations which are profitable due to advertising. They only offer their own stations with a cable TV connection despite customer requests for access to the competition.
Protectionism:
TheSASMO: A country sets up obscure proprietary standards for a wide range of products to make it difficult for foreign exports to comply with local regulations.
Patent Misuse:
TheSASMO: A robotics company buys a patent that is fundamental to all robots and then refuses to license it to any competitors in an attempt to take over the entire industry.
Regulations:
TheSASMO: A telecom company requests that a government enact cumbersome industry regulations that make it almost impossible for small competitors to challenge them.
Mergers & Acquisitions:
TheSASMO: The two largest firms in an industry merge in hopes of creating a monopoly that will enable them to increase prices dramatically without losing business.
Group Boycott:
TheSASMO: A dominant telecom company will only buy critical network equipment if the seller agrees not to sell to their competition. Without access to the equipment? The competition is unable to upgrade their network and compete.
TheBecka: And we’re once again moving forward! Warren, please!
WAR: Bloomberg News reports that these developments have created panic among vendors! It’s a big topic of conversation at the Shoptalk Retail Conference in Las Vegas this week! In fact! There’s fear that these changes could put some wholesalers who are heavily dependent on Amazon out of business.
J&D: Monopoly!
Why Amazon might do this?
WAR: Amazon has long been rumored to be pursuing a more streamlined setup for its third-party suppliers! Amazon has two different platforms for sellers! Vendor Central! And Seller Central! Merging them would speed things up on the backend and require fewer man hours!
J&D: What TheAmazon?
TheSASMO: It lowers the cost of labor for TheAmazon!
WAR: Bloomberg also notes that encouraging suppliers to sell items themselves is more profitable for Amazon because it lowers the risks and costs of purchasing! Storing! And the great big one! TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: The cost of shipping items on behalf of sellers!
J: How high a cost TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Many Wall Street Analysis or WSA suggest that TheAmazon’s shipping cost uses up all the money they collect from Amazon Prime or AP subscription!
J&D&WAR: WOW TheAmazon!
TheSASMO: Woe or W! Here’s hoping TheAmazon!
What it means for vendors?
WAR: Not having the guarantee of regular purchase orders from Amazon creates a lot more risk for vendors that could be stuck with unsold inventory! However! Selling on Amazon’s marketplace instead of directly to the company gives sellers more control over prices and other aspects of the transaction.
TheSASMO: And much more risk! Also! Amazon receives the fee from third party sellers for use of “their” marketplace!
What Amazon is saying?
TheSASMO: Amazon issued the following statement via “their” Amazonian PR Amdroids or APRA! Here’s “their” response: ‘We regularly review our selling partner relationships and may make changes when we see an opportunity to provide customers with improved selection, value and convenience.’
WAR: And Jonathan says?
J: Bullshit!
Amazon Suppliers Panic Amid Purge Aimed at Boosting Profits!
WAR: Amazon.com has abruptly stopped buying products from many of its wholesalers spreading panic! Why?
J&D: Why TheSASMO why?
TheSASMO: Because TheAmazon’s actually encouraging vendors to sell directly to consumers on its marketplace! Again! Why? TheAmazon makes more money that way by offloading the cost of purchasing! Storing! And shipping products.
J&D: Why TheSASMO why?
TheSASMO: To cut labor costs! To! And here’s the big one! To franchise out “their” FCs better known as Fulfillment Centers!
WAR: And Jonathan says?
J: Bullshit!
WAR: Meanwhile! Amazon can charge suppliers for these services and take a commission on each transaction which’s much less risky than buying goods outright.
TheSASMO: Furthermore! TheAmazon’s determined to boost profits at the core e-commerce business! Even if! Even if that means disrupting relationships with longtime vendors! And why?
J&D: Why TheSASMO why?
TheSASMO: To make these franchises more attractive for potential buyers!
WAR: Also! Because many suppliers buy their products from manufacturers months in advance! They’ll have to quickly shift their sales tactics if the expected Amazon orders don’t come in!
TheSASMO: And this brings more sales and profits for TheAmazon!
J: Got ‘em coning and goin’!
WAR: Truly! Dan Brownsher Chief Executive Officer of Channel Key, a Las Vegas e-commerce consulting business with more than 50 clients that sell more than $100 million of goods on Amazon annually said this: ‘If you’re heavily reliant on Amazon, which a lot of these vendors are, you’re in a lot of trouble! If this goes on, it can put people out of business!’
J&D: Monopoly!
WAR: Brownsher’s among several consultants who said Amazon’s move has affected thousands of vendors.
TheSASMO: Pushing profits further up!
WAR: And Jonathan says?
J: Bullshit!
WAR: Pushing more suppliers onto the marketplace’s part of Amazon’s larger scheme to reduce overhead by getting more of them to use an automated self-service system that requires no input from Amazon management!
TheSASMO: If what TheAmazon does can be called management? Anyway! TheAmazon PR Amdroids of APRAs had this to say: ‘We regularly review our selling partner relationships and may make changes when we see an opportunity to provide customers with improved selection, value and convenience!’
WAR: And Jonathan once again’s forced to say?
J: Bullshit!
TheBecka: And the outcome guys?
WAR: The abrupt cancellation prompted panic at the ShopTalk retail conference that drew more than 8,000 retailers! Brands! And consultants to Las Vegas! Some attendees said Amazon stopped submitting routine orders last week for a variety of products! More often then not! Without explanation! And Jonathan please?
J: Bullshit!
WAR: The drought continued this week, affecting more vendors and leaving them frustrated about the lack of communication from Amazon.
TheSASMO: One vendor who has been selling products to Amazon for five years said he got a canned response when he inquired why his routine weekly purchase order never came through. The response gave him no clarity about his standing as a vendor!
WAR: In recent years! Amazon’s increasingly prioritized its marketplace! More than 50% of all products sold on Amazon in 2018 came from marketplace merchants!
TheSASMO: Over the last few years! The growth of Amazon’s third-party merchant services has overshadowed its own retail business!
J: Making TheBezos feel kinda limp I suppose?
TheSASMO: Sales from those merchants first surpassed Amazon’s own sales at the start of 2017! And this’ steadily climbing. Third-party services grew two to three times faster than Amazon’s own online sales throughout 2018!
J&D: Limp! Limp! Limp! TheBezos’ business continues to skimp!
TheSASMO: While third-party seller services bring in just one-third of TheAmazon’s own online sales! Its profit margin on those services’ significantly higher!
WAR: Also! Based on all of that! Analysts at Evercore ISI recently valued Amazon’s third-party services at more than $250 billion! But giving its in-house retail operations a value of just $120 billion!
J&D: Limp! Limp! Limp! TheBezos’ business continues to skimp!
TheSASMO: Also this! TheAmazon Online Marketplaces or TAOMs offers greater selection than even the biggest of stores! Walmart Inc.! Target Corp! And Best Buy are all copying Amazon’s marketplace model to increase online sales! Amazon will generate e-commerce revenue of $317 billion this year representing 52.4 percent of all online sales in the United States! But unfortunate for Mr. Jeff Bezos! Over 50% goes to someone else!
WAR: Third party vendors! Frank Poore CEO of CommerceHub which sells online marketplace software had this to say: ‘If you’re already drawing eyeballs to your website, you want to have all of the products your customers are looking for! You have to have a bigger assortment online than you do in the store!’
TheSASMO: More and more! Amazon vendors will be forced to sell on the marketplace or risk getting stuck with unsold inventory said Will Land CEO of Marketplace Valet an e-commerce logistics provider and consulting firm in Riverside, California: ‘When you get used to those big checks! It’s hard to pull away!’
TheBecka: But once again! We’re ourselves forced to pull away as time keeps slippin’ away! Oh okay! Jonathan please!
J: With feeling! Heart and soul! Everybody sing!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR&TheSASMO: Time has come today [TheAmazon] Young hearts can go their way [TheAmazon] Can’t put it off another day [TheAmazon] I don’t care what others say [TheAmazon] They say we don’t listen anyway [TheAmazon] Time has come today Hey! [TheAmazon] Oh! The rules have changed today Hey! [TheAmazon] I have no place to stay Hey! [TheAmazon] I’m thinking about the subway Hey! [TheAmazon] My love has flown away Hey! [TheAmazon] My tears have come and gone Hey! [TheAmazon] Oh my Lord, I have to roam Hey! [TheAmazon] I have no home Hey! [TheAmazon] I have no home Hey! [TheAmazon] Now the time has come Time! There’s no place to run [TheAmazon] Time! I might get burned up by the sun [TheAmazon] Time! But I had my fun Time! [TheAmazon] I’ve been loved and put aside Time! [TheAmazon] I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide [TheAmazon] Time! And my soul has been psychedelicized [TheAmazon] Time! Time! Now the time has come [TheAmazon] Time! There are things to realize [TheAmazon] Time! Time has come today [TheAmazon] Time! Time has come today [TheAmazon] Time! Oh! Now the time has come [TheAmazon] Time! There's no place to run [TheAmazon] Time! I might get burned up by the sun [TheAmazon] Time! But I had my fun [TheAmazon] Time! I’ve been loved and put aside [TheAmazon] Time! I’ve been crushed by tumbling tide [TheAmazon] Time! And my soul has been psychedelicized [TheAmazon] Time! Time! Now the time has come [TheAmazon] Time! There are things to realize [TheAmazon] Time! Time has come today [TheAmazon] Time! Time has come today [TheAmazon] Time!
J&D: Time to say: Bye now!
NO MORE!
* * *
To our cherished listeners out there hopefully believing that “our” ‘A Live Silent Radio Hour’ which’s live yet pre-recorded at The Spank the Monkey Café in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington of the United States of Here’s Still Hoping for the Fifth Aeon to Finally Come and Save Us All Here or USHSHFAFCSUAH in: America which’s quickly Slipping Into Darkness or SID! Hopefully, we’ll be back next time! Who knows? Now listen! I’m Becka formerly known as Reject # 2 now known as TheBecka! I’m here in what’s known as The Spank the Monkey Café where we’re now broadcasting live yet pre-recorded and so many thanks once again to “our” cherished listeners who are anticipating another Episode or E of ‘A Live Silent Radio Hour’! We’re so sorry that you have to live through these nasty “happenings” taking place daily here in America! I mean to say! Really SORRY! But I wish to thank all of you for tuning in once more while again leaving Any Semblance of Rational Thought or ASRT at the door as for the sake of TheDonald: How in the hell can you listen to silent radio? Never understood that one but hey folks! We’re back! (Inspirational Pause!) And please cherished “LISTENERS” return once again next time to hopefully Find-Out-the-Facts or FOFs concerning the nature and cause of our Collective Delusion or CD as we Tell Our Tale or TOT of Misery or M here in a land formerly known as America! Please stay safe and always watch out for those Frenzied, Extremely Agitated Regrettables or FEAR “Neo-Liberals” who see their own reflection in the Mirrored Sunglasses or MSs of those who would Un-Naturally or UN ridicule our Blessed Way of Life here on Silent Radio or SR! And please! Make sure to thank TheDonald! And so I’m pretty certain! And Good Night Irene!
* * *
D: Jonathan?
J: Yes Drew?
D: Are we really runnin’ outta time?
J: I’m put it this way! I’m looking for the 5th Aeon just about now!
D: Same here dear brother! Same here!
NO MORE!
The Post Meeting Social or PMS:
TheBecka: Kinda hard to close here! Any suggestions?
WAR: Just one! Jonathan, please!
J: And we’re once again takin’ it to the streets! We’re fighting for “our” very lives here people! With passion and resolve! There’s more to life than ‘My MTV’!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR&Any One Who Cares About “OUR” Democracy! Cares about finding out who were are? Where we come from? Where we’re headed? What we desire to be or not to be which’s quite the question: ‘You don’t know me but I’m your brother I was raised here in this living hell You don’t know my kind in your world Fairly soon the time will tell You, telling me the things you’re gonna do for me I ain’t blind and I don’t like what I think I see Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Take this message to my brother You will find him everywhere Wherever people live together Tied in poverty’s despair Oh, you, telling me the things you’re gonna do for me I ain’t blind and I don’t like what I think I see Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the Oh, you, telling me the things you’re gonna do for me, yeah I ain’t blind and I don’t like what I think I see Takin’ it to the streets takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets!’
NO MORE!