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Amazon's Monopoly of the tech industry is ruining the US economy (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by Buttflapper@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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I wanted to get printer photo paper for my printer, a Canon. I went to Walmart, They had nothing. Went to Target, they had one pack of photo paper and it was crazy expensive, so I went to micro center. That one was just as expensive. So finally I went back to Amazon, which I was trying to avoid, and saw the price 25 to 40% lower than anywhere I had been. Literally everything that I was looking for, I could find within seconds. Not even Best buy has even close to the amount of inventory or variety, even when you're shopping online....

Therefore, I think Amazon has a literal monopoly in the tech industry right now, you're literally forced to buy from them, because unless you have the money and financial fortitude to protest with your wallet, you're going to be buying from them. There's no other choice. They have so aggressively and dominantly taken over the supply chain market that no other tech company can currently compete with them in any aspect at all. You will be paying 40 to 50% more on everything by cutting out Amazon, and no one has the money for that anymore unless you're upper middle class or above

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[–] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 15 points 2 months ago (11 children)

So politely, how does Amazon offering a better price on a niche paper product conflate into them having a monopoly on the "tech industry"?

I'd posit the real thing here is that Amazon's warehouses allow them to keep less-purchased products around in stock that a brick-and-mortar retail store simply wouldn't bother with at all, but that's been the case for decades at this point.

And, yes, printing out images has become an uncommon activity and I can't say I'd blame any of the larger stores for only having a single expensive option available, but that's their decision, not Amazon's.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

how does Amazon offering a better price on a niche paper product conflate into them having a monopoly on the “tech industry”?

For starters, it's typically not "better price" so much as "only people able to consistently obtain supply". The real price is very likely higher than it was 5-10 years ago when production was prolific.

But also, we saw this game play out with Walmart. The monopoly retailer has an opportunity to outsource to the least ethical producer.

So Amazon gets to be the sole distributor of printer paper, the manufacturer is some old growth harvestor in the Amazon using prison/slave labor for harvesting/processing, and even then you're paying more for a worse product than when a well regulated and unionized workforce was producing the commodity a decade earlier.

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So Amazon gets to be the sole distributor of printer paper, the manufacturer is some old growth harvestor in the Amazon using prison/slave labor for harvesting/processing, and even then you're paying more for a worse product than when a well regulated and unionized workforce was producing the commodity a decade earlier.

That doesn't really make sense in this context as this paper is made by Canon not Amazon. You could make the argument that Canon is using rainforest paper, but then the rest of this kind of falls apart.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

this paper is made by Canon not Amazon

Rubbermaid had to completely downsize and restructure its workforce as Walmart chewed through the retail competitors who purchased their products wholesale. This was back in the 90s.

Canon is under the same pressure today. Amazon sets the wholesale price point as a monopsony and Canon has to deliver at that price or fail to make the sales.

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