The 5 Businesses you most admire?

[mondatoo]

How is Amazon in the convo ?

My experience of them is they list products at 2x or more the standard retail price for absolutely no reason, very bizarre.

There delivery charges are a joke, I paid extra to get something delivered the next day, it took two days, I was then offered the opportunity again to pay extra for next day deliver, otherwise would have to wait 2-5 working days, opted out and paid less after the previous debacle, and received my item the next day.

I find the whole site clunky, awkward and basically just a pile of shit for how big they are.

So very intrigued at how people could put them at #1 ?

Because they

Refund/replace items without any hassle
I find them generally cheapest

Would agree with an earlier point their staff seem to be treated very poorly to me. Spoke to one the other day regarding an order and I could hear he had 3 or 4 colleagues shouting at him for advice.

Very helpful guy and polite

Well I had to have a refund on an item with them and to do so I had to get labels they sent me printed off which was a hassle when I have no printer and I had to sort out and pay for the courier to send it back to them which I've never had to do before. So all in all it was the opposite of no hassle and actually the most effort I've had to make to get a refund on an item.

[scotty77]

Amazon are impressive but they won't rule the world like some people say.

5 years ago it was Tesco and Walmart that were gonna be the ones that ran every business on the planet and they are both suffering right now.

[bobAlike]

Amazon are impressive but they won't rule the world like some people say.

5 years ago it was Tesco and Walmart that were gonna be the ones that ran every business on the planet and they are both suffering right now.

Tesco and Walmart never had and still don't have the vision of Amazon.

[aaron1867]

In one way yes I admire Apple with the creation of the Iphone. 20 years ago it would have took months if not years to find out all the information you need on a subject which can now be found instantly at your finger tips anywhere.

But there's 2 things that ruin the world for me and that's religion and greed.
It cost £130 to make an Iphone yet they sell them at £540 and have over $200 billion in cash WTF?

How many kids dream of owning an Ipad or Iphone but their parents can't afford to buy them one. Is there any need for this profit margin?

I think Apple's example just sums up life. We are all as consumers pay multiple times more than it costs to make. x4 seems like value really.

Someone mention Tesco too? I didn't realise until today that they actually own OneStop stores, you know, the local convenience store.

[TightEnd]

If you've ever left a fake product review, Amazon could be about to sue you http://ind.pn/1jv0JYv

[RED-DOG]

In one way yes I admire Apple with the creation of the Iphone. 20 years ago it would have took months if not years to find out all the information you need on a subject which can now be found instantly at your finger tips anywhere.

But there's 2 things that ruin the world for me and that's religion and greed.
It cost £130 to make an Iphone yet they sell them at £540 and have over $200 billion in cash WTF?

How many kids dream of owning an Ipad or Iphone but their parents can't afford to buy them one. Is there any need for this profit margin?

I don't agree Mr Vanwinkle.

Prices are dictated by what people will pay. You can buy your child a perfectly serviceable phone / tablet for ~ £100.

Or they could do what we did when we were kids....  Without.

[david3103]

Apple become less admirable day by day

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/14/apple-jury-iphone-ipad-chip-violates-processor-patent

NB posted from mu iPad

[Jon MW]

I don't agree Mr Vanwinkle.

Prices are dictated by what people will pay. You can buy your child a perfectly serviceable phone / tablet for ~ £100.

Or they could do what we did when we were kids....  Without.

I wouldn't expect you to, red dog.

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't like to live without my iPhone or iPad as they're so convienient with many things but just because people will pay 4x the making cost, does it mean they really have to charge that? I'm not too sure how business' work but if they dropped the price would they not sell more therefore make similar profits and pleasing more kids by giving them the chance of owning one?
...

Nobody needs an iphone or ipad (or any other smartphone or tablet), once you want one you're already being materialistic - I dislike Apple in terms of when they generally (or as David pointed above specifically) try to pass off other people's ideas as their own, but I admire their business acumen. They can charge people a lot more for a product than other people charge for a similar, and often better, product - if people are already sucked into the materialistic world of making themselves or others happy by what they own then I don't really think their should be much of an issue when a company charges as much they can get away with for consumers to buy it.

[tikay]

I don't agree Mr Vanwinkle.

Prices are dictated by what people will pay. You can buy your child a perfectly serviceable phone / tablet for ~ £100.

Or they could do what we did when we were kids....  Without.

I wouldn't expect you to, red dog.

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't like to live without my iPhone or iPad as they're so convienient with many things but just because people will pay 4x the making cost, does it mean they really have to charge that? I'm not too sure how business' work but if they dropped the price would they not sell more therefore make similar profits and pleasing more kids by giving them the chance of owning one?

I really dislike greedy people and companies. What will they do with 200 billion?  There are 1000's of children die each year because of lack of medical insurance, Apple could reduce this number with all that cash.

Every now and then the euro reaches £100 million jackpot and you'll hear conversations about what people would do. Yes it would be great for you, your family and friends to live a luxury life but I think the best feeling I'd get out of owning that much money would be giving it away. Changing the lives of people, especially kids that have been born less fortunate than most

As of a company to admire, I'm not sure if there's a billionaire behind it but Aldi are a great company imo. You hear lots of people that are saving hundreds of pounds a month by shopping there. Tesco and morridons, again companies driven by greed. Be understandable if the product was much better like M&S but it's not, you can buy the exact same products for 20 and 30% cheaper elsewhere.

A very fine company indeed (strictly speaking, TWO companies, but that's another story).

The 2 joint founders are the Albrecht Brothers, both of whom died in the last 5 years. They were the 1st & 2nd richest individuals in Germany, & the 22nd & 30th richest chaps in the world.

So not one, but two billionaires behind Aldi. It's a Private Company, incidentally, not floated on any Stock Exchange.

Businesses making lots of money has nothing to do with greed. It's exactly what they are designed & supposed to do - sell their wares at the best possible price. "Best possible price" usually (but not always) equates to highest price.

Mr Pewterschmidt has to make a living somehow, you know.





 

[AndrewT]

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't like to live without my iPhone or iPad as they're so convienient with many things but just because people will pay 4x the making cost, does it mean they really have to charge that? I'm not too sure how business' work but if they dropped the price would they not sell more therefore make similar profits and pleasing more kids by giving them the chance of owning one?

Their factories can only churn out so many products a month - I doubt they're running them under capacity so every $ they sell it cheaper for is money out of their pocket.

Apple don't even do sales or bulk discounts to third-party sellers so protecting their margin is key.

Also, a large part of Apple's success is through the design - making objects of desire (there's not a huge amount of technological advancement in their products). The high price is part of that, because something is expensive, people perceive it as being better.

[Jon MW]

Nobody needs a washing machine, nobody needs a TV in their living room, nobody needs a microwave. They're all just very convenient on our every day life.

I don't really think their should be much of an issue when a company charges as much they can get away with for consumers to buy it.

You mean companies being greedy I really dislike greedy people.

As well as the points raised above - you know Aldi don't sell cheap goods to be nice don't you?

Their business model is based on selling a lot cheaply - but the ultimate aim is still the same, to make as much money as possible.

[AlunB]

I'm not sure I could "admire" any business. Not one at the scale you are talking about at any rate.

I think the world is a more enjoyable and pleasant place as a result of many companies, but I'm fairly confident I would exchange free shipping on cheap books for a more equitable distribution of wealth.

[david3103]

I'm not sure I could "admire" any business. Not one at the scale you are talking about at any rate.

I think the world is a more enjoyable and pleasant place as a result of many companies, but I'm fairly confident I would exchange free shipping on cheap books for a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Yes. Absolutely this.

One of my weekly tasks is to fetch Mother in Law's groceries. I have been instructed to buy Morrison's special packs of milk which cost 23p more than standard but pay the surplus to the producers.

As I said a few pages back, there are many socially aware companies where there is an ethos that isn't just about profit. Some of these are admirable.
The megaliths like Amazon, Apple, Starbucks, Imperial Tobacco do not fall into this category.