Google| Subject | Re: Calumet files Chapter 7 |
| From | Martin Brown |
| Date | 2014-03-24 15:20 (2014-03-24 14:20) |
| Message-ID | <%aXXu.112153$yT3.106657@fx14.am4> |
| Client | |
| Newsgroups | rec.photo.digital |
| Follows | Tony Cooper |
| Followups | nospam (30m) PeterN (9h & 5m) |
On 24/03/2014 14:11, Tony Cooper wrote:
Tony CooperIt may be that bricks and mortar stores are now intrinsically doomed. Click and collect catalogue style stores may be as close as it gets.
On Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:07:11 +0000, Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk>wrote:Tony CooperThis isn't a failure of capitalism. It's a failure of a few individuals to successfully manage a business in a changing market. Other capitalists reacted more intelligently to the changing market and provided competition that Calumet couldn't keep up with.Martin Brown
Actually I think it is a failure of capitalism in that people these days buy the cheapest online and screw over the honest dealers. High streets are now increasingly half empty or worse still occupied by charity shops selling tat and payday loan sharks stolen goods.
That's a shift, not a failure of capitalism. The online sources are capitalistic ventures. Capitalism means an individual can set up shop on the high street or online. Capitalism allows that venture to set pricing in such a way to attract the business that would otherwise go to competitors.
Amazon and Google are a pretty interesting examples in the UK with incredibly complex tax avoidance schemes in place to avoid contributing anything to the running of the country. The playing field is not level!
There is nothing inherently "honest" about setting high prices for goods, and nothing "dishonest" about undercutting high prices.But there is something inherently dishonest about pretend customers going and exploiting the expertise of the handful of remaining bricks and mortar stores and then buying their stuff online for slightly less.
-- Regards, Martin Brown
2014-03-13-
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