Post: #26

(06-17-2017 10:33 PM)SlickyBoy Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 08:38 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  Peapod eh? Sounds like you're in Stop and Shop land!

Really, at the end of the day TJs and Whole Foods doesn't hold a candle at all to Wegman's. If you have a Wegman's, you get the best of both worlds: organic, cheap, and you can still go and buy Oreos and processed Kraft goods if you want. If you're in our around Mass, check them out. I don't know if they've expanded to other New England states.

Stop and Shop land, a.k.a, Boston? Yeah I'm not there, but I know about Peapod from people who are - they say good things about it but I've never used any kind of food delivery service. Similar companies like that are scattered around the country and if Amazon gets involved, they're all history.

I agree, Wegmans is pretty amazing but also not everywhere unless you're in upstate NY.

Go to the website: Wegmans has multiple stores in PA, Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland(and soon NYC). My local store's 24/7 so I shop very early and avoid aisles congested by the riff-raff and desiccated elderly.

Unlike walmart, I don't think Wegman's goal is blanket the US and put a store in every town of 10,000+ people. It's quality over quantity and I like that.

I've used PeaPod, it's great. You order on the website and pick a general delivery time. Not sure how an Amazon grocery delivery service, which they sort of have already(Pantry), would eliminate all others unless they:

1) Use driverless trucks.
2)Drop ship your food by drone.
3) Eliminate the minimum delivery amount(peapod is about $70.00)

Post: #27

I am under the opinion that this deal will not go through, under the reason that you can claim antitrust (and this is a case where there is good evidence)

Post: #28

(06-18-2017 10:56 AM)PharaohRa Wrote:  I am under the opinion that this deal will not go through, under the reason that you can claim antitrust (and this is a case where there is good evidence)

On what grounds? This isn't AOL and Time Warner.

You have a pseudo shipping company and e-commerce service buying a grocery chain. What is the market cap for Whole Foods? They have the organics and tends market on lock down but regular American are not feeding families from WF, and WF has never had them as the target market. I would agree with you if this was Trader Joe's and Walmart joining forces which would overwhelmingly suffocate that market.

This deal is not the case.

Amazon wants niche brands and distribution channels for food to take over. They can do home delivery or attempt to make a automated storefront with next to labour costs aside from attendants to answer questions and help glitches. Nothing stopping the other grocery chain from making smart stores to save on overhead but they have been slow to get things going.

Post: #29

(06-17-2017 05:37 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 01:13 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Type of people who shop at whole foods?
Thin, educated, yoga pants wearing white women in a good neighborhood? Oh i know they are Liberals (or lefty they call it here) and have some feminist mindset at least. Most guys will be afraid of them in this forum.

Don't mistake contempt for fear.

(06-17-2017 06:04 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Don't mistake contempt for fear.

---------------------------------------

Interesting. You prefer the opposite?
Sweat pants wearing, chubby, high school grad maybe, walmart shopper suburban residing republican girl?

That's a nonsensical argument. There are thousands of different and unrelated reasons for holding someone in contempt. I can have contempt for a thin white bitch for being a leftist sub-human while also having contempt for a fat right-leaning white bitch for being fat. There is nothing contradictory in it.

(For the record, "contempt" is too weak a word. My contempt for white leftists of any gender is slowly turning into a cold-burning hatred that you reserve for people who are not only objectively contemptible in an abstract way, but are also actively an enemy working to destroy your future.)

Post: #30

I could work at Amazon Head Office in UK with my background. Heard mixed things. Anyone work at Amazon? What's it like?

Post: #31

It's a hell of a thing to turn a profit on grocery. Conventional food items are already priced low compared to their production costs due to govenment subsidies. Most Americans pay 20%-40% of their actual food bill in taxes, not directly at the point of sale. This pushes down whole dollar profits for the retailer.

I worked for Wild Oats over 15 years ago and it was a dumpser fire of a corporation. Their suppliers walked all over them, demand was stagnant and internal theft and graft was rampant. Leadership at the store and national level turned over so much that no one ever had a good idea what was actually going on with the company. The only well run part, the private label products, is the only part that still survives; it manufactures organic packaged food items for WallMart. Ain't that some shit.

Amazon's leadership might be just what these hippies need to stay consistantly in the black. Get a few experienced MBAs to pressure suppliers, cut internal waste and do some deep analysis on what is and isn't a profitable part of their model. That last bit is Amazon's specialty, big data and the autists to read it. Wall St analysts are already tentatively optomistic. I've read that even if WF does inevitably go out of business, the buildings the stores are located in, plus the warehouses and shipping fleets (esp cold chain logistics) could recoup most of the purchase price. Eliminating redundancy and useless salaries at the executive level will be a good start.

One of the best things Amazon could do for WFM is to use its lobbying power in Washington to push for more sugar for the farmers and ranchers that produce the organic and "natural" products than use its own gigantic logistics capacity to cut out as many middle men between them and the farmers/producers as they can. They already started this with their own "Wickedly Prime" label of semi-perishables.

Post: #32

I am not sure about WF's real estate holdings; they get friendly lease arrangements because landlords/owners want to have them of anchor tenants in desirable areas; just like Apple that can muscle shopping malls into letting them pay next to nothing in lease/rent.

Post: #33

How do you guys think this will affect WFM stock? It already shot up 9$ since the announcement.

Post: #34

Wall Street's being Wall Street. This has Time Warner and AOL written all over it.

Amazon's a terrible company to work for. I have a few close software dev friends who got snatched up by Amazon recruiters out of college. All of them lasted three years before they burned out and changed companies. They have nothing but contempt for their previous employer. From the looks of it, Amazon seems to be the Walmart of e-commerce.

The things that make Whole Foods what it is are anathema to how Amazon operates. Amazon will drive out the SWPL hippies that poorly run the company, irrevocably changing the company culture and driving away the granolas who shop there. All it takes are a few years of "MBAs" mucking around for the culture to change enough for their customers to notice.

It kills me when people claim that drones and driverless vehicles are some sort of massive paradigm shift. I have enough luck not having my deliveries jacked from my porch. What makes you think the neighborhood kids aren't going to try and have a blast shooting down drones with a small rock and a slingshot? Hell, i'd probably try to do the same. No way in hell we'll be seeing deliveries by those annoying quadcopters. That was and will always be a proof of concept for PR purposes only.

We're also at least a decade away from driverless cars being safe enough for luxury vehicles, let alone delivery vehicles and even with driverless delivery trucks, you still need a meatbag to put the package onto the door step. By that time there may be another competitor that comes along and takes down Amazon or Amazon gets slapped with an antitrust.

Post: #35

(06-18-2017 12:42 PM)Fast Eddie Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 05:37 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 01:13 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Type of people who shop at whole foods?
Thin, educated, yoga pants wearing white women in a good neighborhood? Oh i know they are Liberals (or lefty they call it here) and have some feminist mindset at least. Most guys will be afraid of them in this forum.

Don't mistake contempt for fear.

(06-17-2017 06:04 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Don't mistake contempt for fear.

---------------------------------------

Interesting. You prefer the opposite?
Sweat pants wearing, chubby, high school grad maybe, walmart shopper suburban residing republican girl?

That's a nonsensical argument. There are thousands of different and unrelated reasons for holding someone in contempt. I can have contempt for a thin white bitch for being a leftist sub-human while also having contempt for a fat right-leaning white bitch for being fat. There is nothing contradictory in it.

(For the record, "contempt" is too weak a word. My contempt for white leftists of any gender is slowly turning into a cold-burning hatred that you reserve for people who are not only objectively contemptible in an abstract way, but are also actively an enemy working to destroy your future.)

So which one are you going to bang?

The leftist fit yoga pants girl who shops at whole foods.

OR

The right-wing lard ass shopping at Walmart who is one Little Debbie away from a stroke?

Post: #36

It looks like it's a trend to blame Liberals for their failure with something (either job or women) here right now.

Are you working for a liberal boss who's hard on you? Did you get betrayed by liberal ex-gf?

Are Liberals responsible for the Inflation? Oh I meant Pussy Inflation.

(06-18-2017 12:42 PM)Fast Eddie Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 05:37 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 01:13 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Type of people who shop at whole foods?
Thin, educated, yoga pants wearing white women in a good neighborhood? Oh i know they are Liberals (or lefty they call it here) and have some feminist mindset at least. Most guys will be afraid of them in this forum.

Don't mistake contempt for fear.

(06-17-2017 06:04 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Don't mistake contempt for fear.

---------------------------------------

Interesting. You prefer the opposite?
Sweat pants wearing, chubby, high school grad maybe, walmart shopper suburban residing republican girl?

That's a nonsensical argument. There are thousands of different and unrelated reasons for holding someone in contempt. I can have contempt for a thin white bitch for being a leftist sub-human while also having contempt for a fat right-leaning white bitch for being fat. There is nothing contradictory in it.

(For the record, "contempt" is too weak a word. My contempt for white leftists of any gender is slowly turning into a cold-burning hatred that you reserve for people who are not only objectively contemptible in an abstract way, but are also actively an enemy working to destroy your future.)

Post: #37

(06-20-2017 07:24 AM)Sebastian Wrote:  It looks like it's a trend to blame Liberals for their failure with something (either job or women) here right now.

Are you working for a liberal boss who's hard on you? Did you get betrayed by liberal ex-gf?

Are Liberals responsible for the Inflation? Oh I meant Pussy Inflation.

(06-18-2017 12:42 PM)Fast Eddie Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 05:37 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

(06-17-2017 01:13 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Type of people who shop at whole foods?
Thin, educated, yoga pants wearing white women in a good neighborhood? Oh i know they are Liberals (or lefty they call it here) and have some feminist mindset at least. Most guys will be afraid of them in this forum.

Don't mistake contempt for fear.

(06-17-2017 06:04 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  Don't mistake contempt for fear.

---------------------------------------

Interesting. You prefer the opposite?
Sweat pants wearing, chubby, high school grad maybe, walmart shopper suburban residing republican girl?

That's a nonsensical argument. There are thousands of different and unrelated reasons for holding someone in contempt. I can have contempt for a thin white bitch for being a leftist sub-human while also having contempt for a fat right-leaning white bitch for being fat. There is nothing contradictory in it.

(For the record, "contempt" is too weak a word. My contempt for white leftists of any gender is slowly turning into a cold-burning hatred that you reserve for people who are not only objectively contemptible in an abstract way, but are also actively an enemy working to destroy your future.)

Post: #38

Amazon isn't just trying to own the profits of WF, they're buying the retail space and brand name of a pretty valuable company that they can then use as a stage for their future products, as well as edge into the e-commerce fresh produce business, which has been tough to crack

Post: #39

(06-20-2017 08:11 AM)Sonoma Wrote:  Amazon isn't just trying to own the profits of WF, they're buying the retail space and brand name of a pretty valuable company that they can then use as a stage for their future products, as well as edge into the e-commerce fresh produce business, which has been tough to crack

The reason it's been tough to crack is because there's no way in hell someone who is spending a premium on food (especially organic produce) can't pick up the produce and feel it with his or her hands.

Do you really think some minimum wage delivery boy is going to carefully the best produce from the bin? No, he's going to grab the first tomato he sees and throw it into the basket.

Post: #40

This is the AOL/Time Warner of our time. It'll be fascinating to see how the merger is executed.

Post: #41

Quote:probably because I was late all the time.

Damn, bro, that sucks.

Post: #42

I also spent $13.7 billion at Whole Foods :/

Post: #43

(06-20-2017 03:19 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

(06-20-2017 08:11 AM)Sonoma Wrote:  Amazon isn't just trying to own the profits of WF, they're buying the retail space and brand name of a pretty valuable company that they can then use as a stage for their future products, as well as edge into the e-commerce fresh produce business, which has been tough to crack

The reason it's been tough to crack is because there's no way in hell someone who is spending a premium on food (especially organic produce) can't pick up the produce and feel it with his or her hands.

Do you really think some minimum wage delivery boy is going to carefully the best produce from the bin? No, he's going to grab the first tomato he sees and throw it into the basket.

WF shoppers are all just Soys or carrer famlies who would not care that much to know how to feel for quality produce. These are the types that buy ready made meals and bagged salad. Lawyers wife the soccer mom just wants status and organic, whe will buy organic pizza pops from WF for her kids and think she is doing good.

The hardcore monied granola go to actual farmers markets and buy direct from farmers. They would go to WF to fill in the gaps but many times they go to a bougie local organics shop instead.

Also, many grocery delivery services now train staff to pick the best produce and products. So you will likely get he best quality with the service.

Post: #44

The real SWPL will want to know what farm the chicken itself came from.

Post: #45

(06-21-2017 05:56 AM)kosko Wrote:  Also, many grocery delivery services now train staff to pick the best produce and products. So you will likely get he best quality with the service.

In the time I used Peapod in the US and Sainsbury and Waitrose delivery services in the UK, I have found this to be plainly wrong. The produce was always soft and not nearly as fresh as me going in and finding a good one myself.

Both times in the US and UK, I ended up just going to the farmers market to buy my produce leaving only dry goods, liquids, and frozen goods for delivery.

Post: #46

(06-21-2017 11:13 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

(06-21-2017 05:56 AM)kosko Wrote:  Also, many grocery delivery services now train staff to pick the best produce and products. So you will likely get he best quality with the service.

In the time I used Peapod in the US and Sainsbury and Waitrose delivery services in the UK, I have found this to be plainly wrong. The produce was always soft and not nearly as fresh as me going in and finding a good one myself.

Both times in the US and UK, I ended up just going to the farmers market to buy my produce leaving only dry goods, liquids, and frozen goods for delivery.

May just be Canada, the startups here have made it a focus as folks have found this to be a big issue.

Post: #47

While you all argue about fat and thin females and where they shop - I'll be enjoying the fine in shape bodies and asses on the girls who shop at the Whole Foods next to me.

God bless them girls in yoga pants, the yoga studio, and the orange theory that are there as well.

Post: #48

There is one big difference between Whole Foods and two other stores mentioned in this thread. I mean Wegman's and Trader Joe's. Whole Foods is publicly traded, while the other two are privately owned. They have a long-term vision. They can have a purpose besides producing good quarterly reports.

I haven't been to Wegman's. I will have to try it sometime. Some of the best grocery stores are privately owned.

People have definitely been predicting that Amazon will employ self check-out. I won't be shocked at all by that move.

Whole Foods also decided to open a "wellness center" in 2016. They made it part of their health plan. It proved quite unpopular with employees, who just wanted to keep their health plan as it was. I suspect Amazon will kill the wellness center. The worst thing about it is that introduces the nightmare of HIPAA regulations into your workplace. It's something you should definitely avoid if you can.

Post: #49

(06-17-2017 05:50 PM)infinitejest Wrote:  Snip

GREAT post!

I'm an ex-employee too. Stores are so understaffed it's easy to get a job and I have done shifts at multiple stores where I live. Not too much of a focus on finding quality people anymore. When I got hired my class had a restaurant owner in the business for 40 years and another who worked as an assistant GM. As the years pogressed I've seen high school kids who won't wear hair nets to college kids who have the personality of a rock.

Just your basic "trickle down" or service economy job that claims its for people but when push comes to shove any talks of forming a union are immediately squashed. I'm center right but when one of my far left buddies commented about unions I was like yeahh....makes a lot more sense why this place is phony. Unions aren't perfect but I was around when a guy in his 40s splattered hot soup all over himself after tripping over grates that leadership should have replaced but once that incident happened they immediately were.

We would do job dialogues for raises and I had one instance when the manager claimed I looked confused so therefore my raise was 25c instead of the max 50c. One of my managers would vanish for hours on end and my coworkers sometimes couldn't even find him in the office where he should be working. Unpaid lunches, and like infinite said sometimes people are drugged up.

From what the old timers have told me the company was at its peak in the 90s....sometime around when it started expanding in NY that's when it began or flat out declined even more.

So RIP WFM. The first jobs to go are the cashiers and dishwashers. I was told straight up by someone with the company for 20 years that his tasks are being streamlined.