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robertreich · 2 months

Video

youtube

Who’s to Blame for Out-Of-Control Corporate Power?

One man is especially to blame for why corporate power is out of control. And I knew him! He was my professor, then my boss. His name… Robert Bork.

Robert Bork was a notorious conservative who believed the only legitimate purpose of antitrust — that is, anti-monopoly — law is to lower prices for consumers, no matter how big corporations get. His philosophy came to dominate the federal courts and conservative economics.

I met him in 1971, when I took his antitrust class at Yale Law School. He was a large, imposing man, with a red beard and a perpetual scowl. He seemed impatient and bored with me and my classmates, who included Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham, as we challenged him repeatedly on his antitrust views.

We argued with Bork that ever-expanding corporations had too much power. Not only could they undercut rivals with lower prices and suppress wages, but they were using their spoils to influence our politics with campaign contributions. Wasn’t this cause for greater antitrust enforcement?

He had a retort for everything. Undercutting rival businesses with lower prices was a good thing because consumers like lower prices. Suppressing wages didn’t matter because employees are always free to find better jobs. He argued that courts could not possibly measure political power, so why should that matter?

Even in my mid-20s, I knew this was hogwash.

But Bork’s ideology began to spread. A few years after I took his class, he wrote a book called The Antitrust Paradox summarizing his ideas. The book heavily influenced Ronald Reagan and later helped form a basic tenet of Reaganomics — the bogus theory that says government should get out of the way and allow corporations to do as they please, including growing as big and powerful as they want.

Despite our law school sparring, Bork later gave me a job in the Department of Justice when he was solicitor general for Gerald Ford. Even though we didn’t agree on much, I enjoyed his wry sense of humor. I respected his intellect. Hell, I even came to like him.

Once President Reagan appointed Bork as an appeals court judge, his rulings further dismantled antitrust. And while his later Supreme Court nomination failed, his influence over the courts continued to grow.

Bork’s legacy is the enormous corporate power we see today, whether it’s Ticketmaster and Live Nation consolidating control over live performances, Kroger and Albertsons dominating the grocery market, or Amazon, Google, and Meta taking over the tech world.

It’s not just these high-profile companies either: in most industries, a handful of companies now control more of their markets than they did twenty years ago.

This corporate concentration costs the typical American household an estimated extra $5,000 per year. Companies have been able to jack up prices without losing customers to competitors because there is often no meaningful competition.

And huge corporations also have the power to suppress wages because workers have fewer employers from whom to get better jobs.

And how can we forget the massive flow of money these corporate giants are funneling into politics, rigging our democracy in their favor?

But the tide is beginning to turn under the Biden Administration. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are fighting the monopolization of America in court, and proposing new merger guidelines to protect consumers, workers, and society.

It’s the implementation of the view that I and my law school classmates argued for back in the 1970s — one that sees corporate concentration as a problem that outweighs any theoretical benefits Bork claimed might exist.

Robert Bork would likely regard the Biden administration’s antitrust efforts with the same disdain he had for my arguments in his class all those years ago. But instead of a few outspoken law students, Bork’s philosophy is now being challenged by the full force of the federal government.

The public is waking up to the outsized power corporations wield over our economy and democracy. It’s about time.

#youtube #corporations #power #Robert Bork #economy #history #video #videos

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bibleofficial · 2 years

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i HATE how sticky d8 concentrate is like bro 😭😭

#stream #i put used the cart w a dab cap & used a bubbler & literally the resin has made even the mouthpiece tacky #also i’ve been coughing so fuckign BAD for like 20 minutes #LIKE I KNOW THIS IS UNIQUE TO D8 #bc the CO LEGAL live resin i bought did NOT act even slightly like this #:(#ANYWAY #also my mother was like ‘this is ur smokers cough developing’ like no it’s not this is what happens when weed is illegal #i mean i would’ve just got my black market live resin carts like usual but i don’t want to drive that far ALSKALSKLALALLSLALA #im still high just obviously not AS high as i would be #truly id like to get my tolerance way back down bc how a 100mg edible still ain’t do that much for me 😭😭😭#anyway #ALSO i think idk maybe i’ll start using d8 edibles instead of wakenbake d9 everyday #i mean obviosuly this will be after i get my tolerance lowered lmfao #DabCap™: it’s a little funnel for ur mouth piece for vapes so u can use a cart w a bong or a bubbler or whatever so fills the bowl & u just #hold the cart upside down while holding the button #honestly i recommend using a smaller battery w it - u know the ones like the size of 2 AA batteries next to eachother

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artdotpage · 7 months

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Problems facing modern artists & creators

I've talked with hundreds of artists and creators about the difficulties they face trying to earn a living from their craft.

This post covers two of the big ones (social media algorithms & bargain basement marketplaces), and what tools are available to grow your business despite these issues.

Social Media Algorithms and Audience Ownership

Social media platforms are a godsend for getting your work in front of potential clients and building a loyal fan base.

However as you will all have experienced, it can take a mastermind to figure out what kind of content the algorithm wants you to post, and if you don't do that you'd be as well throwing your content into the void as even your own followers might not see your post, never mind new viewers.

It also means you don't truly own your audience, if you post something slightly controversial your account could be deleted without warning, or perhaps a billionaire buys the site and everyone flocks to a new platform where you have to start growing your following all over again.

Solution: Build a mailing list

This is perhaps the single best marketing tool available to any business, and is sorely overlooked by artists and creators.

It's cost effective and because you own your mailing list it doesn't matter what's happening on social sites, you can always keep in touch with them.

The tricky part is converting people into mailing list subscribers. However I've seen plenty of creators successfully build one by offering incentives including free digital downloads, early access to content, discounts on your store etc.

Those who sign up to your mailing list would be considered high quality followers, someone who is much more likely to convert to a paid client and buy from you again in the future compared to the average follower on social media.

Tools

https://art.page/

https://substack.com/

https://convertkit.com/

Losing clients to undercutting competitors on the same platform/marketplace

If you run your business on a marketplace or platform, your clients are one click away from finding plenty of other choices who are willing to undercut everyone else to land a sale.

These sites have no incentive to make sure that traffic you drive to your profile actually purchase from you. Whether a sale is made through your listing or another seller, they collect their fee either way.

They also use uniform designs which reduce you to a generic product listing. Whilst this can simplify the customer experience, it means you have no control over the sales funnel and ability to differentiate yourself, making it harder to convert potential clients into paying customers.

Solution: Direct clients to your own site

Use your own personal website to make sales from, there are plenty of options with no monthly charge and lower fees than marketplaces. This lets you make dedicated marketing pages showcasing your best work to make a client excited about doing business with you, instead of just being a generic product listing.

Take advantage of marketplaces purely for their customer base. Don't rely on them as your sole business platform. This way, any fees you pay are worthwhile to generate sales you wouldn't have had otherwise.

Tools

https://art.page/

https://www.bigcartel.com/

https://squareup.com/

Interested in more?

There's plenty more I have to share on this topic, including:

How to properly use Print on Demand without getting ripped off

Streamline managing your business so you spend more time creating and growing your business.

How to better utilize your brand to connect with clients and increase sales

So let me know if you’re interested and I’ll get writing!

Transparency

I'm building https://art.page to solve these exact issues, with the goal to create the best all in one site builder for artists and creators that makes running your business easy.

#artdotpage #artpage #artists on tumblr

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femmefatalevibe · 9 months

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Femme Fatale Guide: Top Career Tips To Set Yourself Up For Success

Figure out where your skills and passions align. Then determine the lifestyle/work culture you thrive in and what sacrifices you're willing to make in your chosen career path (for some, it's always traveling/talking to people 24/7, working late hours, unpredictable/unconventional hours, potentially lower pay/less predictable income, etc.). It truly depends on your top values, your personality, and your goals/priorities in life.

First focus on getting incredibly talented at your craft. Find a mentor(s) who will push you with their feedback/suggestions. Take classes/skills courses/read books & articles to gain more applicable knowledge/hard skills. Join clubs, apply to internships, volunteer, and request informational interviews in your desired field.

Make your skills marketable. Create a professional resume and/or neat portfolio/collection of work samples. Discover and articulate your USP (that should essentially serve as the backbone of your elevator pitch). Frame your skills through a customer/business-centric lens. How does your experience/skillset solve their problems and help a company/client achieve their goals?

Build a network for yourself. Don't be shy to reach out to companies/individuals who inspire you. Speak with your secondary school teachers and professors for connections. Create peer-to-peer networks, too, so you can grow together. Be a fearless networker and connector. Help others, do favors, and make the person glad they met/hired you. Make it your objective to be memorable through your work ethic/providing high-quality work products and showing up with a motivated & overall positive attitude allows people to like and trust you with their time, clients, money, etc.

Master the art of a killer email/cold pitch. Especially in today's world, learning how to sell yourself through intriguing emails/LinkedIn messages is the key to unlocking potential success. One client or opportunity can create momentum that will be useful years down the line, too.

When in doubt, follow up – on an email, pitch, job opportunity, connection, etc.

Be ruthless and relentless with your research. For new contacts, connections, opportunities, and information to support your pitches/job interviews/networking conversations, new technologies, and trends within your field. Read everything credible you can get your hands on. Display working knowledge and practical applications of these concepts and how they can benefit the person in front of you/their business.

Create systems. For how you structure emails/pitches, conduct research, different types of workflows/ work template structures for different types of projects, time-blocking, client funnels, etc.

Get comfortable with rejection. Use it as a primer for self-reflection and refining your craft/processes or help you pivot your approach to help you achieve your goals. Never take business decisions on behalf of a company personally (and vice versa).

Give yourself breaks, but don't give up. Tapping out for good is the only surefire way to fail at an endeavor. Be flexible in your path, but zeroed in on your goal(s). Learn when to quit or pivot, and when it's time to coast or seek growth.

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 7 months

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Which cullen would fall prey to an mlm scam first

You mean a pyramid scheme?

Well, the trouble with pyramid schemes, is they can be surprisingly tricksy even if you know what to look for. They're very good at reeling you in and convincing you it's different somehow than a pyramid scheme. See, it's shaped like a funnel and not a pyramid! Or you earn income based on how much you sell and then you can enter another tier!

A lot of people who would think they'd never get roped into a pyramid scheme can end up sucked into one if they're not wary.

But alright, let's do it.

Alice

Alice doesn't fall into this for a few reasons.

The first is that her gift stops her, she sees this venture won't make her money but will get her saddled with a shitty product she can't peddle fast enough to break even.

Alice is perfectly content playing with the stock market.

The second is that Alice wouldn't be interested. She has her own way of making more money than she could ever hope to being a salesman and she'd have no interest in selling the kinds of products that pyramid schemes usually do (which are generally mass produced, cheap, and rarely have any quality to them). Alice wouldn't think they're good products and would have no interest in trying to market them herself and sell them to others.

Bella

Doomed.

Give Bella the right pitch, (and many of these are aimed towards women trying to support themselves), and she's there selling what she believes is a great makeup product/clothes line/what have you and refusing to believe she's made a terrible mistake and been conned along with all these earnest other women.

Edward I imagine has to get rid of the product for her and get her out of the hole (Bella's pride never lives this down).

Carlisle

Carlisle's been in the human world long enough, interacted with it more than the others, and is generally very particular about how he should be viewed and seen that I don't see him biting.

"I am human doctor man" Carlisle says, and has no intention in pursuing any other means of income or anything that would make him not look like human doctor man who is definitely 39 why do you ask?

It's not even a matter of him being swayed or not, he's not listening close enough, and likely makes his earliest escape.

Edward

Edward's actually in a little danger in part because of his gift. The thing about pyramid schemes is that those in the lower tiers (even the mid tiers) aren't in the know. They may suspect it's a pyramid scheme, and that they're in too deep to get out, but it's the ones at the top who really planned the thing. The very low-level grunts generally believe it's a real company (it's how they get hooked and sucked in).

If Edward were to meet someone trying to hook him in (as you generally get rewards for recruiting others) then there's a chance.

Now, the chance is small, because like Alice, Edward's comfortable with his money and has 0 desire to work or be a salesman (notice Edward just goes to high school, then university and never goes off on his own or with one of the others to get a job).

That said, I could see Edward being tricked into believing it's a good product, a good cause, and more by people who earnestly believe it. More, because Edward doesn't really doubt his gift, it might not occur to him that these people are also being lied to or else are lying to themselves.

Edward also believes himself intelligent enough that he'd never fall for a pyramid scheme and so would be less wary of it.

Basically, still unlikely as Edward would never get dragged to one of these meetings or into it, but not impossible and much more likely than Alice.

Emmett

Doomed.

If he was taken to the right pitch, for the right product, even though he himself would never use it he'd think it'd be so cool that of course he should sign up. Hey, then he can make some dough for a change, how about that Alice.

It doesn't last long, though, as Rosalie tells him, "Honey, this is a pyramid scheme".

(It also doesn't last long as no one would ever pitch Emmett as he looks fucking terrifying and he's huge).

Esme

Esme's so nice, I could easily see her being essentially bullied into joining. The thing is, she actually doesn't get in too deep because she never depletes her initial stock and has no hope of doing so. Esme doesn't go out enough or interact enough with others to actually sell the product so the terrible makeup brand just... sits there...

She's out some amount of money, but she won't dig herself into the hole that usually happens in pyramid schemes where, with the taste of initial success, you just keep going.

Jasper

Jasper's too scary. The others are all too scary but Jasper's really too scary. He's never approached and if he was I imagine him staring dully at these human products not sure what he is supposed to do with them or how he's supposed to sell them with his face.

Renesmee

Doomed.

Renesmee has no idea how anything works and is ridiculously sheltered by the Cullens. I doubt 'theft' is even a concept she understands nor is 'money' for that matter. Now, this might help her, as she has no idea how to sell anything, but like Esme she probably gets conned into signing the dotted line and making the initial purchase because the nice salespeople tell her it's a great idea.

Rosalie

Rosalie has been through a lot and is naturally wary and skeptical of others. More, while liking to be the prettiest in the room, she doesn't seem all that weak to flattery from what we see of her. Rosalie would be immediately suspicious of anyone trying to sell her anything or get her to do something as she'll be immediately wondering what they get out of this and why they're trying so hard.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #the cullens #alice cullen #carlisle cullen #bella swan #edward cullen #emmett cullen #esme cullen #renesmee cullen #jasper whitlock #rosalie hale #meta #headcanon #opinion

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mostlysignssomeportents · 11 months

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How Amazon transformed the EU into a planned economy

Amazon is a perfect parable of enshittification, the process by which platforms first offer subsidies to end users until they’re locked in, then make life good for business customers at users’ expense, until they’re locked in, then claw back all the value they can for themselves, leaving just enough behind to keep the lock-in going.

In a new report for SOMO, Margarida Silva describes how the end-stage enshittification of Amazon is playing out in the EU, with Amazon repeating its US playbook of gouging the small businesses who have no choice but to use the platform in order to reach its locked-in customers, making European customers and European sellers poorer:

https://www.somo.nl/amazons-european-chokehold/

The mechanism for this isn’t a mystery. Amazon boasts about it! They call it their flywheel: first, customers are lured into the platform with low prices, especially through Prime, which requires pre-payment for a year’s shipping, which virtually guarantees that customers will start their shopping on Amazon. Because customers now start their buying on Amazon, sellers have to be there. The increased range of goods for sale on Amazon lures in more buyers, who lure in more sellers, with both sides holding each other hostage:

https://vimeo.com/739486256/00a0a7379a

This flywheel creates a vicious cycle, starving local retail so that customers can’t get what they need from brick-and-mortar shops, which funnels sellers into offering their goods for sale on Amazon. The less choice customers and sellers have about where they shop, the more Amazon can abuse both to pad its own bottom line.

There are 800,000 EU-based sellers on Amazon, and they have seen the junk-fees that Amazon charges them skyrocket, to the point where they have to raise prices or lose money on each sale. Amazon uses both tacit and explicit “Most Favored Nation” deals to hide these price-hikes. Under an MFN deal, sellers must not allow their goods to be sold at a lower price than Amazon’s — so when they raise prices to cover Amazon’s increasing fees, they raise them everywhere:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/

It’s not hard to understand why Amazon would raise its fees: the company has an effective e-commerce monopoly. Like Ozymandias, they have run out of worlds to conquer, and so their growth has to come from squeezing suppliers and/or raising prices, not from bringing in new customers. This is likewise true of mobile companies like Apple and Google, who have run out of people who are so excited about incremental mobile hardware gains that they’ll buy a new phone every year, which means that growth has to come from squeezing app vendors:

https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2023/06/09/Pixel-4-to-7

This is likewise true of the streaming companies, which is why Netflix is cracking down on “password sharing”:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/02/nonbinary-families/#red-envelopes

It’s true of the movie studios, which is why they want to zero out their wage bills by replacing writers with automatic plausible sentence generators that will write stupid movies that they think we’ll still pay to see because there won’t be anything else:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/06/people-are-not-disposable/#union-strong

It’s certainly true of Uber, which is why they’ve double the cost of a taxi ride and halved the wages they pay drivers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

Monopolies “grow” by making their customers and suppliers worse off. But they have to be careful about this: if it’s obvious that you’re using your market power to screw buyers, you can get in trouble with competition regulators. That’s because the only part of antitrust law that the neoliberal project left intact is “consumer welfare” — the idea that monopolies should only face enforcement when they raise prices and/or lower quality:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/10/play-fair/#bedoya

This focus on price-hikes has given monopolists a free hand to squeeze suppliers and workers, because a monopolist — from Walmart to Amazon — can claim that squeezing your workers and suppliers is necessary to enhancing consumer welfare. The less you pay to produce a product, the cheaper you can price it.

When a company has a lot of seller power, we call it a monopolist. When it has a lot of buying power, we call it a monopsonist. No one ever made a bestselling, family-destroying board game called “Monopsony” so most people haven’t heard of the concept. But monopsony is every bit as dangerous as monopoly, and monopsonists find it far easier to acquire market power than monopolists. Few suppliers can afford to have even 10% of their sales disappear overnight, so a buyer who accounts for 10% of your sales can demand deep discounts and other favorable terms.

Amazon is a monopolist, but it’s also a very powerful and ruthless monopsonist. For example, its audiobook division, Audible, has a 90+% market-share, and it used that market-power to steal at least $100m from audiobook creators, in a scandal dubbed Audiblegate:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

For Europe’s 800k sellers who rely on Amazon to reach their customers, the monoposony conditions are blatant and shameless. Take listing fees: Amazon’s “flywheel” pitch claims that as the company grows, it achieves “economies of scale” that can lower its cost basis. But Amazon’s listing fees haven’t changed, even as the company experienced explosive growth in the EU (remember, sellers whose Amazon fees exceed their margins have to pass those fees onto buyers, and also raise their prices everywhere else to satisfy the Most Favored Nation requirement).

Amazon books the revenues from these fees — and other junk-fees it extracts from sellers — in Luxembourg, an EU member nation that provides a tax haven to multinational businesses that want to maintain the fiction that they operate their businesses out of the tiny kingdom. There is sharp competition in the EU to offer the most servile, corrupt environment for multinationals, and Luxembourg is a leader, along with Cyprus, Malta and, of course, Ireland:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

But at least listing fees haven’t gone up, unlike other fees, which have climbed sharply. Amazon falsely claimed that its additional revenues from fees were the result of growth by independent sellers, which Amazon pegged at 65%. Later, the company admitted that the true growth figure was 22%. Meanwhile, fees are up 85%.

The true growth figure might be lower still. Amazon refuses to show the math behind its growth figures, or even say which sellers and sales are included in the figure.

The SOMO report cites research by Juozas Kaziukėnas of the e-commerce research firm Marketplace Pulse, who finds that sellers are now giving 50% of their gross revenues to Amazon, an increase of 10% over the past five years across the whole EU. However, different EU (and ex-EU) countries have experienced much steeper increases in fees — in the UK, fees have nearly doubled (up 98%), and in France, fees more than doubled (up 115%).

Many of these increases come from the Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) program, which is promoted as an optional service, but which is really obligatory — careful research shows that sellers who warehouse, pack and ship their own goods get banished to the depths of search results, even if they have ratings, costs and times that are competitive with FBA. This is especially true of the “buy box” that lands at the top of most searches. The company refuses to disclose how buy box positioning is determined, but 90% of products in the buy box pay for FBA.

Amazon has used excuseflation to hike its FBA prices, blaming higher energy prices for price hikes that predated the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and blaming covid for price hikes that predated the pandemic.

Italy’s competition authority did yeoman service in uncovering the sleaze of FBA, publishing an investigation that showed that Prime and buy box made the notionally “optional” FBA into a must-have for merchants, meaning that Amazon could jack up FBA prices without losing business.

Another notable source of gouging came in response to the UK and France adopting digital services taxes, which were meant to make up for the tax-base erosion enabled by Luxembourg’s flouting of EU tax law. Amazon passed these taxes straight through to its merchants, without seeing a comparable decrease in the number of sellers using its platforms — an unmistakable sign of market power. If you can raise prices without losing customers, then, by definition, your customers have nowhere else to go.

I’ve previously written about how Amazon’s $31b/year “advertising” market isn’t really advertising — rather, it’s a payola scheme that auctions off the top of a search-listing to the merchant with the most to spend:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is how you get a simple search like “cat beds” returning results whose first screen is 100% ads, and whose next five screens are 50% ads, many of them for dog products:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2022/amazon-shopping-ads/

Auctioning off search results means that every time you search for something you want, you have to wade through screen after screen of listings for products whose vendors spent more on advertising, leaving less to spend on making quality goods.

This is as true in the EU as it is in the USA. The SOMO report shows that European merchants are required to spend ever-larger sums to show up in results for the exact products they sell, leaving them with a choice between making less money, raising prices, or skimping on quality.

But even the “winners” of Amazon’s gladiatorial combat among vendors can still lose. Amazon uses an automated product removal process that can delete some or all of a merchant’s products, without warning or explanation, and no one at Amazon will explain what a merchant did wrong. That remains true even if a vendor pays for Amazon’s “marketplace consultant” service — ask these paid Virgils why you’ve been cast into Amazon’s pit, and they’ll shrug their shoulders (and bill you for it).

And even if you can navigate the junk fees, the Kafka-as-a-service removals, the war of all sellers against all sellers for search primacy…you still lose. Merchants told SOMO that a product that survives Amazon’s gauntlet is likely to be cloned by Amazon and sold as an Amazon Basic or other house-brand product. Amazon doesn’t charge itself 50% junk fees, so it can always underprice the vendors it knocks off, and give its own products permanent top-of-search placement.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once testified under oath before Congress that this doesn’t happen — and then refused to return to Congress when multiple vendors showed evidence that he’d lied:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/18/amazon-congress-letter-third-party-data/

He definitely lied:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/amazon-india-rigging/

Amazon has faced investigations and enforcement in the EU over this, and settled a claim with a promise to “not use non-public seller data to compete with sellers,” but given the company’s record of broken promises on this score and the difficulty of catching them cheating, it’s pretty naive to think they’ll stick to this.

The report quotes Thomas Höppner, a lawyer who has represented small businesses that Amazon screwed over. Höppner says the problem is that the EU evaluates Amazon’s bad deeds on a “case-by-case” basis, missing the big picture: “By the time one identified problem was seemingly solved, Amazon had long made amendments elsewhere with the same effect. We require a more holistic approach that considers the entire Amazon ecosystem and the various interdependencies within.”

But the EU’s enforcement approach is about to change significantly. The EU just passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which imposes a bunch of obligations on Amazon:

allowing sellers to offer their products on other marketplaces at different prices (Article 5.3),

not obliging business users to pay for one of its services in order to use its platform (Article 5.8),

limiting the way Amazon uses non-public seller data to compete with them (Article 6.2)

preventing Amazon from giving top billing in search results to its own products or sellers that have acquired extra Amazon services (Article 6.5)

The report concludes with a suite of recommendations for improving EU enforcement. First, they argue for a return to traditional competition law, abandoning the “consumer welfare standard” that is so friendly to monopsonies and their abuses of suppliers and workers.

They call for a probe into Amazon’s Most Favored Nation deals (“fair pricing policy”), the practice of sponsoring search results, and spiraling fees. They want the EU to adequately fund DMA enforcement, with “measures to prevent regulatory capture.” And they want Amazon to publish clear explanations for how search results, buy box placement, and other practices hidden behind a veil of secrecy.

Amazon will doubtless claim that disclosing how those systems work will make it easier for spammers and scammers to game their way to the top of search results. We should be skeptical of this claim — content moderation is the last domain where anyone takes the bankrupt idea of security through obscurity seriously:

https://doctorow.medium.com/como-is-infosec-307f87004563

Finally, the report calls for breaking up Amazon, forcing it to choose between being a platform seller or a platform user, calling this the only way to “prevent the conflicts of interest between its role as a platform intermediary, seller, and service provider.”

The technical term for this measure is “structural separation” — a rule that bans platform companies from competing with their business customers. This is the principle at work in the US bipartisan AMERICA Act, which would force Google and Meta to spin off the parts of their ad-tech business that put them in a conflict of interest. Right now, Googbook represents both publishers and advertisers, while operating the marketplace where ad sales take place, and they take 51% out of every ad dollar:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

Structural separation hasn’t really been applied in the US for a generation, but it’s gained currency in recent years, for the obvious reason that the referee can’t also own one of the teams. I was in Germany last week speaking to regulators and politicians, and they espoused skepticism that the EU would embrace structural separation anytime soon.

But they were wrong! Today, the European Commission announced plans to force Google and Meta to sell off their conflict-of-interest ad-tech lines of business, mirroring the provisions of the US AMERICA Act:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/06/google-may-soon-be-ordered-to-break-up-its-lucrative-ad-business-eu-warns/

Structural separation really is the policy we should be demanding. It’s amazing that lawyers who would never argue a case in front of a judge who was married to the plaintiff will turn around and defend the idea that Amazon can fairly operate a marketplace where they compete with other sellers.

With Amazon dominating online sales, and with in-person retail cratering, Amazon’s decisions have the power to determine the outcome of whole swathes of Europe’s economy. This is the “planned economy” that the EU claims it detests and seeks to prevent — but it’s an economy planned by distant autocrats in a Seattle boardroom, for the purpose of extracting the surpluses needed to launch an endless procession of penis-rockets.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this postto read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/14/flywheel-shyster-and-flywheel/#unfulfilled-by-amazon

[Image ID: A desert ruin. In the foreground is a huge Amazon box, with an EU flag in place of its shipping label. Atop the box are the feet and partial legs of an Oxymandias figure.]

Image: Rama (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gladiator_with_sword-Louis_Ernest_Meissonnier-MG_1216-IMG_1223-white.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/fr/deed.en

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sunshinesdaydream · 1 year

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Each week I write an abstract aesthetic description of one of the clones, I describe a date with a clone, or I make a moodboard. Using the poll, guess who I am talking about.

Following is a list of previous weeks and a link that will lead you to the post with the answer.

Week 48- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🪻🌳Garden Center🪴🌷: A carefully planned bit of landscape, the scent of potting soil and green in the air, cool leaves, purple flowers that weren’t part of the original plan. One look into your excited, sparkling eyes he begins to redraw the plans.

Week 47- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🍎🫑Farmer’s Market🍓🥦Wandering the open air market, hand in hand, searching for the freshest produce, eating some of your selections as you shop instead of lunch. He is particular about both the fruits and vegetables he helps you choose and about the bouquet of daisies he buys for you.

Week 46- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🎡🎈 Evening at the Fair🎈🎡:In the descending twilight, bright lights and colors, sounds of bells and music. Barkers calling from all around, the smell of funnel cakes in the air. A giant bear won for you, and his favorite thing is the Ferris Wheel.

Week 45- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🌺🌸Botanical Gardens🌼: Rich greens interspersed with bright pops of color and scent, the scent of earth and flowers, and growing things. Walking paths together, exploring the variety. You the flowers, he the creatures among the foliage.

Week 44- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🍗⚔️Day at the Renaissance Faire (Take 3)🎯🍺: Pub crawl, knife throw, birds of prey show, the perfect scented oil, and a parasol for his lady.

Week 43- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🍗⚔️Day at the Renaissance Faire (Take 2)🎯🍺: Tomato torment, archery, people watching, him keeping you in his sight as the two of you wander the booths, a mead tasting, and a crown and rose for his queen.

Week 42- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 🍗⚔️Day at the Renaissance Faire🎯🍺: Cheering your knight to victory, laughing at the comedy shows, singing in the "tavern" to the drinking songs, axe throwing, turkey legs and beer, flower crowns, and a maypole dance.

Week 41- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 📷🏙️Sight Seeing in the city🌆🍸: His hand on your lower back as you weave through the crowds, his voice low in your ear with his random commentary forcing laughs from you, a museum before noon, a cafe lunch, afternoon shopping between sights, a twilight rooftop dinner.

Week 40- Date with a Clone❤️🖤 ✨Beach Sunset✨: Waves crashing over your bare feet in the sand, a strong arm around you as you watch the colors shift, the last of the sun's light glimmering on the liquid horizon. Driftwood fire, a shared blanket, sticky sweet marshmallows, and family gathered around.

Week 39- Date with a Clone🌝 ✨Stargazing✨: Night blooming flowers on a gentle breeze, the galaxy unfurled in the velvet expanse above, a warm blanket between you and the soft grass, fingers laced together, moonlight reflected in his eyes, as you spend the night watching the stars move through the sky.

Week 38- Date with a Clone❄️ ❄️Snowed In❄️: The power whined as it went out, he gathers blankets and pillows and builds a blanket fort then beckons you inside. It will keep both of you warmer. You crawl inside and snuggle up to him, eventually falling asleep to the sound of his voice.

Week 37- Date with a Clone💌 The Valentine : Notes tucked into odd places, your favorite flower and a box of chocolates, roof top reservations on a beautiful night. Reservations overbooked, take out noodles for dinner by candlelight with chocolates for desert.

Week 36- Date with a Clone💙 The Non-Date : You cancelled, going out was not in the cards today. His voice carried sadness when he said he understood. A text message-I’m here, Comfort food brought and set aside for later, Laying on the couch with your head on his lap while he strokes your hair in silence.

Week 36- Date with a Clone🍿 Movie Theater -His arm around you, buttery popcorn, sweet chocolate, light from the screen flickering across his face, his fingers laced through yours and the occasional brush of a kiss to the back of your hand.

Week 35- Date with a Clone🎂 Happy Birthday! Candlelight on a cake made with help from a brother, your favorite ice cream, brightly colored balloons, “Blow out your candles and make a wish, Cyare. Make sure it’s a good one,”

Week 34- Date with a Clone❄️ Snowed In Snuggle Date: Fluffy blankets, hot chocolate, slow kisses, tickles, soft touches, giggles, and your favorite holofilm.

Week 33- Date with a Clone⛸️ Ice Skating in the Park: Holding gloved hands while you circle the rink, warm kisses and cold cheeks, warm cafe and hot drinks, his arm around you, and a borrowed scarf that smells like him.

Week 32- Date with a Clone🥂 Countdown to Midnight: Arms holding you tight while dancing, a charming smile, to the rooftop in time for the countdown, champagne, fireworks, and a midnight kiss.

Week 31- Date with a Clone🎁 Gift Exchange: Crackling fire, hot toddies, twinkling lights, slow passionate kisses, and a small box tied with a silvery bow.

Week 30- Date with a Clone❄️ Cookie Baking: Cozy kitchen, cheerful music, laughter, flour streaked on cheeks, colorful icing, sprinkles, chocolate chips and kisses.

Week 29- Date with a Clone❄️ Decorating for Life Day : Holiday Music, mulled wine, pauses to slow dance together, kisses under just opened mistletoe, "tangled" in tree lights, and a tinsel crown.

Week 28- Date with a Clone❄️ "Life Day Tree"-Sharp scent of pine, crunching leaves underfoot, quiet laughter, fingers intwined, rich hot chocolate, first snowfall, and a perfectly shaped tree.

Week 27- Date with a Clone🍂 Preparing for Friendsgiving- Aprons, instrumental music playing quietly in the back ground, precise measurements, flour covered hands, spices and fresh bread, sweet kisses, a bouquet of poppies.

Week 26- Date with a Clone🍂 Fall Market- Early morning twilight easing into bright sunlight, hot cups of caf, piles of fresh fruit and vegetables, he will not let you carry the basket, warm kiss on cool cheeks, orange mums.

Week 25- Date with a Clone🍂 A fall walk in the woods- Vibrant colors, leaves crunching underfoot, crisp air, your hand in his, a picnic in a clearing, hot chocolate in a thermos, and a perfect crimson leaf.

Week 24- Date with a Clone🎃 🎃👻🐈‍⬛HALLOWEEN NIGHT! A witch and your reluctant black cat (headband you stuck on his head) in his blacks, pretending to sulk, but giving the kiddos a mischievous smirk behind you as he slips them extra candy. Kisses that taste of pilfered candy and a dark purple dahlia.🐈‍⬛👻🎃

Week 23- Date with a Clone🎃 🎃🐈‍⬛HALLOWEEN PARTY!! Matching Vampire costumes, dancing to "The Monster Mash", cherry jello shots, a blood red rose tucked into your hair. 🐈‍⬛🎃

Week 22- Date with a Clone🎃 👻A Creepy Season night in! Red and Orange Chrysanthemums, pumpkin carving, popcorn and hard cider, horror movies snuggled on the couch.

Week 23- Date with a Clone🎃 Halloween Costume Shopping! Coordinating costumes discussed over caf and breakfast. Dressing room fashion show. A "Black Velvet"* rose.

Week 22- Date with a Clone🍂 Autumn Festival! Cider and playing in the corn maze, apple picking, sunflowers, and a sunset hayride.

Week 21- Date with a Clone☕ Cold and rainy day in a cozy cafe, sipping hot beverages, sitting close with quiet conversation, a tiny potted succulent.

Week 20- Date with a Clone🧺 A cala lily, a picnic on a hill, watching the sun set and star gazing with endless conversation.

Week 19-Date with a Clone🌹 A red rose, a fancy dinner, the walk home interrupted by impromptu splashing in fountains in a square, trying not to laugh as you run from the Corries.

Week 18 -Date With a Clone🍷 A white rose, wine, jazz club, snuggling in a booth, and a moonlit stroll home.

Week 17 Mood board (click to see)

Week 16 Cypress, giving a child an extra treat, a Lagoon, the Hawk, Obsidian.

Week 15 Lavender, fresh washed cotton, warm hands, sharp edges, crimson.

Week 14 A smirk and a wink, lemons, a beer on the porch on a hot summer night, the phoenix.

Week 13 Soap, Dragon's Blood, a Candle on a Dark Night, Velvety Blue, a soaring Golden Eagle.

Week 12 Vetiver, Long talks while driving around aimlessly at 2 am, Dad Jokes, Eyes with a glint of mischief, Hazy Gray

Week 11 A cool night on a field lit by blazing lights, a borrowed sweatshirt, fabric softener, cologne, hot chocolate, and a victory kiss

Week 10 Mulled Wine, a Cedar Wood Fire in the Stonework Fireplace, Navy Blue, Wool, Pine.

Week 9 Dawn, a Reassuring Hand on Your Shoulder, Orange Tea, Sandalwood, the Ash from a Lost Civilization.

Week 8 Hot metal, the view of a hyperspace jump through the viewport, cobalt, street racing, ozone.

Week 7 Blood, Silver Starlight on Rooftops, Espresso, Riptide, a Heavy Silence.

Week 6 Roaring Lion, Rushing Rapids, Diamonds, Mojitos, Lingering at a Diner after a Night Out.

Week 5 Sunlight, Fresh Cut Grass, Fireworks, Summer BBQ, Lemonade, Sky Blue

Week 4 Tobacco, Fall on the verge of Winter air, Mint Julep, Steel Blue, Lonely Wind

Week 3 Poprocks, raspberry, running into the wind at the beach, rollercoasters, bubbles in soda, bright sky blue

Week 2 Petrichor, cedar, fallen leaves, night in the forest, clear spring water, burgundy

Week 1 Ozone, spearmint, pine, calm before the storm, bourbon on the rocks, smoke

Blaster Divider by @djarrex Title Banner Divider by @sunshinesdaydream (me) Support Divider by @dystopicjumpsuit

#guess the clone #poll game #clone troopers #star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #what clone am i thinking of game #what clone am i thinking of masterlist

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hughmunculus · 2 months

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Ranking Columbo's Top 5 Babygirls

By popular demand (context: nobody asked, I saw it in a dream) I've made a list of the men in Columbo you should absolutely draw in this pose. Please let it be known the presence of the babygirl does not necessarily mean the episode itself is good. Sometimes God gives its strongest babygirls its weirdest episodes.

Criteria for this was pretty obvious:

Are they absolutely sopping wet

Is there some odd sexual tension there

Would I let them hit it

5. Alex Brady (S8 Ep2: Murder, Smoke, and Shadows)

Photo credit: columboscreens.com

So 5 was a tough spot because I knew what my top 4 were going to be pretty handily, but this was going to be one that was lacking in one or the other criteria set out above. In the end, it was between the soaking wet Emmett Clayton (S2 Ep7, The Most Dangerous Match) and the unhinged Alex Brady. In the end, I judged it on the most sacred criteria: what that dick do. And there is no way Clayton's dick game is anything but awful, if its anything like his chess game.

Fisher Steven's character though is an insane, controlling chaos goblin that's fun to watch when he's winning and even more fun to watch while he's losing. Fortunately he loses, a Lot. Later seasons of Columbo can often feel less about the titular detective and much more about the murderers, but I'd argue in this case its for the best as we watch him completely unravel (and in one famous instance, hallunicate Columbo in a Ringmaster's outfit).

4. Joe Devlin (S7 Ep5: The Conspirators)

Photo credit: columboscreens.com

Who is this man smiling at? His wife, a lover perhaps? What about the detective that's going to bust his ass for murder and illegal firearms trading? Were it not for Clive Revill and Peter Falk's chemistry, this episode about a man funneling weapons to the IRA would be... Challenging. Instead he's just kind of a chill dude in over his head who, to quote Columbo Screens, "wants to fuck Columbo so bad it makes them look stupid".

That being said, he most certainly corners the market on being a sad little man when trying to get ahold of those guns. His initial encounter with the RV Salesman easily tops my "most pathetic Columbo villain moments" as he struggles to find innuendo for guns while the RV Salesman politely tries to turn him down like a thirsty dude at a bar.

3. Dale Kingston (S1 Ep4: Suitable for Framing)

Photo credit: Columbophile.com

What he lacks in obvious chemistry with Columbo he makes up in wearing a frilly, crushed velvet suit and being just so extremely gay. Ross Martin's performance as the murderer and art critic is a powerhouse in a likewise tightly written episode. When he's not begging Columbo to leave him alone in the most sopping-wet manner possible he's making snide, catty comments about the art world. I wouldn't be surprised if Joel Cairo was a touchstone for his performance.

I would also be negligent to not say that when he's finally caught his lower lip literally fucking trembles. That final scene is so goddamn good though I won't link it, so go watch the whole episode for yourself.

2. Roger Stanford (S1 Ep6: Short Fuse)

Photo credit: columboscreens.com

Let it be known I had to fight the temptation hard to not just use the Roddy MacDowell cock photo. It would've been so fucking easy man. But I think this photo better captures the impish, effervescent performance he gives as the chemical company heir. He spends so much of this episode capering about, pulling pranks, wearing pants so tight you can see the outline of his co-

ANYWAY he isn't super soaking wet in the beginning, but through the episode you watch him slowly becoming more and more frazzled, more exasperated, more testy until it finally culminates in an explosive (pun intentional) final gotcha by Columbo. Watching Roddy MacDowell completely break down into a fit of laughter, putting his scholarship chain around Columbo's neck and affectionately patting his cheeks, you can't help but be awestruck by its weirdness, its patheticness, and how it's kinda... y'know...

1. Ward Fowler (S6 Ep1: Fade Into Murder)

Image credit: columbophile.com

Maybe this is a controversial top pick, but hear me out: never has a Columbo villain been so pathetic, so attractive, and so obviously into Columbo before. William Shatner plays a man playing a TV detective against a man playing a real detective, and the way he decides to do that is by having Ward be absolutely captivated by Columbo.

Ward is so desperate to get Columbo's approval, often trying to relate his real life experiences to the tropes he's played on TV as Detective Lucerne. Getting away with the murder of his blackmailing wife feels like a distant second of just getting Columbo to like him.

It all culminates with Ward filming Columbo with one of their TV camera, the latter unable to even get a single line out without dissolving into giggles. Afterwards they review the footage filmed while - dare I say it - CUDDLING on the couch???? Apparently Shatner and Falk actually hit it off immediately on set, which must speak to Falk's magnetic personality more than anything else.

This is the only performance I can describe on Columbo as "cute". Shatner schoolboy cruch on Columbo is so cute (and simultaneously so sad considering you know, the murder) that it feels unfair to not give him the top spot.

Anyway, all the credit to the Columbophile Blog for inspiring me to write this post, and to Columbo Screens for the gorgeous screenshots and being the de facto Columbo authority on Tumblr.

#columbo #peter falk #detective columbo #I kinda want to do more lists like this lol

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productlist92 · 1 month

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How important b2b lead generation for a business?

B2B lead generation is incredibly important for businesses, especially those operating in competitive markets. Here are several reasons why:

Revenue Generation: Leads are the lifeblood of any business. Without a consistent stream of leads, a business can struggle to generate revenue and grow. B2B lead generation helps in identifying potential customers who are interested in the products or services offered, which ultimately leads to sales and revenue.

Business Growth: Generating quality leads allows businesses to expand their customer base and grow their market share. By consistently attracting new leads and converting them into customers, businesses can expand their reach and increase their influence in the industry.

Relationship Building: B2B lead generation isn't just about making a sale; it's also about building relationships with potential clients. By nurturing leads through the sales funnel, businesses can establish trust and credibility, which are essential for long-term customer relationships and repeat business.

Brand Awareness: Lead generation activities, such as content marketing and social media engagement, can help increase brand visibility and awareness within the industry. Even if leads don't immediately convert into customers, they may still become familiar with the brand, making them more likely to consider it in the future.

Cost Efficiency: While lead generation requires an initial investment of time and resources, it can ultimately be more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods. By targeting specific audience segments and channels, businesses can optimize their lead generation efforts to generate high-quality leads at a lower cost per acquisition.

In conclusion, B2B lead generation is crucial for businesses looking to sustainably grow and thrive in competitive markets. It enables businesses to generate revenue, build relationships, gain insights, and maintain a competitive edge in their industry.

For more:

Please reach out here,

If you have any questions or talk any bit more about your need.

#b2b #b2bmarketing #b2b lead generation #b2bsales #b2b services #business growth #b2b sales #ecommerce #ecommerce business #generate b2b leads #list building #saas marketing #email list #founder

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keithebrainrot · 1 year

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Cross Stitch

Oh look Kei remembered how to write.. ANYWAYS.. this is a piece as part of Hetsu’s Gift Exchange!

Ship: BOTW!Link and BOTW!Zelda

Warnings; none really? Mute!Link - he communicates via sign, Zelda might be a bit OOC with the swearing. The format is a little janky

Words: 710.. quite short and sweet

Anyways.. enough out of me! Enjoy!

‘Ok, ok.. Over, under tie the knot and - AAGH’ The knitting needles fell out of Link’s normally dexterous hands with a clatter against the wood of his porch, accompanying the sound of his inner monologue for what felt like a lifetime. In reality it had been at most a couple of hours.

Link crouched over in his seat with a tense inhale as he reached for the needles and blue wool which had fallen moments earlier and his brain whirred to life yet again…

‘Over, under.. Loop-the-loop and pull..? No! Agh! That’s shoelaces!” They threw the work into their lap with a huff.

To an outsider this would be incredibly decent progress; it was clear that the soft item he was working on was a scarf with yellow,sage and blue wool interwoven intricately to create an almost spring-blossom meadow illusion. However to an impatient perfectionist like Link - it was about as useful as a skeletal Bokoblin arm.. Which to be fair he had found to be pretty useful! OK.. so bad example but you get the picture.

The point is - if it wasn’t perfect immediately - then it was worthless. Given this is a gift for Zelda, it has to be absolutely beyond the realm of perfection and when you’re an adventurer who sacrificed fashion for survival - that was quite the quest.

Link leaned all the way back in the seat he had brought out to his porch to knit in the crisp winter air and brought his arms up to sign one simple word:

‘Shit’ He dropped his hands with a sigh.“LINK! Watch your fucking language people can see you!” Link almost fell backwards out of seat in shock- thankfully Zelda rushed to help him stay upright, the knitting fell to the floor once again. “Wah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Zelda fussed, pulling him out of the seat and dusting him off. Link pulled her away at arms length and signed ‘I’m ok’ with a half-hearted grin.

“Good! Well I was at the market just now and I got you some more glass bottles,some fresh herbs and some - OH! And I ran into Mrs. Itho, you know over on the hill, and she-” As Zelda brushed past Link rambling about her day Link’s eyes fell to the once again discarded knitting and he was just contemplating kicking it off the side of the porch to be swallowed by the trench he dug to funnel rainwater when-

“Link?” He was brought out of his daze by Zelda. “Are you alright, my love?”

The tips of his ears tinted themselves a warm shade of red as always with any pet name from Zelda, as he looked away signing ‘I’m fine’ once again. Given he’d turned his head he missed Zelda briskly moving around their counter towards where he stood… beelining for his line of sight.

“No you’re not! You’re usually quite daydream-y but you always listen to me talk about my da- What’s this?” Link’s head shot up as he clocked Zelda carefully holding his unfinished…. Whatever it is in her hands delicately, her thumbs grazing the material. “Link? Are you.. Knitting?”

Link's hands frantically began to sign excuses.

‘No! It’s um..’

‘It’s not what you think!’

‘It;s something for my travels in the colder terrain.’

‘I can.. .start it again.’

Zelda just stood staring at her beloved doofus and moved forward to grasp his wrist and lower his hands to clasp together in front of him. Link watched on carefully as she tied off the last stitch with unbelievable grace, set the needles down on the chair and carefully extended the length of the scarf in her hands.

“There we go.” She mumbled softly to herself as she moved her hands to wrap the garment around her neck. “Oh Link! It’s lovely!” She brought one end to her cheek and rubbed it against her cheek. “Thank you!”

Link looked on with the most lovesick expression on his face as he slowly brought his hands up to sign ‘You’re welcome, beloved.’. Zelda smiled softly and gently held his hands again - only to pull him to her, this time, into a gentle kiss.

As she pulled back and slowly let go of his hands to make her way inside, Link decided he could learn that maybe things don’t need to be immediately perfect - as long as someone else could appreciate his efforts perhaps he could as well.

#hetsus gift exchange #zelink #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #link #zelda #botw link #botw zelda #botw

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robertreich · 5 months

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youtube

How Amazon Is Ripping You Off

Shopping on Amazon? Stop! Watch this first.

Amazon is the world’s biggest online retailer. This one single juggernaut of a company is responsible for nearly 40% of all online sales in America. In an FTC lawsuit, they’re accused of using their mammoth size, and consumers’ dependence on them, to artificially jack up prices as high as possible, while prohibiting sellers on Amazon from charging lower prices anywhere else.

They’re accused of using a secret algorithm, codenamed "Project Nessie," to charge customers an estimated extra $1 billion dollars,

If this isn’t an abuse of power that hurts consumers, what is? So much for all of those “prime” deals you thought you were getting.

Project Nessie isn’t the only trick Amazon has been accused of using to exert its hulking dominance over the online retail industry — leading to higher prices for you.

Much of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit centers around the treatment of independent merchants who sell items on Amazon’s online superstore — accounting for 60 percent of Amazon's sales.

Amazon allegedly uses strongarm tactics that force these sellers to keep their prices higher than they need to be. Like barring them from selling products for significantly less at other stores — or else risk being hidden in Amazon’s search results or having their sales stopped entirely.

And Amazon is accused of engaging in pay-to-play schemes and charging merchants excessive fees that end up costing you even more.

Independent sellers are effectively forced to pay Amazon to advertise their products prominently in search results. If they don’t fork over cash, then their products get buried underneath products of companies who do. This hurts sellers but also harms shoppers who have to parse through less relevant products that may be more expensive or lower quality.

And to be eligible for the coveted “Prime” badge on their items — which is considered crucial for competing on the platform — independent sellers are pushed into paying Amazon for additional services like warehousing and shipping, even if they could get those services cheaper elsewhere. If sellers forgo trying to qualify for Prime, their goods apparently become harder for customers to find.

When all of these extra fees are added up, Amazon takes around a 50 percent cut of each sale made by a third party. It’s projected that Amazon will earn around $125 billion from collecting fees in the U.S. in 2023, most of which get passed on to you.

By charging all of these extra fees and stifling independent companies from selling their products for less elsewhere, Amazon is using its dominance to essentially set prices for all consumers across the internet.

And when you combine Amazon’s control of ecommerce with all of the other industries it has entered by gobbling up companies — such as Whole Foods, One Medical, and MGM — you’re left with a behemoth that simply has too much power.

This is all part of a much larger problem of growing corporate dominance in America. In over 75% of U.S. industries, fewer companies now control more of their markets than they did twenty years ago.

The lack of competition and consumer choice has resulted in all of us paying more for goods because corporations like Amazon can raise their prices with impunity. By one estimate, corporate concentration has cost the typical American household $5,000 a year more than they would have spent if markets were truly competitive.

This power isn’t just being used to siphon more money from you. A giant corporation has the power to bust unions, keep workers’ wages low, and funnel money into our political system.

It’s a vicious cycle, making giant corporations more and more powerful.

But under the Biden administration, the government is making a strong effort to revive antitrust law and use its power to reign in big corporations that have grown too powerful.

We must stop the monopolization of America. This FTC lawsuit against Amazon is a great start.

#youtube #Amazon #Video #Politics #shopping #Joe Biden #monopoly

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digitalconferenceofittechev · 4 months

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Guide to Sales Funnels for Digital Marketing

How to Build a Digital Marketing Funnel to Automate Sales Outreach

Digital marketing has altered how both big and small businesses interact with their clients and generated more revenue. The options are unlimited with all the numerous platforms that are accessible for internet marketing. And if you can successfully automate the lead generation and sales process to the greatest extent feasible, it will reduce a lot of the challenging labor you probably anticipate having to do. We’ll discuss what a marketing funnel is, the various elements and procedures you must put in place to have it function flawlessly for you, and how to get ready to use it on your own to give your business a significant possibility to be a real player in your industry.

An Explanation Of A Marketing Funnel

Automation of the marketing funnel is the process of generating leads with technology (rather than through human processes) and converting those leads into repeat consumers. Increased conversion rates, improved client retention, lower labor expenses, and increased efficiency are just a few of the many advantages associated with this kind of automation. A funnel’s objective is to efficiently guide prospects from awareness to conversion. This means that a well-designed system can raise your conversion rate, raise your revenue, and do so while reducing on unneeded expenses.

Which Steps Define A Digital Marketing Funnel?

To lead and manage prospects through the customer experience, a straightforward digital marketing funnel comprises three stages. Here is an overview.

Top of the funnel: Present the company, raise awareness, and pique interest

Provide value: speak to problems, and offer remedies in the middle of the funnel.

Bottom of the Funnel: Increase income, purchases, and subscriptions with timely deals.

Even though funnels typically contain three stages, making a sale doesn’t always require just those three steps. In the middle step of the funnel, they frequently comprise one or more rounds of remarketing or lead nurturing.

To add more touchpoints, many funnels also have numerous channels. Yours might include paid Facebook ads, SMS marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, organic social media, or content marketing.

Visit this website for complete details...

Digital Marketing

#digitalmarketing #marketing #digital marketing agency #digital marketing services #good service #online marketing #seo services #digital marketing #search engine optimization #social media marketing

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newengen · 8 months

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Update: On July 25th, UPS avoided a workers' strike by reaching a labor deal with the Teamsters Union.

Background

Negotiations between UPS and Teamsters-represented workers have stalled, with both sides accusing each other of abandoning talks. If the current contract expires on July 31st without a new agreement, a strike involving 340,000 unionized UPS workers is highly likely. This potential 10-day strike is projected to be one of the costliest in a century, with estimated losses of $4 billion for UPS customers, according to the Anderson Economic Group. The last UPS Teamsters strike occurred in 1997 and had significant economic consequences. Since then, package shipment volume has surged, with an average of 59 million daily packages sent in the US in 2021. With a 24% market share, a walkout by UPS workers could cause substantial delays affecting millions of shipments. Competitors like FedEx are urging UPS customers to switch, but experts doubt their capacity to handle the resulting backlog. Although UPS has started training its nonunion workforce (around 100,000 employees in the US) to manage operations during a strike, it remains inadequate for handling UPS's entire volume.

What Does It Mean for Brands?

A strike will cause significant disruptions for businesses relying on UPS for inbound shipping and order fulfillment. While there is some indication that consumers are becoming less fixated on fast shipping and prioritizing factors like Free Shipping and Easy/Free Returns, it's important to note that nearly all customers (91%) still expect their orders to arrive within 7 days. Furthermore, 70% of customers expressed discontent if their orders failed to arrive on time. In situations of fulfillment disruptions, effective communication is crucial.

Businesses affected by the strike should consider the following actions:

Explore alternative shipping providers, giving preference to regional or local options to avoid overwhelming major competitors who may experience a surge in volume. Recognize that 58% of consumers prefer retailers offering flexible delivery options (such as varied shipping speeds, in-store pickup, curbside delivery, etc.). Thus, even in the absence of a strike, providing multiple options will remain important.

Plan for appropriate messaging on order checkout and shipping pages, such as informing customers that their orders may be impacted by labor disruptions. If multiple shipping options are available, consider highlighting non-UPS fulfillment options on the order page.

Develop a strategy for handling return windows if customers attempt to return products during the strike.

For Marketing Teams:

If you anticipate being unable to fulfill orders, consider pausing or reallocating marketing budgets. Focus on upper-funnel activities such as audience growth and engagement to generate momentum for lower-funnel spending once normal operations resume.

Narrow your targeting to markets where you have physical stores and emphasize options like BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store) or in-store shopping. Monitor and analyze changes in sales volume across offline channels during this period.

Similar to high-volume sales periods or holidays, closely monitor inventory levels. Keep a close eye on out-of-stock items and be prepared to prioritize products that are available, adjusting your creative to feature them. Collaborate with your agency or internal team to develop playbooks for how to respond to out-of-stock products.

If you sell wholesale and your retail partners are capable of fulfilling orders faster than your direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce business, consider prioritizing retail media spending.

Prepare email campaigns for affected customers, maintaining transparency about the status of their orders and keeping them informed about any additional delays. Consider sending proactive email campaigns specifically for loyal customers, addressing the potential for delayed shipping. This is particularly important for brands offering auto-replenish or subscription-based products that may be impacted.

Temporarily adjust loyalty incentives for customers willing to tolerate delays, expressing gratitude for their patience and loyalty with a message like "Thanks for riding with us."

This is a developing story. Stay on top of the news by following us on LinkedIn and subscribing to our newsletter.

#ups #ups strike #digital marketing #advertising #seo

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femmefatalevibe · 9 months

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hi, idk if you answered this before, but how did you manage to become self-employed by 24? also any career building tips in general?

Hi love! Well, I'm nearly 25 now (Leo baby here, lol) and have been self-employed since around 21/22 full-time. I would say the main factors at play are a combination of starting my career as early as possible (first real internship in the fashion industry at almost 16 and starting freelancing at around 19), earning a full scholarship to a top private university, and freelancing throughout college allowed me to have a lot of time and freedom to work on my skills, build my networks/portfolio, etc. (I'm not going to discount all of the privileges and resources I've had working in my favor, including the ability to begin my postgrad life with zero debts, that would be disingenuous, for certain).

In terms of career advice, I would say here are some of my most important tips:

When in doubt, follow up – on an email, pitch, job opportunity, connection, etc.

Create systems. For how you structure emails/pitches, conduct research, different types of workflows/ work template structures for different types of projects, time-blocking, client funnels, etc.

Hope this helps xx

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nasib-sarwar · 11 months

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10 Essential Facebook Ad KPIs Every Marketer Should Know

In the world of digital marketing, Facebook ads have become a powerful tool for businesses to reach their target audience. To ensure the success of your Facebook ad campaigns, it's crucial to track and analyze the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). By monitoring these essential metrics, you can gain valuable insights into your ad performance and make data-driven decisions to optimize your campaigns. In this article, we will explore the 10 essential Facebook ad KPIs that every marketer should know to achieve maximum results.

10 essential Facebook ad KPIs

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR): The Click-Through Rate measures the percentage of users who clicked on your ad after seeing it. A high CTR indicates that your ad is compelling and relevant to your target audience. By continuously monitoring and improving your CTR, you can optimize your ad creative, copy, and targeting to increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your website.

2. Conversion Rate:

The Conversion Rate is a critical KPI that measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a lead form, after clicking on your ad. By tracking the Conversion Rate, you can assess the effectiveness of your ad in driving valuable actions and identify areas for improvement in your ad funnel. 3. Cost Per Click (CPC): The Cost Per Click metric measures the average amount you pay for each click on your Facebook ad. By analyzing your CPC, you can understand how efficiently you are using your budget. Lowering your CPC can help you maximize your ad spend and achieve a higher return on investment (ROI). 4. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): ROAS is a crucial metric that calculates the revenue generated for every dollar spent on your Facebook ads. By monitoring your ROAS, you can evaluate the profitability of your campaigns and allocate your budget to the most effective ad sets or audience segments. 5. Ad Frequency: Ad Frequency indicates the average number of times your ad is shown to a user. Monitoring ad frequency helps you avoid ad fatigue, where users become disengaged or annoyed by seeing the same ad too frequently. A high ad frequency may indicate the need for ad refreshes or expanded audience targeting.

Facebook ads credit 6. Cost per Acquisition (CPA): CPA measures the average cost of acquiring a new customer or leads through your Facebook ads. By analyzing your CPA, you can optimize your campaigns to minimize costs and increase the efficiency of your ad spend. 7. Return on Investment (ROI): ROI is a fundamental metric that calculates the profit or loss generated from your Facebook ad campaigns. By comparing your revenue to your ad spend, you can assess the overall profitability of your marketing efforts and make informed decisions about budget allocation and campaign optimization. 8. Engagement Rate: Engagement Rate measures the level of interaction users have with your Facebook ads, such as likes, comments, and shares. A higher engagement rate indicates that your ad is resonating with your audience and generating meaningful interactions. By improving your engagement rate, you can increase brand awareness, build customer loyalty, and drive organic reach. 9. Ad Placement Performance: Different ad placements on Facebook, such as the News Feed, right column, or Instagram Stories, can have varying levels of effectiveness for your campaigns. By analyzing the performance of each ad placement, you can allocate your budget strategically and optimize your ads for maximum impact. 10. Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM): CPM measures the cost of reaching one thousand users with your Facebook ad. By monitoring your CPM, you can evaluate the cost efficiency of your campaigns and optimize your targeting and ad creative to reach the right audience at a lower cost. Conclusion: To achieve success with Facebook ads, it's crucial for marketers to track and monitor the right KPIs. By focusing on the 10 essential Facebook ad KPIs mentioned above, such as Click-Through Rate, Conversion Rate, Cost Per Click, Return on Ad Spend, and others, you can gain valuable insights into your ad performance and make data-driven decisions to optimize your campaigns. Remember to continuously analyze and refine your strategies to improve your Facebook ad performance, increase brand visibility, and drive meaningful results for your business. Read the full article

#facebookadkpis

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