
Amazon suspends all deliveries in France - Raed667
https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481148209369088
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jogundas
It seems that a court has ordered Amazon to deliver only essential products
[0], and Amazon's reaction is to suspend all deliveries.

They write in their other tweets [1] that the decision is based on (i) the
fine of €1M per infraction imposed by the court, and (ii) the risk of
contravening the decision being high due to complex logistics.

[0] [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-
europe-52285301](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52285301) [1]
[https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481151313154048](https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481151313154048)

~~~
s1artibartfast
Interesting that the BBC says the fine is €1M per day while Amazon says it is
€1M per infraction. Which is it?

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sylvinus
From what I understood it's both :)

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user5994461
Translations:

Top twitter comment from Amazon: Following the decision of the court on 14th
April, we (Amazon Inc) have to temporarily suspend activity in our
distribution centers.

Decision from the court, in a screenshot few comments below: We order Amazon
Inc to evaluate work-related risks inherent to the covid-19 pandemic, across
all its warehouses and to put in place measures expected by article L4121-1
from labor laws (not sure what's in this article)... we order Amazon, until
the above measures are put in place and within 24h of being notified of this
decision, to restrict warehouse activity to reception of merchandises,
preparation and shipping of food items, hygiene items and medical supplies,
otherwise it will be subject to a fine of 1M EUR per day late and per
infraction.

[https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481148209369088](https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481148209369088)

[https://twitter.com/BlaisePere/status/1250522103952158722/ph...](https://twitter.com/BlaisePere/status/1250522103952158722/photo/1)

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aikah
How big is Amazon compared to FNAC/Darty, Cdiscount and co? Personally I have
never ordered anything there because

\- when it comes to books, they are not cheaper than at my local bookshop, in
fact they are often more expensive.

\- for home appliances, I always prefer buying things sold directly by the
platform and not a third party seller or dropshiper, unless it's something
used, but then I use ebay.

\- I don't care about one day delivery, personally, I'm fine with waiting.

\- For some reason, I hate the UI I find confusing and way too busy. Even that
monstrosity that is Cdiscount UI feels easier to browse.

So what are the advantages of using Amazon in France compared to other
platforms? cheaper delivery fees? better customer service? or having the
convenience to be able to buy anything at the same place?

~~~
Raed667
I might be in a bubble, but Amazon seems to be the first store people around
me go to. Unless fnac or Darty have a big discount.

For me its the return policy and warranty, I had to deal with other platforms
such as cdiscount and fnac before and will never go back there.

~~~
lowdose
Amazon is first retail app in iOS store for months maybe years. In the G7
Amazon beat Alibaba in all markets.

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ProAm
This clearly shows why Amazon needs to be broken up. To allow a company to
disrupt and disband local supply chains and then try to strong arm governments
is very dangerous.

Walmart is known as a town killer. Amazon is an industry killer.

~~~
jasonpeacock
What would you break up Amazon into?

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ProAm
Platform, Supplier, AWS, Shipping to start.

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gowld
How would that benefit the current situation at all?

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ProAm
It would level the playing field and enable a lot of competition. For example,
is it fair the Amazon the platform as access to all the data about good
selling products, pricing information, and can dictate to a selling what they
are allowed to sell something for (i.e. you cannot sell a product cheaper on
your own website if you sell it on Amazon), but then at the same time takes
that data and then comes out with am Amazon Basic clone to then undercut you
as a the seller? The seller that already had to take a price cut/profit margin
cut to be on Amazon? Having them be both the platform and the seller is bad
for industry. You the seller and giving them free market research only to sell
at a disadvantage to them because they are the gateway to the platform,
product, shipping. The have slowly strangled industry and in the case of
France now want to take their ball and go home when we are dealing with a
global emergency.

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twitch-chat
That's how the industry has always worked. Walmart, Costco, supermarkets,
clothing stores, pharmacies, etc, all have their own brand of products that
they sell on their own stores along with other brands that use their
competitor's infrastructure to sell their products. Usually the store's brand
is also cheaper.

Why is it an issue with Amazon?

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ProAm
All those stores do not mandate the prices you can sell your product for
outside of their premises.

~~~
twitch-chat
If true then we should start with legislation to disallow platforms from
mandating competitor's pricing if they also sell products in their own
platform.

It seems like a good starting solution without having to go for the nuclear
option.

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mthoms
I think Amazon is prioritizing based on product category. That's entirely
reasonable given the size of their catalog.

The problem is, any single category will have any number of non-essential
items along with the essential ones. Case-in-point was a D*ldo just mentioned
by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight that Amazon is shipping. As I understand
it, sex toys are categorised under "Health and Personal Care" (or something
similar) so it makes sense that this category is still shipping with priority.

Side note: I think there's a valid (no doubt controversial) argument that
while sex toys are not "essential", they are indeed helpful at time when
everyone is confined to their homes for literally months on end. But that's
another debate.

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alexandercrohde
This will be a boon for their competitors

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gregoriol
More like a big ad for them, because everyone is going to hate the state here,
when there is one more month of lockdown and many people rely on amazon for
distraction.

Also, there is no "real" competitor, and even if there was they would also
need to limit their offerings the same way.

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morceauxdebois
Jokes on them, the French never stopped hating the state in the first place.

~~~
RareSoft
Next Amazon will build up a monopoly on Guillotines.

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brenden2
Profit above all else.

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dang
Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here.

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decebalus1
Good. Much `Customer Obsession` wow.

France will be just fine and Amazon's competitors will be more than happy to
get the business. Hopefully this would be a good example for everyone
considering Amazon as being 'essential'. I personally cancelled Prime 3 years
ago and have not ordered anything from Amazon since (I live in the US). Very
ballsy move by Amazon. The world would get a glimpse of an Amazon-free economy
and maybe they'll be inspired.

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ismail
It is only fair. If other businesses that are selling items which are “non
essential “ and have to close, it would not be fair for amazon to continue
since they will have an advantage. Here in South Africa regulations were put
in place so online and physical both have the same regulations applied.
Therefore online stores do not get undue advantage.

It forced the e-commerce companies to make quick changes and they were able to
get it done in a few days. all non essential items cannot be added to your
cart. Even Uber eats added functionality to get essential items delivered.

