Re: Voting in the corporate world.
As Amazon destroys brick and mortar - even Walmart, many 3rd parties are selling through Amazon at what amounts to a loss, or at least a huge discount over what you can get anywhere else. You have to be willing to buy in bulk and especially to be a good shopper who knows what the normal prices of things are. I stocked up on several examples of things that are between ~ 1/2 and 1/4th the cost at the local retailer. Note this isn't universal by any means, as mentioned elsewhere here, sometimes the prices are much higher - you have to do your part and chase it all down, as many things are sold by more than one source on Amazon and at different pricing.
Perhaps some of these sellers are losing money, but are using this to go out of business a little slower than otherwise. I have no idea, my responsibility is to my own family, and if someone chooses to sell to me at a loss, or simply forgo the normally huge market of normal retail, I still have people to feed, etc.
Try to buy a case lot of something that keeps well at the grocery store for a discount. You can't. But you can on Amazon, more often than not. That alone knocks out a 50% or higher margin middleman.
No, those big box stores that offer what looks like those sort of deals don't deliver on the price...after all, they still have that overhead, just not quite as much as the corner grocer.
I fully understand why the Germans got upset with those dash buttons. One thing I've noticed is that you might find a deal on some product - be it a case of canned soup or instant oatmeal - and make it a button. But if you then use that button (or, I'm told, Alexa) to reorder later, you don't get that price, you are then sent to the highest priced seller instead, without any warning whatever.
To make my approach work, you have to pay attention to every single item and order.
Note that this approach also applies to a lot of other things, not just food. I buy a lot of tech stuff at the subassembly level, parts etc, and have long dealt with the major specialist distributors of such things. Amazon (china) is often far lower price - and same quality, cutting out another middleman. The internet is the most deflationary invention ever - of course, all those middlemen are going to have to find other employ or go on the dole...
It could be the luddites were right - just too soon. Ditto Malthus.
