Amazon HQ2 RFP

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That was an awesome IASIP episode. Season 10 premier I believe.
 
"Developers pitched sites at South Station and in the Seaport, and a top executive at Boston Properties proposed an “Amazon River” of nine 30-story buildings built atop the Massachusetts Turnpike from Back Bay Station to Harrison Avenue. That ambitious plan didn’t make the final bid, though."
 
odurandina said:
"Developers pitched sites at South Station and in the Seaport, and a top executive at Boston Properties proposed an “Amazon River” of nine 30-story buildings built atop the Massachusetts Turnpike from Back Bay Station to Harrison Avenue. That ambitious plan didn’t make the final bid, though."
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That would have been amazing. Glad to see developers with ambitious ideas.
 
So when do they make and announce the decision anyway?
 
^^Because some people here lack empathy and maturity.
 
CSTH said:
So when do they make and announce the decision anyway?
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Supposedly Amazon will whittle down the list to five or so, and engage in a much more in-depth review of the finalists, see how much in the way of incentives is put on the table, and decide later in 2018. Amazon reserved the right to not choose any city.

Because a decision later in 2018 puts a crimp in any bid that is contingent on the building of the first 500,000 sq ft building by the end of 2019, Suffolk Downs wants to start construction of the first building(s) before Amazon makes a decision.

The finalist cities should provide insight into the research and business sectors that Amazon wants to pursue in the future. If HQ2 is going to take the lead in logistics management, Boston probably would not make the final five. If Amazon sees a big role for itself in pharma and health care, Boston would vault to the top.
 
stellarfun said:
The finalist cities should provide insight into the research and business sectors that Amazon wants to pursue in the future. If HQ2 is going to take the lead in logistics management, Boston probably would not make the final five. If Amazon sees a big role for itself in pharma and health care, Boston would vault to the top.
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Actually Boston plays well in the advanced logistics sector as well. No, not for location (obviously), but for warehouse robotics.

Amazon is running more than 50,000 robots that were created here in greater Boston in its fulfillment centers. You can put the fulfillment centers anywhere, but Amazon Robotics (Formerly Kiva Systems) needs Boston based talent.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-robot-army-has-grown-by-50-2017-1
 
tmac9wr said:
Good lord, that's horrible...Baltimore's a city that should be so much better than it is. I'm not sure why you're trying to profiteer off their misery.
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Another poster has been portraying Baltimore as some sort of Shangra-La and the #1 contender for the Amazon 2nd HQ. I'm merely providing a counterpoint.

Frankly the more I think about it the more I'm worried about NYC. If its ease of finding space with an existing transit system that can easily handle an extra 50,000 workers, and cost isn't a big issue, you could put Amazon in the middle of that city with minimal disruption. With the possible exception of LA I can't think of any other city that can do that.
 
KentXie said:
^^Because some people here lack empathy and maturity.
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I have empathy for people who endeavor to persevere without resorting to violence and plunder of other human beings and their communities.

I have empathy for fascists who might dare broach the topic of whether Bezos will set up shop in a social utopia like Boston, immigrant utopia like Tejas, or urban warzone.

No one will accuse me of being a safe space provocateur.

Rover said:
Frankly the more I think about it the more I'm worried about NYC/N. JERSEY/NEC. If its ease of finding space with an existing transit system that can easily handle an extra 50,000 workers, and cost isn't a big issue, you could put Amazon in the middle of that city with minimal disruption. With the possible exception of LA I can't think of any other city that can do that.
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ty..... Hoboken, Jersey City, Bayonne, Newark, Secaucus, Meadowlands.. . Geebus.
 
stellarfun said:
Supposedly Amazon will whittle down the list to five or so, and engage in a much more in-depth review of the finalists, see how much in the way of incentives is put on the table, and decide later in 2018. Amazon reserved the right to not choose any city.

Because a decision later in 2018 puts a crimp in any bid that is contingent on the building of the first 500,000 sq ft building by the end of 2019, Suffolk Downs wants to start construction of the first building(s) before Amazon makes a decision.

The finalist cities should provide insight into the research and business sectors that Amazon wants to pursue in the future. If HQ2 is going to take the lead in logistics management, Boston probably would not make the final five. If Amazon sees a big role for itself in pharma and health care, Boston would vault to the top.
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I don't see how Amazon would be involved in pharma and health care (unless they decide to add an online pharmacy). Health care seems like it's far outside of their core business.

Right now they have a huge online store (basically the Walmart of online business) and a profitable side business called amazon web services (which is outside their core business). Despite having profits 1/6th of Walmart and with gross revenues being 3-4x that of Amazon's, Amazon is still valued by wall street at nearly double that of Walmart (I smell bubble).

Also Amazons plans for HQ2 are extremely ambitious. Will Amazon double in size for the next few years, personally I doubt it though you never know.

Although any headquarters will be more brainpower focused. Amazon isn't opening the HQ in order to create a logistics hub. I believe they envision it to be place where they develop robotics and other forms of artificial intelligence. At least that's what their HQ2 proposal sounded like. We'll see though.
 
tysmith95 said:
I don't see how Amazon would be involved in pharma and health care (unless they decide to add an online pharmacy). Health care seems like it's far outside of their core business.

Right now they have a huge online store (basically the Walmart of online business) and a profitable side business called amazon web services (which is outside their core business). Despite having profits 1/6th of Walmart and with gross revenues being 3-4x that of Amazon's, Amazon is still valued by wall street at nearly double that of Walmart (I smell bubble).

Also Amazons plans for HQ2 are extremely ambitious. Will Amazon double in size for the next few years, personally I doubt it though you never know.

Although any headquarters will be more brainpower focused. Amazon isn't opening the HQ in order to create a logistics hub. I believe they envision it to be place where they develop robotics and other forms of artificial intelligence. At least that's what their HQ2 proposal sounded like. We'll see though.
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Amazon has been gobbling up pharmacy licenses in a bunch of states. Their planned entry into that market is one of the worst-kept secrets in American business today. PBMs (pharmacy benefit mangers) are some of the most powerful companies that nobody has ever heard of, and Amazon could majorly disrupt that industry.

AWS is hardly "outside of [Amazon's] core business". It controls about 35% of the cloud market and generated $4.6 billion in revenue in the last quarter and $1.2 billion in operating income (profit). Yes, that's only about 10.5% of Amazon's total revenue ($43.7 billion) but it's 3.4x their total operating profit ($347 million). As is frequently the case, AWS keeps Amazon out of the red. Retail margins are thin (most of the money goes right out the door just as it's coming in); cloud computing margins are not.

If AWS were its own standalone company it would probably have a market cap approaching on 100 billion. For comparison, Akamai (a local company we've all heard of that is strictly in cloud computing, albeit in a slightly different application than most of AWS's services) brought in only $621 million in revenue last quarter. That's less than 1/7th of AWS.

The thing with Amazon is that it does not have one "core business." It's the country's biggest online retailer but it's also the world's largest provider of cloud infrastructure services and also a major shipping and logistics company that also designs and sells consumer electronics that also runs audio and video streaming services that also is one of the leading developers of AI that also has its own TV and movie studio that also owns the country's most prominent specialty grocery store chain that also etc etc etc. Oh, and its CEO and primary shareholder also owns an aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight company as well as one of America's premier daily newspapers.

Amazon has spent just about its entire history entering one market after another, and that's why its margins are so razor-thin. Once upon a time it was strictly a bookseller; by that standard nearly 100% of the current corporation is "outside of their core business." Practically every penny the company earns is put back into expansion into more areas. If Jeff Bezos wanted he could open up the profit spigot today and make 10s of billions a year in operating revenue without any difficulty what-so-ever. He chooses not to, investing in the company instead. Amazon's pricing reflects this, as investors trust Bezos 100% and know that, one day, when they so choose, the profits will come.
 
Mail-order pharmacy is a big business - one in which Amazon could make a huge splash - but it is a retail/logistics business just like Amazon's other retail services. That isn't the same "pharma" that tysmith was referencing in relation to Boston/Cambridge pharmaceutical R&D. I don't think Amazon's entry into the mail-order pharmacy business would benefit from being located in Boston.
 
Amazon is trying to monopolize the entire ordering and payment platform ONLINE for EVERYTHING.

Universities are starting to partner up with AMAZON to take over their entire Campus's online purchasing and receiving depts. to buy and sell on Amazon.

If you are going to purchase something online Amazon wants a piece of the pie.

They have mastered it. I have to give BEZO's props.
 
The President tweeted that the USPS wasn't charging Amazon enough to deliver the company's packages (he was actually criticizing Jeff Bezos, of course).

Putting Amazon next to the new USPS facility in Boston would be a smart move, right? Lol. (Yes, I realize they wouldn't ship from their headquarters, just go with it.)

(But does Amazon use USPS to deliver many of its packages? I thought it was all UPS, and soon to be its own fleet.
 
Amazon uses a lot of "postal injection", where its fleet handles the warehouse-to-air-to-bulk portion, but it drops the stuff at your local USPS, and the USPS does the "last mile"

There's a lot shipping out there being done this way, both by Amazon and by others. FedEx's "Smart Post" uses truck or rail for the start and middle part of the haul and then drops it at a USPS sorting center. And Amazon, in addition to postal injection is essentially practicing UPS injection when Amazon has popular items pre-positioned in Nashua and Stoughton it effectively means they're using UPS for a "last 20 miles" type service.

From a WSJ Commentary
Amazon is big enough to take full advantage of “postal injection,” and that has tipped the scales in the internet giant’s favor. Select high-volume shippers are able to drop off presorted packages at the local Postal Service depot for “last mile” delivery at cut-rate prices. With high volumes and warehouses near the local depots, Amazon enjoys low rates unavailable to its competitors. My analysis of available data suggests that around two-thirds of Amazon’s domestic deliveries are made by the Postal Service. It’s as if Amazon gets a subsidized space on every mail truck.
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^ Right, the "last mile" is always the most challenging and expensive part of any delivery, and nobody covers it better than USPS.
 
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