I'm not aware of any Amazon product lines or organizations that specializes in devices for truckers. Can you provide a listing?

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lelandfe 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Truckers are the biggest demo but it's sold under a generic category.

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felixgallo 14 hours ago | parent [-]

huh. What's the product listing? I don't think this story rings true.

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NickC25 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Amazon also did this with diapers.com

They are notorious for doing this.

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lotsofpulp 10 hours ago | parent [-]

https://archive.is/2020.07.29-212026/https://www.bloomberg.c...

>“We have already initiated a more aggressive ‘plan to win’ against diapers.com,” longtime Amazon retail executive Doug Herrington apparently wrote in an email released by the committee. “To the extent that this plan undercuts the core diapers business for diapers.com, it will slow the adoption of Soap.com,” another company owned by Quidsi.

>Herrington called Quidsi Amazon’s No. 1 short-term competitor. “We need to match pricing on these guys no matter what the cost,” he said in the email.

I bet Quidsi was also selling the diapers at a loss since they were using UPS and Fedex, so not sure what the difference is if Amazon sells diapers at a loss or Quidsi was selling diapers at a loss.

The innovation would have been in the logistics buildout, which Quidsi obviously wasn’t doing.

	▲	to11mtm 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The logistics buildout is arguably Amazon's biggest retail lynchpin. However, it's built on a few fragile external costs. First that comes to mind, is the comingling, which will theoretically resolve one way or another with their ending of comingling. Comingling almost certainly lowered logistics costs however... Second being, the externality of how both warehouse and delivery workers are treated in the name of the almighty metrics. NGL I feel like the public's acceptance of their labor practices has ironically only accelerated the erosion of labor rights and worker treatment.

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serf 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

it's a known behavior of theirs[0]. sounds plausible to me.

[0]: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/amazon-copied-produ...

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freejazz 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You don't think it's believable that Amazon sells something truckers would use?

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llbbdd 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

All of the replies to this comment: "The fact that I thought it was real says a lot" [0]

[0] https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aaaah

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pessimizer 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's good to ask for a link (although not good to give one if this is your friend and it may affect their relationship with Amazon that you're talking about this in public), but you can't expect people to waste time thinking about your ringing ears.

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mikestew 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Then don’t believe it and go on with your day. No one owes you a link to anything, especially if you simply don’t pay attention to Amazon’s widely-reported business practices.

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gamblor956 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There's no listing. The story is made up.

While the general premise is true (big company will try to rip off small company), Amazon doesn't have the magical power to get around patent law and the economic penalties are fairly harsh, which is why most companies don't do it. And no war chest of tech patents is going to get Amazon around a patent in the trucking industry because the inventor of the trucking gizmo couldn't care less about whether Amazon patented the right to make Alexa speak in tongues.

It's possible, and likely, that Alibaba vendors decided to rip off the product, but again...patent law is a useful tool for those who use it, and Amazon can be held liable for the sales of infringing products on its storefronts.

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ipaddr 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Tell that to a judge after 15 years millions of dollars and an out of date product.

	▲	gamblor956 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It seems a lot of people on HN fundamentally misunderstand how patent litigation works. If this trucking device actually existed, and for some reason was being sold on Amazon, and the inventor had sued, he would be living large these days off the settlement. Yes, Amazon sellers have copied products before, but those aren't Amazon. Amazon prefers to just buy the competition (see, e.g., Diapers.com and Zappos).

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_DeadFred_ 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Amazon currently sells fake fuses that have probably already killed people.

Amazon cares just slightly more about breaking the law then they about killing people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU

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gamblor956 7 hours ago | parent [-]

That's because criminal prosecution and product tort liability are not meaningful deterrents.

Patent litigation is a different thing entirely. The burden of proof is lower, and the payouts are higher.

To put things in perspective, Apple, Amazon, etc., have lost patent lawsuits worth hundreds of millions over trivial aspects of their devices that are just tiny parts out of thousands compromising the phone/tablet/whatever.

	▲	worik 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> criminal prosecution and product tort liability are not meaningful deterrents. > Patent litigation is a different thing entirely Wow! Infringing my idea is "worse" than infringing my body...