#Competitive Pricing Analytics

[priceintelguru]

Explore key insights on price analysis in the auto parts industry, covering historical trends, competition, regulations, and strategic pricing for profitability and growth.

[adambernard55]

The Power of AI in Modern Ecommerce

A New Era of Ecommerce and Online Shopping The ecommerce landscape is constantly evolving, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of this metamorphosis. From personalized recommendations to predictive analytics, AI is revolutionizing how businesses interact with customers and operate in the digital marketplace. 1. Personalized Recommendations: A Tailored Experience Gone are the days…

[bungeetech]

Buy vs. Build: Price Optimization Solution

Discover the debate between buying and building price optimization solutions in the retail industry! Should you invest in ready-made solutions or build your own? Explore the pros and cons in our latest blog post. Click the link to learn more: Read more

[artisticdivasworld]

Strengthening Foundations:

Navigating Customer Demands and Expectations for Robust Trucking Relationships Type your email… Subscribe The trucking industry stands as a pivotal pillar in the global supply chain, its wheels turning the gears of economy and commerce. Yet, amidst its crucial role, trucking companies face the perpetual challenge of balancing customer demands and expectations with operational efficiency and…

[kawaiiwizardtale]

4 Key aspects brands overlook in competitive pricing

Discover how competitive pricing significantly improves your customer experience, conversion rate, and profitability across marketplaces. Read more https://xtract.io/blog/key-aspects-brands-overlook-in-competitive-pricing/

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Keir Starmer appoints Jeff Bezos as his “first buddy”

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.

Turns out Donald Trump isn't the only world leader with a tech billionaire "first buddy" who gets to serve as an unaccountable, self-interested de facto business regulator. UK PM Keir Starmer has just handed the keys to the British economy over to Jeff Bezos.

Oh, not literally. But here's what's happened: the UK's Competitions and Markets Authority, an organisation charged with investigating and punishing tech monopolists (like Amazon) has just been turned over to Doug Gurr, the guy who used to run Amazon UK.

This is – incredibly – even worse than it sounds. Marcus Bokkerink, the outgoing head of the CMA, was amazing, and he had charge over the CMA's Digital Markets Unit, the largest, best-staffed technical body of any competition regulator, anywhere in the world. The DMU uses its investigatory powers to dig deep into complex monopolistic businesses like Amazon, and just last year, the DMU was given new enforcement powers that would let it custom-craft regulations to address tech monopolization (again, like Amazon's).

But it's even worse. The CMA and DMU are the headwaters of a global system of super-effective Big Tech regulation. The CMA's deeply investigated reports on tech monopolists are used as the basis for EU regulations and enforcement actions, and these actions are then re-run by other world governments, like South Korea and Japan:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/10/an-injury-to-one/#is-an-injury-to-all

The CMA is the global convener and ringleader in tech antitrust, in other words. Smaller and/or poorer countries that lack the resources to investigate and build a case against US Big Tech companies have been able to copy-paste the work of the CMA and hold these companies to account. The CMA invites (or used to invite) all of these competition regulators to its HQ in Canary Wharf for conferences where they plan global strategy against these monopolists:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cma-data-technology-and-analytics-conference-2022-registration-308678625077

Firing the guy who is making all this happening and replacing him with Amazon's UK boss is a breathtaking display of regulatory capture by Starmer, his business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and his exchequer, Rachel Reeves.

But it gets even worse, because Amazon isn't just any tech monopolist. Amazon is a many-tentacled kraken built around an e-commerce empire. Antitrust regulators elsewhere have laid bare how Amazon uses that retail monopoly to take control over whole economies, while raising prices and crushing small businesses.

To understand Amazon's market power, first you have to understand "monopsonies" – markets dominated by buyers (monopolies are markets dominated by sellers – Amazon is both a monopolist and a monopsonist). Monopsonies are far more dangerous than monopolies, because they are easier to establish and easier to defend against competitors. Say a single retailer accounts for 30% of your sales: there isn't a business in the world that can survive an overnight 30% drop in sales, so that 30% market share might as well be 100%. Once your order is big enough that canceling it would bankrupt your supplier, you have near-total control over that supplier.

Amazon boasts about this. They call it "the flywheel": Amazon locks in shoppers (by getting them to prepay for a year's worth of shipping in advance, via Prime). The fact that a business can't sell to a large proportion of households if it's not on Amazon gives Amazon near-total power over that business. Amazon uses that power to demand discounts and charge junk fees to the businesses that rely on it. This allows it to lower prices, which brings in more customers, which means that even more businesses have to do business with Amazon to stay afloat:

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

That's Amazon's version, anyway. In reality, it's a lot scuzzier. Amazon doesn't just demand deep discounts from its suppliers – it demand unsustainable discounts from them. For example, Amazon targeted small publishers with a program called the "Gazelle Project." Jeff Bezos told his negotiators to bring down these publishers "the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle":

https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/a-new-book-portrays-amazon-as-bully/

The idea was to get a bunch of cheap books for the Kindle to help it achieve critical mass, at the expense of driving these publishers out of business. They were a kind of disposable rocket stage for Amazon.

Deep discounts aren't the only way that Amazon feeds off its suppliers: it also lards junk-fee atop junk-fee. For every pound Amazon makes from its customers, it rakes in 45-51p in fees:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/29/aethelred-the-unready/#not-one-penny-for-tribute

Now, just like there's no business that can survive losing 30% of its sales overnight, there's also no business that can afford to hand 45-51% of its gross margin to a retailer. For businesses to survive at all on Amazon, they have to jack their prices up – way up. However, Amazon has an anticompetitive deal called "most favoured nation status" that forces suppliers to sell their goods on Amazon at the same price as they sell them elsewhere (even from their own stores). So when companies raise their prices in order to pay ransom to Amazon, they have to raise their prices everywhere. Far from being a force for low prices, Amazon makes prices go up everywhere, from the big Tesco's to the corner shop:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

Amazon makes so much money off of this scam that it doesn't have to pay anything to ship its own goods – the profits from overcharging merchants for "fulfillment by Amazon" pay for all the shipping, on everything Amazon sells:

https://cdn.ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AmazonMonopolyTollbooth-2023.pdf

Amazon competes with its own sellers, but unlike those sellers, it doesn't have to pay a 45-51% rake – and it can make its competitor-customers cover the full cost of its own shipping! On top of that, Amazon maintains the pretense that its headquarters are in Luxembourg, the tax- and crime-haven, and pays a fraction of the taxes that British businesses pay to HMRC (and that's not counting the 45-51% tax they pay to Jeff Bezos's monoposony).

That's not the only way that Amazon unfairly competes with British businesses, though: Amazon uses its position as a middleman between buyers and sellers to identify the most successful products sold by its own customers. Then it copies those products and sells them below the original inventor's costs (because it gets free shipping, pays no tax, and doesn't have to pay its own junk fees), and drives those businesses into the ground. Even Jeff "Project Gazelle" Bezos seems to understand that this is a bad look, which is why he perjured himself to the American Congress when he was questioned under oath about it:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58961836

Amazon then places its knockoff products above the original goods on its search results page. Amazon makes $38b selling off placement on these search pages, and the top results for an Amazon search aren't the best matches for your query – they're the ones that pay the most. On average, Amazon's top result for a search is 29% more expensive than the best match on the site. On average, the top row of results is 25% more expensive than the best match on the site. On average, Amazon buries the best result for your search 17 places down the results page:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/03/subprime-attention-rent-crisis/#euthanize-rentiers

Amazon, in other words, acts like the business regulator for the economies it dominates. It decides what can be sold, and at what prices. It decides whose products come up when you search, and thus which businesses deserve to live and which ones deserve to die. An economy dominated by Amazon isn't a market economy – it's a planned economy, run by Party Secretary Bezos for the benefit of Amazon's shareholders.

Now, there is a role for a business regulator, because some businesses really don't deserve to live (because they sell harmful products, engage in deceptive practices, etc). The UK has a regulator that's in charge of this stuff: the Competition and Markets Authority, which is now going to be run by Jeff Bezos's hand-picked UK Amazon boss. That means that Amazon is now both the official and the unofficial central planner of the UK economy, with a free hand to raise prices, lower quality, and destroy British businesses, while hiding its profits in Luxemourg and starving the exchequer of taxes.

The "first buddy" role that Keir Starmer just handed over to Jeff Bezos is, in every way, more generous than the first buddy deal Trump gave Elon Musk.

Starmer's government claims they're doing this for "growth" but Amazon isn't a force for growth, it's force for extraction. It is a notorious underpayer of its labour force, a notorious tax-cheat, and a world-beating destroyer of local economies, local jobs, and local tax bases. Contrary to Amazon's own self-mythologizing, it doesn't deliver lower prices – it raises prices throughout the economy. It doesn't improve quality – this is a company whose algorithmic recommendation system failed to recognize that an "energy drink" was actually its own drivers' bottled piss, which it then promoted until it was the best-selling energy drink on the platform:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/20/release-energy/#the-bitterest-lemon

There's a reason that the UK, the EU, Japan and South Korea found it so easy to collaborate on antitrust cases against American companies: these are all countries whose competition law was rewritten by American technocrats during the Marshall Plan, modeled on the US's own laws. The bedrock of US competition law is 1890's Sherman Act, whose author, Senator John Sherman, declared that:

If we will not endure a King as a political power we should not endure a King over the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life. If we would not submit to an emperor we should not submit to an autocrat of trade with power to prevent competition and to fix the price of any commodity.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

Jeff Bezos is the autocrat of trade that John Sherman warned us about, 135 years ago. And Keir Starmer just abdicated in his favour.

Check out my Kickstarter to pre-order copies of my next novel, Picks and Shovels!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/22/autocrats-of-trade/#dingo-babysitter

Image: UK Parliament/Maria Unger (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keir_Starmer_2024.jpg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Steve Jurvetson (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeff_Bezos%27_iconic_laugh.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[viktorarcanedeservesbetter]

more modern au headcanons for @now-thats-an-oof

first one here

Jayce and Viktor's favorite guilty pleasure is all the crime/science shows like CSI, Bones, X-Files. Stuff that requires a healthy amount of disbelief because it's more entertaining that way, rather than the shows that pretend to know science or are obnoxious about science. They used to have a drinking game, but after one episode of CSI Vegas they were so decidedly intoxicated + the hangover was enough for them to never play it again.

Also, their TV set is a projector against their wall. They also pirate everything, use VPNs. Neither of them pay for any subscriptions, all mooch off of Caitlyn's accounts when they can't find something they want or the quality being pirated isn't good. (Mel and Elora locked them out of their account)

They live in a studio apartment on the first floor right outside their University. It's nice, low-priced and they don't spend a lot of time in it anyways with school and lab work. Jayce's favorite feature is the fireplace, Viktor's is the spacious shower.

They do not use candles: sets off Viktor’s asthma. Instead they have a modified (by them!) diffuser with scents like eucalyptus, peppermint, lavender that helps with breathing + won’t set off an attack. (He still does his treatments, though! Just wants a nice smelling home.)

Ximena lives about forty minutes away; they visit her every weekend. When Jayce and Viktor first got together, Viktor was afraid to meet her (he has no family for Jayce to meet, and never got far enough in other relationships to meet parents) but she took him in instantly.

Now, Ximena insists Viktor come home with Jayce every time. Sometimes she even calls Viktor even when Jayce isn't there. She sends meals (as all moms do!) with them to take, but with the recipe card so they can make it together.

Adding onto that, Jayce cooks, Viktor bakes. Both have used Ximena's recipe cards often, but hers are just better (Jayce thinks she's hiding a secret ingredient, Viktor thinks she's magic) (one of them is right!)

Neither of them are big readers for fun, but both enjoy scientific journals, reports, short stories, as long as they aren't science fiction. Unlike with the TV shows, the bad science just annoys them. For fiction, Jayce enjoys adventure/suspense, Viktor enjoys mystery/suspense. Neither like horror, or romance-only, but enjoy a good slow burn mixed with their preferred genres.

Their greatest achievement was the modern version of whatever the distinguished innovators competition was-they both got to ride in a plane (1st class, paid for by the school!) to present their prototype for a water & air solar powered purifier to the country's top mechanics board. Mel (political science major, business minor (in Masters programs) also helped them register the patents and trademarks for it.

Speaking of Mel, other majors/minors include: Caitlyn (Legal Studies Major, Criminal Justice minor, undergrad) Sky (Environmental Science, Masters) Vi (Exercise Science major, undergrad) Elora (Business Analytics, Masters). Ekko and Powder are taking a gap year.

Jayvik have major beef with the barista at the coffeeshop closest to their apartment. Don't ask them why. (He hit on Vik in front of Jayce while also being ableist. Both of them cursed him out in their respective first languages).

Jayce and Viktor paint and sketch to unwind. Jayce sketches (likes charcoal pencils) Viktor paints (likes watercolors). Favorite subjects? Each other. (yes, they have painted and sketched each other naked.)

Failed hobbies of theirs include: crocheting (Jayce was slightly more successful, though the scarf he made for Vik was a little too long) Photography (somehow Viktor's fingertips make it into his shots, Jayce can never get the focus right) Dance (Jayce stepped on everyone's feet, Viktor only likes to sway and stand on Jayce's feet) Plants (?) (They are only allowed plants that can survive nuclear explosions now. Sky banned anything harder than a spider plant to care for from their home.)

Favorite Bar: The Last Drop (you know I had to do it). They (as well as their small group of friends) are the only academy students yet to be kicked out. Mostly for good behavior, but also because favoritism.

Things they don't fight about: Health, safety, opinions (they share most of the same ones anyways) family, friends.

Things they "fight" about: the right amount of sugar in a coffee, if Viktor needs wool socks, if Jayce needs to replace his work boots, the best kind of cookie (the great double-chocolate chip vs m&m cookie war)

The thing they actually fought about (serious version): Viktor accepting help/Jayce learning the right way to help him that wasn't diminishing Viktor's abilities. They fought for a week-still sharing a bed and eating together, working, but all silent. Finally when they came to an agreement-Viktor would stop ignoring the need for help until it was too painful to ask, Jayce would help by knowing the real signs, or doing just what Viktor asks him to help with, rather than what he assumes Viktor needs.

[rideboomindia]

Based on the search results, here are some innovative technologies that RideBoom could implement to enhance the user experience and stay ahead of ONDC:

Enhanced Safety Measures: RideBoom has already implemented additional safety measures, including enhanced driver background checks, real-time trip monitoring, and improved emergency response protocols. [1] To stay ahead, they could further enhance safety by integrating advanced telematics and AI-powered driver monitoring systems to ensure safe driving behavior.

Personalized and Customizable Services: RideBoom could introduce a more personalized user experience by leveraging data analytics and machine learning to understand individual preferences and offer tailored services. This could include features like customizable ride preferences, personalized recommendations, and the ability to save preferred routes or driver profiles. [1]

Seamless Multimodal Integration: To provide a more comprehensive transportation solution, RideBoom could integrate with other modes of transportation, such as public transit, bike-sharing, or micro-mobility options. This would allow users to plan and book their entire journey seamlessly through the RideBoom app, enhancing the overall user experience. [1]

Sustainable and Eco-friendly Initiatives: RideBoom has already started introducing electric and hybrid vehicles to its fleet, but they could further expand their green initiatives. This could include offering incentives for eco-friendly ride choices, partnering with renewable energy providers, and implementing carbon offset programs to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. [1]

Innovative Payment and Loyalty Solutions: To stay competitive with ONDC's zero-commission model, RideBoom could explore innovative payment options, such as integrated digital wallets, subscription-based services, or loyalty programs that offer rewards and discounts to frequent users. This could help attract and retain customers by providing more value-added services. [2]

Robust Data Analytics and Predictive Capabilities: RideBoom could leverage advanced data analytics and predictive modeling to optimize their operations, anticipate demand patterns, and proactively address user needs. This could include features like dynamic pricing, intelligent routing, and personalized recommendations to enhance the overall user experience. [1]

By implementing these innovative technologies, RideBoom can differentiate itself from ONDC, provide a more seamless and personalized user experience, and stay ahead of the competition in the on-demand transportation market.

[scotianostra]

Reverend Patrick Bell was born on May 12th 1799 at Auchterhouse near Dundee.

Born into a farming family Bell was brought up at the farrm at Mid Leoch and attended Auchterhouse Parish School before going on to study divinity at the University of St Andrews, leading to a career in the clergy.

It’s not as man of god that the good Reverend is remembered for, although he was a good man of the cloth, the reason for this post and how he went down in history is that he came up with an idea that saved a lot of time for farmers the world over in his invention of a reaping machine.

This reaping machine used a revolving 12 vane reel to pull the crop over the cutting knife, that was made from triangular reciprocating blades over fixed triangular blades. A canvas conveyor moved the grain and stalks to the side in a windrow. This machine was pushed by livestock and ran on 2 wheels.

Bell had a very analytical mind and was especially interested in engineering. He installed a gas lighting system at Mid Leoch and even took an interest in the cultivation of sugar beet, growing some and extracting sugar from it a century before the industry came to Scotland.

Many people, historians included, have mistakenly credited Cyrus McCormick of America as the inventor of the reaper in 1831. However it should be Patrick Bell who is recognised as the designer of a machine that was deemed far more efficient and reliable than any previous attempts. Four of his reapers went to America where it is likely they influenced the designs of both McCormick and his contemporary Obed Hussey.

On 10th of September 1828 he demonstrated his invention and later received a favourable report in the “Quarterly Journal of Agriculture” and received a premium of £50 from the Highland Agricultural Society, which barely covered costs.

Being a man of god, Bell did not file for a patent believing that his invention should benefit all. This led to various copies being made that were inferior to the Bell-made machines and they did nothing to encourage widespread usage. However around 10 of Bell’s machines that were sold in east central Scotland were sold in east central Scotland and, as previously mentioned, four crossed the Atlantic, others went to Australia and Poland.

At this time in history labour was still cheap and many farmers did not see the benefit of such a machine, preferring to stay with traditional methods. This was another case of a good invention being too far ahead of its time. However, the Bell machine was to prove itself as far as reliability and longevity was concerned, as the original machine continued for many harvests at Mid Leoch before going to work for many more at his brother’s Inchmichael Farm.

In 1852 it was put in a good state of repair and shown at the Highland Show at Perth where it was thought by many to be the latest machine on the market. However, the Americans eventually began to sell greater quantities of reaping machines no doubt due to their lightness, manoeuvrability and competitive mass-produced pricing.

Meanwhile, now ordained, the Reverend Bell became minister of Carmyllie parish where he continued an interest in engineering, working at his bench at the manse. He remained unaffected by all the clamour that his machine had caused.

The Inchmichael machine, fastidiously looked after by his brother, ended up in the Science Museum in London where it still resides today.

Two contemporary models of the machine were presented to the National Museum and one is on show at the National Museum of Rural Life at Kittochside, East Kilbride. A third was presented by his daughters to the agricultural department of Aberdeen University.

Today’s combine harvester has thus developed from the work of two ingenious Scotsmen - it is a combination of Andrew Meikle’s threshing mechanism and Patrick Bell’s reaper.

The second pic is one of The Rev's reaping machine, only a small number of these machines were constructed, and the extant of Bell's influence has been controversial. Four were exported to the USA before 1831, but the same year Cyrus McCormick introduced a more commercially successful machine. At the Great Exhibition in 1851 American reapers from McCormick and Hussey created a stir and helped to promote the acceptance of reapers in this country. However, Bell received belated recognition for his pioneering work and in 1867, two years before his death, he was awarded a £1000 prize by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. The contraption is on display at the Science Museum in London

[darkmaga-returns]

Regular readers may recall this article from three months ago:

UnitedHealth, as the parent of both a dominant insurance company and health care provider, captures larger profits by paying itself higher prices for basic checkups, surgeries, and procedures

“UnitedHealth Group is paying many of its own physician practices significantly more than it pays other doctor groups in the same markets for similar services, undermining competition and driving up costs for consumers and businesses, a STAT investigation reveals. “

“STAT uncovered the above-market payments in a first-of-its-kind analysis conducted in partnership with health analytics company Tribunus Health. The analysis examined UnitedHealth’s own data, which must be reported to the federal government, showing what its commercial insurance unit pays 16 of its Optum-branded doctor groups for common or expensive services that account for the most spending.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, now we have this from here:

DOJ Probes UnitedHealth for Fraud After CEO Recently Assassinated - The Joe Messina Show

“UnitedHealth Group is being scrutinized for its methods of documenting medical diagnoses, which can result in higher payments from Medicare Advantage plans.”

“This system reimburses insurers for managing benefits for enrollees, with payments increasing as more health conditions are diagnosed. The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Medicare paid UnitedHealth billions in relation to these “questionable diagnoses.”

[mariacallous]

Next week, a coterie of crypto investors will share an extravagant dinner with US president Donald Trump at his golf club in Washington, DC. They won their seats at the dinner by purchasing large amounts of Trump’s personal crypto coin. But since their places were confirmed on Monday, almost half have gotten rid of their holdings, whether by selling the coins or transferring them to different wallets, a WIRED analysis shows.

The team behind the TRUMP coin announced the dinner competition on April 23, promising to invite the top 220 holders to dine alongside the president. The top 25, meanwhile, would qualify for a doubly exclusive tour and predinner reception, the website explained.

The organizers selected the attendees based on who had bought the most TRUMP and held their coins the longest between the announcement date and May 12. Although a few of the winners have identified themselves publicly—like Sheldon Xia, founder of crypto exchange BitMart—the identities of most are concealed behind leaderboard usernames and alphanumeric crypto wallet addresses.

To claim a spot at the dinner, investors had to purchase at least 4,196 units of the TRUMP coin, worth about $54,000 at the time of writing. To qualify for the reception, the VIPs held around 325,000 TRUMP coins on average, worth roughly $4.2 million.

At the time of writing, 100 of the 220 attendees have done away with practically their entire TRUMP stash, including 17 of the 25 VIPs. One VIP, going by the username Woo, appears to have made a $2.5 million profit on their TRUMP holdings, which they delivered to crypto exchange Binance on Wednesday, presumably with the intention to sell.

Though the attendees would appear to be eager for an audience with Trump, their trading activities since the competition deadline appear to imply a low conviction in the long-term potential of the president’s coin as an investment asset. Representatives for Trump did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

That sentiment appears to be shared broadly among sophisticated crypto investors. As of Friday, only nine smart money traders—meaning those with a strong track record of profitability—are invested in the TRUMP coin, according to analysis by Nicolai Søndergaard, research analyst at blockchain analytics company Nansen.

After the dinner was first announced, analysts expressed concerns about a potential slump in the price after the spaces at the dinner had been confirmed, caused by a sell-off among investors whose immediate incentive to hold the coin had evaporated.

On May 12, the day of the competition deadline, the organizers tried to encourage the qualifying attendees to hold onto their coins, presumably in a bid to avoid a sell-off. Any attendees who arrived at the dinner with as many units of TRUMP as they held at the end of the competition, the organizers announced on X, would be rewarded with a “very special and rare” NFT. They also teased a “rewards points program,” the details of which have not yet been revealed.Got a Tip?Have you invested in Trump’s memecoin? Are you attending the president’s crypto dinner? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact Joel Khalili securely on Signal on Joel_Khalili.28.

Though many of the qualifying attendees were apparently unmoved by the prospect, choosing to forgo the NFT in favor of offloading their coins, it has not had a material detrimental impact on the TRUMP price. At the time of writing, the TRUMP coin is trading for $12.86 per unit, down from $14.59 on May 12.

The limited decline in price had been predicted in some quarters, attributed to the possibility that holding the coin might yield yet further perks or advantages in the future—potentially including access to Trump.

In establishing an explicit quid pro quo—a large investment in exchange for a dinner with the president—the competition effectively turned TRUMP into a so-called utility coin. That idea is underscored by the rewards program teased by the organizers.

“The market will expect further utility to come from holding that coin,” Nathan van der Heyden, head of business development at crypto company Aragon, told WIRED in April. “Before, you were speculating on a TRUMP coin with no utility. Now you’re speculating on future access to Trump. That has to be worth a bit more money.”

[mfilterit]

Digital Shelf Monitoring is the Future of E-commerce: Is your Intelligence Platform Covering Every Dark Store and Pin Code?

The Indian e-commerce sector is in a state of rapid transformation, with experts projecting it to hit an astonishing $400 billion+ by 2030, powered by a 19% annual growth rate, according to Inc 42 report. With this kind of momentum and each one vying for prominence on the digital shelf in a market as sprawling and diverse as India brands must dig deeper, focusing not only on top-tier cities but extending their reach into every dark store and at the pin code level to get the true picture.  

READ MORE>>

[lizzy-bonnet]

How (a selection of) Jane Austen characters would fare on Taskmaster

Catherine Moreland - lateral thinker, always trying to identify the trick in any task. Opens every single door/drawer/box and flips every switch in a room and consequently finds clues that others miss, but sometimes also thinks something's a clue when it's just an object. Best team task teammate: Anne Elliot (she needs the practicality to balance her out)

Elinor Dashwood - Highly organized, strategic and excels at complex logistical tasks. Demolishes all the artistic tasks. Gets frustrated with teammates but doesn't show it. Consistently scores well, but too serious to go after the big laughs. Best team task teammate: Frank Churchill (keeps her on her toes, willing to be the slapstick-y one on the team)

Henry Tilney - Middle of the pack points-wise but fan favourite for his charming nature. Roasts fellow panelists but in such a wholesome way that they love him even more for it. Takes the film crew out for a pint after they wrap. Best team task teammate: Literally anyone, this man makes friends wherever he goes.

Charles Bingley - Rushes into every task with unstoppable enthusiasm but does not always read the instructions completely. Having a lovely time throughout. Becomes best friends with the entire Taskmaster ecosystem, later goes on Off Menu podcast and says his favourite starter is white soup. Best team task teammate: Elinor Dashwood (let's face it, he needs a strong leader)

Elizabeth Bennet - Roasts Little Alex Horne constantly which LAH interprets as flirting and is intensely uncomfortable. Greg finds this discomfort hilarious. Does musical tasks poorly but with charming self-deprecation. Moderately competitive. Best team task teammate: Georgiana Darcy (will follow her literally anywhere)

Frank Churchill - Flashes cash, Al Murray style. Would absolutely pay £150 to take a pea to Slough. Very fully commits to any bit he's doing, probably the most likely to wear a wacky costume. Overdoes it on gift-giving tasks. Accidentally harmful towards Little Alex Horne. Best team task teammate: Caroline Bingley (focused and ambitious)

Henry Crawford - Cheats with some success (more Noel Fielding than Dave Gorman). Has a plan for team tasks and is good at wearing people down until they start to agree with him. Most likely to get disqualified for stepping on the red green. Best team task teammate: Mr. Collins (total follower, will do anything he says)

Caroline Bingley - Highly competitive. Somewhat conniving approach to tasks, possibly tries to cheat, definite doesn't succeed (Dave Gorman type). Tries to compliment Greg a lot but it doesn't work. Best team task teammate: Charlotte Lucas (practical, but ambitious enough to take a punt on a questionable plan)

Emma Woodhouse - Gets in her own way constantly, often by thinking she understands the task when she doesn't. Will be halfway through doing something totally incorrectly before she realizes her mistake. Best team task teammate: Fanny Price (analytical thinker)

Fanny Price - Continually nervous and dismayed. Strong Joe Thomas energy. Scores well because she reads the task carefully and follows it to the letter. Strong team player unless her team is trying to bend the rules. Hates watching herself in the studio sessions. Best team task teammate: Elizabeth Bennet (gives her secondhand confidence, is very encouraging)

Marianne Dashwood - comes up with a plan immediately and sticks to it no matter how badly its going. Not really attentive to her teammates in the team tasks. Has an Iain Sterling-style moment of uncomfortable self-reflection while watching herself in a task. Best team task teammate: Mrs. Croft (eminently in touch with reality)

[shipeasetechnologies]

Why Shipease is the Smartest Choice for E-Commerce Shipping in 2025

Why Shipease is the Smartest Choice for E-Commerce Shipping in 2025

In the ever-evolving world of e-commerce, efficient and reliable shipping isn’t just a feature — it’s the backbone of customer satisfaction and business growth. As we step into 2025, one platform continues to stand out for e-commerce businesses looking for a smarter, smoother, and more scalable shipping solution: Shipease.

Here’s why Shipease is the smartest choice for e-commerce shipping in 2025:

1. All-in-One Shipping Dashboard

Shipease eliminates the hassle of juggling multiple courier partners. With its centralized dashboard, you can compare rates, generate labels, schedule pickups, and track shipments — all in one place. It’s designed to save time, cut manual errors, and improve operational efficiency.

2. AI-Powered Courier Recommendations

Thanks to its smart algorithm, Shipease automatically suggests the best courier based on delivery location, cost, and performance history. This means faster deliveries, lower return rates, and happier customers.

3. Real-Time Tracking and Notifications

Today’s customers expect to know exactly where their order is. Shipease provides real-time tracking updates to both you and your buyers, reducing WISMO ("Where is my order?") queries and improving customer experience.

4. Seamless Integration with Major Marketplaces

Whether you're selling on Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, or your own website, Shipease easily integrates with major e-commerce platforms. Sync your orders effortlessly and manage your shipping in a streamlined workflow.

5. Flexible Shipping Options

From same-day delivery to cash on delivery (COD) and reverse logistics, Shipease offers a wide range of shipping options. This flexibility allows you to cater to diverse customer preferences and boost your overall conversion rates.

6. Affordable Pricing and Transparent Billing

Shipease offers competitive shipping rates with no hidden charges. With clear invoicing and billing insights, e-commerce sellers get complete visibility over shipping expenses, making budgeting and forecasting a breeze.

7. Automated NDR and RTO Management

Non-delivery reports (NDRs) and return-to-origin (RTO) shipments can be a nightmare for online sellers. Shipease automates the process of addressing delivery failures, communicates with customers, and helps minimize return costs.

8. Dedicated Support and Account Management

Need help fast? Shipease offers responsive customer support along with dedicated account managers who understand your business goals and help optimize your shipping strategy.

9. Data-Driven Insights for Smarter Decisions

With in-depth analytics and shipping performance reports, you can track KPIs, optimize courier selection, and uncover areas to improve logistics and customer experience.

10. Future-Ready Technology

In 2025, speed and adaptability are key. Shipease stays ahead of the curve by continuously upgrading its tech infrastructure, ensuring faster processing, enhanced security, and new features that support your e-commerce growth.

Conclusion

E-commerce success in 2025 hinges on delivering orders quickly, reliably, and affordably — and Shipease is built to help you do just that. Whether you’re a small seller or a large-scale brand, Shipease offers the tools, tech, and support you need to ship smarter, scale faster, and deliver better.

Switch to Shipease today — because smart businesses deserve smart shipping.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Thankful for class consciousness

On November 27, I'm appearing at the Toronto Metro Reference Library with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

On November 29, I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Before the term "ecology" came along, people didn't know they were on the same side. You care about owls, I care about the ozone layer – what does the destiny of charismatic nocturnal avians have to do with the gaseous composition of the upper atmosphere?

But as James Boyle has written, the term "ecology" welded together a thousand issues into a single movement. When we talk about "looking at our world through a lens," this is what we mean – apply the right analytical lens and a motley assortment of disparate causes becomes a unified, coherent project:

https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=dlj

Unfettered, planet-destroying, worker immiserating corporate power is only possible in the absence of such a lens. Before neoliberalism can destroy our lives, it must first convince us that we are all disconnected. "There is no such thing as society," isn't just an empty slogan: it's a weapon for dismantling the democratically accountable structures that can stand against industrial tyrants.

That's why neoliberalism is so viciously opposed to all kinds of solidarity, why corporate apologists insist that the only elections that matter are the ones where you "vote with your wallet." It's no surprise that the side with the thickest wallets wants to replace ballots with dollars!

Today, at long last, after generations of deadly corporate power-grabs, we are living through an ecology moment where all kind of fights are coalescing into one big fight: the fight to save democracy from oligarchy.

There are many tributaries flowing into this mighty river, but two of the largest are antitrust and labor. Antitrust seeks to ensure that our world is regulated by democratically accountable lawmakers who deliberate in public, rather than shareholder-accountable monopolists who deliberate in smoke-filled rooms. Labor seeks to ensure that contests between profit for the few and prosperity for the many are decided in favor of people, not profit.

This coalition is so powerful that the ruling class has never stopped attacking it. Indeed, the history of US antitrust law can be viewed as a succession of ever-more-insistent laws enacted solely to make it clear to deliberately obtuse judges that competition law is aimed at corporations, not unions:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

Rising corporate power and declining worker power is bad for all of us. The failure of successive US administrations to block airline mergers led to sky-high prices and a proliferation of "junk fees" that can double the price of a ticket. The monopoly carriers stand to make $118b this year from these fees:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90981005/airlines-fees-118-billion-dark-patterns

The consolidation of the agricultural sector led to cartels that conspired to rig the prices of our food. These Les Mis LARPers rigged the price of bread!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-bread-price-fixing-1.6883783

Remember eggflation? Nearly all the eggs in US grocery stores come from a single company, Cal-Maine, which owns dozens of brands, including "Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes eggs":

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html

With all our eggs in one basket, it was easy for a single company to rig the egg market, blaming everything from bird flu to Russian invasion of Ukraine for doubling egg prices while their profits shot up by 65%:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/23/cant-make-an-omelet/#keep-calm-and-crack-on

Antitrust isn't just about monopoly – it's also about oligopoly. The American meat cartel pretends that it's not rigging markets by outsourcing its price-fixing to a "clearinghouse" called Agri Stats:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

Agri-Stats gets data from all the Big Meat companies, "anonymizes" it, and publishes it back to its subscribers, who use the service to coordinate across-the-board price-hikes that have cost the public billions in price gouging (meanwhile, Big Meat was able to secure $50b in public subsidies).

For forty years, governments have ceded power to "autocrats of trade" who usurped control "over the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

But that era is coming to an end. In the past year, American regulators have blocked airline mergers and promulgated rules banning junk fees. They've dragged price-fixing clearinghouses into court:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/why-turkey-eggs-and-air-travel-just

They're getting results, too: for the second year in a row, turkey prices are down. Cranberries, too (18%). Same for whipping cream (25%). Pie crusts are down. So are russet potatoes. Airfares are down 13.2%.

The egg cartel just lost a long-running court case over the last egg price-fixing campaign, which gouged Americans from 1990-2008:

https://www.pymnts.com/cpi_posts/kellogg-kraft-secure-victory-in-price-fixing-lawsuit-against-egg-producers

The same fact-pattern that was revealed in that court case is repeated in this year's eggflation scandal:

https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Farm-Action-Letter-to-FTC-Chair-Lina-Khan.pdf

That's terrific ammo for the FTC, and will doubtless benefit the Democrats running against would-be Indiana senator John Rust, whose family owns convicted egg cartel member Rose Acre Farms and whose wife just stepped down as chair of the board.

One underappreciated aspect of the global war on corporate power is that the same corporations commit the same crimes in countries all over the world, which means that whenever any government establishes evidence of those crimes, they are of use to all the other governments. Competition enforcers from the UK, EU, USA, Singapore, South Korea and elsewhere are coordinating to target the Big Tech cartel. Maybe Google and Facebook and Apple are bigger enough to resist any one of those governments – but all of them?

https://cmadataconference.co.uk/

One notable absence from the anti-monopoly coalition is Canada. While other countries merely stopped enforcing their competition laws in the neoliberal era, Canada never had a good competition law to enforce. Canada's official tolerance for monopolies has allowed a handful of companies to seize control over the economy of Canada and the lives of Canadians:

https://www.canadaland.com/shows/commons-monopoly/

These monopolies are largely controlled by powerful families, Canada's de facto aristocracy, whose wealth and power make them above the law and subordinate the country's democratic institutions to billionaires' whims:

https://www.canadaland.com/tag/dynasties/

At long last, Canada has called time on oligarchy. Last week's Fall Economic Statement included an announcement of a muscular new competition law, including new merger guidelines, a new "abuse of dominance" standard, and Right to Repair rules:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7132855021548769282/

The law also includes interoperability mandates for Canada's highly concentrated – and deeply corrupt – banking sector. These measures are strikingly similar to new measures just introduced in the US by the CFPB:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

The arrival of Canada's first fit-for-purpose competition rule coincides with all kinds of solidaristic movements in Canada that are fighting corporate power from the bottom up. Even Ontario, led by one of the most corrupt premiers in provincial history, can't break its teachers' union:

https://globalnews.ca/news/10105600/ontario-elementary-teachers-reach-contract-deal/

It's not just workers who benefit from solidarity: Tenants' unions have formed across the province in response to corporate takeovers of scarce rental stock. These finance-sector landlords have armies of lawyers who've figured out how to bypass rent-control rules and evict tenants who balk. Rather than rolling over, tenants' unions are organizing waves of rent-strikes:

https://macleans.ca/longforms/rent-strikes-canada/

As with Big Tech, the illegal tactics of the rental sector aren't confined to a single nation. In America, Wall Street landlords have dramatically increased the price of housing and kicked off an eviction epidemic the likes of which the country has never seen:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

And as with Big Meat, landlords use arm's-length clearing houses to rig rental markets, coordinating across-the-board rent hikes:

https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent

In other words: to fix the housing market, tenants all over the world need to learn the tactics of labor unions. Housing regulators have to learn from agricultural regulators. Americans tenants have to learn from Canadians. These aren't 1,000 different fights – they're one big fight, and the coalition for dismantling corporate power is vast and powerful.

The most powerful weapons our bosses have is convincing us that we are weak and they are strong – so strong that we shouldn't even try to fight them. But solidarity is absurdly powerful, which is why they go to such great lengths to discredit it. In Sweden, the solidarity strikes against Tesla – who refuses to recognize its maintenance workers' union – have spread to nine unions.

Tesla can't get its cars offloaded at the ports. It can't get its showrooms cleaned. No one will deliver its mail. No one will fix its chargers. The strike is spreading to Germany, and workers at its giant Berlin factory is set to walk out:

https://www.metafilter.com/201514/Swedish-Tesla-workers-go-on-strike

There's something delicious about how palpably frustrated Elon Musk is by all this, as he realizes that neither his billions nor his bully pulpit are a match for workers in solidarity:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-23/elon-musk-calls-swedish-tesla-strikes-insane-as-impact-spreads

It's a reminder of just how fragile and weak billionaires are, when we stop believing in them and deferring to them. Rebecca Solnit's latest Guardian column adds up the ways that allowing billionaires to run the show puts us all in danger:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/20/billionaires-great-carbon-divide-planet-climate-crisis

They are the unelected "autocrats of trade" who control "the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life." They are the force that this new ecology movement is coalescing to fight: across borders, across sectors, across identities. No matter whether you are a worker, a tenant, a voter, a shopper or a citizen, your enemy is the billionaire class.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/24/coalescence/#solidarnosc