Like a Tonne of Bricks

For some time now, these missives have questioned, nay derided, the enthusiasm for the likes Amazon and the simple arithmetic of transferring a widget from them to you. The company seldom makes any money, and today's report bears that out again. In pre-market trading the share is down a tad over $35.

In one of the many pundits' musings is this:

"In today's world of e-commerce, two-day free shipping is table stakes," said Marc Lore, Wal-Mart's e-commerce head. "It no longer makes sense to charge for it."

Wal-Mart has gotten into the Sears Catalog business, too. Not to mention chewy.com, repeating the folly of pets.com back during the DotBomb. What was it that Santayana said? All of them are attempting to falsify that which cannot be done: it costs an order of magnitude more to ship by the each by air than by the tonne by rail. (Actually, as of 2014 far more than that.) And, as the 1% will continue to suck up income under Kim Jong-Don from the rest, the addressable market of the lazy and decadent, who care not for efficiency, will shrink. Woe betide them all.