Walmart and Rakuten Announce New Strategic Alliance

[Strether]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I don't know if they still make them for the K1 after all this time. I think I got one of those back in 2011. Then they had them everywhere.

I got one about 6 months ago. It came from Hong Kong and works just fine. You really had to search on Amazon to find the product, though.

Jim

[Barty]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I doubt they would consider it a lesson. To them, It will be just another factor they have to consider when making their business decisions. They might consider it inconvenient, but that is about all.

They'll just create a cheap model with replaceable battery and say they've complied

If that doesn't work, they'll go to court.

Then rant about government regulation, bureaucracy, socialism. Then lobby to get rid of the law and write federal laws forbidding states from passing such mandates in the future.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I of course don't run a business. But that sounds stupid and wasteful.

From an author's POV, gift cards showing a book cover make perfect sense.

Think book signings, but the customer wants the ebook, not the dead tree edition. Author signs the specific gift card. Fan gets the book, and autograph.

Amber

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

From an author's POV, gift cards showing a book cover make perfect sense.

Think book signings, but the customer wants the ebook, not the dead tree edition. Author signs the specific gift card. Fan gets the book, and autograph.

Amber

For something like that, sure. But there's a difference between that and a department stocked with hundreds of those things at every one of Walmart's 5,000 stores.

In the end it's just a difference of opinions. I just think it is stupid and wasteful and don't see much of an upside. Others do. C'est la vie.

[ZodWallop]

Anybody read anything on the timeline of when these babies might appear in stores?

The best I heard was 'late this year'.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by barryem

But for government to decide on manufacturing policy based on personal preferences there is no way to do that correctly. It's the consumers who get to do that.

Repair shop replaceable means that the batteries can be "easilly" removed, making the electronic waste slightly less of a hazard than it currently is.

The next step might be to tell car makers they can only make red cars. Hmmm! Actually I kinda like that idea.

At one point in time, it was common for city and county authorities to legislate what colour specific types of vehicles could be painted:
* Yellow: taxi cab;
* Black and white chequers: taxi cab;
* Black with white doors: Police car;
* Yellow: School bus;
* Red: Fire engine;
* White: Ambulance;
* Olive Drab: Army vehicles;

Amber

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

Repair shop replaceable means that the batteries can be "easilly" removed, making the electronic waste slightly less of a hazard than it currently is.



At one point in time, it was common for city and county authorities to legislate what colour specific types of vehicles could be painted:
* Yellow: taxi cab;
* Black and white chequers: taxi cab;
* Black with white doors: Police car;
* Yellow: School bus;
* Red: Fire engine;
* White: Ambulance;
* Olive Drab: Army vehicles;

Amber

Henry Ford supposedly said this in 1909, talking about the Model T: “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”.
Actually it wasn't until 1914 that this policy was implanted.
Apache

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

At one point in time, it was common for city and county authorities to legislate what colour specific types of vehicles could be painted:
* Yellow: taxi cab;
* Black and white chequers: taxi cab;
* Black with white doors: Police car;
* Yellow: School bus;
* Red: Fire engine;
* White: Ambulance;
* Olive Drab: Army vehicles;

I'm not sure that's accurate. I drove a taxi while I was in college and before. The city did require each company to pick a color for their taxis and stick with it. But the company got to pick the color.

I suspect red fire engines are just tradition although I don't actually know they aren't law. In any case police cars and fire engines belong to the city and they can paint them those colors if they choose. The same is true for army vehicles. Ambulances are commonly white but not always.

School busses are yellow but they belong to the school districts and I suspect they choose to make them yellow.

So most of what you describe are government owned and the government, their owner, chooses their color. Not really an example of what we're talking about.

Barry

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by barryem

I suspect red fire engines are just tradition although I don't actually know they aren't law.

No they are not law. The city I work in has yellow fire engines, the city I live in has red ones.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

For something like that, sure. But there's a difference between that and a department stocked with hundreds of those things at every one of Walmart's 5,000 stores.

There's another reason for stocking cards with book titles (instead of just selling gift cards) -- it takes up more space and catches folks attention. When I worked for paperback book / magazine distributor (late 70s, early 80s), a large percent of magazines and books came back an we ripped the covers off them (to send these covers in for credit), and threw away the magazines or books. (By the time I left we were selling this paper to a company that ground them up, soaked them in fire retardant and used the end product for insulation.) I asked the owner why in the world would they send out so much extra (some titles there was probably 40% or 50% in returns)? He told me they did it so they would have more shelf space. If people don't see them, they're not going to buy them. I'm guessing that's a big reason why Walmart/Kobo will be carrying cards with book titles on them.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

There's another reason for stocking cards with book titles (instead of just selling gift cards) -- it takes up more space and catches folks attention... I'm guessing that's a big reason why Walmart/Kobo will be carrying cards with book titles on them.

Only time will tell. At this point, I just want the readers to show up in the stores.

My guess is they will have a Walmart affiliate so the sleep screen will show a Walmart logo, just like my Kobo originally showed an FNAC logo. But that's just me playing Carnac the Magnificent.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by barryem

I suspect red fire engines are just tradition although I don't actually know they aren't law.

In one city near me, the colour for fire engines and hydrants was green but they are switching to red. Evidently, a red fire engine costs less than a green fire engine.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

Repair shop replaceable means that the batteries can be "easilly" removed, making the electronic waste slightly less of a hazard than it currently is.



At one point in time, it was common for city and county authorities to legislate what colour specific types of vehicles could be painted:
* Yellow: taxi cab;
* Black and white chequers: taxi cab;
* Black with white doors: Police car;
* Yellow: School bus;
* Red: Fire engine;
* White: Ambulance;
* Olive Drab: Army vehicles;

Amber

Have you ever tried to find YOUR metallic gray SUV in a Walmart parking lot? No, you want the color that was out of fashion on the least popular SUV sold that year!

[filmo]

Originally Posted by kcladyz

It will be dreadful if they made it in the awful blue color of walmart LOL

Pink is worse

[Rbneader]

Originally Posted by filmo

Pink is worse

You people are all so boring. I want interesting colored electronics, dang it!