I think the idea is that, if you have the original link then you would also be able to find the shorter link by simply clicking share on the page and use short product link generated by Amazon.
In practice, it is unlikely for anyone to share an Amazon link without having navigated to the page at least once. Given most sites have this option, it might seem silly to some that one suggests manually shortening the URL in the address bar instead of just clicking share.
I was in Shenzhen a few weeks ago. It's indeed a wonderful city.
Originally the massive manufacturing industry was accelerated by the large amount of people from rural areas flocking into the city due to reform and opportunities. The increase in population resulted in a large unskilled workforce and thus very cheap manual labour and large factory assembly lines.
It's a lot better now given a much more competitive market. Salaries are higher and quality of living is better than the rest of the country. A lot of people became very rich in Shenzhen within the last decade.
Are they considered independent contractors or do you pay them through a Chinese subsidiary? I'm looking into issue currently and all the bureaucracy (on both sides) is driving me mad.
Arguably the easiest thing to do from the China side is to pay people with a normal international payment via SWIFT in USD. Benefits for them include: they get to store their cash in USD, they can convert USD to CNY or whatever else at leisure, they can always exfiltrate funds.
Another option is to open an international account link with HSBC so that you can ping money from the US to China quickly, then pay out locally. However foreign banks including HSBC have strict rules on what they are allowed to do in country so you may need to do a bit more shuffling to make this route happen.
Recommended domestic bank (Shenzhen based) is China Merchant's Bank.
LA is basically the same price for rent as third tier Chinese cities. (Source: I lived LA 2010, China before and after) However, you don't need a car in China, other aspects of cost of living such as food, utilities, transport and appliances are a lot cheaper, and the government doesn't really try to tax you (and certainly not on foreign earnings). Plus, you get to learn a new language. Flip side, no LACMA and it's a bitch to get decent avocados or orange juice, and a lot of alcohol is cheaper in LA.
Median or average cost of living doesn't necessarily translate across the entire population. Technology employee salaries skew towards the higher compensation edge of the distribution. If you assume that the income inequality in China is higher than that of LA, it stands to reason that cost of living / typical compensation for a technology employee salaries would be roughly the same.
It highlight the difficulty of comparison, that this tool assumes a western diet. I'm talking about milk, cheese as part of the cost of living. Nearly all chesse is imported and milk is rare. Also boneless skinless chicken breasts?
Not sure the solve for this, just found it interesting.
It's possible that they are so wealthy that their income from other sources far outswamps whatever rent they would accrue from the properties, so it's not worth the inconvenience of renting them out. Remember, many of these properties are purchased outright (no loan) and held as long term investments.
Because they also flip these properties on regular basis (anywhere from 3 to 24 months) and it's significantly harder to do that with people living in.
I'm sure if uber went unintentially viral the day it was launched it wouldn't have been able to deliver either. They're similar in concept and uniquenes, not how they were born. That's just a small bump in the road in the long run.
Yes, if Uber had said they were ready to go in dozens of cities and took people's orders for cars and charged their credit cards but the cars never showed up and they had no manned number to call or email address to deal with that problem and they hadn't coded an app that tracked cars and they had no backend software to handle orders and registration they would have maybe had a different business outcome.
In practice, it is unlikely for anyone to share an Amazon link without having navigated to the page at least once. Given most sites have this option, it might seem silly to some that one suggests manually shortening the URL in the address bar instead of just clicking share.