Don't drink and Prime

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tailgate Here's our order count 2013- 3 orders 2014- 16 2015- 18 2016- 70 (hello Prime) 2017- 81 so far Also took out Amazon credit card this year to save an additional 5% on everything. Easy peasy... love their service, but it's a little scary that they may rule the world. Do you have a similar history with them?

Yes! Here is my Amazon history since retirement:

2010 - 4
2011 - 17
2012 - 31
2013 - 46
2014 - 53
2015 - 43
2016 - 38
2017 - 35 (so far)

My perception has been that I am an extreme "Amazon junkie" and do a lot of recreational shopping there. I can tell that here on the ER Forum, I am among the pros when it comes to Amazon shopping.

I utterly adore Amazon Prime shipping, because to me the faster shipping means near instant gratification. Like you I have an Amazon Prime Visa card that gives me 5% back.

I don't buy everything I see there. Often I bookmark things (in my browser) that I might want to buy, wait a couple of weeks, and then either buy them or delete the bookmark.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I don't buy everything I see there. Often I bookmark things (in my browser) that I might want to buy, wait a couple of weeks, and then either buy them or delete the bookmark.

Funny, that is what I use the Wish List for.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh Funny, that is what I use the Wish List for.

I just like to do it "my way" (like Frank Sinatra? ) I also keep subfolders called "Maybe later" (for those things I don't want now but just can't let go of yet), "Kindle books", and "Video games", and so on. That way if I want a video game but can't think of any good ones to get, I can just peek in there and see what I bookmarked. I also bookmark things there from other online stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

[Cobra9777]

I only shop locally for items I need right away... and of course fresh meat, seafood, and vegetables. It's difficult to understand how Amazon can beat the local price AND have it on my doorstep in 2 days. And the inventory is incredible. I was doing a woodworking project recently and needed a very specific size and style of decorative nail. Went to Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace. They all had the style but only in a few popular lengths. After wasting a lot of time and gas, went back home and got what I wanted for less on Amazon. They are quickly becoming my go-to for everything and I have no problem with that so long as the value proposition is so compelling. My "Saved for Later" list grows by the day but I do have some self control.

Here's my order history:

2008 - 4
2009 - 1
2010 - 0
2011 - 2
2012 - 1
2013 - 5
2014 - 14
2015 - 43
2016 - 79
2017 - 79 (YTD)

[Ready]

Is there a way to see the year by year totals all at once or do you have to pull up each year individually?

[GrayHare]

Are these numbers of items ordered per year, or number of orders (shipments)? If the latter that's a lot of grinning boxes being carried to some places by the UPS/USPS/other person.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare Are these numbers of items ordered per year, or number of orders (shipments)? If the latter that's a lot of grinning boxes being carried to some places by the UPS/USPS/other person.

Yeah, and a lot of trees killed. Sure, they're made at least partly from recycled paper and some will again be recycled but that's still a LOT of boxes. I've also found that they typically send things in a box way too big- they probably minimize shipping costs by agreeing to use only a few standard box sizes that stack well, so you get the box within a much bigger box. More waste.

[Ready]

All I can say is for those of us who live in Southern California (or any area with heavy traffic congestion), Amazon has greatly contributed to my quality of life. Driving to brick and mortar stores in heavy traffic is just plain unpleasant, and the last thing I want to do with my new earned retirement freedom. Being able to buy almost anything from Amazon and have it show up in a day or two (or sometimes even same day) is worth every penny. Funny thing is, it almost always cost less than buying at the local stores anyway, but I'd likely pay more to avoid dealing with traffic around here.

[Ronstar]

I thought I had an Amazon problem until I read the posts in this thread.
I’ve only placed 33, 24, 19, and 2 orders in the past 4 years.

[Katsmeow]

I posted my numbers earlier but I love Amazon. I don't always buy there. I do check prices but usually Amazon is cheaper than most places. I honestly just don't see any reason to patronize a local store if Amazon is cheaper and way more convenient. Yes, maybe that store will go broke and have to close. But, so be it.

We buy a lot of things now that we used to buy in the store. For example, dog food (very large bag) and cat litter (very large container) are so much more pleasant to have delivered to the house. Cheaper in most cases, but the big thing is the convenience.

Where I am, FWIW, most of our Amazon deliveries are delivered by the USPS. That always seems so strange to me particularly when it is a Sunday delivery.

Like many I often don't buy immediately. I have several different variations of lists for different things. Also, for Christmas I often put Kindle books or physical items on a shopping list and let my husband pick from there for gifts (he doesn't have to pick from there, it is just a suggestion).

[painterbill]

Back in 2007 I moved to Alaska for a job for 4 years and right before we moved I broke my ankle through a self induced accident. Short version I had always wanted to parachute out of an airplane, wife bought me a certificate for an Instructor Assisted Freefall training/jump from 13,500 ft. Jump went well/landing not so much with broken ankle with 8 screws and 1 plate, miminal pain thoughout with only 3 OTC pain killers after the break and surgery. Anyway after arriving in Fairbanks about 5 weeks after surgery I bought an exercise bike from Amazon, pre-prime for us, expecting delivery in 3-5 weeks to Fairbanks as listed on the site but 2 days after ordering received a phone call delivery would be in about 2 hours. Since then we have had prime and most recently used it extensively for building our retirement house.

[gayl]

Buy local or street vendors ..... gotta support the small guy

[jfn111]

We started in 2014 when DD gave us a prime membership for Christmas
2014-13
2015-24
2016-44
2017-39 (so far)
This was the best $99 bucks DD could have spent because most of the stuff the DW orders is for the Grandkids or Daughter's house.

[RunningBum]

My # of orders is a little inflated since they started offering $1 off digital orders for no rush shipping. I'm under 100 for each year and a little less this year than last. I used to bunch my orders more, either to get above the free shipping minimum or just out of habit of grouping things from sites where I did pay for shipping. Now, I don't hesitate to order a single item. I'm not sure that I've every deliberately ordered one at a time but I don't spend a moment thinking about what else I might need to put in the order, and have put in separate orders two days in a row.


I'm over 30 minutes from just about any kind of store and I can be forgetful about getting everything I need when I go to town, so when there's something I need in the next week I tend to just order it while I'm thinking of it rather than wait for my next trip.

[ncbill]

Wish I had "ordered" a bunch of their stock @ the IPO.

[gauss]

Naw -- I dumped prime about 5 years ago or so when they jacked up the annual price ~25%. I had been meaning to cancel for some time, but the price increase made it easy.

I do most of my online buying on ebay.

-gauss

[brett]

Our orders on Amazon have grown. We are not Prime since it it not worth it to us.

But, our on line shopping has ballooned. It has become our go to. For us it has come down to price, selection, and service. Why shop in a store with less selection, higher prices, and essentially little or no customer service or product knowledge?


DD lives in a small, remote city. Amazon and other on line is all that she knows. It has replaced dept. store catalogue offerings.

The Sears in our country just went bankrupt. All stores are closing. Same story. Crap stores, poor inventory, no service, and an abysmal web site. And people were actually surprised that they went under! That is what we found surprising.