I feel guilty and dirty for buying from Amazon

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover I don't like Amazon because of their success...I don't like them because I don't like Bezos. He didn't bought WashPo because he was interested in providing accurate or unbiased news coverage.

You think it was unbiased before he bought it?

VW

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanbenito1 Wean yourself slowly. Start by ditching Amazon Prime. Then, when Amazon crawls back begging you for $99 to sign up again, take advantage of the free-trial period they’ll offer you. Then, strike a blow against the Evil Empire by canceling at the end of the free period. Repeat.

Hah! They finally caught me.

I really never saw Prime as a good deal for me, I don't care about the movies, and I rarely need anything faster than normal shipping, and if I did, I could pay for the shipping a couple times a year and be ahead (I understand some benefit from the fast shipping, movies, etc). And it really grates me that not everything falls into the Prime category, so you may still end up paying for shipping.

But around Christmas time, if I got a free offer for Prime, I'd take it, in case we had a last minute need to fill. And I'd cancel (they make it easy, and you can do it anytime and they still keep it active for the full 30 days).

Then the most recent time, DW starts watching some of the videos, and gets hooked on a series or two. I said, we have Netflix, we have Sling - isn't that enough? Nope, she wanted this special show series. OK, I'm not going to deprive her over this small monthly charge, even though it still bugs me a bit.

And what is she watching? Reruns from 1980's sitcoms - Helen Hunt in "Mad About You?", really??!!

Hah, hah, I'm lucky that this is even a "problem" in the overall scheme of things.

-ERD50

[Chuckanut]

[Quote]Sometimes I am compelled to buy from Amazon when my local Kroger affiliate store does not carry what I want. A few months ago I wanted some pistachio pudding. The supermarket near me had many varieties of chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch, but not one box of pistachio pudding. I got it through Amazon at about 2x the price. I suppose I could have wasted 1/2 hour of my time and checked out a few other stores, but is it really a good use of time, money and resources? [quote/]

A few minutes after writing that I headed out on my weekly trip to the local Fred Meyer (Kroger) supermarket. I decided to check out the pudding section which I have not done since their remodel many many months ago. I discovered another reason not to automatically go to Amazon - Fred Meyer now has pistachio pudding - regular and sugar free and still at half the price of Amazon. Maybe Kroger has learned something about keeping customers.

I bought two boxes.

[Mr._Graybeard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Amazon is no longer among the lowest priced sellers. It's shtick is now convenience. Clark Howard (the consumer guy) has been pointing this out for about a year, maybe more. I have noticed that myself. A recent purchase was about 7% less on Ebay than Amazon. Late last year, I goofed when I bought my Eufy robot vacuum and paid abut $20 more on Amazon than from Walmart.

Yes, I use eBay more often than Amazon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut ... Sometimes I am compelled to buy from Amazon when my local Kroger affiliate store does not carry what I want. A few months ago I wanted some pistachio pudding. The supermarket near me had many varieties of chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch, but not one box of pistachio pudding. I got it through Amazon at about 2x the price. I suppose I could have wasted 1/2 hour of my time and checked out a few other stores, but is it really a good use of time, money and resources?

Half an hour?

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VanWinkle You think it was unbiased before he bought it? VW

Nope, so I never thought it was worth my money. After Bezos came on board we decided to stop buying their stuff.

That, plus the fact that we try as much as we can to support local businesses. Call it "blow that dough" or call it a form of local charity but I think it's better to pay a little extra and keep someone local in business that it is to save a few pennies. The shop down the street needs my business far more than Amazon does.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Sometimes I am compelled to buy from Amazon when my local Kroger affiliate store does not carry what I want. A few months ago I wanted some pistachio pudding. The supermarket near me had many varieties of chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch, but not one box of pistachio pudding. I got it through Amazon at about 2x the price. I suppose I could have wasted 1/2 hour of my time and checked out a few other stores, but is it really a good use of time, money and resources?

A few minutes after writing that I headed out on my weekly trip to the local Fred Meyer (Kroger) supermarket. I decided to check out the pudding section which I have not done since their remodel many many months ago. I discovered another reason not to automatically go to Amazon - Fred Meyer now has pistachio pudding - regular and sugar free and still at half the price of Amazon. Maybe Kroger has learned something about keeping customers.

I bought two boxes.

[Bamaman]

I just wish Amazon wasn't so easy to order things through. And they have virtually every item I need. But I do minimize my purchases at my age.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover Nope, so I never thought it was worth my money. After Bezos came on board we decided to stop buying their stuff. That, plus the fact that we try as much as we can to support local businesses. Call it "blow that dough" or call it a form of local charity but I think it's better to pay a little extra and keep someone local in business that it is to save a few pennies. The shop down the street needs my business far more than Amazon does.

Pay a little extra and just save a few pennies. I wish it was that simple. What happens if you can't get an item within 50 to 100 miles. What if you go to a local business for something you need today and not only do they charge more money but tell they will order it and have it stock next week. My favorite is auto part or implement dealers who tells me I can have here in 3 days if your want to pay for express shipping. And then it come to their shop instead of directly to your home? To simply say buy local and use Mom and Pop doesn't tell the whole story.

[Ready]

Who still has Mom and Pop stores in their neighborhood? Buying local for me means Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy. Local neighborhood stores closed many years ago.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Who still has Mom and Pop stores in their neighborhood? Buying local for me means Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy. Local neighborhood stores closed many years ago.

My point exactly.....buy local can be a myth.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Who still has Mom and Pop stores in their neighborhood? Buying local for me means Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy. Local neighborhood stores closed many years ago.

Yeah, Walmart had already shut a lot of them down.

[HI Bill]

When I first moved here, there was no Lowes, no Home Depot; just City Mill and a few small Ace Hardware stores. I once went to a small local hardware store to buy a tool. Their tools were rusty (Hawaii climate, slow sales), and they were more expensive by 20-40% than the same tool in the newer chain stores. I felt like they had been ripping off the Hawaii consumer for decades (nearly a century, actually) because there was no competition, and no other local choice.

With size comes buying power and lower prices. Yes, the little guys will eventually go out of business, but supporting them by paying 10, 20, 30, or 40% more doesn't seem worth it to me. I'm used to US trade policy, whereby we take advantage of the world markets to improve our standard of living for less. There are costs to this approach, too. Pick your poison.

[Buckeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by O2Bfree Agreed, I've bought some things direct from company websites lately and it's not so bad. Sometimes I'll do research on Amazon, comparing items and reading reviews, then buy elsewhere. Returning items can be more of a hassle though. Amazon sure makes that easy. Prime memberships add an inhuman pressure to the workers. Do we really need our stuff that fast??

Unless I really need something right away, I select slower shipping to not tax the system (i.e. the workers).

[Out-to-Lunch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover After Bezos came on board we decided to stop buying their stuff.

Cancel culture?

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Out-to-Lunch Cancel culture?

I didn't make the new rules, I'm just playing along with them. Fair is fair.

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Yeah, Walmart had already shut a lot of them down.

Competition shut them down, not some greedy corporation. Free markets
do that a lot, not just in the grocery business.

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover Nope, so I never thought it was worth my money. After Bezos came on board we decided to stop buying their stuff. That, plus the fact that we try as much as we can to support local businesses. Call it "blow that dough" or call it a form of local charity but I think it's better to pay a little extra and keep someone local in business that it is to save a few pennies. The shop down the street needs my business far more than Amazon does.

Sorry, I meant the WashPost.

VW

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan Pay a little extra and just save a few pennies. I wish it was that simple. What happens if you can't get an item within 50 to 100 miles. What if you go to a local business for something you need today and not only do they charge more money but tell they will order it and have it stock next week. My favorite is auto part or implement dealers who tells me I can have here in 3 days if your want to pay for express shipping. And then it come to their shop instead of directly to your home? To simply say buy local and use Mom and Pop doesn't tell the whole story.

Of course we can't buy everything locally. But we try to and if we do find local products then we support them. It's hard sometimes but worth the effort.

For example, I could have bought an air filter for my car for $15 from Amazon (made in China) or bought it at a local auto parts store (made in the US) for $22. I bought it locally. And, yes I know the Amazon driver lives in my city too but I believe that a brick and mortar building contributes more to the local economy.

Another example, GF buys most of our meat from an independent small butcher that sources local product.

[Ready]

Local brick and mortar stores just don’t make sense any more for many products. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Our workforce has to adapt to the changing needs of the country. As technology evolves, new ways of doing things will replace older methods. This has been going on since the beginning of civilization. There is nothing new here. And there is nothing wrong with it.

[Mr._Graybeard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Local brick and mortar stores just don’t make sense any more for many products. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Our workforce has to adapt to the changing needs of the country. As technology evolves, new ways of doing things will replace older methods. This has been going on since the beginning of civilization. There is nothing new here. And there is nothing wrong with it.

Basically, Amazon has revived a model that made Sears, Roebuck the World's Largest Store early in the 20th century. Funny how things come around.