I feel guilty and dirty for buying from Amazon

Ready said:
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.
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Yeah, Walmart had already shut a lot of them down.
 
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.
 
O2Bfree said:
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??
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Unless I really need something right away, I select slower shipping to not tax the system (i.e. the workers).
 
Music Lover said:
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.
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Sorry, I meant the WashPost.

VW
 
ivinsfan said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
Ready said:
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.
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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.
 
Ready said:
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.
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I see two parts to it...brick and mortar and country of origin. Maybe the brick and mortar stores can't be saved but you can still choose to buy product made in your own country.
 
MuirWannabe said:
I can’t resist it. DW sometimes wonders why I’m bringing home yet another rotisserie chicken.
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There are group therapy programs available to help with this Muir. Individual counseling too. You've already taken a big step forward by admitting you are afflicted with this.

Good luck!
 
ivinsfan said:
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.
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Costco is another excellent low cost alternative to Amazon.

But, rumor has it that there are people who live 60, 70, 80 even 100 miles from the nearest Costco. :eek:

There is an force I like to call Economic Man that is built into human beings. Thus we are very good at evaluating the entire situation and picking the best (not to be confused with the right or the perfect) alternative at whatever point in time a decision needs to be made.

Of course, there are people who won't listen to Economic Man. These people are summed up by the definition of a Stupid Person:

A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
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Chuckanut said:
Costco is another excellent low cost alternative to Amazon.

But, rumor has it that there are people who live 60, 70, 80 even 100 miles from a Costco. Horrors!!!! :D
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It's funny I don't see people whining about Costco the way they do about WalMart and Amazon..
 
ivinsfan said:
It's funny I don't see people whining about Costco the way they do about WalMart and Amazon..
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I think in part, because shopping at Costco is probably a lot like if you shopped inside an amazon warehouse. You see the staff, interact with them. They aren't some big unknown that just plops packages on your door (or... wherever). Costco's online/delivery business is well behind AZ/WM, so most people's impression of costco is in-person. Different relationship.

And there's some sort of expectation, real or not, that Costco sources and vets the products they carry - that they've got a little layer of protection. You're not just buying some new widget no one has ever heard of before. And no 3rd party selling.
 
Aerides said:
And there's some sort of expectation, real or not, that Costco sources and vets the products they carry - that they've got a little layer of protection. You're not just buying some new widget no one has ever heard of before. And no 3rd party selling.
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+1

Costco, from what I understand pays better than most retailers. I have gone to the same Costco for years and recognize many of the checkers from way back. Staff loyalty is one sign of a good operation. The other is their no hassle refund policy. And then there is the famous Costco 'Treasure Hunt' and the food samples. The grands can't wait for the samples to come back. Mr. Bezos does not offer any tasty samples. Pooh on him. :)
 
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Aerides said:
I think in part, because shopping at Costco is probably a lot like if you shopped inside an amazon warehouse. You see the staff, interact with them. They aren't some big unknown that just plops packages on your door (or... wherever). Costco's online/delivery business is well behind AZ/WM, so most people's impression of costco is in-person. Different relationship.

And there's some sort of expectation, real or not, that Costco sources and vets the products they carry - that they've got a little layer of protection. You're not just buying some new widget no one has ever heard of before. And no 3rd party selling.
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In addition, Costco has a reputation as a good well-paying employer.
 
VanWinkle said:
Competition shut them down, not some greedy corporation. Free markets
do that a lot, not just in the grocery business.
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That is not in fact what I said.

I simply pointed out that in terms of “shopping local”, whatever localized monopoly advantage was enjoyed by the Mom and Pop small business stores had already been mostly gone before Amazon became a behemoth. They’ve been in turn threatening those national chain “brick and mortar” stores.
 
youbet said:
There are group therapy programs available to help with this Muir. Individual counseling too. You've already taken a big step forward by admitting you are afflicted with this.



Good luck!
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I’m already in a rotisserie chicken 12 step program. I’ve admitted I’m powerless over Costco cheap chicken. I can’t control it.
 
Music Lover said:
I was under the impression that Costco pays their employees better and treats them well.
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My Costco comment was more about the shop local aspect. If people are saying don't use Walmart or Amazon because it doesn't help local business, the same can be said about Costco. I guess as a country at a whole, we don't really know what we want from our retailers.

I can tell you at an old school Mom and Pop, the owners feel fortunate if they make good money and the employees are generally not very well compensated. Not because of greed on the owners part but because the money isn't there.
 
Here is why Amazon is valuable to me. I live in an area that gets a little snow annually, but we are expecting a significant storm this weekend. We have a couple of small dogs that would have an issue trying to get through 15"+ of snow to use the bathroom...so I decided that getting a snow shovel would be a good idea.

Yesterday, I looked at Lowe's and HD online and the local stores had zero inventory. I went to the local Ace Hardware and they laughed me out the door...and yes, the dude at the registered actually laughed at my request. Oh, and they were out of heat lamp bulbs that I needed, too.

So, I came home, jumped on AMZN and guess what? The snow shovel *and* heat lamp bulbs were delivered about 15 minutes ago. Amazon for the win.
 
ivinsfan said:
My Costco comment was more about the shop local aspect. If people are saying don't use Walmart or Amazon because it doesn't help local business, the same can be said about Costco. I guess as a country at a whole, we don't really know what we want from our retailers.

I can tell you at an old school Mom and Pop, the owners feel fortunate if they make good money and the employees are generally not very well compensated. Not because of greed on the owners part but because the money isn't there.
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Yes, somebody already pointed out the fallacy of “shop local” as at most local stores are national chains anyway.

I suppose these national chains do help local employment and tax base by their presence, so there is that. Amazon no longer gets a free ride on sales taxes in most states. But there are other local benefits I suppose from a local physical presence.
 
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Amazon is fast, prices are good, and returns are easy. I don't love the company, but I love their service. They didn't start off big. They grew big through good customer service, among other reasons. A lot of other companies could learn a lot from that aspect of their business model.
 
I thought about this thread as I made my way down to Kohl’s to return an Amazon item. I knew they would give me a 25% off coupon so I figured I would try and buy a pair of sweatpants at the local store just to try and give them some business. So I grab a pair that looks like it might fit and look for the dressing rooms. Well, they are all closed due to COVID.

So the last remaining benefit for me of buying at a local brick and mortar store was the ability to try on clothes before buying it. With the dressing rooms closed there is no remaining benefit for me to having a local store. It’s no wonder why the only people in the store were lined up to return Amazon packages.
 
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