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Shopping Sucks Now

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Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#121

Post by mark-r »

ghaff wrote: post #108
smacktoward wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the key to the article can be found in this passage: > [T]he problem is that now, somewhat suddenly, perfect knowledge of the perfect glove, for you specifically, exists, if you simply do enough research. When you're shopping in a physical store, you have no expectation that you're going to find the absolute, one-and-only perfect glove (or whatever) in the world for you. Even in the largest stores, you unders…

It's one reason I like sites like Wirecutter and related. It doesn't necessarily work for categories where I have very specific opinions about what I like and don't like. But if I want a trowel, a USB hub, or whatever utilitarian object, I'll probably just order one of their recommendations and be done with it--and it will probably be just fine.

One of the reasons I have a membership to CostCo is that I've come to trust their product choices. If they only carry one variation of a product, it's almost certainly perfectly adequate and probably better than I could have selected on my own.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#122

Post by dsego »

chrisweekly wrote: post #69
smacktoward wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the key to the article can be found in this passage: > [T]he problem is that now, somewhat suddenly, perfect knowledge of the perfect glove, for you specifically, exists, if you simply do enough research. When you're shopping in a physical store, you have no expectation that you're going to find the absolute, one-and-only perfect glove (or whatever) in the world for you. Even in the largest stores, you unders…

Yes, this. In general, more choices don't make you happier -- in fact they usually have the opposite effect.

I think this is called the paradox of choice. There are TED talks and books about it.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#123

Post by mark-r »

thiagomgd wrote: post #84
papreclip wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brick and mortar shops can't stop you from coming in and finding the perfect item, then buying it online to save money. I bought an office chair recently and didn't feel confident picking one without trying chairs out in person. The chair I settled on was $100 cheaper online

It is especially weird when it's cheaper online on the SAME store. That happened with me in brazil.

What's worse is when the store won't honor their own online price. That happened to me in the US, I think it was Walmart.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#124

Post by riversflow »

egypturnash wrote: post #12

When I was living in the PNW and realized I direly needed gloves, I just hit up a few of the department stores downtown until I found some that met my criteria. Which are probably similar to those of this author, I wanted some that looked cute, had a conductive patch on the finger so I could use my phone without taking them off, would fit on my long hands with long fingernails, and weren’t super expensive gloves desi…

Ironically, having size 12 hands, I’ve looked for years for winter gloves that fit in person, and only very recently was able to find gloves that actually fit. Meanwhile I can order work gloves in size 12 from Amazon all day long. So kinda the opposite experience.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#125

Post by Consultant32452 »

loblollyboy wrote: post #90
bartread wrote: post #67

Sorry, but I just can't get on board with this point of view. Shopping has always sucked. Badly. Going to the shops has to be one of the single most annoying and unpleasant day to day experiences I deal with[1]. If you live anywhere even remotely populous when you visit the shops there are people milling around just ####ing everywhere. Dithering, dawdling, standing around chatting at every choke point in the aisles,…

Sounds like you just hate people

I think it's more that some people want to purchase while others want to shop. Purchasing is a functional task while shopping is a social activity. Places like department stores are designed for shoppers.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#126

Post by JohnFen »

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #68
JohnFen wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your comment makes really excellent points. This line: > The infinite variety of online shopping tells us to set our expectations higher than that. made me think a bit -- that used to be true for me, but the effect is trending in the opposite direction now. I have learned that it's very nearly impossible to tell if a product being shown is actually any good or not unless I'm already familiar with that company…

Being overwhelmed with choice is known as analysis paralysis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis https://xkcd.com/1801/

> Being overwhelmed with choice is known as analysis paralysis.

Yes, but my point is that the inability to tell whether or not a product is any good reduces analysis paralysis because it reduces the trustworthiness of the analysis.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#127

Post by strbean »

jkhwleroiu wrote: post #50
umvi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently I only trust reddit for "genuine" reviews. Seems like Amazon reviews these days are gamed to the max. Once companies figure this out and reddit has a high degree of astroturf it will be impossible to find out what normal, unbiased (as in don't have an agenda) humans think about a product.

But reddit is flawed in a different way - it's extremely biased towards the trendy and the fashionable. For example if you search reddit for what computer mouse to buy, you'll be told that unless it weighs less than 70g and has holes, it's utter shit and not worth your money.

Bleh. I see those honeycombed mice and I automatically mentally fill all the holes with finger-crud and dust. No ty.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#128

Post by NeedMoreTea »

smacktoward wrote: post #32
egypturnash wrote: post #12

When I was living in the PNW and realized I direly needed gloves, I just hit up a few of the department stores downtown until I found some that met my criteria. Which are probably similar to those of this author, I wanted some that looked cute, had a conductive patch on the finger so I could use my phone without taking them off, would fit on my long hands with long fingernails, and weren’t super expensive gloves desi…

I think the key to the article can be found in this passage: > [T]he problem is that now, somewhat suddenly, perfect knowledge of the perfect glove, for you specifically, exists, if you simply do enough research. When you're shopping in a physical store, you have no expectation that you're going to find the absolute, one-and-only perfect glove (or whatever) in the world for you. Even in the largest stores, you unders…

There was one other difference. Most physical stores outside the poundshops and end of line discounters really cared about their reputation. It was hard work to supply gloves (or anything) to many of the better department stores as first you would have to prove they were well made, consistent etc. If they were crap you would also hurt the reputation of the store... End result is most of the choices were good enough and which you bought came down to fit, design or materials.

Meanwhile on the internet, and Amazon especially, no one cares about quality any more. 9 out of 10 results are bottom tier unknown brands selling gloves that photograph well. They may be barely 1mm thick, appear to be sewn by someone wearing boxing gloves, and won't last two washes, but look at all that "choice". That's really crap masquerading as choice. Amazon seem to foolishly believe their reputation is immune to the shite on the marketplace and in every Amazon search.

On the internet good enough is increasingly rare. Even a "trusted" brand races to the bottom. For most physical things, clothes and shoes especially, I'm back to the shops and sad that so many of them have closed lately.

It shouldn't be this difficult!

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#129

Post by riversflow »

mikeyouse wrote: post #117
arkitaip wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brandless makes no sense to me. They mostly buy from China and their products are more expensive than they should be (their product descriptions don't offer any arguments why, at least). They claim to be health and environmentally-conscious but there's no relevant information to read on the product pages. Take this random Brandless product: https://brandless.com/products/stainless-steel-wooden-turner Why on Earth wou…

I think they're trying to convey a sense of trust across all of the items they offer through their parent 'Brand' which is a bit ironic given the name. Ideally they only offer eco-friendly items and that relieves the consumers of the burden of making that choice for themselves. As noted on other Acacia products, it's a fast-growing renewable wood. https://brandless.com/products/acacia-wood-cheese-board

I don’t understand how selling items manufactured in a country with the environmental regulatory environment of China can honestly be sold as eco-friendly.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#130

Post by strbean »

cbdumas wrote: post #22

"Shopping" on Amazon.com is not a good strategy IMO. It's always best to find something you want on another, more specialized site (forum, review aggregator, specialized review site, etc.) and then look for the item you want somewhere online. Amazon, walmart, alibaba et al. are more like UI's for a warehouse for me at this point.

My issue with Amazon recently is that their search is so doctored now I literally can't find the product+brand combo I am looking for half the time.

Any sufficiently small brand is drowned out by knockoffs and other crap.

I can't recall a specific example right now, so this is a fictitious one:

- Search "Allen Edmonds belt"

- Results: belts by anyone but Allen Edmonds. "Brand" filter doesn't appear on the left for some reason.

- Search "Allen Edmonds"

- Go to Allen Edmonds seller page.

- Click through a page with every one of their products and find the belts.

WTF.

edit: I remember the last time this happened was with phone cases.

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