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Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

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Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#191

Post by coldtea »

BillyMaize wrote: post #38
codegeek wrote: post #17

I am amazed at how amazon remains doing business with so low margins or no profits. We love amazon at my house and being Prime members, we are almost ordering everything under the sun from Amazon that we possibly can. Here is why we love it: - The reviews are actually useful. I just bought a 70 inch TV through amazon and the critical and helpful reviews really helped me get going with settings on the TV that would ha…

Same here. My girlfriend and I both buy basically all non food items from Amazon because we live in a small town and we are a 20 minute interstate drive away from any stores other than krogers. This has saved us a ton of money on gas and lots of time that easily makes up for the prime cost each year. The one time I have had to return a package was very easy as well. I can't imagine ever going back to spending gas mon…

>we are a 20 minute interstate drive away from any stores other than krogers

A "20 minute interstate drive" is supposed to be a lot?

People commute for longer everyday just to get to work, and you're talking about shopping...

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#192

Post by voltagex_ »

Nick_C wrote: post #189
voltagex_ wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other trick I've used is shipping forwarders. priceusa.com.au places the order for you and is closer to a personal shopper service (at a premium) shipitto.com seems to be a mail redirector but has silly postal costs. myus.com is similar to shipitto.com

Just to note it's priceusa.com.au .

Fixed, thanks

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#193

Post by cmccabe »

icebraining wrote: post #161
mynewwork wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better tip - 99% of America would without hesitation agree with a statement like "The Democrat party is the main left-wing party in America". (Similar with 'right' and 'Republican'). Would the terms "left" and "right" have the same meaning in all parts of the world at all points in history? Of course not. But when people make a statement without context, you can assume they mean the terms as the majority of their con…

I'm not in America, I'm on Hacker News, which despite being composed mostly of Americans, is its own community with its own context. I don't see why we should accept the American's ignorant definition of Left any more than we accept their definition of 'hacking'.

Hacker News, if anything, is probably to the right of most Americans, due to the number of libertarians and entrepreneurs.

Also, referring to "the Left" as if it were a single thing qualifies you as the "ignorant" one. Even back when the USSR existed, there were differences of opinion. You can look up Marshall Tito and the differences of opinion between Mao and Stalin if you're curious.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#194

Post by cmccabe »

001sky wrote: post #172
MichaelGG wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your logic, but calling it " paid for by investors" is not accurate. Maybe "not run with aggressive short-term behaviour like some shareholders would like".

This is a semantic distinction, between cost and opportunity cost. And the sentence is really just your imagination. The market is driven by quite sophisticated investors these days. You have to remember that hedge funds (as one example) are not mutual funds. They are in all kinds of illiquid complex stuff. There is plenty of depth for strategy that makes sense, and has longer term payouts. Again, the issue is more t…

News flash: most technology companies don't really pay dividends. Probably, the main reason is because dividends are taxed at a pretty high rate. It's easier just to keep the money overseas in some tax shelter or other (Apple, Google), or plow it back into the company as investment (Amazon). Microsoft is one of the few tech companies that pays dividends.

Spending money on dividends looks like a poor choice. If your share price is sagging, you can always buy back your own shares with part of your cash hoard, like Microsoft did recently. Investors are always willing to believe that your investment will make the stock more valuable because TECHNOLOGY. And if they aren't, who is to guarantee that the stock will have any value at all next year? Cough-- Nortel Networks-- cough.

Notice how many tech stocks are in here? http://www.forbes.com/sites/dividend/2011/01/24/10-stocks-th...

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#195

Post by milesskorpen »

jaymon wrote: post #182
MichaelGG wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent to my comment stated it was a "charity" funded by investors. I've no idea if AMZN is a good stock investment. I'd just be surprised to find out that investors buying shares from the company have kept it afloat. People buying shares on the market doesn't give any money to Amazon and is rather meaningless in this context.

I'm pretty sure milesskorpen was just referencing this post by Matthew Yglesias: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/29/amazon_q4_pro... The quote, while probably not wholly accurate, is funny. I think milesskorpen was going for funny, so don't take it too literally.

Indeed: "That's because Amazon, as best I can tell, is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers. The shareholders put up the equity, and instead of owning a claim on a steady stream of fat profits, they get a claim on a mighty engine of consumer surplus. "

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#196

Post by WalterBright »

a3n wrote: post #185
WalterBright wrote: post #175

Not only is Amazon price competitive, saving the 2 hours going to the store and back is a huge deal. Amazon has eliminated about 90% of my non-food shopping.

For me, I wonder if that saved 90% of non-food shopping would actually be an increase in overall shopping. "Sure, I spend $90 out of $100/mo shopping at Amazon, but before I joined Prime I only spent $40 total." It's the same reason why I don't belong to Costco, it's just an encouragement to buy things that I normally couldn't be bothered to get up off my ass for.

I don't shop at Costco because the long checkout lines kill any price advantage.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#197

Post by klipt »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #96

Sales taxes are going to bite into their business. My state (Massachusetts) has forced them to charge sales tax starting some time later this year, and that's bound to affect sales. Tax-free New Hampshire is 45 minutes away from Boston, and I suspect that once the sales tax kicks in, all those malls and outlets up north are going to see an uptick in business. In fact, probably that's why they're squeezing the shippin…

Shouldn't you technically be paying a use tax if you buy stuff in NH but use it in Boston? I thought that was also the logic behind requiring online stores to charge tax.

http://www.mass.gov/dor/individuals/taxpayer-help-and-resour...

> Example: You purchase furniture for your Massachusetts business or residence from an out-of-state firm and pay no Massachusetts sales tax. You are required to pay the 6.25 percent Massachusetts use tax. The use tax applies because the furniture was not subject to a sales tax in the other state and because it is for use in the Commonwealth.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#198

Post by icebraining »

cmccabe wrote: post #193
icebraining wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in America, I'm on Hacker News, which despite being composed mostly of Americans, is its own community with its own context. I don't see why we should accept the American's ignorant definition of Left any more than we accept their definition of 'hacking'.

Hacker News, if anything, is probably to the right of most Americans, due to the number of libertarians and entrepreneurs. Also, referring to "the Left" as if it were a single thing qualifies you as the "ignorant" one. Even back when the USSR existed, there were differences of opinion. You can look up Marshall Tito and the differences of opinion between Mao and Stalin if you're curious.

I'm not referring to the Left as if it were a single thing, on the contrary. It's exactly because it combines hundreds of different schools of thought that saying that the "sufficiently left" support the state is ignorant. But they're still all part of the Left.

Where I live, we have a Communist Party (Stalinist) and a Left Bloc party (merger of Trotskyist and Marxist factions) both in Parliament. They still call themselves part of the Left, even though they effectively refuse to do any kind of coalition.

This is not to mention the smaller parties and movements, such as the Reorganizing Movement of the Proletarian Party (MRPP) and, of course, the various Anarchist groups.

Hacker News, if anything, is probably to the right of most Americans, due to the number of libertarians and entrepreneurs.

Just one more reason for them to be aware of ignorant labeling. Or do Libertarians enjoy being considered fascists?

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#199

Post by icebraining »

ImprovedSilence wrote: post #170
icebraining wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in America, I'm on Hacker News, which despite being composed mostly of Americans, is its own community with its own context. I don't see why we should accept the American's ignorant definition of Left any more than we accept their definition of 'hacking'.

Left and right are relative to where you are standing. I wouldn't call America's definition of left ignorant, as it is clearly left of center for America.

I disagree with the idea that wherever the majority lies it's automatically the center.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#200

Post by BillyMaize »

coldtea wrote: post #191
BillyMaize wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. My girlfriend and I both buy basically all non food items from Amazon because we live in a small town and we are a 20 minute interstate drive away from any stores other than krogers. This has saved us a ton of money on gas and lots of time that easily makes up for the prime cost each year. The one time I have had to return a package was very easy as well. I can't imagine ever going back to spending gas mon…

> we are a 20 minute interstate drive away from any stores other than krogers A "20 minute interstate drive" is supposed to be a lot? People commute for longer everyday just to get to work, and you're talking about shopping...

And I feel sorry for those people as I made sure to live within a 7 minute drive of work. I save thousands of dollars every year this way, as well as don't get nearly as much stress and have a lot more free time.
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