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Amazon Dash Button

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Re: Amazon Dash Button

#431

Post by TaylorAlexander »

mikeash wrote: post #211
kristofferR wrote: post #144

This makes me envious of you Americans. Here in Norway online shopping involves finding an online store that sells what you need (there's no site that sells everything, like Amazon, here), going through a cumbersome sign-up/payment process, paying a lot of money for the shipping costs, waiting several days and having to go to the post office unless the package is really small (or if you're willing to pay even more fo…

I think it's ridiculous just because it clearly involved a lot of effort to solve a problem that doesn't really need solving. The choice isn't between a button and the massive hassle you describe. The choice is between a button and ordering the product on your smartphone in ten seconds, or picking up the product at the grocery store the next time you're there. How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks?…

The product is designed for the future, not for the past. In the past, people were always going to the grocery store, so you could grab what you need "when you're there".

I live in silicon valley where all these new delivery services are being tested, and I almost never go to the store. Google Shopping Express delivers non-perishable groceries to my home within 24 hours, Instacart delivers fresh groceries within 2 hours, and Amazon delivers everything else I need within 2 days. I really want to sign up for Amazon Fresh because they deliver perishables and everything else same day, but it's a little pricey.

I hate going to the store now (especially since our local market isn't very nice - I love a good market). For me it is a big chore. I work from home so I'm rarely even "driving by" the market.

Amazon, google, and others want to enable a world where no one goes to the store (and we all order from them). It's nice not having to go to the store. Your cute calculation of 4.3 minutes saved is making assumptions that totally don't apply to people like me. I don't want to take a 30 minute experience and shave ten seconds off, I want to eliminate the trips to the store entirely.

It's fine if you don't see the need for new products, but just because you don't see the need doesn't mean there isn't one. Not saying this product has a need (I feel like I can use my smartphone) but you've completely missed the big picture of deliveries for everything. In San Francisco you can get a bento box delivered in 15 minutes for $12, and I just got a flyer for dinners delivered starting at $8.

Everyone wants to do deliveries, and once they're done by robot it will be so cheap we'll all have it.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#432

Post by mortenjorck »

moe wrote: post #129
iNate2000 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you'll have to set up your MyWhirlpool account on their website so that you can pair their app on your iPhone with your washing machine so you can search their incomplete list of detergent brands and add your second choice to your MyWhirlpoolBrandSelect Favorites List and then give up when Amazon seems to stop supporting that brand.

The MyWhirlpool website will also require the Silverlight plugin and you'll have to connect your washing machine with an USB cable in order to do anything. Every once in a while the button will just randomly stop working and you'll have to go through the motions again.

Finally, after several months of struggling against the sunk-cost fallacy that forces you to spend more time working with auto-ordering than you would simply manually ordering detergent because this washing machine cost $700 more than the non-connected model, you concede defeat and return to ordering from your phone.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#433

Post by refurb »

robotresearcher wrote: post #419
smoothgrips wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely would not give up amazon for free education, health care, etc... Those socialists implementations come at a very high cost. Yes, our current system is not well, but it's better than the government taking 60% of my earned income.

Don't forget to add your health insurance premiums to your tax rate before comparing. I pay less in Canada than I did in California when you add health care costs. And I and my kids can never lose insurance from a run of bad luck.

Income taxes aren't the only tax. Don't forget sales tax, gas tax, import taxes.

I easily have more disposable income in the US than I did in Canada, even after taking into account insurance costs. Even living in a high-tax US state.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#434

Post by freehunter »

bch wrote: post #235
baddox wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my 20s and I have no dependents or known health problems.

The idea isn't to "get social" only in your personal hour of need, though.

I've known people who used government assistance after losing their job, then just a few years later complain about people using welfare and unemployment income. Some of us Americans can be really weird when it comes to helping out our neighbors.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#435

Post by debaserab2 »

mikeash wrote: post #407
debaserab2 wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not incapable at all, but the point is I have to stop whatever it is I am doing in order to do it. If I'm in the middle of something, I may think to myself "I need to buy more toilet paper soon" but not actually follow through the act of doing it. You've never ran out of a commoditized good before? It's definitely a common thing for me and my fiancee - we're not forgetful people, just busy. The less disruptions a…

I can't say I've run out of anything like this in years, no. Why not order it on your phone at the moment you notice that you're running low? You can do that right now, without a special Amazon button.

Because that may distract from whatever I am doing. If you haven't ran out of any sort of consumable in years, then obviously you don't have that problem. It doesn't sound like this product is for you, but there are plenty of others like myself who would benefit from this.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#436

Post by refurb »

run4yourlives2 wrote: post #240
smoothgrips wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely would not give up amazon for free education, health care, etc... Those socialists implementations come at a very high cost. Yes, our current system is not well, but it's better than the government taking 60% of my earned income.

I think this is actually ignorant of any real experience with those systems. Yes, there's a cost, but tax rates in the US aren't ultra low compared to every other country in the world. It's not so much how much money you spend, but what you spend it on that is the real difference.

The US tax system offers a lot of deductions. When I first moved here I was paying ~12% in total taxes (state + federal) on $60K worth of income once I took advantage of the 401k deduction, mortgage interest deduction, etc,etc.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#437

Post by bpicolo »

gus_massa wrote: post #349
scott_s wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This button isn't about saving time, it's about preventing the instances of not having something when you need it. The moment when you realize you need more of something is typically when you're using it. If you can literally just hit a button to order more, that's a significant change from having to do something else to order more.

My problem is with some items that I buy only twice a month, like bath soap or mayonnaise. I notice that it's about get empty (or it's already empty :() and I put them in my mental to-buy list. If I'm lucky I'll remember them the next time that I go to the supermarket. And probably also the following time and a few more times until I realize that I got a lot of it and I remove the item from the list. So I don't have…

I buy those things like...once every 3 months

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#439

Post by raldi »

na85 wrote: post #383
skorgu wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm at the grocery store approximately zero times a year. For me a "summon cat litter" button would be a marked improvement in my life.

Interesting. Do you order groceries online or something? If so, what happens when, say, your apples come bruised?

You tell them, and they refund you, and they look into their operations and figure out how they let bruised apples slip into a customer's order so the problem can be remedied.
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