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Amazon Dash Button

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Re: Amazon Dash Button

#451

Post by btilly »

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 do something similar except that I use an app (AnyList) rather than keeping a mental list. Better yet the app is shared with my fiance. Whichever of us is next in the store (usually me) can be sure to get everything.

Another good use case is that I can head to the store as soon as I realize we're out of something, and by the time I get there, the list has everything else that she thought of.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#452

Post by Draiken »

jader201 wrote: post #239

A lot of negativity posted on this by a lot of people, including myself, just to be negative. But here's why I (and I bet many others) really dislike this: it tightly couples purchasing everyday things to Amazon. What would be better? I would have rather seen a third party come out with these little buttons, with an open API such that they could be connected to things like: - Todo/grocery list apps that adds the item…

I think this is just utopian thinking...

Of course that would be amazing if it had any chance of ever existing, but it's just not possible in the society today.

Companies with money will build stuff and lock you in, and companies trying to unify everything either don't have the money or don't get the big players in, because they're not interested in shared markets, they much prefer monopoly.

The same thing happens in messaging, music, OSes, video content, etc.

It's the unfortunate truth of current times.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#453

Post by bratsche »

com2kid wrote: post #426
mikeash wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?…

> How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks? If this button saves you ten seconds each time, that's a total of 4.3 minutes per year saved. And that assumes you buy the stuff one at a time instead of getting a bunch at once. Eh about once every 2 months. It's taken me 2 weeks so far to remember to get it. I go to the store almost daily. :(

That seems like a pretty solvable behavioral problem. I hesitate to recommend using some todo application since todo apps have turned into kind of a joke in the last few years, but.. maybe try using a todo app?

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#454

Post by [deleted] »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #431
mikeash wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ho…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#455

Post by hypertexthero »

Harper's Magazine, September 1996:

> From an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the November 1995 issue of Inc. Technology. Vonnegut was asked to discuss his feelings about living in an increasingly computerized world.

>> I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I'd never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterward I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this woman named Carol out in Woodstock and say, “Are you still doing typing?” Sure she is, and her husband is trying to track bluebirds out there and not having much luck, and so we chitchat back and forth, and I say, “Okay, I'll send you the pages.” Then I go down the steps and my wife calls, “Where are you going?” “Well,” I say, “I'm going to buy an envelope.” And she says, “You're not a poor man. Why don't you buy a thousand envelopes? They'll deliver them, and you can put them in the closet.” And I say, “Hush.” So I go to this newsstand across the street where they sell magazines and lottery tickets and stationery. I have to get in line because there are people buying candy and all that sort of thing, and I talk to them. The woman behind the counter has a jewel between her eyes, and when it's my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately. I get my envelope and seal it up and go to the postal convenience center down the block at the corner of Forty-seventh Street and Second Avenue, where I'm secretly in love with the woman behind the counter. I keep absolutely poker-faced; I never let her know how I feel about her. One time I had my pocket picked in there and got to meet a cop and tell him about it. Anyway, I address the envelope to Carol in Woodstock. I stamp the envelope and mail it in a mailbox in front of the post office, and I go home. And I've had a hell of a good time. I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#456

Post by tedks »

ysekand wrote: post #442

This is clearly an April fools campaign. This approach is simply not the most viable. How many buttons are you going to have in your household? How are you going to protect it from kids etc!

Are you willing to bet it's an April Fools' joke? If you're not willing to bet, you don't really believe in it. I'll wager $200 against your $20 that it's not an April Fool's joke.

Before you give me your money, consider:

* You can have as many buttons as you want. They want you to have as many buttons as you can have. They have hooks and adhesive, which means you can basically have a button physically on every product that needs to be replaced. Your toilet paper holder can have a button. Your shower can have a button for shampoo and conditioner. Your mirror can have five buttons on it. Personally, I would fucking love for my house to be covered with buttons that I can just push to get things sent to me. That's the future I want.

* The button generates a notification on your phone and doesn't respond to subsequent presses, so you can cancel the order on your phone if your kids press the button. But the real solution here is to not have children. The world is overpopulated enough, and with the money you save by not having kids, you can just get more stuff from amazon. Which would you rather have: A new gaming PC, iPad, and iPhone every year, or some brat that won't appreciate you, won't call you more than once a month after you spend the best years of your life trying to raise them into a halfway decent person and failing because their snot-nosed friends ruin them, and keeps asking for money? The choice is obvious.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#457

Post by vidarh »

javadocmd wrote: post #352
fxthea wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The increased switching cost isn't by force, though. Customers are less likely to switch because of convenience -- you're paying for the conveniene which, I think, means that Amazon is providing a service that consumers want.

Naturally. I'm just saying a few months down the road, you forget to care exactly how much that convenience is costing you.

I never care. I don't comparison shop. I always tick the "Prime only" button, even if it costs me extra. It's one of the nice luxuries of earning enough money that prices for consumables generally does not matter.

I don't know what the things I used in the dinner I just prepared costs. I only know roughly how much my weekly grocery bill comes to (it's all delivered - the order is auto-populated by Ocado's algorithms, so if I don't do anything I get a reasonable default set of products based on what I usually buy). And I like it that way.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#458

Post by jglidden »

mikeash wrote: post #441
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ho…

I totally understand delivery for everything. I want it. What I don't understand is button-for-delivery for uncommonly ordered items. You want to order detergent online? Great! Me too! But why do you need a specialized button that only does that? That's the part that makes no sense.

The example they use is detergent because showing someone reaching for toilet paper and realizing she needs a refill isn't such an easy commercial to shoot.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#459

Post by brixon »

mikeash wrote: post #441
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ho…

I totally understand delivery for everything. I want it. What I don't understand is button-for-delivery for uncommonly ordered items. You want to order detergent online? Great! Me too! But why do you need a specialized button that only does that? That's the part that makes no sense.

I just yell over to Alexa (Amazon Echo) to add it to the shopping list.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#460

Post by derpadelt »

mikeash wrote: post #441
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ho…

I totally understand delivery for everything. I want it. What I don't understand is button-for-delivery for uncommonly ordered items. You want to order detergent online? Great! Me too! But why do you need a specialized button that only does that? That's the part that makes no sense.

I'll give you an actual scenario, maybe you can relate: One of your kids is sick and yells for attention. You shuffle in the next load of bedcovers into the washing machine while trying to remember to call the doctor for an appointment. The detergent box is near-empty. If you are like me, it could take days until you get the 20s of uninterrupted time to jot down the detergent to your shopping list. Fast forward 1 week. No detergent. You are out of bed covers. The other kid is sick. Someone hands you an Amazon Dash that orders your standard detergent. You break down and cry, thanking that someone for the act of kindness. OK, the last part is exaggerated.
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