Amazon Dash Button • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#591

Post by nknighthb » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:16 PM UTC

na85 wrote: post #577

raldi wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But you're still left with bruised apples. Had you gone to the market you would not have bruised apples.

I value my time more than I value not experiencing the pathetically infinitesimal trauma of the occasional bruised apple (something I experienced not once in the 6 years I lived in Santa Clara and had 100% of my groceries delivered).

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#592

Post by jsweojtj » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:19 PM UTC

VLM wrote: post #341

gravity13 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. This is truly great design thinking. But wait, how do you handle nudists?

I'm trying to make a haiku something like this: Out of clean clothes today, Also laundry detergent, Imagine surprise face on UPS man when I open door.

Out of clothes today,

out of detergent, as well.

Hi UPS man.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#593

Post by jorgearturo » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:23 PM UTC

javadocmd wrote: post #307

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.

> This button isn't about saving time ... it's about creating a barrier to exit so that your customers won't comparison shop for different brands of detergent.

Some people seem to be missing the point and I don't blame you because brands are given a lot of protagonism in their announcement. But I think the presence of renowned/popular brands in their announcement is just marketing collateral as part of a bit more complex marketing strategy that involved partnerships, and that might be confusing for anyone if deeper thought is not involved.

IMHO the essence of this product is neither about enforcing brand loyalty nor saving time.

1- Brand loyalty benefits well established brands, yes, so amazon probably got big companies on board by offering brand placement on their marketing material among other benefits.

2- Saving time (and cognitive flow/energy) benefits consumers, yes. There is some risk to follow brand reputation instead of product quality, agree, but that is a manageable risk, so amazon can potentially get consumers on board.

The essence and reason of why this product/service came to be, answers to one question only; 'How does amazon benefit?' and it is brilliant.

From my POV this little button is not just a way to introduce an enhanced experience to an existing and growing consumer behavior[1] that would result in greater sales for amazon; more than a product they introduced a service/platform[2] that can be seamlessly integrated to new home appliances, so amazon is effectively expanding its presence into a diverse and conveniently positioned custom/customizable 'points of sale' inside people's homes, making itself more and more ubiquitous as time goes by and more companies and individual innovators adopt their new service/platform, and their investment to accomplish this was little compared to the alternative of investing in manufacturing their own home appliances, but that's not brilliant, that's only natural and expected from a company like amazon.

It also places amazon's brand on not all but many people's minds as a high-tech high-quality home appliances brand by association to the actual home appliances brands, and amazon is not really manufacturing that kind of hardware (...yet), that's the brilliant part (an opportunity that they may or may never exploit, either because non-compete agreements or because it wouldn't make sense for their business plans or because Jeff Bezos decides not to because reasons, an opportunity nonetheless).

[1]: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-future-of-food-delivery-1/... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-replenishment-service

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#594

Post by DJEchoes » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:29 PM UTC

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #585

hypertexthero wrote: post #455

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…

In reality, this man of privilege bounds into the store on a cloud of positivity, only to be met by the sullen face behind the counter, 12 hours into a double shift on a day that she wasn't even supposed to be here. At the Postal Convenience Center, the object of his affection barely registers his presence because she is fears going home to her abusive boyfriend who is probably halfway in the bag already. When the le…

"The whimsy of Vonnegut betrays the truth that too many of us suffer from too little time in the day to create genuine, shareable moments with one another." - Is this an absolute truth? Maybe the point is that we should work towards having more of this whimsical time, instead of submitting to the unnatural bustle of modern life and pressing buttons for more fucking laundry detergent.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#595

Post by nknighthb » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:30 PM UTC

jkaunisv1 wrote: post #365

skorgu wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10 seconds is the marginal cost /if you're going to the store/. It's entirely possible to make zero regular trips to the store under normal conditions. I'd use the heck out of a "cause more cat litter to arrive in a day or so" button, in fact I have a bookmark on my laptop for just this use. Mobile apps are (imo) universally horrible for this kind of directed action.

How do you get your food and other things? I'm genuinely interested. I've lived for periods where I ate out every meal but I still ended up in a store now and then.

Safeway or another chain probably delivers if you're in a major metro. Some smaller cities have local stores with online ordering, too. And, of course, with some more trouble, you can get groceries delivered in just about any populated area if you have access to a phone.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#596

Post by evanlivingston » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:30 PM UTC

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #585

hypertexthero wrote: post #455

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…

In reality, this man of privilege bounds into the store on a cloud of positivity, only to be met by the sullen face behind the counter, 12 hours into a double shift on a day that she wasn't even supposed to be here. At the Postal Convenience Center, the object of his affection barely registers his presence because she is fears going home to her abusive boyfriend who is probably halfway in the bag already. When the le…

Why don't we have more free time?

It is precisely the post-industrialized culture of consumption, and economy of progress that is robbing individuals of our free time.

When did laundry and cooking and doing work at home cease to be a social function and instead move into the sphere of "work"?

http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#597

Post by alttab » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:31 PM UTC

tedks wrote: post #557

mmustapic wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did I miss some huge event when going out to buy an enveloped is being in a privileged position?

Having copious free time has always been a privileged position. The extent to which you can waste time is a direct expressino of privilege.

Or welfare. Don't forget about welfare.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#598

Post by reinhardt » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:32 PM UTC

na85 wrote: post #579

dingaling wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If so, what happens when, say, your apples come bruised? Me: these apples are bruised Tesco man: sorry sir, let me refund that straight away. And keep the apples, you could make a pie with them. Though in five years of online grocery shopping I've only returned a couple of items. The apples have made it all the way unbruised from New Zealand after all, four more miles is nothing.

So in other words, if your apples show up bruised, you're still stuck with bruised apples? And then you have to wait for the new unbruised ones to arrive? That sounds like a much worse experience than simply going to the market and picking out unbruised apples.

Do you really think that getting a few bruised apples once or twice a year, if that, and keeping them for free when this happens until the replacement comes, is so unacceptable that you need to be going to the grocery store each and every time to handpick and carry carefully your apples back home?

Or are you just being hyperbolic?

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#599

Post by pjc50 » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:35 PM UTC

scott_s wrote: post #265

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?…

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.

Never mind the time saving, what's the real time cost? How long does the battery last? How do you know when it fails? How exploitable is it? How do I do security updates?

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#600

Post by kenjackson » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:41 PM UTC

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #311

mathattack wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's why people do it... If you have something you like, it's frequently easier not to have to rethink the purchase decision every time. We have finite attention spans. We can spend it on price shopping staples, or programming, or being with our families. For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision. They'd rather invest the ti…

There are people (perhaps not the denizens of HN who make high 5/low 6 figure salaries) who are very sensitive to price. This really screws them.

How does it screw them? Is the gov't requiring people to use it?

As far as I can tell you can decide if you think the price/convenience tradeoff works for you.

As it stands right now, when I go to get replacement razor blades from Amazon, I don't price compare anyways. I know what the ballpark price is, and if its in that ballpark I order. I could spend 2 hours on SlickDeals and other various sites finding the best price, and doing auctions on EBay, but I decided that saving a buck or two isn't worth it (especially since half the time I'd end up saving no money).