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The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

blog.thenewoil.org

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Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#121

Post by Hikikomori »

vector_spaces wrote: post #108
lisper wrote: post #62

I would love to avoid Amazon, and indeed I would love to support local retailers, but more often than not it is simply impossible. The only way I can find out if a local vendor carries an item I'm interested in, and if they have it in stock, is to physically go there. The amount of time that requires is orders of magnitude more than what it takes to order the item on Amazon, where I am all but guaranteed that it will…

> via a partner like doordash I do technical consulting for small food companies This is an immediate non-starter for most local retail businesses because of the steep (25+%) transaction fees Doordash and other consumer last-mile providers charge, and the razor-thin margins of many retail stores To be clear I agree with your proposal overall and suspect this particular challenge is surmountable, but it's very difficu…

Doordash (Wolt) does this in parts of Europe already.

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#122

Post by _DeadFred_ »

recursive wrote: post #32
SoftTalker wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good rule of thumb is that if it goes on or in your body do not buy it from Amazon.

Or if it's electronic. Fire risk.

People buy fuses from Amazon for the cars/motorcycles not understanding it can kill them. They are actually evil at this point for doing nothing about any of these ongoing issues. They can't be unaware if us rando consumers are aware (or if they are doing recalls for fake products).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#123

Post by Hikikomori »

lisper wrote: post #62

I would love to avoid Amazon, and indeed I would love to support local retailers, but more often than not it is simply impossible. The only way I can find out if a local vendor carries an item I'm interested in, and if they have it in stock, is to physically go there. The amount of time that requires is orders of magnitude more than what it takes to order the item on Amazon, where I am all but guaranteed that it will…

Doordash (Wolt) does this in parts of Europe already

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#124

Post by sharkweek »

GuB-42 wrote: post #114
sharkweek wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m about to start grad school to get my clinical mental health counseling licensure, and Amazon has multiple fake/counterfeit DSM-5s (basically the holy grail of recognized mental disorders and their insurance billing codes) on it, so much in fact that my program director mentioned the Amazon problem in the orientation. So I’ll add “if you need to guarantee the accuracy of the information in whatever you’re buying……

What is a "fake DSM-5"? It is a book, anyone can copy it, legally or not. Why would someone go out of their way to produce different content if they are going to violate intellectual property anyways, be it trademarks or copyright?

Sorry, counterfeit is more accurate (edited original comment) - director mentioned a number of previous students who ordered their copy from Amazon and got DSM 4s or copies missing huge sections of diagnostic criteria, etc.

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#126

Post by EasyMark »

pkaye wrote: post #112
fvgvkujdfbllo wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the key. Amazon is very convenient when needing something one off. But we are not going to renew Prime and slowly ween off it. Still looking for alternatives though, Costco is okay, but when you want something asap, you need either to drive to stores or pay for same day delivery and tips.

Home Depot seems to delivering some stuff for free the next day (and occasionally the same day.) And they can always have the product ready for pickup in front. Sometimes its so hard to find stuff in their store. Even some of the delivery charges feel lower than before.

I've always found the location pretty accurate on the home depot site (which works fine on mobile browsers) for items I'm looking for.

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#127

Post by yupitsme123 »

lisper wrote: post #62

I would love to avoid Amazon, and indeed I would love to support local retailers, but more often than not it is simply impossible. The only way I can find out if a local vendor carries an item I'm interested in, and if they have it in stock, is to physically go there. The amount of time that requires is orders of magnitude more than what it takes to order the item on Amazon, where I am all but guaranteed that it will…

I fear it's too late for this. For any category of item, pretty much all the stuff you buy from Amazon or elsewhere online generally comes from the same few factories in China. Any other potential suppliers probably went out of business years ago, are too expensive, or are too small or local to work with.

You could open a brick and mortar store tomorrow but you'd be selling the exact same products that come from the same factories as Amazon.

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#128

Post by EasyMark »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #55
kristianp wrote: post #40

I wish our local postage carrier was more efficient. Amazon provides next day delivery, whilst other online stores dispatch your purchase within 2-3 days and the package arrives is a further 2-5 days.

How much of your spending requires instant gratification?

Quite a bit, I usually try not to buy anything other than groceries, but when I need something I usually really need it because something has either broken or a sudden need has arisen. That said I do try to get it locally first.

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#129

Post by elcritch »

Hikikomori wrote: post #121
vector_spaces wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> via a partner like doordash I do technical consulting for small food companies This is an immediate non-starter for most local retail businesses because of the steep (25+%) transaction fees Doordash and other consumer last-mile providers charge, and the razor-thin margins of many retail stores To be clear I agree with your proposal overall and suspect this particular challenge is surmountable, but it's very difficu…

Doordash (Wolt) does this in parts of Europe already.

Wolt is great. I’m in Cyprus currently and Wolt feels so much nicer to use than DoorDash, UberEats, etc. Much of it’s the user interface which feels a bit like Waze back in the day and without all the gimmicky ads and in your face junk. Bummer to hear DoorDash owns them.

That you can do groceries, order flowers, drinks, or dinner makes it great for dates.

Downside is that apparently Wolt charges stores something like a €250 fee a month. It’s ridiculous how much any of these services charge small businesses.

I hope automated drone delivery becomes a thing and make it easier to bring up competitors.

Re: The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon

#130

Post by _DeadFred_ »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #104
add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the point you're making. Someone is living according to their principles and we're playing games with semantics as if "feelings" is a bad word? Okay, you win, it "feels" better to satisfy one's values.

If those principles don't make a difference on the world around you then it's not bad but it is quite limited . It's fine to do things that don't make a difference, but it's important to keep perspective. In particular, if you have an urge to make a difference on a regular basis, that's a great urge, but you need to make sure you don't fall into the trap of doing something that feels good but has negligible effect an…

It's weird to see soviet style apathy propagandists become so common on the internet, even on HN.
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