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Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

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Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#461

Post by harmmonica »

rconti wrote: post #380
harmmonica wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agree with this and we're an alexa household, which I don't love, but we tried a homepod and friggin' siri was (still is?) shockingly inept when it specifically came to setting multiple timers, adjusting timer duration, cancelling timers, etc. it feels pretty dumb having Alexa and all the potential snooping just to set timers and for an inferior Spotify-playing experience (sound quality of the ones we have are not go…

My Sonos Era 100s have the alexa integration and have my spotify account linked to them. You just gave me an idea! ... except, my Sonos Roam responded, and started playing. Not my stereo pair of era 100s on my desk. Let alone all the speakers in my house. tried again. "I didn't find anything called "office speakers" in your music library". To be fair, she suggested setting up multi-room in the alexa app, which I supp…

ha, this is too typical. we have a super poor man's version of multi-room speakers (two shitty-sounding echos!) and whenever I try and throw the music from one to the other with a voice command Alexa just doesn't get it. I end up just going back into Spotify and manually tapping on the other room. of course now you have me fantasizing about having the sound of Sonos speakers; glad to hear someone has enough sense to optimize their music-listening experience.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#462

Post by dambi0 »

sebastiennight wrote: post #426
chowells wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's irrelevant. Give me the total price, so I know how much something will cost. I don't care what percentage of it goes where. I only care about easily evaluating whether something is worth the price. Seriously. I don't care if the total price consists of 100% tax or 0% tax. I care only what it is. I don't ask to know how much you pay the cleaners, how much it costs to operate the pool, how much corporate profit…

Looks like I'm not the only European that has seen a price tag of $9.50 on a product I wanted, only to find out that the $10 bill in my pocket was only two thirds of the amount needed! Look at us poor Europeans with our metric-system money-math

Was the markup just sales tax or did it include tips or extra fees? A 35% plus sales tax seems awfully high where in the US was it?

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#463

Post by dghlsakjg »

throwadobe wrote: post #411
dghlsakjg wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big thing with Sears Craftsman (formerly), and Costco (currently) is that the company will back the product. If I want to return a product to Costco, I have really strong confidence that they will take it back.

TBF to Amazon they take all my shit back on the reg

Amazon will accept returns, but not like Costco will or sears did.

Sears would exchange any broken craftsman tool for a new one even decades after purchase. Costco is much the same. Used, year old stuff with missing parts will gladly be refunded in full.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#464

Post by qingcharles »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #340
wnc3141 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's been an issue with ordering consumer electronics. I don't know if the item is refurbished, returned,or endorsed by the manufacturer warranty. I basically only order through the manufacturer or best buy these days.

Does Best Buy not resell returns?

Yes, they do. Plenty of horror stories on r/datahoarders of fake resealed HDDs.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#465

Post by TimTheTinker »

Spooky23 wrote: post #445
crazygringo wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This a million times. I swear I will never understand why Amazon's supply, organization, and pricing for household goods is such a disaster. Because their experience for mainstream books is mostly perfectly fine -- there's a single listing for each book, and the price doesn't change much, just some discount from list. It works. But for things like paper towels or Tide or whatever, it's utter chaos. Multiple listings…

Don’t be baffled… “worlds largest selection” pivoted to worlds largest fence. Financially, the third party product is better for Amazon (no inventory - the third party stuff is a revenue generator!) How exactly does Spooky23 have the buying power to price competitively with a major retailer? The answer is pretty obvious. It’s cheaper to pay crackheads to loot CVS than to troll for clearance blowouts.

> It’s cheaper to pay crackheads to loot CVS than to troll for clearance blowouts.

Is that where all the crazy stuff on Amazon is coming from?

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#466

Post by ceejayoz »

tgma wrote: post #361
cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is fun. The person you’ve replied to has stated a concrete (what they perceive to be) benefit of consumer protection regulation. One that doesn’t seem to limit choice at all, but rather improves visibility. I’m also inserting my own personal experience here. The country I live in, which isn’t in Europe, has similar regulation in place. In response you’re throwing around some vague notion of “freedom” and vague i…

Can you think of any downside of that proposal at all? Tax inclusive total means government can screw the business and the end user and hide behind the tax inclusive price tag. Jack up the tax it seems the business is doing it.

Nothing says you can’t put ($40 of this is government taxes) in the receipt.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#467

Post by tgma »

timClicks wrote: post #376
tgma wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I am aware and I stand by my statement. Have you actually returned stuff to stores over there? I have returned half eaten cake that I did not like the taste to Costco and didn’t have to face a weird looking employee. No law and regulation necessary just capitalism.

That's not capitalism, that's culture. In the USA, it's very common to return products because of a change of mind and/or complain. That isn't universal.

The fact that a retailer is willing to accept it despite not being forced to is absolutely the result of capitalism. If they don't, you buy from a competitor. This is not some hypothetical. People in the US routinely choose retailers based on their service experience.

In any case, the overall retail experience is much better on west side of the Atlantic and prices are generally better too, without the need of too many "customer protection laws" so I don't think a good case is to be made to copy from a failed continent.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#468

Post by leros »

8organicbits wrote: post #460
leros wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually used my Alexa like that all the time. "Alexa, order more dish detergent" "From your recent order history, I found Cascade Dish Detergent pods, 120 count, $17.99. Would you like to order?" "Yes" It was super convenient when I was ordering something I had already ordered before, which is all my common purchased.

Tangent, have you considered using the powder? It's much cheaper and you can pour the amount you need. The pods only come in large sizes so you're almost always going to be wasting detergent.

I've used the detergent before but I find it messy sometimes or it will clog the detergent door. I use the cheap Finish tabs now. The do just as well as the expensive pods.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#469

Post by dambi0 »

smt88 wrote: post #456
fuzztester wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales. is there anything wrong with that? I kind of thought that is one of the main reasons for the existence of companies, that is, to increase sales, and hopefully, profits.

What's wrong with it is that it was a stupid idea. People don't shop with their voices and never have. They need to see things.

Restaurants?

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#470

Post by tgma »

WalterBright wrote: post #375
mschuster91 wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The last thing I want is for some government regulation to make it suck like Europe. Are you aware that Europe has a mandatory 2 year minimum warranty period on consumer purchases? A mandatory 14-days no-questions-asked return window on all purchases? In the US, AFAIK you're fully at the mercy of whatever the vendor so graciously offers you. [1] https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/gua...

> mandatory 2 year minimum warranty period Such regulations make products more expensive. I'm constantly offered warranties when I buy online. I don't want to be forced to buy them, as I don't need them.

Not sure why you're downvoted. There is material difference in prices of electronics due to whatever reason (taxes, warranties, low scale, etc) to the degree that my European friends often purchase laptops and iPhones when they travel to US.
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