Amazon?

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I never got the wings craze either. Just goes to show hat you can take anything that people normally won't eat, smother in it hot sauce, sell it in a place that serves beer and you'll make millions.

I did the wings thing when I was kid in Vegas. There was a little dive casino on Fremont street which had nickel draft beer, and draft, and your choice of a foot long hot dog, shrimp cocktail, or wings for a buck.

And one of the truck stops used to give me and a buddy, free wings when we bought a pitcher of beer. I’m a happy friendly drunk, who can talk down most irritated obnoxious drunks, and the buddy was 6-4, 220-lbs. The bar staff, cocktail waitresses, and security guys liked us. There was only ever one time things got out of hand in the couple of years we hung out there.

 

[tradosaurus]

I did the wings thing when I was kid in Vegas. There was a little dive casino on Fremont street which had nickel draft beer, and draft, and your choice of a foot long hot dog, shrimp cocktail, or wings for a buck.

And one of the truck stops used to give me and a buddy, free wings when we bought a pitcher of beer. I’m a happy friendly drunk, who can talk down most irritated obnoxious drunks, and the buddy was 6-4, 220-lbs. The bar staff, cocktail waitresses, and security guys liked us. There was only ever one time things got out of hand in the couple of years we hung out there.

Sorry but you can't get off that easy. Now you have to regale this "one time things got out of hand".

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Sorry but you can't get off that easy. Now you have to regale this "one time things got out of hand".

Two drunk red neck truckers got into a “discussion” with a couple of motor cycle riding “bikers”, and things just escalated faster than I could talk sense to them.

Generally the bar patrons were truckers on their mandatory rest stand down, and if they started to get riled up, or too grabby with the cocktails waitresses, you could point out that there was a small army of security, and if they got involved, a beat down would occur, then the police would come gaffle them up and take them to jail. And, if their rig sat for 24-hours it would get towed. That would be about five hundred in towing fees, and eat most of the day.

Guys driving trucks are generally on pretty tight budgets for both time and money. $500, and a days delay was a serious issue for them, and they would usually go out to their truck to sleep it off.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Ok, back on topic: I’m using Amazon less and less, only because there search engine gets worse by the week. I was checking to see if they might have a vendor selling some things I wanted for the tractor hydraulics. The factory controls were made by Vimco, I tried searching for a three word search “Vimco hydraulic valve”. There is a vendor of Chiwanese stuff Vamco. So, I would get several hundred items from Vamco, pages and pages of valves of all types, and pages and pages of anything hydraulic.

I went out and did a Google search with the same search term, and the second webpage Google came up with was to a Vimco, valve and joystick, on Amazon.

Now that wasn’t what I was looking for. But, why should I be able to find links to several products which were close to what I wanted, from the manufacturer I wanted, through Google, and not find them on Amazon?

If this was a one off, I could think it humorous. But, it is now routine. I can search for items on Google and find them, on Amazon, faster than going to Amazon and searching there.

It is just too frustrating to shop Amazon, for it to be a “go to” for me any more.

 

[Pixguy]

Ok, back on topic: I’m using Amazon less and less, only because there search engine gets worse by the week. I was checking to see if they might have a vendor selling some things I wanted for the tractor hydraulics. The factory controls were made by Vimco, I tried searching for a three word search “Vimco hydraulic valve”. There is a vendor of Chiwanese stuff Vamco. So, I would get several hundred items from Vamco, pages and pages of valves of all types, and pages and pages of anything hydraulic.

I went out and did a Google search with the same search term, and the second webpage Google came up with was to a Vimco, valve and joystick, on Amazon.

Now that wasn’t what I was looking for. But, why should I be able to find links to several products which were close to what I wanted, from the manufacturer I wanted, through Google, and not find them on Amazon?

If this was a one off, I could think it humorous. But, it is now routine. I can search for items on Google and find them, on Amazon, faster than going to Amazon and searching there.

It is just too frustrating to shop Amazon, for it to be a “go to” for me any more.

This happens to me as well. Just last night I was Az searching for a Mens golf club and ladies shorts and umbrellas were showing up on the search. WTH? Not a single word in my search or their description matched.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

This happens to me as well. Just last night I was Az searching for a Mens golf club and ladies shorts and umbrellas were showing up on the search. WTH? Not a single word in my search or their description matched.

Some one who bought a golf club also bought those things. Therefore you should also be interested in those things.

 

[Oaktree]

In 2021 I placed 176 orders
In 2020 I placed 181 orders
I'll probably place about the same amount of orders (15/month). There has been very few times I needed something "quickly" but in my rural area it takes about 5 days to get anything from Amazon.

Good grief!! What do you buy that comes to that many orders?
I might place one every couple months.

It is just too frustrating to shop Amazon, for it to be a “go to” for me any more.

Can't argue that their search engine turns up a lot of stuff not even closely related to what I enter, but I could say the same for Google. Walmart.com's search feature doesn't work very well either. Definitely an area that there's room for improvement across the board.

Curiously, what is your "go to" online retailer? I can't think of anyone that even comes close to what Amazon offers.

 

[tradosaurus]

Good grief!! What do you buy that comes to that many orders?
I might place one every couple months.

Christmas time is my busiest shopping month.

Living in a rural area it's easier for me to buy what I need for automobiles, tractor, side by side, household stuff, etc. than burn gas for extra trips. Also can buy gifts for kids and ship it straight to their houses.

For instance, I got into mixology back in February and bought a few things I needed to get started (except the liquor of course).

Also Sams offers free shipping that we have taken advantage. I can see my wife and I getting to the point of buying most everything (except perishables) online and having it delivered.

 

[JDZ735M]

I may appear sacrilegious but what is the fascination with wings and hot sauce? At 70 years old, I finally tried Buffalo Wings with a multitude of different hot sauces and have yet to understand the a "why" of it all. Gristle and fat with a little bit of meat. Ribs seem to be more to my liking and don't need any type of hot sauce.

I agree. The super hot wings deal was just a fad for youngsters to have an excuse to socialize at Hooters and drink beer.

 

[JethroB]

I agree. The super hot wings deal was just a fad for youngsters to have an excuse to socialize at Hooters and drink beer.

Before the Buffalo wing popularity came along in the early 90’s the chicken wing was a low end byproduct of the bird. At the processor level they sold at about 40 cents a pound. Normally now they go for $2/pound or so. Now it’s the leg quarter that is difficult to move, America’s prefer white meat.

Restaurants like little wings, buy them by the pound then sell them by the piece.
For me wings are like raw oysters, yeah I’ll eat a couple but then bring out the real food.

 

[JDZ735M]

Before the Buffalo wing popularity came along in the early 90’s the chicken wing was a low end byproduct of the bird. At the processor level they sold at about 40 cents a pound. Normally now they go for $2/pound or so. Now it’s the leg quarter that is difficult to move, America’s prefer white meat.

Restaurants like little wings, buy them by the pound then sell them by the piece.
For me wings are like raw oysters, yeah I’ll eat a couple but then bring out the real food.

100%!

 

[Jstpssng]

as for small businesses not competing: it’s mostly their own practices that lead to their failure

I see things differently. Small businesses keep a lot less in stock because they need to compete with prices from Walmart, Amazon, et.al.
I used to be able to go into any general store and find things like decent pocket knives, basic hand tools, and the like; now you’re lucky to find chainsaw files.
Often I can get the same thing through them for comparable prices. The only differences are that I have to call rather than order online, and drive to their place of business to pick the item up. That may be too inconvenient for some, but I feel it’s worth it to do business with somebody I know, rather than somebody who has more money than they can ever spend, so can afford to keep finding more ways to take business away from the little guys.

 

[Dftodd]

Two drunk red neck truckers got into a “discussion” with a couple of motor cycle riding “bikers”, and things just escalated faster than I could talk sense to them.

Generally the bar patrons were truckers on their mandatory rest stand down, and if they started to get riled up, or too grabby with the cocktails waitresses, you could point out that there was a small army of security, and if they got involved, a beat down would occur, then the police would come gaffle them up and take them to jail. And, if their rig sat for 24-hours it would get towed. That would be about five hundred in towing fees, and eat most of the day.

Guys driving trucks are generally on pretty tight budgets for both time and money. $500, and a days delay was a serious issue for them, and they would usually go out to their truck to sleep it off.

Those semi wreckers won't leave the yard now days for less then a $1,000 minimum.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I may appear sacrilegious but what is the fascination with wings and hot sauce? At 70 years old, I finally tried Buffalo Wings with a multitude of different hot sauces and have yet to understand the a "why" of it all. Gristle and fat with a little bit of meat. Ribs seem to be more to my liking and don't need any type of hot sauce.

I ditched the buffalo wings for thunder thighs. Marinade chicken thighs in hot wing sauce for a couple hours, then grill them. Tasty and meaty at the same time. Way better than wings.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

How do you not pay shipping if you’re not a prime member?

There's a minimum order for free shipping, and it is always the slowest option. Prime shipping is universal and faster.

 

[reb]

There's a minimum order for free shipping, and it is always the slowest option. Prime shipping is universal and faster.

I haven't noticed a difference in delivery times. I had, temporarily, a prime membership. The promised delivery time with prime is maybe a day. Not worth it to me. I have ordered things that were delivered at the same time promised for prime delivery.

 

[reb]

I have noticed a couple of things with Amazon. One is the ratings. Sometimes I look at the ratings and see some with fewer than 5 stars. When I try to read them, I get a notice that there are no ratings with that number of stars.

Another problem is in the search function. I have found items listed that normal searches do not list. One was a lift chair. A search for that particular brand did not show one with a lower price, which I found another way.

 

[ponytug]

I order small items weekly due to limited retail store inventory in my area. Over the course of a year, my free shipping is worth a couple hundred dollars. I looked at some small items on eBay last week; they were cheaper than Amazon, but the shipping was almost the same cost as the item.

I comparison price shop pretty often. I used to find "good buys" on eBay, but less so as time goes by, which I guess is the sign of a competitive market that has earned the value of items. Ditto WM. For the items I need, Amazon is usually cheaper, often by a significant percentage. I try to buy used items at estate sales, where I can usually fix it if it has moving parts, or pick up quality tools for pennies on the dollar.

As for supporting mom & pop businesses on eBay, many of the sellers that I buy obscure items from on Amazon are clearly mom and pop operations as well. I think that it hard to generalize, but more than half of what is sold on Amazon is sold by third parties, of whom 15,000 sold over $1MM in 2019. Amazon.com: Sell Products Online with Selling on Amazon.

I think that it is a better mousetrap. And yes, the search is dysfunctional. Totally.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Oaktree]

There's a minimum order for free shipping, and it is always the slowest option. Prime shipping is universal and faster.

But not necessarily all that much slower. Seems to depend on what you order, I get the impression that different items are stored in different warehouses, and they'll consolidate the order when they have all (or most) of it, then ship. If everything's all in the same warehouse, the orders seem to ship within a couple days. I can live with that. I wish Rock Auto would do that...seems whenever I order multiple items, they're all from different warehouses and I have to pay for shipping separately on both.

As far as minimum order goes, it's only $25. I'll usually keep a list of items I want but am not in any hurry for and just use them to pad out smaller orders. If I need something NOW, chances are I'm not ordering it online.

 

[tallyho8]

As adults, with a minimum of a 6th grade education, it is easy for us to figure out whether or not it is beneficial to us to pay the extra for Prime on Amazon or to pay the membership fees at Sam's or Cosco. It doesn't take a PHD in college to tell us that if we only go into Sam's once a year to buy a rotisserie chicken, we aren't saving money by paying a membership fee. Don't listen to others who save $thousands by all their business purchases on Amazon and spend hours a day watching their prime movies if all you want to do is buy a bag of dog food cheaper. SHOP AROUND!!!!!!!!!!