Amazon?

[deserteagle71]

We order a lot of things from Amazon that we would otherwise have to travel to town to get and so we save on gas and time.

^This.

Especially for someone like me, a "trip to town" means Reno...350 mile round trip. Tiny towns in rural Nevada have only the basic necessities. So Amazon saves me a lot of money every year. The photos they provide of the product and the reviews make shopping much easier, much more efficient, than on other sites. They must have a distribution center near Reno because, remote as I am, I still get my orders in one or two days.

 

[Hay Dude]

Amazon just purchased the Boxwood Road vehicle assembly plant (GM cars) in Wilmington, DE tore the enormous plant down, and built an 820,000SF fulfillment center.
American built cars replaced by imported Chinese crap, but yeah, we buy stuff off them, too.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Just be aware. You can't return grocery items. I order my Blue Mountain coffee from there and the vendor screwed the last order up. I'm still trying toi get it resolved.

I returned Amazon coffee I didn't like. No problem doing so.

 

[Midniteoyl]

With free shipping, your order is delivered five to eight days after all your items are available to ship, including pre-order items.
Canceling items, combining orders, or changing your shipping address, speed, or preference might affect your order's free shipping eligibility.

They did this a bit back because one way people were getting around the $25 or $35 requirement was to add in pre-orders that weren't due to ship for months, waiting for the other items to ship, then canceling the pre-order.

 

[jyoutz]

I try to avoid doing business with them whenever possible. I grew up in a family business, and was sole proprietor myself for years. Nothing against his business plan, I just prefer to put money in other people's pockets whenever possible. One example of little things: I use an old style double edge safety razor and soap with brush. Try to find those blades and shaving soaps in local drug stores or even Walmart. Usually they don’t carry those, and if they do there is just a package of 5 low quality blades. Amazon carries about 30 different brands in packages of 100 for $10-15.

I do too, but product selection and in stock availability at many of our local small businesses is pretty poor. Hardware, auto, and feed stores still have most things I need; otherwise many stores don’t keep decent inventory anymore or they’re always out of the sizes I need. So back to Amazon. One small example: I use a double edge safety razor. Finding quality blades and quality soaps and brushes in local drug stores or Walmart is almost impossible, and if they have any, it’s a small 5 pack of low quality blades. Amazon has over 30 brands of blades in 100 packs for $10-15. The same with soaps and brushes. A trivial example, but the same concept for other things.

 

[tomplum]

The scuttlebutt is that you buy your next membership as a give the gift of prime at the current 119$ , then activate it when your current one expires.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I was watching Prime video often. Usually a series, two shows a night from start to finish, but their selection of good free videos has gotten pretty darn thin.
I used to live about 60 miles north of Seattle and shipping was amazingly fast, two days and often just one day, occasionally, order it at 9:00 p.m. receive it by 2:00 p.m. the next day. That is now ancient history. Now I order on Monday, the following Monday they notify me it has shipped and three to five days later it arrives. If his rate goes up I am history as a Prime subscriber. I generally order more the $25 at a time anyway. I have an Ace Hardware 5 miles away, a Walmart and Home Depot 30 miles away, but for real shopping it's 125 miles. I really don't have the choice to buy local.

 

[JDZ735M]

I'm going to cancel my Amazon prime after 10 yrs. It still takes about 5 business days (sometimes longer) to get packages. At $130 / yr it doesn't seem worth it.

I'm considering a switch to Walmart+ they are only ~$90 a year and they have grocery delivery and gasoline discounts along with free shipping.

 

[Diggin It]

I'm trying to figure this out:

I haven't returned anything, had any issues or made any complaints to generate such a credit. I haven't had any contact with them at all. The only thing I can figure is that it's related to the previous order.

I just ordered a $29 item, shipped by Amazon. With my $15 in available points, the total was around $14 with taxes. Free shipping since the item total was over $25.

When you place an order with free shipping, any additional orders placed within the next 24 hours also qualify to get free shipping regardless of the amount. Since this second order was also over $25 (meaning the courtesy free shipping wasn't needed), did they somehow grant the courtesy credit in regards to the additional order free shipping??

I have an Ace Hardware 5 miles away,

This second order this morning has a $7 item I could get at Ace, but my Ace stores are both at least 20 miles away and I don't plan on going back to town before next week when this order should arrive.

 

[Oaktree]

I do too, but product selection and in stock availability at many of our local small businesses is pretty poor. Hardware, auto, and feed stores still have most things I need; otherwise many stores don’t keep decent inventory anymore or they’re always out of the sizes I need. So back to Amazon.

I have an Ace Hardware 5 miles away, a Walmart and Home Depot 30 miles away, but for real shopping it's 125 miles. I really don't have the choice to buy local.

And even for those of you who DO live near enough to a city to have decent shopping options, how much running around would you need to do in order to find everything you can get with a few clicks on Amazon?
Let alone the stuff that I would have no idea even where to look for a physical store that would carry it.

Even in the "good old days" a lot of what Amazon carries would be a special order at a local store.

 

[jyoutz]

And even for those of you who DO live near enough to a city to have decent shopping options, how much running around would you need to do in order to find everything you can get with a few clicks on Amazon?
Let alone the stuff that I would have no idea even where to look for a physical store that would carry it.

Even in the "good old days" a lot of what Amazon carries would be a special order at a local store.

And that special order would take 2 weeks and require a trip back to the store to pick up that item.

 

[jyoutz]

Yeah, I forgot about the easy and convenient return policy. Never any issue, even if the reason for returning something is my fault, e.g., ordered the wrong thing, or didn't like it - whatever. For items ordered in October (for early christmas shopping) you could return them until January 31st - just drop them off at a UPS store for instant refunds. What's not to like?

And even better are the new Amazon lockers. You don’t even have to visit the UPS store to drop off a return.

 

[jyoutz]

Bozo's just raised the Amazon Prime price to $140/yr. Another $20 increase.

I'm trying to understand the benefit of the prime membership for me. If I order over $35 in products I get free shipping. Do I still get free returns without the Prime membership? 2 day shipping is a joke where I live.

I order a lot of small items as I need them. Many of these items cost way less than $35.

 

[ArlyA]

Amazonie does fine by us and we've been prime members for many, many years. Every time I'd go to a locale store* and they say "we can order that for you!" I think, "but you'd not call us when it comes in. I'm here now, if you don't have it in stock, I'll order it myself when I get home". Amazonie is not perfect, but they do a pretty good job at fulfilling our needs. *we still buy things locally.

 

[tradosaurus]

I order a lot of small items as I need them. Many of these items cost way less than $35.

I'm going to cancel my prime membership (due Feb 21) and see how it goes.

I made 176 orders in 2021 and will most likely beat that number this year so I'm not concerned about meeting the $35 minimum.

 

[jyoutz]

I'm going to cancel my prime membership (due Feb 21) and see how it goes.

I made 176 orders in 2021 and will most likely beat that number this year so I'm not concerned about meeting the $35 minimum.

Isn’t the $35 minimum on a per order basis? Not what you accumulate through the year.

 

[reb]

The ads still say $25 minimum. Just to make sure, I started an order for $50+. Got the same response--Prime or shipping costs. Deleted the cart. Will call them when I have time to wait on hold.

 

[JDZ735M]

The ads still say $25 minimum. Just to make sure, I started an order for $50+. Got the same response--Prime or shipping costs. Deleted the cart. Will call them when I have time to wait on hold.

Check out Walmart+.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Add another grip about Amazon... Their "free" Prime Video, i.e. movies. Seems 90% of their movies are now either for rent or for sale. Very few "free" movies on there now.

 

[reb]

Check out Walmart+.

Did that a while back. Had an issue with one vendor that took the credit card company to fix.

WalMart has some good deals, tho. EBay is another.