I’m a frequent Amazon purchaser, though not quite as impressively as some of the posters here (and I’ve never bothered with Prime, mainly because I just don’t have that kind of volume). What I wanted to add here, as so many have discovered, is watch out for prices. They can vary between good deals and rip-offs, and for some third-party sales, the rip-offs can be extreme – basically just predatory pricing on the basis that the buyer either has to have it (as often seen during the pandemic) or just doesn’t realize what a rip-off it is.
I’ve seen some oddball computer components (things like obscure adapter cables) being sold for many multiples of what I could get the exact same thing for at a local computer store. And while I haven’t seen Amazon’s own prices being so outrageous as to be called a rip-off, they sometimes do vary quite a lot over a short period of time, much like a volatile stock. Amazon obviously has pretty complex and rather bizarre pricing algorithms that are always in operation.
If I’m buying something even moderately costly, and I’m not particularly in a hurry, I tend to watch the price fluctuations much like I watch stock prices.
Depending on where exactly it is coming from, it may not actually be as much packaging as you think. In my experience, stuff that comes from the same place will often get packaged together—especially if that same place is an Amazon warehouse.
And if you ever do really start to care, there’s always that extra option they give you where you schedule everything to come in on your “Amazon Prime day,” choosing which day of the week you get all your packages.
My husband once looked over the stack of boxes in our foyer and said, “You realize you’re not single-handedly responsible for keeping Amazon in business, don’t you?”
But this applies to every place you shop, even brick and mortar stores. It’s always been that way, hence the old buyer beware and people shopping around to find lowest prices. I don’t see what Amazon has to do with it.
Not so far. It’s usually a guy in a grey amazon van.
Occasionally I’ll get things with extraneous packaging, like literally just a brown cardboard box inside a slightly larger brown cardboard box, but I’ve seen that less frequently lately, and more things have been arriving just in a sealed white plastic bag.
Oh, I hear you. It’s a “treat day” thing for me when I’m in Santa Fe for errands. Normally I’m a Smith’s/Safeway/Albertson’s guy, but it’s nice to save up for an avocado-hearth-baked-turkey-goat-cheddar-kale brioche panini once in a great while. I kinda miss the pre-COVID, self-serve hot bars.
Tripler
They had wonderfully spicy green-chile meat stew!
Right with you on this. I have three or four repairs going at any time, and if I need something I just Amazon it and move on to another project. In fact, that reminded me, I need to go place an order for shelf brackets…
Exactly! You’re paying for it, and presumably their model allows you to order whatever you want in whatever combinations you want, and they’ll still make money from it. Or at least lose money in a way they’re good with.
If not, then the onus is on them to adjust their policies such that it fits their model and various metrics, not on you to adjust your ordering behavior.
One thing I like is the easy/no questions asked return process, especially for clothes. Prime Wardrobe is pretty neat, they don’t even charge you until after the 7-day return window has expired.
It’s been awhile since I ordered from other places like LL Bean or Land’s End because of having to pay for return shipping. Return shipping was something like $5.95, a bit expensive for trying on things for size.
The liberal return policy was a really good thing when I was upgrading my home theater system. I ordered a couple different types of components and speakers and was able to try them out at no risk.
Last week I placed two separate orders, one for cat litter and one for slipper-socks. On both orders, since neither was time-critical, I took advantage of their offer to have them delay-shipped to arrive the following Friday for which they would give me a $1 credit (on each order!) to be applied to my next digital order. I get an email acknowledging the credit which I promptly use to order an e-book. Then, both orders are delivered a few days later, well before the promised delivery date.
I’m not going to argue with that. Especially when it means I’m not paying shipping for a 26-lb container of cat litter, which I’d have trouble trying to get home on the bus.
Sometimes this process goes a little off the rails. A couple of weeks ago I was offered two shipping options: delivery that Thursday or delivery that Thursday with the $1 digital credit. The same Thursday, mind you.
I will break single orders into multiple orders to take advantage of the $1 digital credit policy. I don’t make the rules, I just try to work with them. That strikes me as abuse adjacent, but fuck Bezos.
That made me laugh as I think there may have been times in years past when I didn’t order much, so it probably would have been cheaper for me to forgo Prime and just pay for shipping.
But I am more than making up for it now! Living on a Hawai’i neighbor island means there are many goodies I can’t buy in the stores here (and it’s gotten a bit worse with the pandemic), and mail order is extra expensive since orders must be shipped to Honolulu and then onward. And sometimes, things are just cheaper on line, since stuff is expensive here. (Not long ago I bought rice noodles from Amazon for about 1/3 the price in the store.)
I got a delivery today that was actually a combination of two separate orders made on different days. I was impressed! I knew both were supposed to arrive today - just not that they both would be in the same box. Good job, Amazon!
When the Discover credit card first came out they had arrangements with certain stores that you could get additional cash with your purchase. The system was initially set up so that this counted as part of the total purchase price, which meant that it was included with the amount of the cashback bonus you earned. A friend of mine would regularly make small purchases and get $50 additional cash (which was the maximum allowed at the time). Then he would deposit the $50 in his bank account, where it would earn interest until he had to pay off his Discover card, which of course he did in full every month. So in addition to the bank interest, he would earn additional cashback bonus money. Eventually, of course, Discover stopped paying cashback bonuses on cash advances, but until they did he kept taking advantage of this loophole.
I once ordered three dog balls through Prime because it seemed silly ordering just one $2 ball and getting next day delivery. They threw in a fourth one as a sort of thank you for making it worth their while – at least that’s what the invoice said.
