Unfortunately, my SIL works for Amazon. He started at a small independent software company, but it got taken over. He is looking for another job, but they are hard to find. I am conflicted. Still I avoid Amazon as much as I can.
When I got my first e-reader about 15 years ago, I decided to go with a then Canadian company, Kobo. They have since been taken over by a Japanese company called Rakuten. But I think you can still use it in the US. On account of my eyes, I have pretty much stopped reading physical books. Anyway, for e-books, I suggest Kobo as an alternative to Amazon.
Another real-world example: I recently wanted to purchase a globe. A 3-D map of the world. And I was stymied…what brick-and-mortar store would sell globes? I had no idea, so I went to Amazon.
So just now, using a technique mentioned above, I entered “globe” in a google search on my phone and clicked the “Shopping” tab, and lo and behold my local Office Depot sells globes. (Plus, there were online suggestions).
It may be easier than I thought to pull the plug on Amazon.
I am now reading this post with great interest. We still order stuff from Amazon, but since we don’t order that much, and we can plan ahead, order enough at once to reach the free shipping dollar amount, and wait for longer shipping times, we canceled Prime.
Now I swear the A-holes are dragging their feet on orders intentionally. I ordered some things a couple days ago, and the predicted ship date was March 18-21. Fine. Now Amazon is saying a predicted ship date of March 28-April 18
Me too. In fact one year, I cost Bezos money. I didn’t order anything & went into Whole Paycheck once, to use the loo, so I cost him a penny or so of water.
I don’t order a lot of stuff online & most of what I do order is from specialty stores so Prime doesn’t pay for me. Not only do I feel like a sucker paying for deliveries from Amazon (yes, I know I can add things to my cart until I have enough to qualify for free shipping but that could take months some times) but they’ve openly stated they deprioritize non-prime orders so I really don’t want to patronize a place that treats me like a second-class citizen.
Political donations can be made based on what’s best for the business, whether that’s spread the wealth around to hedge your bets or donate to the current party in charge, not what the CEO thinks personally; especially with the current grifter-in-chief.
Isn’t that what “Politics” means - do distasteful shit because you get a personal benefit from it?
I’ve used it a few times; it’s OK. It has a very annoying interface; I use ublock origin extension in firefox to stop some of the scripts it runs.
They have the same Chinese junk which you find all over–but it’s often cheaper than at a site like Amazon. Delivery often takes about 3 weeks–but it is coming from China.
A couple products were unacceptable: some “large” size slippers were too small–I think it is a general problem in U.S. vs Chinese apparel type sizing. They provisionally give return refunds fairly quickly.
That depends. I live on the Big Island, which is pretty remote, shopping-wise. Even Oahu has better selection in the grocery stores than we get here. Creative cooking is my primary stress reliever, and I also cook for others (I cook regularly for one family, and am always the first to sign up for things like providing a Christmas dinner to homeless kids). To cook the way I want, I need preserved grape leaves, masa harina, pomegranate molasses, and a lot of other items that I typically can’t buy here. Sometimes even reasonably standard stuff like couscous and tahini are hard to find!
Go elsewhere on line, you say? The shipping costs, without Prime, are epic. It’s not uncommon, from other sellers, to have the shipping double the cost of whatever is being purchased. That’s a hazard of living in paradise, unfortunately.
I was recently even more inspired to look elsewhere for my shopping needs by this book How to Resist Amazon and Why (bookshop dot org link). The author is the owner of an independent bookstore and he compiled a great deal of damning journalism evidence about Amazon’s business practices and the effects on small businesses, including Amazon sellers. I’m no longer really using our Alexa devices, either. I’ve had good luck finding most of what I used to get on Amazon on direct business sites or locally, but we live in a large community now. Where we used to live, options were much more limited, similar to @CairoCarol’s experience. If you’re on the fence about Amazon, give the book a look-over.
Here’s a question I’ve had for a while: Libby, a free library ebook app, uses Kindle as one of its primary book apps. Does that make Amazon any money? For obvious reasons, library books are harder to source online, and I’d hate to lose it.
After years being attached to my Kindles, I’ve been easing away from buying digital books on Amazon. I got a Boox Palma, which is a cell-phone sized e-ink reader running Android, so this allows me to read using any app. I’ve been checking on Libby first and recently signed up on Bookshop.org. I don’t never buy from the Kindle Store, but I’m doing it significantly less.
I suspect if I gave Amazon the boot, I’d solve my overspending problem in a heart beat. I probably buy a lot of things that marginally improve my life but are not strictly necessary. I’m trying. I recently tried ordering cross stitch supplies directly from an online cross stitch store. Nothing bad happened.
I’ve found that AI can find you deals that avoid Amazon. For instance, Sweetwater is my preferred musical item vendor but they didn’t carry a product I wanted (musical performance hearing protection devices). First, the AI helped me research the product. Second, when I found Sweetwater didn’t care it, they found an online retailer that sold it for less than Amazon. I’ve now found that true for an outdoor gear product. AI is helping me avoid Amazon.
I’m thisclose to ditching Prime now. I did give some thought to the fact that I no longer will get 5% back with my Prime credit card when shopping at Amazon, only 3%. But that’s sort of a moot point if I’m not shopping at Amazon going forward, anyway. I only got $94 last year in Amazon cash back. Granted, I guess I probably did save $60 in shipping so maybe it paid for itself but…
I found another credit card which will give me 5% back on grocery stores, and 3% at Costco and pharmacies, so once I get that card set up I can start to ditch my Prime card.
I just have to figure out how to get my photos off Amazon Photos (a Prime perk). I am pretty sure that al of the photos that happened to get uploaded there are already on my computer, backed up from iCloud. I just need to put more time into it.
All of the music I’ve bought from Amazon is already on my computer, so that’s set. I never really got in to the purely streaming aspect of Prime Music and always made sure to get physical copies.
My mom is kinda addicted to Amazon so if something is really expensive to ship, I can always cheat and use her account.
I did decide that all of this “choosing to shop elsewhere” stuff is very privileged of me and that makes me a little sad. As I said, I switched some toiletry purchases to Walgreens and didn’t even look at what the price difference is. Same with something else I bought from an independent shop last week.
There are loads of people who are tied to their Amazon or Wal Mart or Target way of life because they don’t have the economic privlige to use a different vendor.
Huh? Please explain. People can be tied into a very limited number of brick and mortar stores depending on where they live and their transportation options, but I don’t see how they are tied into Amazon.
Because it’s the cheapest for some stuff. I know I’ve compared a lot of their vitamins and OTC meds to Costco and Amazon can be cheaper.
Amazon is also a good resource for unique dry goods ingredients. Like say almond flour or sugar substitutes. Stuff you might need for your diet but can’t buy locally.
