SarsaparillaOrdered 20+ groceries from Amazon on Prime Day. Today my order arrived with each item packaged separately.
There was like 12 packet pastas @ 85 grams each, 12 cans of spaghetti and baked beans. A couple of other odds and ends. All piled on my front porch when I arrived home from work today. The postman must've been livid.
BoneheadKinda sorta...while it's a lot to take to the door, it knocks off most of the packages off our list in one stop. I'm more upset when people order cat litter.
I put the packages in this box to bring them in, so I can imagine it would've been pretty frustrating going back and forth to the truck with handfuls of packages. I sure hope he forgives me. lol.
But anyway, why cat litter? Because it's heavy, or spills? I'm in Australia so online cat litter offerings are not a cost effective option, but I'll keep your protest in mind for the future.
But anyway, why cat litter? Because it's heavy, or spills? I'm in Australia so online cat litter offerings are not a cost effective option, but I'll keep your protest in mind for the future.
Cat litter weighs a ton and must always be brought to the door. Really, anything heavy and bulky is just a pain. I'd rather take the 20+ little parcels to the door.
Oh no! I don't drive, so heavy and bulky is why I need most things delivered. š
Are you a kind little old lady that makes Christmas cookies as a tip every year? I don't mind doing it in that case. Everyone else can stub their toe on a coffee table every day for the rest of their lives as far as I'm concerned.
ā¤ļø Last year I gave the postie a six pack of beer, the year before I gave him a box of Favourites (popular box of mixed chocolates). The postie is delivering rain, hail, or shine. He's usually already dropped off my delivery while I'm still in bed! It's a tough job and they don't get enough praise.
I personally don't like beer, but you're ok...
ZloubidaI find it mildly infuriating that people still buy on Amazon š
What's a better alternative? All I know of is eBay, but I used Amazon to buy DVDs and Blu-Rays to support films, and eBay sales don't count as disc sales the same way that Amazon sales do.
This is completely unrelated but I love your instance name lol!!
Thanks! This actually is a Lotide instance! We're kinda like Lemmy and Kbin but we have more of a Hacker News type feel
Convenience and cost, means amazon isnāt going anywhere. You can spend more time, and more money avoiding them if you want, but donāt be upset others arenāt willing.
SuiXi3DFine, then Iāll be upset at people continuing to support a company that systematically abuses its workforce.
BraveSirZaphodI'd love to see the list of companies that produced all the various products in your house.
Nothingās perfect. But that doesnāt mean we should accept the worse.
But of course, and I'm not saying that. But I do think it's perhaps a little bold to actively criticize a stranger for having the audacity to do business with Amazon as if they aren't, for instance, using AWS-backed websites literally every day.
I'm not saying Amazon is good, but rather that hypocritically trying to call out people for failing purity tests that you yourself almost certainly don't pass isn't a particularly productive or positive use of one's time.
Amazon is hardly the worst, just the biggest
QHCAre you referring to the concept of capitalism?
Plus, even when you do find what youāre looking for elsewhere, are Walmart, Target, and Home Depot really so benevolent? The odds of me finding what I need from a small locally owned business (at least in my area) are pretty slim.
SuzyQI know that feeling all too well. The small local grocery store is, at minimum, 2 to 3 times more expensive than Walmart, or even the Dollar General a block away. The local hardware stores arenāt much better.
This is also my experience. Recent example, I can buy a 1.9L container of mayonnaise for $8.99 at Costco to make homemade potato salad for my grandmotherās 95th birthday party. But I forgot to prepare until the last minute and realized I had no mayo, and so I went to the local place who charged $7.99 for 443mL of mayonnaise from the same brand.
Amazon sells 3.78L of mayonnaise (dear God who needs that much mayo?) for $18.70, making them not quite as competitive as Costco in terms of price per mL, but pretty damn close, and moreover still way better than the local place.
Mayo for the whole year, if it doesnt expire before you use it up
- Turkey sandwiches with mayo!
- Mayo Surprise
- Boston Cremayo donuts
- Turkey sandwiches with mayo
- Fruit salad
- Turkey sandwiches, with mayo
- Mayo sundaes for the kids
- Mayo Mondays
- Turkey sandwiches with mayo
- Mayo lattes
- Mayo sandwiches, with turkey
- Ham and mayo on whole wheat
- Apples and mayo oatmeal
- Turkey sandwiches with mayo
sqwthe big boxes can operate at a loss until they choke out the local guys. after that they have a monopoly and can do whatever they want.
Increasingly I can be confident what the quality level of products will be at those places. Amazon has huge counterfeit item and poor quality item problems that they donāt care to fix. I know Target will have reasonable quality, I know if I buy a brand name product l, Iām getting that product. I know if I buy Walmart brand, the quality is lower, but not pure garbage. I currently get none of those guarantees on Amazon, even Amazon basics arenāt safe from these problems.
Definitely had issues with quality and/or damage, havenāt gotten a true counterfeit yet to my knowledge, but I can at least partially attribute that to the fact that I almost never buy things that arenāt shipped/sold by either Amazon or the manufacturer.
When I shop I usually search for something on Amazon, check if the manufacturer has a website & it is comparably priced, check if the local stores (Target, etc.) stock it at a fair price, and if all else fails I buy through Amazon (after checking CamelCamelCamel to verify Iām getting a good deal).
To my knowledge the worst offers for counterfeits are tech items like cables, chargers, and drives. Iāve also learned some designer board games are commonly counterfeits. Amazon comingles stock so it doesnāt matter who you buy from, if someone puts counterfeit product X into the system you have a chance to get it.
Although I agree that might happen I think they have improved on it and at the end except for time lost that you cannot recover most of the time the customer support is so good that you always get your money back or s replacement without issues.
If you're buying a branded product and it is shipped by the official brand store on Amazon, then you can be assured it is not counterfeit. If you buy a branded product that is shipped by Amazon it could be co-mingled with counterfeit stock.
Then I decide I want to try and support a small business. So, I find a website for one that looks legit enough. So far so good. Find the product. Yep! Go to check outā¦ $10+ delivery fee. I know thatās not their fault. I do. But Iām not spending $20 on a $10 item thatās just not reasonable. Sometimes itās fine to eat that cost if itās like a cart full of stuff with just the one fee but for a bunch of individual things that I canāt get locally it doesnāt work.
Thatās exactly why climate change is going to kill us all.
On Kbin, we see the # of upvotes and # of downvote separately, is that not the case here?
Also, the goal should maybe be turning the systematically easiest and cheapest solution into one that's also green. Definitely some steps to get there though
tallwookienot everyone has the ability to drive 50+ miles to get to the le creuset outlet store
Weāve shifted the grocery past of our shopping to Thrive Market.
Damn. Someone should open a store in your area. They would make a killing.
I can order from amazon, or spend an hour in the car to go to a store and pay a higher price.
I'm buying from amazon.
Woke i will exhaust all local alternatives first, Amazon is my pinch hitter when I canāt find The Thing anyplace else.
It is faster to have 20 slaves in 20 different parts of the warehouse stuff 20 different envelopes than it is to have 1 single slave go to 20 different locations in a warehouse and stuff a box.
Their obligation is just to get the product from their facilities to your door. They donāt give a shit HOW it gets there.
I mean, if it were 20 different items I could probably put it down to that but there were six packets of each of the flavours and types. You'd think all the Alfredo's could go in one package, for example, not each in their own padded envelope. Does pasta even need padding? It was just ridiculous, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were a disgruntled worker engaged in a bit of malicious compliance!
I used to work in a shipping depot that delivered to Amazon, among others.
And whenever a shipment went out to Amazon, we had to take packages of 20 items, like theyād be delivered to retailers, and rip them open to put each item into packaging carton individually, before it was even delivered into an Amazon warehouse.
In our case, it was parasols, so it could be different for smaller items or just items that are more likely to be ordered in bulk, but yeah, I imagine, Amazon just does not want to deal with the packaging in their warehouse, if possible.
Itās been a last resort shop for me for the last year or so
If a place canāt get me something in time, isnāt available, or ultra expensive, Iāll get it at Amazon
Cryptic FawnIām in the process of manually transferring my wishlists for ebooks and physical books to Kobo and B&N atm. Then Iāll be transferring my other wishlists to Notebook.
After all that Iāll just use Amazon like a search engine.
SkellybonesEasy to find stuff
It shouldnāt be on the individual consumers to avoid monopolies; we need antitrust enforcement; we need to break up Amazon.
Itās not just about the monopoly though. Their site is rife with counterfeits and is basically Wish now. Want a GE lightbulb? Thereās a 50/50 chance youāre getting a counterfeit that isnāt UL tested so you donāt know itās safe, and thatās if you can even find the product at all hidden between the random name generator company listings for random garbage thatās slightly similar to the search term you entered.
And if there was a competitor that sold only legit products without having to compete with AmazonBasics (who just steals designs and sells them for a cheaper price) or from JSOIY (who also steals designs), people would use them instead of Amazon.
A monopoly enables this behavior, since there are no other options.
Ok fair point.
Donāt even get me started on phone chargers. Good fucking luck. The cheap knockoffs are such a fire hazard too I stg
Ankerā¦?
Thatās actually my go to a lot of the time now lol
Same. I use their chargers, cords, ear buds, and speakers and all have worked great with no issues.
danAs with all electronics, just look for products with UL or ETL certification and you should be OK.
Thanks Iāll keep that in mind for the future
It shouldnāt be indeed, but unfortunately it is. We canāt just hide our personal responsibility behind the State when the State is deficient.
Unfortunately, organizing on the scale necessary to defeat Amazon is damn near impossible. I think doing so politically is our best bet.
Our personal responsibility is to make the State not deficient though, not a boycott of amazon.com or whatever youāre suggesting. A boycott of even their digital and physical storefronts probably wouldnāt even change much, since Amazon makes most of their profit via AWS. Something like 33% of all internet traffic goes through AWS in some fashion, so boycotting that is even harder. The only real option I can see is to make the State regulate them in some manner because all the people in the world canāt fight a trillion dollar company themselves.
Why not both? Iām happy to avoid buying Amazon (do I really need to avoid walking to the store?) while advocating for crackdowns on Amazon.
TavarinThere are certain things I canāt get anywhere near me from anyone other than Amazon, and I live in a city of 6 million people. Sadly I need to use Amazon about once a month. Getting groceries from them is ridiculous though.
Arenāt there any online shopping alternatives to amazon? Are they really the only online vendor who is allowed to mail stuff to your 6 million people city?