My Amazon Prime sort-of rant

kb58

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Several years ago, Amazon sent me an email in about August, pointing out that "based upon your purchases so far this year, if you had Amazon Prime, you'd be paying less for shipping." Talk about targeted advertising! I thought about it and couldn't argue, and signed up. That was a couple years ago.

Starting about a year ago though, I've started questioning my decision for a couple reasons:
1. I don't order as often as I used to.
2. I usually don't have to have it the next day.
3. You get 1-2 day shipping... yes, BUT, that's shipping. If the shipper takes 10 days to get the part off the shelf and box it up, you get in in 10 days + 1 or two. They've quietly separating the concept of fast shipping from fast delivery.

And then we get to Amazon Prime video... grrr. They have few good movies, and somewhat like Netflix, have a whole bunch of what I consider B-grade movies that after viewing, I wish I had the time back. More irritating is when you spot something good/recent and click on it, they either want you to rent it for $3-7, or worse, have to buy it outright. Yeah, but I'm already paying $120 a year, and that's just for the privilege to pay more to watch a movie?

I will be cancelling Amazon Prime this month and we'll see how life is back on the other side. If I have to have something tomorrow, I'll pay for it on a case by case basis.

[edit]: Went ahead and cancelled; we'll see if I eat my words, hah.
 
Prime used to be great, but since shrinking supplies of Chinese made goods, their delivery is no better the Ebay.
i have received Ebay orders quicker than Prime deliveries and i live near (within 5 miles) of a major Prime hub
 
WE started a paying subscription to Amazon Prime a year ago. The intent at the time was to find a replacement for Netflix, w3hose quality and services had declined considerably from when we first signed up. The free shipping was a bonus at the time. However, since March this year, Amazon Prime has been a lifeline.

Small ticket items that we normally wouldn't consider ordering because shipping would exceed the cost of the item now has become a norm. I haven't been in a bricks and mortar store with the exception of buying fishing bait for more than nine months. When I needed plastic rivets to fix a rock shield on my wife's car, I ordered them. When I needed a pipe linch pin for the tractor, I ordered it. The list goes on and on.

There's no doubt that we are saving money on shipping costs alone, not even considering the video content. But along with this is the ability to purchase items of insignificant cost and have them on our doorstep a day or two later without the bother of having to run into town, a trip of more than forty miles at best and the risk of exposing ourselvers to potential infection; priceless.
 
Well, be sure to check a second source regarding total cost. Many times I've found that the "free shipped" cost of an Amazon Prime product is 20-50% more than getting it direct from the supplier. Now whether I get it faster from Amazon is hard to say.
 
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that if I need some industrial part right now, I always order from McMaster and have it as fast as 8 hrs to my door. That continues to happen with or without Amazon Prime.
 
I have found the same thing, Amazon has the free shipping built into the price of every item. Amazon used to almost always have the best price, now it is rare to find the best price at Amazon. And when you start tot get into uncommon things like tooling, many items have delivery times of over a month and are not eligible for Prime. This will probably be my last year with prime, I have already turned off the auto renew. I am using it less and less. I have even found that McMaster is lower cost than Amazon for many items, and McMaster always delivers the weekday morning after I place the order, and is almost never out of stock on anything.
 
I order a stupid amount of stuff from AMZN. I guess I will have to start price comparing more. Hard to believe McMaster could be cheaper! :oops: Most of my AMZN stuff comes within 2 days but there are occasional outliers. And they are usually the things I need immediately.
Robert
 
I’m just kinda morally opposed to Amazon just gobbling up the world, but try as I might I can’t quit them. Like RJ Prime has made life easier and in some ways inconveniently indispensable. Especially for things for like bubble wrap and totally surprisingly the special silicone hose I use. The hose is used in labs because it’s inert and is outrageously priced as you can imagine. From the main supplier in the US it was around $200+/- for 50’. I could get it for several years from a mining industry supply for $90 w/shipping. Then it was never in stock with a notice there was a worldwide shortage of silicone...huh? So that forced everybody back to the pharma supplier at 3x what I was paying! Had to do that for a couple of months and it really impacted my bottom line. Then all the sudden there is the same hose for $50 for 50’ on Amazon through some non medical supplier. McMaster wants $6 per foot for the same hose. As far as movies we don’t watch those, mostly series like Brit murder mysteries and their own series and docu series. No one outfit has it all, so Netflix and HBO too.
 
I found it hard to navigate to the point where I could pay up and have the stuff delivered without ending up in "free trial" and other inducements. It is of course an regular payment, forever unless you cancel (lots of luck with that), whether you use it or not. Free trial means sign-up. Having the trial with opt-in if one likes is not an option. For me, the mere fact a company would attempt this kind of persuasion goes down so deeply negatively that I am a poor prospect customer. I have been sent a special card, like a bank card. I couldn't think of much to do with it, so I tossed it into the woodburner, because it had my name right there in the plastic printing.

Call me hardhead, but there was not a single thing in the offerings I could ever want, other than please, let me see how to leave the page where any click anywhere does not go to checkout. When finally I get it right, there is the tiny size print in blue, explicitly refusing Amazon prime, as if one should be ashamed!

I suppose the fact that in my life, I have never seen a NetFlix anything, nor felt the need to, does not help. I do still shop using Amazon. It's kind of necessary at times when shielding from the pestilence, but I do it on my own terms!
 
I think the moral here is....some people Amazon works out very well for and some, it's a waste. Between my wife and myself, amazon comes to our house about 5 days a week. No, I am most definitely not proud of that! Even with machining related things, it is incredibly handy.....and we don't run out of t.p.
I will say China and 3rd partys have rolled up on Amazon, but I feel Amazon keeps them in better check than ebay. I always feel more guaranteed with Amazon, but I really don't KNOW how ebay is nowadays.
 
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