Taking Jeff out of the discussion, I don’t know how people don’t have Amazon, Prime in particular. My brother is one of them. I look back at the time I’ve saved running to Walmart for xyz and it’s life changing. The prices are usually cheaper too. I get lots of stuff within a few hours. To my, “time is money” too. Looking back, it’s made life substantially better in time / money savings. Thoughts ?

You know Walmart has the same feature, and actually faster than Amazon, right?

It will be very amazing when these companies run as many local businesses under that they'll be the only options.

Then when you really need something and something goes wrong. Oh well.

Saving time and money are Good Things, but Amazon's biggest benefits for me are the ability to find things that I need / want, that are not available locally, and the ease of comparing similar products.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
You know Walmart has the same feature, and actually faster than Amazon, right?

It is like Apocalypse Now in my neighborhood, drones coming in all day long delivering to my neighbors. Yes Walmart is faster on some things but I have an Amazon hub pretty close so it really does not matter.

But where Amazon rules is variety and parts, need a carburetor for an obscure weedeater and I can usually have it overnight. Headlight for a car, bam, sitting outside my garage when I get up in the morning.

quote:

I don’t know how people don’t have Amazon, Prime in particular.

Easy. Just don’t have it. My life is still very much smooth sailing. Thank you very much.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Saving time and money are Good Things, but Amazon's biggest benefits for me are the ability to find things that I need / want, that are not available locally, and the ease of comparing similar products.

Agree. Even for something that is available locally, I might have to spend a whole day and drive to a dozen stores hoping to find it.

Yeah, Amazon has saved us many times, and finding things that just aren’t available at local stores is a huge help. And pricing is usually great too. A few times we’ve used Walmart too, and they did deliver fast, but Amazon is our go to.

Best of all, you don't have to deal face-to-face with incompetent and ambivalent "customer service" and checkout clerks. Not to mention finding parking in cramped, over-filled lots.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Saving time and money are Good Things, but Amazon's biggest benefits for me are the ability to find things that I need / want, that are not available locally, and the ease of comparing similar products.

items I can no longer find at hardware stores locally, i find immediately @ Amazon. Fast too.

If only Amazon trained their employees to take package handling, even more importantly, the use of appropriate packaging materials seriously so that your purchase arrived somewhat close to pristine condition.

The wife and I use it all the time...for all the reasons just listed. Walmart is also good in this regard but I really don't need two memberships.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
If only Amazon trained their employees to take package handling, even more importantly, the use of appropriate packaging materials seriously so that your purchased arrived somewhat close to pristine condition.

I didn’t even have to open the box to know what was going on inside. It was supposed to be a toilet tank.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
It will be very amazing when these companies run as many local businesses under that they'll be the only options.

Then when you really need something and something goes wrong. Oh well.

Amazon is killing itself. It’s a giant rush to the bottom and I find myself buying local more and more.

Take pool filters for example. Amazon used to carry and sell brands I knew. Now all I can find are fly buy night Chinese brands not sold by Amazon, so it’s back to the pool store for me.

Same with auto parts. Needed CV drive shafts for the minivan and all that was available on Amazon were again fly by night brands not sold by Amazon. Checked Advance Auto and the local store had them in stock, for maybe 10% more, but with a lifetime warranty.

I am literally surrounded by Amazon hubs. Three within 20 minutes. A myriad of stuff can be had in mere hours, exponentially more overnight, and exponentially more within 24 hours. It seems odd when it says 2 days for an item.

Walmart delivery pales in comparison.

I lived in Anchorage, Alaska, for 5 years and it's when I became an Amazon fan. So many poorly stocked local stores that could "order it for you and have it in a few weeks." I could get the same thing from Amazon in 2 days for less money. On top of that Amazon logistics was awesome as I don't recall them ever using the unholy alliances between USPS and FEDEX/UPS where they'd deliver to Washington State in the stated time, but then the post office would take 5 to 7 days delivering the rest of the way despite Anchorage being one of the 10 busiest airports in US and a USPS hub (UPS and FEDEX too).

Thanks to Amazon and others, I've set foot in a Walmart maybe once in the last two years!

quote:

Originally posted by Schmelby:
Thanks to Amazon and others, I've set foot in a Walmart maybe once in the last two years!

Including this one?

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/9270093125

For me Amazon is king of things like say computer monitors. I can compare 100s of monitors that fit my needs and pick the best one in my budget. You go to a big box store they may have only a few that fit the needs.

Or just things I want but don't need right now. If I need them right now or soon for a project I'm working on. Run down the street and buy it somewhere.

Amazon is good for many things, but proper American delivery drivers who follow the rules of the road are not one of them.

These idiots never stop for Stop signs and speeding at double the speed limit in the neighborhood are a problem.

We have 66 homes, the daily traffic in the neighborhood is now close to 600 cars/trucks a day. The majority is contract 1099 Amazon deliveries, their logistics are so bad they delivered two items from the same order in two cars, 15 minutes apart the other day.

Now we're getting our stuff, it's just the traffic into our private roads, the wear and tear, the increased lunatics bringing in someones underpants or shampoo is crazy.

Think we'll put a FLOCK camera up front to track these people

To be fair, I often go to Amazon for the things I can't get locally.

But as a sweeping generalization: Amazon = China

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I am literally surrounded by Amazon hubs. Three within 20 minutes. A myriad of stuff can be had in mere hours, exponentially more overnight, and exponentially more within 24 hours. It seems odd when it says 2 days for an item.

I about an hour from their delivery hub and they do not deliver in my county so I am at the mercy of mostly the USPS and in some cases UPS or FedEx for my deliveries from them. I am less than a mile from the Sullivan-Merrimack county line and Amazon DOES deliver in Merrimack county.

I've come up with a work around. My brother has a PO Box which I can access in the town on the other side of the Merrimack county line where they do deliver. Amazon, UPS and FedEx will deliver to a PO Box if you use this address format:

John Doe
123 Main St (Post office's street address)
Unit xxx (your PO Box #)
Anytown USA

Amazon delivers to that post office daily so I usually get my stuff a day or two sooner than relying on the handoff to one of the 3 shippers mentioned earlier.