Yeah that is exactly my point. Additionally Amazon has added more and more hurdles to the buying process such as add-on items and items shipped from a merchant

Yeah that is exactly my point. Additionally Amazon has added more and more hurdles to the buying process such as add-on items and items shipped from a merchant who has his own shipping charges which do not count towards the 'free shipping minimum'. All of these things make the whole buying process for the customer ever more frustrating.