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Why it's hard to quit Amazon Prime, even if maybe you should
- z_open 9y agoOver the last year I have severely cut my contact with these mega-corporations. Don't order from Amazon, google services is limited to the rare use of ``!g'' from duckduckgo, and I tend to get groceries from smaller grocery stores (relative to Walmart). What I've learned is how easy it is to do. People just want what's familiar, to do what they did yesterday, and don't realize how much of a non-issue the alternatives are. I'd recommend giving it a try. Now if I could just get rid of Comcast.
- bagacrap 9y ago"Smaller than Walmart" rules out roughly zero stores.
- djsumdog 9y agoOP is probably talking about Target, Kroger/QFC/Smiths, literally any other retailer. I stopped shopping at Wal-Market around 2009 (I think). I realize Target, Bi-lo and others have adopted a lot of the same practices WM used in order to simply stay competitive and especially with stores like Target, they know customers may pay a premium just not to shop at the mega store. So it might be symbolic at this point, you can't really vote with your dollars, but I have the money and save plenty, so I might as well try and do what I can. I rarely shoped at Amazon and quit shopping there entirely after moving back to the US in 2016, to Seattle, and seeing Amazon as nothing more but the new Wal-Mart, not just for retail, but for server hosting as well.
- tinbad 9y agoMy usage of Amazon increased exponentially since we had twins. As a parent, the 1/2-day free delivery of anything from diapers to wipes to random items like kids cups or books, I can’t even imagine having to go to the store for these things anymore. Especially with one shout to Alexa. It really makes a huge difference in quality of life, when running out even for the smallest errand can be a multiple hour process.
- jaredhansen 9y agoIt's all in what you value. If, as a parent, it's more important to you to save time than have a good way to send signal your virtue to internet friends (you monster!), then you're on the right track.
- icantdrive55 9y agoI'm doing the same. Robert Reich did a video about the hypocrisy of most Americans. It's on his FB site. Yes--ironic it's on FB. And most of us knew we were hypocrites, but don't have the real money to make a difference? Anyway, I do try to buy from companies I respect, but I think we're alone. My father was called cheap back in the day, but he was a principled buyer.
- icebraining 9y agoWell, direct contact. DDG gets data from Microsoft, the small grocery store buys from large distributors of Big Ag products, etc. That said, the "buffer" they provide can sometimes be nice.
- Fjolsvith 9y agoThis is crazy. My nearest store is 15 minutes away, and the nearest Walmart is an hour away. Prime would be a bargain at $500 a year for me.
- forgot-my-pw 9y agoSorry, but Prime will not be quick too in remote areas like yours.
- eropple 9y agoPrime's two-day delivery to the Vermont/Canada border is just fine.
- Spooky23 9y agoYou’re really close to Burlington, you’re not remote from the shipping perspective. Many places in NY in the middle of nowhere add 1-2 days delivery because UPS routes are super long or they need to use USPS and a rural carrier humping packages in the back of his Subaru.
- eropple 9y agoI dunno--I get two-day shipping when I visit my grandparents in Houlton, ME, too. ;) And I don't think they're shipping in from Canada for that. The coverage is pretty good and very wide.
- colechristensen 9y agoYeah all of the delivery providers have no problems doing overnight (much less two days) pretty much anywhere in the contiguous US.
- bowlich 9y agoI've lived in some really remote parts of the west and the worst my prime shipments have ever been is a day late. Count that against the 40 mile drive into town that I only make once every other week -- even if they took a week to get to me it would be sooner then if I went to the store (plus all the gas savings for myself).
- PascLeRasc 9y agoI've started trying to cut down on Prime and it's been nice actually. I've been getting electronics from Ebay and vitamins/nootropics from speciality stores, and coffee from local roasters, and I've found some better deals and overall higher quality. I'm glad that WaPo also was able to write a critical article about its sponsor.
- kelnos 9y agoI think it's really just about what you value more. I don't mind spending a few bucks more here and there to remove hassle. Buying from ebay would certainly count as a hassle for me. I also absolutely love Amazon's customer service: in my experience they're 100% no-questions-asked no matter what, as long as you return within 30 days. And if it's a small enough item that's not worth the return shipping cost, I don't even have to go through the hassle of shipping it back. With nearly any other retailer I would dread having to attempt a return.
- nostromo 9y agoI didn't find this article very interesting, but I found the existence of this article interesting. It seems like a smart career move to criticize Amazon as a tech reporter at WaPo. Since Bezos now owns the newspaper, if you're laid off or fired, you could point to your critical articles of Amazon as proof of journalistic wrongdoing. He's unfireable!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- chrischen 9y agoThat's a great strategy if being not fired is your bar for success.
- supernumerary 9y agoJournalism in 2018 is tough.
- crdoconnor 9y agoIt doesn't seem that critical
- elicash 9y agoI think it's written because it's interesting, not for any cynical motive. That said, if there WAS a cynical motive, it's "let us prove that we're independent as a newsroom." Overcompensating for bias, essentially.
- kiliantics 9y agoCould be a kind of reverse psychology advertising. Many comments in this thread are making the opposing argument of why they should use prime.
- Shivetya 9y agoPersonally I shop three sites for most goods, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and E-bay. I am an Amazon prime member. I use Wal-Mart for items I cannot get via Amazon but I also check them to see if they have what I want at my local store. My issue with Wal-Mart is their site can be a real mess at times and filtering to my local store only oddly doesn't work all the time. They also have a shipping issue where they have split an order and both arrived the same day so how they don't lose money I don't know; one arrived Fed Ex in the morning and then another as Fed Ex Home at night - they were multiples of the same item from the same location! Now I have watched some Amazon Prime video and I use it to get stuff my parents want faster and have it delivered to my house. Yet one are the Post missed is their partnership with Twitch, now I can support a single streamer for free each month where that used to cost me 4.99 a month. Also, Prime is a godsend for those who cannot get out of house either from infirmities, medical (think IBS), or simply not comfortable in crowds.
- tzs 9y ago> My issue with Wal-Mart is their site can be a real mess at times and filtering to my local store only oddly doesn't work all the time. Have you tried their mobile app? It seems to be a lot better at showing local inventory than the web site (at least the iOS version...I've not tried the Android version).
- spodek 9y agoAmazon is the source of so much garbage in my building I associate them with land fills and disgust. They gave me a free subscription for 6 months. A couple orders was enough to decide never again. So much garbage and packaging. Unconscionable to me.
- mrep 9y agoMost of their packaging is recyclable and 1 delivery driver can make an efficient route delivering goods to hundreds of people. The alternative is having everyone drive to retail stores which is super carbon intensive and then you still end up with the same packaging minus the cardboard box (which is recycled anyways). Sounds like you are the one being unconscionable to me
- luddaite 9y agoCorrect me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Amazon use more packaging materials than brick and mortar stores? They have to box up the items which would otherwise be in their own boxes. Also the brick and mortars would probably do a better job of recycling/disposing of packaging.
- Broken_Hippo 9y ago" Also the brick and mortars would probably do a better job of recycling/disposing of packaging." That doesn't hold true everywhere. Recycling for me is easy. The city gives me a trash can for paper products, and another for plastic. But in the states, it was always spotty. I lived in a little town with no curbside recycling, and I didn't have a car. There was never a real push for recycling most places I lived in the states, and most states offer zero cash back for empty bottles and cans (it greatly increases the number of them recycled). Here (Norway) I can simply put them into a machine in the grocery stores, though some aren't accepted. On top of that, commercial trash is quite a bit different. City dwellers usually pay for trash removal through taxes. The businesses, though, pay for it themselves. Most are motivated to recycle their cardboard because the company pays them to pick up trash. (plastic and other similar things just go in the trash). Now, lets consider Amazon. They have a bit more in common with a factory than a brick and morter. Some of their stuff isn't in their control to recycle, though they could offer returnable packages. The rest, though, is doable. After all, some factories send absolutely nothing to a landfill (Subaru in Lafayette, Indiana is one of those). I'm pretty sure something similar can happen at Amazon if they had the right incentive. They'd already have the trash incentive brick and mortar stores have.
- spraak 9y agoI use Amazon's "Prime Now" service to get groceries from Sprouts (a health food store similar to Whole Foods). I don't have a car so it makes it really worth my Prime membership. I also find it much more professional and reliable than Instacart. Tips are added by default to checkout (but you can still not tip).
- GCA10 9y agoThe key passage to me is in paragraph 12: "being strategic with your shopping cart could get you most of the advantages of shopping on Amazon without paying for Prime." This is true, and the Post's Geoff Fowler documents it well. But in this time-starved world, there's only so much energy that most of us can devote to being "strategic" about life's minor routines. In the past six months, I've become "strategic" about getting refunds from United when the in-flight wi-fi doesn't work. I've become "strategic" about squabbling with Public Storage when they raise monthly rental rates far faster than they promised me the last time we spoke. I've become "strategic" about storing passwords, being careful about coffee-shop wifi, etc., etc. Shoot me, but there's only so much of life's minor routines that can be handled "strategically" before I've got no ability to enjoy family, pick fun/gutsy new professional goals, travel with gusto, etc. If Amazon Prime lets me make semi-okay shopping choices without having to top up $17.98 shopping carts to $20, hey, that's a welcome way of clearing out the clutter. It creates more time to be "strategic" about things that really are strategic.
- x0x0 9y agoI really wonder just how much this author values his or her time, if at all. Time for me to run to target: at least 70 minutes round trip. Times amazon has leaked my credit cards, last 5 years: 0. Times other sites have idioted their way into a giant hassle for me, last 5 years: 8. Time spent arguing with the morons at my gym because I forgot to update my stolen credit card and they wanted to fine me $30: almost 40 minutes. Amount I resent having to deal with all of the above: a lot.
- randyrand 9y agoI turned off my prime auto re-enroll (which is on by default). I order about 30 things a year from amazon. $3 an order for faster shipping is not worth it for me. I think more people need to reevaluate themselves.
- ovao 9y agoDo you not use Prime Video at all? As someone who doesn't subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or any of the premium cable networks, I'm finding I get a pretty decent fill of entertainment with Prime Video alone.
- stordoff 9y agoIncidentally it was Prime Video that caused me to cancel Prime briefly a few months ago (though re-subscribed when it became evident that shipping costs would cost me as much and didn't feel like cutting my nose off to spite my face) - they added (or I noticed) pre-roll ads for other Amazon shows which I really dislike in a paid product.
- james-skemp 9y agoI assume you've never tried Hulu. Depending upon the show, you can expect to watch ads before and during shows. Still better than network television though.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> Do you not use Prime Video at all? I don't, despite having Prime, because it doesn't work with Chromecast.
- randyrand 9y agoAmazon Prime Video would be worth it in and of itself if I ever looked at it I'm sure but I only use Netflix
- kelnos 9y agoI've done that re-evaluation and have decided that the extra per-order for shipping is worth it to me. I also do watch things on Prime Video, so that's a useful add-on.
- __jal 9y agoI dropped Prime when Azon started their clever strategy of leaving my purchases on the street. (I live alone in an urban, somewhat sketchy area with a mail slot in my door.) It is just way too much of a hassle to buy something, only to have to argue with Amazon after they gifted it to some random person. So I buy a lot less from Bezosmart these days. Can't say it is much of a loss for me.
- apotheothesomai 9y agoIt's the carriers (USPS, FedEx, UPS etc.) who leave your purchases on the street, not Amazon. Amazon can't micromanage their shipping partners to alter the way they do deliveries. You don't have argue with Amazon. You press the "where's my stuff" button and send a message. They'll ship a replacement right away. If you live in a sketchy area, don't order things. Similarly, I live in a cottage behind a big house. I can't hear or see delivery trucks, so I avoid any orders that require a signature.
- tacomonstrous 9y ago>It's the carriers (USPS, FedEx, UPS etc.) who leave your purchases on the street, not Amazon. Amazon can't micromanage their shipping partners to alter the way they do deliveries. Amazon has been using their own delivery service here for quite a few of my orders, and they don't always know what they are doing. I would wager this is why the parent was facing problems. I've actually had to contact Amazon about this several times after we moved to this location. To the extent where I was seriously annoyed that I couldn't find a customer service option right on the order page and instead had to click separately through their customer service flow, only to find that the agent has no idea what order I'm concerned about, and that I have to go through the whole rigmarole of telling them my name (if you have an uncommon name like mine, this quickly becomes a chore), address, order, etc. To Amazon's credit, they've always made it right with me, but I shouldn't have to contact them every week about this issue. That's at least partly the reason I canceled our membership.
- ben1040 9y ago
- woolvalley 9y agoI've found after the first initial years of establishing myself, I rarely buy much of anything from amazon other than the rare uncommon $5-$15 object that would be hard to find in a store. What I do buy is significantly cheaper to just buy at target anyway during grocery runs. I also never use the other services even though they are available. Amazon music isn't as good as spotify, the tv offering isn't that interesting, etc.
- fbonetti 9y agoThe ability to have nearly anything I want shipped to me with 2 days for a flat annual rate is absolutely devastating. I don’t know how I don’t know how I manage to function when a BIG, EVIL corporation is manipulating me into buying stuff I want. /s
- throwawaygbm8 9y agoYour flippant attitude just proves your ignorance of the issues. But you’re probably not one of the overworked warehouse workers getting shit pay and no benefits, so you don’t care.
- mrep 9y agoFind me a good warehouse job because I have yet to hear of one that is good (Amazon sounds average for warehouse but warehouse jobs are hard regardless of your company). Also, warehouse employees get the same benefits as corporate: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employee-benefits-2017-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employee-benefits-2017...
- dang 9y agoAbusing HN like this will eventually get your main account banned as well. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- andrepd 9y agoYeah, it must be fun being sarcastically dismissive of criticism when you aren't the one getting the short end of the stick (or maybe you are and don't even realise it). Trampling workers rights, unloading externalities onto taxpayers, establishing dangerous dominance in many sectors, wiping your ass with user privacy, hugely increasing pollution to deliver packages a day earlier, just a few examples of what it costs to ship you packets of cheap crap within 2 days. Dismissing all that because you appreciate the convenience of free 2-day delivery is the purest expression of first-world privilege.
- dang 9y ago
- yakitori 9y agoWhat's the point of this article? Is it news? Is it interesting? Is it HN material? It's not hard to quit amazon prime. I only sign up for amazon prime once a year during christmas and then cancel the membership at the end of the month. Takes me a few seconds. Wish HN was more technology centric like it used to be rather than peddling silly washingtonpost and nytimes articles.
- cf498 9y ago>Less than 1 percent of Amazon Prime members even consider other sites in the same shopping session, according to market research consultancy Millward Brown Digital. Yes, because I dont care for the shipping cost but the guaranteed overnight shipping for pretty much everything I need. The argument, that you get cheaper delivery is moot if that isnt the reason why you use amazon prime.
- BeetleB 9y agoThey didn't address the pricing issue well. For well known products, Amazon Prime may have cheap prices. For random items, they often are more expensive (more often than not, in my experience). More expensive compared to other sites/local stores, and more expensive than the non-Prime option from Amazon. People who sell FBA on Amazon make good money because people who have Prime usually only buy Prime-eligible products. You can get a book + shipping for, say, $10 if you are willing to forego 2 day shipping. But the lowest prime-eligible price may be $20. These are not hypothetical prices. I've sold stuff using Amazon FBA where many of the cheapest sellers are selling under $10, and I list it at, say, $25 for Prime users, and I still sell it. A lot of Prime users simply filter for Prime options and never consider the cheaper options on the same page.
- headmelted 9y agoNot explicitly Prime-related, but the author ponders why someone would shop at Amazon rather than Walmart (as an example). We don't have Walmart in my part of the world, but what I can say is that Amazon is the preference not just for the fast delivery, but for the security. If I get delivered a crap product that's not as described, I know Amazon won't argue with me. I dread taking anything back to any other retailer I've dealt with. There's only so many times you can be told some variant of "oh we can't help you because you broke the seal that you needed to break to open the box". I'll vote with my wallet, and if it means hegemony, then Amazon's competitors should have started giving a rats behind years ago.
- bagacrap 9y agoI don't know where you are but that sounds like a cultural difference. Most American retailers have very good return policies. I was at Lowe's (big box hardware store) recently and witnessed someone return an open bag of beef jerky because they didn't like the flavor. The only places with bad return policies are small mom and pops.
- stordoff 9y agoMost places in the UK do as well (it's mandatory online), but Amazon tend to deal with returns outside that initial period much better. I recently had a pair of headphones break after 17 months use - still in warranty but I wanted to avoid the manufacturer if possible due to the 2 week turnaround time and the fact that Amazon listed them as "Used - Like New" (Warehouse Deals). In similar situations, other retailers have either been extremely awkward about the exchange or insisted that the manufacturer do the repair. With this one, one email to Amazon and less than twelve hours later I had a returns label and a refund on the way. It's still worth shopping around - occasionally Amazon can be far more expensive than the alternatives - but if the price is close, _knowing_ that Amazon will sort an issue even if it doesn't show up for a year plus without even questioning is useful to know.
- headmelted 9y agoI'm in the UK. My experiences have been vastly different than your own - the CRA helps, certainly - but I've found retailers don't really abide the law as much as like to be forced kicking and screaming into adhering to it. Even retailers who boast having their reputation for support at the core of their business. I've had hellish experiences getting John Lewis to deal with failed electronics, even a DOA laptop. You have the right to take a retailer to court of course, but most know you won't bother with the hassle and give up. Again, only my experience. One I've never had with Amazon.
- yorby 9y agoIf you want to pay 10% more on everything, Prime might be for you.
- wilwade 9y agoAs a former prime member, there are times I miss it, but not much. What I miss most is Amazon caring about me as a customer. I don't think I am the only one who finds that as a non-prime customer my packages take a really long time to ship. I often have to contact Amazon to get them to actually ship my infrequent orders. Once you are out, you are really out.
- soneil 9y ago> I don't think I am the only one who finds that as a non-prime customer my packages take a really long time to ship. This is precisely why I refuse to even try Prime. It feels like a protection racket. It's not unusual for them to take a week or two to even dispatch an item. If I don't like it, I'm welcome to pay their protection money. It's saving me plenty though. Most the stuff I get from Amazon, I can get from China at a fraction of the price. Now that amazon isn't neccessarily faster than China (yes, let that sink in!), I may as well order it from China. (and note I'm talking about time to dispatch here. I'm not complaining I get default shipping rather than 2-day shipping. I'm complaining it takes them a week or two to pull the item off a shelf)
- skellera 9y agoTo be honest, it’s not any different as a prime member. It just takes a shorter time once it’s sent. I don’t know why I stick around.
- AdamJacobMuller 9y agoPrime is worth it to me even for just prime video. 8.25/MRC is way less than my Netflix subscription.
- joshamania 9y agoI had prime for a couple of years specifically for the video. I probably didn't get hooked on the shipping for a good two years after I first signed up. I don't have cable and I find Netflix gets stale if it's all one uses. There have been precious few competitors to Netflix and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay Hulu and watch their commercials. Network TV pretty much sucks anyway (imo) so I don't really see any use for Hulu.
- myrandomcomment 9y agoJust tried to order 3x15ft rope lights from a sight for that sort of stuff. Around $60 for each spool. They wanted $161 shipping. Same thing on Amazon, $70 each with free shipping. My wife and I order something once a week at least (household stuff). Prime works out well. Plus we get to watch the Grand Tour!