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For me, living without Prime requires no energy and takes the form of (1) waiting a few extra days and (2) buying less casually and frequently, resulting in spe

by gdulli 9y ago

For me, living without Prime requires no energy and takes the form of (1) waiting a few extra days and (2) buying less casually and frequently, resulting in spending less money on things I don't need. I've also moved most of my shopping off Amazon altogether as well, and it was surprisingly easy. Just a few searches to see who's got the best price on [x] right now. It's surprisingly often not Amazon.

untog 9y ago
> a few searches to see who's got the best price on [x] right now. It's surprisingly often not Amazon. That's definitely not "no energy" and is kind of exactly the OP's point. Amazon might not be the cheapest but they'll still be very close, and you save time by just defaulting to them.
- BeetleB 9y ago
  There are browser extensions that make them virtually "no energy". Haven't used them in a long time so I can't speak for the current experience. I would very much dispute the "very close" claim. I find they're very close or the cheapest for fairly pricey items. For not-so-common items, or for regular supplies, they are often not even close. I bought a steamer rack from them for over $15. It's a very popular item, made from a well known brand and with over 1000 reviews. Just last week I was in a local grocery store and found a very similar steamer for less than $7. Looking at similar steamers in Amazon, they are all above $10 if I order Prime. I do see one which is about $8, but I have to specially select the non-default non-Prime option for that listing. On a search result, it shows up as $11, not $8. Note that I am not a Prime member, yet those are the prices I see when I search. If you do a lot of "regular" shopping, those deltas really add up.
rtpg 9y ago
One thing GP mentioned is family. When you start having kids, it often becomes a hell of a lot trickier to thread this needle, based off of what I've heard. Sure, for some stuff you can play this game, but school supplies for example? Though many of us likely can still try
tacomonstrous 9y ago
I also just recently canceled Prime, and have had the same experience. I realized that I'm paying a premium for services like Video and Music that I never use. Also, it was very rare that I had a cart that didn't qualify for free shipping with or without Prime. On the whole, I think this will lead to a much needed sanitisation of our buying habits for the coming year. We had gotten so used to buying things basically on a whim. It's good to be more thoughtful about our consumption.
- spaceisballer 9y ago
  What’s odd is my experience with cancelling Prime is the same with getting rid of my Facebook. Once I got rid of it I was happy and didn’t miss it. Having no prime just means I lose out on instant gratification (well 1-2 day delay becomes a week). I also did not use prime music or video, so they didn’t have their hooks in me.

by gdulli 9y ago

untog 9y ago

> a few searches to see who's got the best price on [x] right now. It's surprisingly often not Amazon. That's definitely not "no energy" and is kind of exactly the OP's point. Amazon might not be the cheapest but they'll still be very close, and you save time by just defaulting to them.

BeetleB 9y ago
There are browser extensions that make them virtually "no energy". Haven't used them in a long time so I can't speak for the current experience. I would very much dispute the "very close" claim. I find they're very close or the cheapest for fairly pricey items. For not-so-common items, or for regular supplies, they are often not even close. I bought a steamer rack from them for over $15. It's a very popular item, made from a well known brand and with over 1000 reviews. Just last week I was in a local grocery store and found a very similar steamer for less than $7. Looking at similar steamers in Amazon, they are all above $10 if I order Prime. I do see one which is about $8, but I have to specially select the non-default non-Prime option for that listing. On a search result, it shows up as $11, not $8. Note that I am not a Prime member, yet those are the prices I see when I search. If you do a lot of "regular" shopping, those deltas really add up.

rtpg 9y ago

One thing GP mentioned is family. When you start having kids, it often becomes a hell of a lot trickier to thread this needle, based off of what I've heard. Sure, for some stuff you can play this game, but school supplies for example? Though many of us likely can still try

tacomonstrous 9y ago

I also just recently canceled Prime, and have had the same experience. I realized that I'm paying a premium for services like Video and Music that I never use. Also, it was very rare that I had a cart that didn't qualify for free shipping with or without Prime. On the whole, I think this will lead to a much needed sanitisation of our buying habits for the coming year. We had gotten so used to buying things basically on a whim. It's good to be more thoughtful about our consumption.

spaceisballer 9y ago
What’s odd is my experience with cancelling Prime is the same with getting rid of my Facebook. Once I got rid of it I was happy and didn’t miss it. Having no prime just means I lose out on instant gratification (well 1-2 day delay becomes a week). I also did not use prime music or video, so they didn’t have their hooks in me.