4 ms·
I’ll pay more to not drive to a brick and mortar at this point. I don’t want to get in my car and go to Best Buy or Target or whatever and hope they’re stocking
by dpark 9y ago
I’ll pay more to not drive to a brick and mortar at this point. I don’t want to get in my car and go to Best Buy or Target or whatever and hope they’re stocking what I want, when I know I can get it in two days from Amazon or another online retailer. I’ve been bitten by that too many times. I sometimes miss browsing in person, but I don’t miss wasting my time.
- megaman22 9y agoMy favorite thing lately is how Lowes and Home Depot will let you look up items on their website, see how many are in stock, and, most importantly, what aisle and bay that item is in. It's usually correct, too. I'm not going to buy those kinds of items sight unseen (go check out lumber at these places... I've gone through half a lift of pine boards to get a half dozen that are straight enough to use... And even more regular hardware, I want to put my tape on it first). But it's a struggle to find just where slightly oddball stuff might be located, if you don't know, and chances are you won't encounter somebody on staff that knows whst you're asking for and where it is in these gargantuan places.
- dpark 9y agoI have taken advantage of the aisle/bay info with Home Depot. It is quite nice for things I couldn’t otherwise find. It’s not always correct but it’s helpful. Home centers actually stock things that are hard to buy online efficiently, too. e.g. You cannot buy a large metal rolling tool chest on Amazon at a reasonable price. Husky wins that battle definitively.
- new_acct_ 9y agoIs this submarine advertising? Every major retailer has a listing of in stock items, per store, and will do same day pickup.
- dpark 9y agoSo I should do my shopping online and then drive to Best Buy instead of just clicking “place order” and getting the same item at the same price in a day or two? For something I need desperately right now, okay, but for everything else my time saved is worth more than the slightly more instant gratification.
- solarkraft 9y agoin-person assessment. and yes, quick availability.
- samfisher83 9y agoYou could place the order and pick up in store. You would get the order a couple days faster, and don't have to go find the item in the aisle.
- dpark 9y agoBut I’d spend nearly an hour round tripping to Best Buy including commute and checkout. This is not a win for things I don’t need urgently. I seriously doubt it’s a win for the environment either. It cannot be more efficient for me to drive a vehicle to go pick up a small package than for UPS to put the package on a truck with hundreds of others.
- Brendinooo 9y agoIs "amount of time and dollars spent" the only part of your purchasing decision matrix? Something to be said for supporting jobs in your community, keeping money in your area, bumping into people you might not have seen as much otherwise, etc. Stores can also be great for discovery. It's a lot easier to play with laptops at Best Buy than it is to research how the keyboard might feel online. In another product category, the local video store (we still have one!!) still beats out online in terms of being able to browse selection; I'll see frequent complaints from Netflix users about not being to find what's on.
- dpark 9y ago> Is "amount of time and dollars spent" the only part of your purchasing decision matrix? No, but it’s a big part. > Something to be said for supporting jobs in your community, keeping money in your area, The comment here was about “major retailers”. If you want to buy from a local mom and pop shop, awesome. There are great reasons to do that. If you’re going to Best Buy, those reasons pretty much evaporate. That money doesn’t stay in the area and the jobs probably aren't better than UPS provides. > bumping into people you might not have seen as much otherwise No thanks. People say this because it sounds good and is hard to refute but I don’t care a bit about bumping into people at the store. I bump into someone I care about at a store less than once a year. Interacting with people in a retail store is not generally very rewarding. They’re almost always either salespeople or strangers. People in stores are better referred to as crowds. > Stores can also be great for discovery. It's a lot easier to play with laptops at Best Buy than it is to research how the keyboard might feel online. Sure. There are reasons to buy in person and this is a good one. “Need to physically hold to evaluate” is not a common attribute of most of the things I buy, though. And generally free return shipping solves for this when I do need it.
- esturk 9y agoLet's not forget that Amazon Prime has gotten worse with longer delivery periods even when they say it's 2 days. It has been coming later. And this is outside the holidays.
- nugi 9y agoYup, my 2 dqy shipping is 4 days of handling and 2.5 of shipping. I am lucky if I can order monday and get it by saturday. Its nearly worthless as I tend to order enough for free shipping anyway.
- SeanBoocock 9y agoReally? That's not been my anecdotal experience but would be curious to hear if this is a common experience. I have had trouble with Amazon's own courier, but have largely mitigated that issue by asking Amazon customer service to use other couriers.
- lostapathy 9y agoIts gotten really bad for me and a lot of my friends, lots of prime deliveries on little stuff take 4-5 days, and a lot of items say one day at checkout then a day later when i get the shipping notice, It’s ridiculous. Especially so since i live under 2 miles from an Amazon warehouse.
- dpark 9y agoI get two day deliveries in a single day much more often than in >two days. Late deliveries happen but are very uncommon for me.
- MattRix 9y agoThis hasn't been true for me, if anything it seems faster these day. I get most 2-day shipped stuff in less than 24 hours.
- toomuchtodo 9y agoI’m 35 miles from a fulfillment center in a major metro and I couldn’t get a Prime package sooner than 3 days when I was still using Amazon.