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>Amazon's "secret sauce" is "obsessive compulsive focus on the customer." I feel like this used to be true, but hasn't been the case for at least the past year

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
The biggest example to me that Amazon no longer cares about the customer is their experience for non-Prime users. Random, regular items like Blu-ray discs or diapers will randomly get marked as "Prime Exclusive", and cannot be ordered from Amazon without a Prime subscription, even at a higher price. Prime Exclusive items are, mystifyingly, not even a better price, and usually the same or cheaper elsewhere. Amazon is literally giving you the choice to get Prime or shop elsewhere, and... I go shop elsewhere. Completely mystifying decision on Amazon's part. Amazon just seems to enjoy screwing with anyone who doesn't have Prime, and has done it for years. It's never gotten a lot of coverage because of the pervasiveness of Prime: Anyone reading this comment probably never knew this, because they already had Prime.
- okmokmz 8y ago
  I've had prime for years, and I think I'm going to let it lapse this year and try to stop using amazon altogether
  - jimmy1 8y ago
    As someone currently doing this: I miss nothing. Walmart offers free 2-day shipping on most goods I would typically order from Amazon, and often cheaper. Best Buy has whatever tech thing I want, I get it same-day, and price-matched at Amazon, and I know it isn't counterfeit. Most book publishers (my original reason for using Amazon) have long ditched the platform and directed me towards ordering direct from them which usually nets me reduced price/shipping. Apple music is better than Amazon Music. Audible is separate anyways, having Prime didn't help me out much there. Netflix is better than Amazon streaming, and so on. The biggest benefit so far? I am generally ordering less stuff overall. I felt like I had to order x amount of stuff to make my prime membership "worth it", but it was never "worth it". It just resulted in me spending more money with Amazon, even if I had better alternatives around me.
    - ArrayList 8y ago
      > Walmart offers free 2-day shipping on most goods I would typically order from Amazon, Yeah because WalMart is just a bastion of ethics. Why not support local businesses? I guess you have to ask what you goal is in quitting Amazon - if it's "sticking it to the man", buying stuff from WalMart is probably even worse, ethically.
      - ams6110 8y ago
        Walmart is a local business in most places.
        jhall1468 8y ago
        If by local you mean funnel their money back to corporate headquarters, while simultaneously driving up social welfare costs through shit wages and even more shit healthcare benefits, then yes, it's a local business. But that's not what anyone means by local.
      - jimmy1 8y ago
        If you pull out a big enough "ethics" magnifying glass, you will find ethical flaws in every corporation. One can make the argument, depending on where on the "woke sliding scale" you may lie, that shopping at Walmart is better for the environment than Amazon: they already have a streamlined, efficient supply chain and logistics operation. Amazon relies on a myriad of logistical networks, with many inefficiencies still yet to be solved. But again, not the reason I am shopping/not shopping there. It has nothing to do with sticking it to anyone. Amazon doesn't have the same value proposition as it once did. I realized I was using it just to use it, among other reasons.
    - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
      Yeah, I definitely order less without Prime than when I have Prime. Part of this is that $25 free shipping minimum: I'll hesitate to order cheap things if I have to pay for shipping, so I wait until I have an order that's at least $25, and sometimes then end up never ordering them at all. And I also use a fair bit of Walmart and Best Buy ordering now. Both do ship to store as well, though Walmart's is annoyingly lackluster because in-store pickup closes early in the day.
  - killyp 8y ago
    I just bought a ton of outdoor gear and consistently found other websites such as Backcountry, Moosejaw and REI to be significantly cheaper. Was usually 2-3 day shipping which isn't much worse than Prime's 2 day.
    - ams6110 8y ago
      Prime's 2-day shipping often took more than two days for me anyway. And there's nothing more than an apology "sorry, your package is taking longer than expected" when that happens.
  - tareqak 8y ago
    I'm considering doing the same. I have an Amazon Prime Visa Rewards card that will go from being 5% cashback to 3% on purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods, and I'll lose the ability to use the Twitch Prime subscription or use Amazon Video, but I don't think I will miss them.
  - specialp 8y ago
    My Prime membership has actually lapsed today when I have had it since it launched. Since then it has increased by $50, 2 day prime option seems to be unavailable for items not warehoused locally, and my shipping has changed to gig economy delivery which results in unpredictable delivery times and lost packages. In addition Amazon has become why I stopped shopping at eBay. Unreliable products from China or outright fakes. Ironically I go to eBay now when I want some genuine tool or part as I can get it used from a US liquidator. Combine that with that I don't really care about Prime videos or "Prime exclusive offers" (which are really fake discounted Chinese goods for the most part)
- judge2020 8y ago
  > The biggest example to me that Amazon no longer cares about the customer is their experience for non-Prime users. That's the thing - you're not an Amazon customer if you don't subscribe to Prime. You're the merchant's customer, you just happen to be shopping through Amazon's site.
  - hombre_fatal 8y ago
    Not to interrupt HN's favorite you're-not-the-customer meme, but Amazon takes 8-15% commission from sales. Everyone that buys on Amazon is Amazon's customer making Amazon money.
    - jhall1468 8y ago
      Well we can extend that logic to the absurd pretty easily, can't we: You're the affiliate sites customer. You're the vendors customer. You're the VISA/Mastercard's customer. You're the gateway/merchant account providers customer. People need to learn to accept that you simply aren't Amazon's customer unless you buy direct from them, in very much the same way you aren't eBay's customer.
      - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
        First: You can buy straight from Amazon even if you don't have Prime. Second: Using their store makes you their customer. If I go into a store and buy a product, giving them my credit card number to purchase merchandise they advertised, that store can't claim that I'm not really their customer, that they're just a distribution platform for the manufacturer, and that they're not responsible for the counterfeit they just sold me.
        jhall1468 8y ago
        First: I was responding to someone who was using an explicit example of not buying straight from Amazon. Second: The courts strongly disagree with you. You are drawing a thin line between marketplace and vendor. As far as the courts are concerned, they are not the same thing, and you absolutely do not have the exact same protections you would in purchasing directly.
- H1Supreme 8y ago
  Not only this, but ridiculously long shipping times for non-Prime members. My last two orders (over a year ago at this point) took 9 and 11 days to get to me. These were two-day ground shipments, and the products were in stock and fulfilled by Amazon. They simply let them sit for a week, and then shipped the slowest method possible. This is obviously a ploy for me to sign up for Prime. I'll simply shop elsewhere. Amazon's prices are basically retail at this point, anyways. They used to have lots of deals, but I rarely see that on items I shop for these days.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  I opened a Jet/Wal-mart account just because of this BS. I wanted a niche power tool from an Amazon reseller. Too bad. It's Prime exclusive. Same reseller had it on Wal-mart.

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

The biggest example to me that Amazon no longer cares about the customer is their experience for non-Prime users. Random, regular items like Blu-ray discs or diapers will randomly get marked as "Prime Exclusive", and cannot be ordered from Amazon without a Prime subscription, even at a higher price. Prime Exclusive items are, mystifyingly, not even a better price, and usually the same or cheaper elsewhere. Amazon is literally giving you the choice to get Prime or shop elsewhere, and... I go shop elsewhere. Completely mystifying decision on Amazon's part. Amazon just seems to enjoy screwing with anyone who doesn't have Prime, and has done it for years. It's never gotten a lot of coverage because of the pervasiveness of Prime: Anyone reading this comment probably never knew this, because they already had Prime.

okmokmz 8y ago
I've had prime for years, and I think I'm going to let it lapse this year and try to stop using amazon altogether
- jimmy1 8y ago
  As someone currently doing this: I miss nothing. Walmart offers free 2-day shipping on most goods I would typically order from Amazon, and often cheaper. Best Buy has whatever tech thing I want, I get it same-day, and price-matched at Amazon, and I know it isn't counterfeit. Most book publishers (my original reason for using Amazon) have long ditched the platform and directed me towards ordering direct from them which usually nets me reduced price/shipping. Apple music is better than Amazon Music. Audible is separate anyways, having Prime didn't help me out much there. Netflix is better than Amazon streaming, and so on. The biggest benefit so far? I am generally ordering less stuff overall. I felt like I had to order x amount of stuff to make my prime membership "worth it", but it was never "worth it". It just resulted in me spending more money with Amazon, even if I had better alternatives around me.
  - ArrayList 8y ago
    > Walmart offers free 2-day shipping on most goods I would typically order from Amazon, Yeah because WalMart is just a bastion of ethics. Why not support local businesses? I guess you have to ask what you goal is in quitting Amazon - if it's "sticking it to the man", buying stuff from WalMart is probably even worse, ethically.
    - ams6110 8y ago
      Walmart is a local business in most places.
      - jhall1468 8y ago
        If by local you mean funnel their money back to corporate headquarters, while simultaneously driving up social welfare costs through shit wages and even more shit healthcare benefits, then yes, it's a local business. But that's not what anyone means by local.
    - jimmy1 8y ago
      If you pull out a big enough "ethics" magnifying glass, you will find ethical flaws in every corporation. One can make the argument, depending on where on the "woke sliding scale" you may lie, that shopping at Walmart is better for the environment than Amazon: they already have a streamlined, efficient supply chain and logistics operation. Amazon relies on a myriad of logistical networks, with many inefficiencies still yet to be solved. But again, not the reason I am shopping/not shopping there. It has nothing to do with sticking it to anyone. Amazon doesn't have the same value proposition as it once did. I realized I was using it just to use it, among other reasons.
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    Yeah, I definitely order less without Prime than when I have Prime. Part of this is that $25 free shipping minimum: I'll hesitate to order cheap things if I have to pay for shipping, so I wait until I have an order that's at least $25, and sometimes then end up never ordering them at all. And I also use a fair bit of Walmart and Best Buy ordering now. Both do ship to store as well, though Walmart's is annoyingly lackluster because in-store pickup closes early in the day.
- killyp 8y ago
  I just bought a ton of outdoor gear and consistently found other websites such as Backcountry, Moosejaw and REI to be significantly cheaper. Was usually 2-3 day shipping which isn't much worse than Prime's 2 day.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    Prime's 2-day shipping often took more than two days for me anyway. And there's nothing more than an apology "sorry, your package is taking longer than expected" when that happens.
- tareqak 8y ago
  I'm considering doing the same. I have an Amazon Prime Visa Rewards card that will go from being 5% cashback to 3% on purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods, and I'll lose the ability to use the Twitch Prime subscription or use Amazon Video, but I don't think I will miss them.
- specialp 8y ago
  My Prime membership has actually lapsed today when I have had it since it launched. Since then it has increased by $50, 2 day prime option seems to be unavailable for items not warehoused locally, and my shipping has changed to gig economy delivery which results in unpredictable delivery times and lost packages. In addition Amazon has become why I stopped shopping at eBay. Unreliable products from China or outright fakes. Ironically I go to eBay now when I want some genuine tool or part as I can get it used from a US liquidator. Combine that with that I don't really care about Prime videos or "Prime exclusive offers" (which are really fake discounted Chinese goods for the most part)
judge2020 8y ago
> The biggest example to me that Amazon no longer cares about the customer is their experience for non-Prime users. That's the thing - you're not an Amazon customer if you don't subscribe to Prime. You're the merchant's customer, you just happen to be shopping through Amazon's site.
- hombre_fatal 8y ago
  Not to interrupt HN's favorite you're-not-the-customer meme, but Amazon takes 8-15% commission from sales. Everyone that buys on Amazon is Amazon's customer making Amazon money.
  - jhall1468 8y ago
    Well we can extend that logic to the absurd pretty easily, can't we: You're the affiliate sites customer. You're the vendors customer. You're the VISA/Mastercard's customer. You're the gateway/merchant account providers customer. People need to learn to accept that you simply aren't Amazon's customer unless you buy direct from them, in very much the same way you aren't eBay's customer.
    - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
      First: You can buy straight from Amazon even if you don't have Prime. Second: Using their store makes you their customer. If I go into a store and buy a product, giving them my credit card number to purchase merchandise they advertised, that store can't claim that I'm not really their customer, that they're just a distribution platform for the manufacturer, and that they're not responsible for the counterfeit they just sold me.
      - jhall1468 8y ago
        First: I was responding to someone who was using an explicit example of not buying straight from Amazon. Second: The courts strongly disagree with you. You are drawing a thin line between marketplace and vendor. As far as the courts are concerned, they are not the same thing, and you absolutely do not have the exact same protections you would in purchasing directly.
H1Supreme 8y ago
Not only this, but ridiculously long shipping times for non-Prime members. My last two orders (over a year ago at this point) took 9 and 11 days to get to me. These were two-day ground shipments, and the products were in stock and fulfilled by Amazon. They simply let them sit for a week, and then shipped the slowest method possible. This is obviously a ploy for me to sign up for Prime. I'll simply shop elsewhere. Amazon's prices are basically retail at this point, anyways. They used to have lots of deals, but I rarely see that on items I shop for these days.
kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
I opened a Jet/Wal-mart account just because of this BS. I wanted a niche power tool from an Amazon reseller. Too bad. It's Prime exclusive. Same reseller had it on Wal-mart.