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I went from being an enthusiastic fan of Amazon Prime and a $50k spend one year [+] to closing my Amazon account and then warning other people away from it in t

I went from being an enthusiastic fan of Amazon Prime and a $50k spend one year [+] to closing my Amazon account and then warning other people away from it in the space of about five years. I can't recall any other business from which I've moved so quickly and so far from one end of the spectrum of enthusiasm to the other. [+] Most of it was for business -- parts and equipment for customers, it was often cheaper that way than my wholesale supplier.

servercobra 7y ago
Google has been about the same for me. I went from total Google fanboy to migrating a lot of my life away from them and advising others to do the same.
- mav3rick 7y ago
  No non tech person is going to use Duck Duck Go.
  - servercobra 7y ago
    I'm not even using Duck Duck Go. But that doesn't mean you need to use Gmail, Google Maps, Android, etc etc.
  - wyre 7y ago
    I don't work in tech or do any programming and I use ddg.
  - chiefgeek 7y ago
    Why not? There is zero difference between it's interface and that of Google search.
    - iamaelephant 7y ago
      Because of the search results.
      - int_19h 7y ago
        Google search results have been deteriorating in the past couple of years. It feels like the algorithm has been deliberately tweaked to produce larger quantities of less relevant results - it will often substitute words for "synonyms" that are much broader in scope, to the point of rendering the query pointless. I can't help but think that the purpose is to then show more "relevant" ads.
        QuinnWilton 7y ago
        Even so, the deteriorated results I get from Google tend to be better than what I get anywhere else. I have DDG set as my default engine, and frequently need to fallback on Google. I wish I could say DDG was as good or better, but outside of the privacy perspective, that unfortunately hasn't been my experience.
        FalconSensei 7y ago
        Unfortunately, there's no way DDG could compete with Google without any tracking/history as google has.
        ProZsolt 7y ago
        Once I had great Google Fu. I could find really niche topics. Currently, it's completely useless for that. If it's not something that many people want to find, you cant find it.
        int_19h 7y ago
        You can still pull it off, but it requires copious quoting to ensure no substitutions or removals from the query.
      - wruza 7y ago
        Reevaluating this statement yearly is a good practice for an enlightenment.
  - ratww 7y ago
    After moving to Germany I met quite a few non-tech people who ditched Google for DDG: artists, musicians, accountants, translators.
    - mav3rick 7y ago
      You can still fallback to Google from the DDG UI
- fma 7y ago
  Thinking about doing the same to diversify where my private info gets sucked up. Who do you use for email?
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    I’m not the person you responded to, but I use fastmail and migadu.
    - stilley2 7y ago
      +1 for fastmail
      - x0x0 7y ago
        also +1 for fastmail. (I say this as a longtime user, and this is not meant to be damning with faint praise). Their email is best of class outside of gmail. It even beats in certain ways: It syncs faster. It's not made by a surveillance company. As a paying user, I've gotten very competent tech support. They have very good privacy controls re: image loading. They seem to permanently grandfather rates, which is nice. Downsides: their label system is, to someone who really likes gmail, not as good. Calendar syncing on Android with their preferred sync app breaks every couple of months until you hit resync. Fastmail is in Australia, and I'm not sure the impact of Australia's police assistance laws. Same: They support u2f. Their product has improved a lot in the 5 years I've been using it, and is very worth the money. I think it's critically important that there exist high quality alternatives to google services, so that's a nice secondary reason to pay them.
        aerique 7y ago
        In the case of Fastmail I don't know what you mean with "their preferred sync app" but I've used CalDAV-Sync in the past and now DAVx5 (because it's easier to use (used to be DAVdroid)) and I've never had these problems you mention.
        7y ago
reaperducer 7y ago
I went from being an enthusiastic fan of Amazon Prime and a $50k spend one year [+] to closing my Amazon account I used to spend about as much as you. Now I almost never buy anything from amazon.com. The only value my Prime membership has to me now is discounts at Whole Foods, and Prime Video. Otherwise, I bet I spend less than $500 a year at amazon.com.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  How on earth can you possibly spend so much on random consumer products sold on Amazon? Are people really buying so much junk that it costs more than most peoples yearly salaries?
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    Live in a remote place. Own a business. Have more people than yourself to support. You get there pretty quickly.
  - zeroonetwothree 7y ago
    I spend about $20k on personal items only (no business).
    - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
      On Amazon? Are you buying jet skis on the site? I don't understand how someone can spend so much in a year on Amazon.
      - nonamenoslogan 7y ago
        I have a friend who buys nearly everything aside from perishable food via Amazon because they will put it directly on his porch and he doesn't have to go to a physical store. I laughed when he told me it was cheaper to have 50 lbs of cat litter delivered to his porch via Prime than to drive across town to the Walmart.
- 7y ago

servercobra 7y ago

Google has been about the same for me. I went from total Google fanboy to migrating a lot of my life away from them and advising others to do the same.

mav3rick 7y ago
No non tech person is going to use Duck Duck Go.
- servercobra 7y ago
  I'm not even using Duck Duck Go. But that doesn't mean you need to use Gmail, Google Maps, Android, etc etc.
- wyre 7y ago
  I don't work in tech or do any programming and I use ddg.
- chiefgeek 7y ago
  Why not? There is zero difference between it's interface and that of Google search.
  - iamaelephant 7y ago
    Because of the search results.
    - int_19h 7y ago
      Google search results have been deteriorating in the past couple of years. It feels like the algorithm has been deliberately tweaked to produce larger quantities of less relevant results - it will often substitute words for "synonyms" that are much broader in scope, to the point of rendering the query pointless. I can't help but think that the purpose is to then show more "relevant" ads.
      - QuinnWilton 7y ago
        Even so, the deteriorated results I get from Google tend to be better than what I get anywhere else. I have DDG set as my default engine, and frequently need to fallback on Google. I wish I could say DDG was as good or better, but outside of the privacy perspective, that unfortunately hasn't been my experience.
        FalconSensei 7y ago
        Unfortunately, there's no way DDG could compete with Google without any tracking/history as google has.
      - ProZsolt 7y ago
        Once I had great Google Fu. I could find really niche topics. Currently, it's completely useless for that. If it's not something that many people want to find, you cant find it.
        int_19h 7y ago
        You can still pull it off, but it requires copious quoting to ensure no substitutions or removals from the query.
    - wruza 7y ago
      Reevaluating this statement yearly is a good practice for an enlightenment.
- ratww 7y ago
  After moving to Germany I met quite a few non-tech people who ditched Google for DDG: artists, musicians, accountants, translators.
  - mav3rick 7y ago
    You can still fallback to Google from the DDG UI
fma 7y ago
Thinking about doing the same to diversify where my private info gets sucked up. Who do you use for email?
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  I’m not the person you responded to, but I use fastmail and migadu.
  - stilley2 7y ago
    +1 for fastmail
    - x0x0 7y ago
      also +1 for fastmail. (I say this as a longtime user, and this is not meant to be damning with faint praise). Their email is best of class outside of gmail. It even beats in certain ways: It syncs faster. It's not made by a surveillance company. As a paying user, I've gotten very competent tech support. They have very good privacy controls re: image loading. They seem to permanently grandfather rates, which is nice. Downsides: their label system is, to someone who really likes gmail, not as good. Calendar syncing on Android with their preferred sync app breaks every couple of months until you hit resync. Fastmail is in Australia, and I'm not sure the impact of Australia's police assistance laws. Same: They support u2f. Their product has improved a lot in the 5 years I've been using it, and is very worth the money. I think it's critically important that there exist high quality alternatives to google services, so that's a nice secondary reason to pay them.
      - aerique 7y ago
        In the case of Fastmail I don't know what you mean with "their preferred sync app" but I've used CalDAV-Sync in the past and now DAVx5 (because it's easier to use (used to be DAVdroid)) and I've never had these problems you mention.
        7y ago

reaperducer 7y ago

I went from being an enthusiastic fan of Amazon Prime and a $50k spend one year [+] to closing my Amazon account I used to spend about as much as you. Now I almost never buy anything from amazon.com. The only value my Prime membership has to me now is discounts at Whole Foods, and Prime Video. Otherwise, I bet I spend less than $500 a year at amazon.com.

Polylactic_acid 7y ago
How on earth can you possibly spend so much on random consumer products sold on Amazon? Are people really buying so much junk that it costs more than most peoples yearly salaries?
- reaperducer 7y ago
  Live in a remote place. Own a business. Have more people than yourself to support. You get there pretty quickly.
- zeroonetwothree 7y ago
  I spend about $20k on personal items only (no business).
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    On Amazon? Are you buying jet skis on the site? I don't understand how someone can spend so much in a year on Amazon.
    - nonamenoslogan 7y ago
      I have a friend who buys nearly everything aside from perishable food via Amazon because they will put it directly on his porch and he doesn't have to go to a physical store. I laughed when he told me it was cheaper to have 50 lbs of cat litter delivered to his porch via Prime than to drive across town to the Walmart.
7y ago