6 ms·
> 1. Average American spends THREE THOUSAND DOLLAR year at Amazon. Where else would americans be getting home goods like soap, appliances, electronics? Vitamin
by taurath 8mo ago
> 1. Average American spends THREE THOUSAND DOLLAR year at Amazon.
Where else would americans be getting home goods like soap, appliances, electronics? Vitamins, perscriptions, etc?
The answer to almost every one of those, for the vast majority of Americans, is one of like 5 megacorps. Target, Walmart, Kroger, CVS, Amazon. Things have largely stopped being available retail because of all this consolidation. If I want to go buy a multivitamin, its no joke like $25 a bottle at my grocery store, and $8 on amazon. It is just kinda... a part of people's lives now, and the alternatives all involve either spending more money or time.
- abnercoimbre 8mo agoIt’s funny: a loved one gifted me a book knowing I’m opposed to Amazon’s practices. They let me know they bought it elsewhere and the act of paying more was part of the gift’s charm (they’ll use Amazon otherwise.)
- bombcar 8mo agoI've found that books of all things are usually something you can get for Amazon prices elsewhere.
- sfn42 8mo agoI just Google the book name followed by the word epub and generally find what I'm looking for pretty quickly.
- 4gotunameagain 8mo agoApples and oranges. Both fruits, some don't enjoy one as much.
- tene80i 8mo agoBooks are staggeringly affordable (aside from hardback), and if even they seem too expensive, libraries exist and offer ebooks. I would honestly be embarrassed to announce this – it reveals something very unflattering.
- sfn42 8mo agoStaggeringly affordable? Last time I checked ebooks were roughly the same price as physical books. That's ridiculous. If they were like 20% of the price I'd buy them. I don't care man. It doesn't matter to the world whether I spend money on books or not. It only matters to me. Or I guess it's more correct to say it matters much more to me than to the rest of the world. So yeah, I'm not worried about it. I don't tip either, by the way, unless I see a very good reason to. Given the choice, I prefer to keep my money rather than give it away. Couldn't care less what you or anyone else thinks about it.
- titanomachy 8mo agoMaybe you should care a little bit what the people spitting in your food think about it.
- sfn42 8mo agoOh yeah because I definitely want to be giving money to entitled shits who'll spit in my food. That makes all the sense. Tipping happens after anyway. And for the record I'm not American, we don't have the insane tipping culture you guys do. I know you're American because only an American would say what you just did.
- titanomachy 8mo agoI'm not American, but I assumed you were American because you were defiantly declaring that you don't tip, whereas in Europe (for example) it would not be worthy of comment :P Guess we both assumed. Also, you're right that the tip comes after, so not tipping is safe... until you go to the same restaurant twice (in America).
- tene80i 8mo agoSure, ebooks could be cheaper, but they’re still cheap as hell. $5-10 for what, ten hours of entertainment? A fraction of what you pay to dine out. I mean, you can be as cheap as you like, but this thread exists because you’re promoting your cheapness tactics for others to emulate, which, at scale, actively harms the very things you are enjoying. You can be cheap! It’s just parasitical, which is why I suggested it was a shameful thing to announce.
- carlosjobim 8mo agoAre you going to give an epub as a present to somebody?
- sfn42 8mo agoNo, I don't mind giving physical books as gifts to people who want them. In fact I don't mind physical books at all. I just prefer ebooks because an ebook reader is 100 times better. It has backlight so I can read in the dark, it's compact so I can put it in my pocket, it's light and ergonomic so I can easily hold it and flip pages in one hand, and it can fit literally a whole library worth of books in my pocket. It's not even a competition, as far as I'm concerned physical books are furniture at this point.
- bubblewand 8mo agoWeird, I regard a far-superior UI as the advantage for physical books (with ebooks winning on just about every single other front).
- yunwal 8mo agoThe main issue is that you can't actually buy ebooks anywhere
- aucisson_masque 8mo agoYou can buy used books, they sell extremely cheap and are perfectly readable. There is a lot of seller, at least in France, but I guess it must be similar in usa.
- kreco 8mo agoNot invalidating your comment, but sometimes paying "new goods" means to support the creator.
- abnercoimbre 8mo agoCorrect, I should've clarified I buy new hardcovers to support the author!
- rahimnathwani 8mo agoUsed books in France appear extremely cheap because new ones can't be discounted. By law (I think) retailers only allowed to offer a maximum 5% off. Used books are exempt from the law entirely, so they're priced by pure market forces. In countries like the US or UK, a recently-published book might already be 40% off list price, so used copies may not be as much of a bargain.
- toomuchtodo 8mo agoLove is "I remembered."
- rationalist 8mo agoI have found eBay to be cheaper for books than Amazon.
- indecisive_user 8mo agoFor vitamins/supplements specifically, there's Costco, iHerb, nootropics depot. While they might not be the absolute cheapest options, they're usually a pretty good price and at least with those sources I'm not too concerned with counterfeit or tainted supplements, unlike Amazon [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20499808 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20499808
- themafia 8mo agoThere used to be 6 Walgreen's in my city. Now there are 2. I've used Amazon to fill some of that gap because the 30 minute drive is bonkers for toothpaste. COVID hit this economy like a Mack truck and helped the monopolists grab even more of a share.
- qup 8mo agoToothpaste is in basically every store. Dollar stores, grocery stores. Probably most convenience stations.
- throwaway173738 8mo agoIt might surprise you to know that there are different kinds of toothpaste and even toothbrushes, all with differing levels of effectiveness. Some people get advised to use specific kinds by their dentist.
- qup 8mo agoThat does not surprise me, and has nothing to do with my comment, to boot.
- dboreham 8mo agoSoap comes from Costco.
- taurath 8mo agoAdd Costco to the 5 and that’s pretty much it for options.
- johnnyanmac 8mo agoAt least I don't feel morally repugnant shopping at Costco. I live right next to WalMart and leave it as a means of last resort. Cancelled Amazon Prime. I guess Vonz/Ralphs/Albersons are all Krogers, so I'm got there if I need small groceries.
- troyvit 8mo agoSoap comes from everywhere. It's in the grocery store, drug stores. Hell it's in every hotel you stay in. Just grab it before you go and you've got a few weeks' supply.
- efreak 8mo agoI would guess that the median American can count the number of times they've ever been to a hotel on their fingers. Possibly even the average American.
- troyvit 8mo agoEh it's the same with motels, which a lot more people go to for one reason or another. It's not even worth cherry picking when there are so many other sources of soap that don't come from the back of a van.
- wiredpancake 8mo ago[dead]
- troyvit 8mo agoI'll add to the chorus who ditched Amazon years ago because of their predatory practices. I do recognize though that I'm a relatively rich American so I can afford to, but if everybody who did, could, the market might look different. That said, how much of that $3k/year is spent on things they need vs things they bought through Amazon's upselling algorithms? I drive past the giant warehouses and I wonder, how much useful stuff is actually in there? Because when I do find myself on amazon.com most of what I see is just trash wrapped in plastic. And it proves a point: Things are still available at retail. Sometimes it is a box store but just as often it's a smaller shop. Does it take more time? Sure! But seriously, what is everybody using all that time they saved by shopping at Amazon for? From what I see it's more shopping online.
- FireBeyond 8mo ago> If I want to go buy a multivitamin, its no joke like $25 a bottle at my grocery store Such a rort. There's so much margin in them that my grocery store permanently has "buy 1 get 1 free" deals, and occasionally "buy 1 get TWO free".