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| but I can't help but scream "why??" Because it's a tangible reminder that you need to buy new X and it removes all the barriers entirely to that. It's wildly

| but I can't help but scream "why??" Because it's a tangible reminder that you need to buy new X and it removes all the barriers entirely to that. It's wildly convenient. Might I remind you: - Locate mobile device - Swipe/Unlock mobile device - Locate Safari App/Amazon app - Tap and wait for Safari to load - Access amazon.com - Type in 'X' - Locate results and click on option - Press 'one click purchase' for irony vs. - Press a button.

mikeash 12y ago
It's mildly convenient. There's nothing wrong with mild conveniences, of course. I love them! But I don't see the point in mild conveniences for something you do 20-30 times a year when it requires dedicated hardware. If the use case was something like, push this button and dinner arrives, I'd say it's fantastic. If it was something like, push this button on your phone to re-order detergent, I'd say that's pretty sensible. But a physical button to order an infrequently ordered product makes no sense to me.
- BronSteeDiam 12y ago
  Even when the price of a physical button is $0? Even for Amazon it's cheap, and quickly pays for itself. The line between physical and digital is blurring more every day.
na85 12y ago
Do you really think that ordering something online from the comfort of your couch, in your underwear, is so inconvenient that you need a magic button to press when you run out of laundry detergent? You buy the big jug of high-efficiency stuff that's good for something like 100 loads, that means you need new detergent what, 5 times a year? Or are you just being hyperbolic? I don't know about you, but I make a trip to the grocery store about 1.5x every week anyways. I definitely would never use an online food/grocery service; I prefer to see the lettuce I'm buying when I take it off the shelf. So, given that I'm already at the grocery store something like 80 times a year, and assuming I need to buy more laundry detergent 5 times a year, that's 16 opportunities for me to not pay Amazon shipping and just pick up a jug of detergent when I'm going to be out shopping anyways. Assuming this isn't an April 1 joke and I just got trolled, hard, this is definitely a solution in search of a problem.
- skorgu 12y ago
  I'm at the grocery store approximately zero times a year. For me a "summon cat litter" button would be a marked improvement in my life.
  - na85 12y ago
    Interesting. Do you order groceries online or something? If so, what happens when, say, your apples come bruised?
    - dingaling 12y ago
      > If so, what happens when, say, your apples come bruised? Me: these apples are bruised Tesco man: sorry sir, let me refund that straight away. And keep the apples, you could make a pie with them. Though in five years of online grocery shopping I've only returned a couple of items. The apples have made it all the way unbruised from New Zealand after all, four more miles is nothing.
      - na85 12y ago
        So in other words, if your apples show up bruised, you're still stuck with bruised apples? And then you have to wait for the new unbruised ones to arrive? That sounds like a much worse experience than simply going to the market and picking out unbruised apples.
        reinhardt 12y ago
        Do you really think that getting a few bruised apples once or twice a year, if that, and keeping them for free when this happens until the replacement comes, is so unacceptable that you need to be going to the grocery store each and every time to handpick and carry carefully your apples back home? Or are you just being hyperbolic?
        na85 12y ago
hyloguy 12y ago
Half of those steps would be eliminated if Amazon would simply add a "favorites" or "regular items" panel to their mobile app, where all the "buttons" for the items you regularly need would be displayed, and you could just tap on one to re-order it. Given the fact that people almost always have their smartphone with them now, having a separate external button for every product is ridiculously redundant.
- vidarh 12y ago
  The time I'm least likely to have my phone with me is when doing things like starting the laundry, or starting the dishwasher, or grabbing the last soda in the fridge, or similar stuff around the house, where I may have left the phone somewhere else in the house. Pretty much every other time the phone will be in my pocket and the value would be less. But even then it'd mean fishing my phone out, unlocking, starting an app instead of just pushing a button. Not torture by any means, but if I can just stick a button there and not have to think about it again, then awesome.

mikeash 12y ago

It's mildly convenient. There's nothing wrong with mild conveniences, of course. I love them! But I don't see the point in mild conveniences for something you do 20-30 times a year when it requires dedicated hardware. If the use case was something like, push this button and dinner arrives, I'd say it's fantastic. If it was something like, push this button on your phone to re-order detergent, I'd say that's pretty sensible. But a physical button to order an infrequently ordered product makes no sense to me.

BronSteeDiam 12y ago
Even when the price of a physical button is $0? Even for Amazon it's cheap, and quickly pays for itself. The line between physical and digital is blurring more every day.

na85 12y ago

Do you really think that ordering something online from the comfort of your couch, in your underwear, is so inconvenient that you need a magic button to press when you run out of laundry detergent? You buy the big jug of high-efficiency stuff that's good for something like 100 loads, that means you need new detergent what, 5 times a year? Or are you just being hyperbolic? I don't know about you, but I make a trip to the grocery store about 1.5x every week anyways. I definitely would never use an online food/grocery service; I prefer to see the lettuce I'm buying when I take it off the shelf. So, given that I'm already at the grocery store something like 80 times a year, and assuming I need to buy more laundry detergent 5 times a year, that's 16 opportunities for me to not pay Amazon shipping and just pick up a jug of detergent when I'm going to be out shopping anyways. Assuming this isn't an April 1 joke and I just got trolled, hard, this is definitely a solution in search of a problem.

skorgu 12y ago
I'm at the grocery store approximately zero times a year. For me a "summon cat litter" button would be a marked improvement in my life.
- na85 12y ago
  Interesting. Do you order groceries online or something? If so, what happens when, say, your apples come bruised?
  - dingaling 12y ago
    > If so, what happens when, say, your apples come bruised? Me: these apples are bruised Tesco man: sorry sir, let me refund that straight away. And keep the apples, you could make a pie with them. Though in five years of online grocery shopping I've only returned a couple of items. The apples have made it all the way unbruised from New Zealand after all, four more miles is nothing.
    - na85 12y ago
      So in other words, if your apples show up bruised, you're still stuck with bruised apples? And then you have to wait for the new unbruised ones to arrive? That sounds like a much worse experience than simply going to the market and picking out unbruised apples.
      - reinhardt 12y ago
        Do you really think that getting a few bruised apples once or twice a year, if that, and keeping them for free when this happens until the replacement comes, is so unacceptable that you need to be going to the grocery store each and every time to handpick and carry carefully your apples back home? Or are you just being hyperbolic?
        na85 12y ago

hyloguy 12y ago

Half of those steps would be eliminated if Amazon would simply add a "favorites" or "regular items" panel to their mobile app, where all the "buttons" for the items you regularly need would be displayed, and you could just tap on one to re-order it. Given the fact that people almost always have their smartphone with them now, having a separate external button for every product is ridiculously redundant.

vidarh 12y ago
The time I'm least likely to have my phone with me is when doing things like starting the laundry, or starting the dishwasher, or grabbing the last soda in the fridge, or similar stuff around the house, where I may have left the phone somewhere else in the house. Pretty much every other time the phone will be in my pocket and the value would be less. But even then it'd mean fishing my phone out, unlocking, starting an app instead of just pushing a button. Not torture by any means, but if I can just stick a button there and not have to think about it again, then awesome.