How frequently do you use Amazon?

[LCHIEN]

Just curious how many and how frequently we use Amazon. Saw the Amazon direct delivery van on my street today.... last twelve houses including mine he dropped off 3 packages... 25% in one day. and that doesn't include UPS or USPS deliveries.

[twistsol]

Because I travel so much, there is no time to "go" shopping. If i dont need my truck yo get it home, I order online and Amazon is usually where I start and finish

[LinuxRandal]

Based on my history, the last year was once every two months. Some stuff was bought for me, either not available locally, or bought used less then new (books, cd's etc), while other stuff was bought for work.
I am one who finds Prime not to be worth the cost. They don't support my OS preference (video/music services), and I have only once needed something quickly (and was lucky enough to be offered a trial membership that order), while using a business mailing address, will/does speed up my orders (typically three days before they would arrive at home).
Ton's of stuff in my wish lists (plural), just no real reasons to pull the trigger most of the time (wants verses need).

[leehljp]

Since I live about 30 miles from large retailers, it benefits me to order online for some of our needs. LOML and I do for the most part - price shop for specific brand needs and if we find it cheaper on Amazon, we will order. Our pet food is cheaper from Amazon than Walmart or PetCo or what ever. I'm not one to constantly be checking to see which in one penny cheaper, but if it is reasonably close, I will buy local or at the major shopping centers - IF I am going in that direction. I will NOT travel the 30 miles just for one item, unless there is a enough price difference to offset the travel and I need it now.

An advantage of Amazon is that there are many more choices in some things that may not be available in local stores, but there are some things that locals may have at a cheaper price.

One thing that has aggravated me in the last year has been the ratings. When I see a group of products with 2 to 5 or 6 people rating an item and similar items that have been on the market for a long time, it kinda tells me that the ratings are rigged. It also tells me that the product is possibly a fake/knock-off. Amazon got into trouble for allowing the selling some items as legitimate through "partners" who were not legitimate.

To me, Amazon use is a "common sense" use and and it depends on the price, speed of delivery (do I need it now or can I wait a few days or week or so?) convenience and delivery PRICE.

To me, Amazon as well as other online stores offer another choice in purchases.

[cwsmith]

Our son gave me a Roku streaming device about five years ago along with a 1-year subscription to Amazon Prime. Love the streaming for it's movies, but my wife and I just didn't see much use for the Amazon Prime shipping benefit. Never ordered anything until about two years ago when, after several days of looking, we couldn't find the gifts for our grandsons that we wanted. Then last year I ordered a couple of things for my wife, again not finding what we wanted locally.

This past March my Nikon camera failed and I went looking for local camera stores... none to be had. So I went looking to the internet and found that almost every reputable store was linked to Amazon; so, in the last few months I've made several purchases.

Went to buy a dehumidifier in July... Lowes and Home Depot were a joke, with the former having nothing and the latter with just two GE models. Amazon gave me the exact model and make I wanted and I had it within the week.

This past Tuesday evening, my laser printer indicated I needed a new toner cartridge... went to Staples on Wednesday and they told me I had to order it online. Went to Amazon where it was $6.00 cheaper and I received it yesterday (Friday) morning with free 2-day shipping.

In all honesty, I don't like not buying things locally. I don't like the fact that I can't speak directly to and buy from a person who has a job because I feel that way. All over my area there are store closings, empty shops that once thrived with people like me. I like being able to browse, look at products first hand and have a live person that I can talk to about it. But that is very quickly all going away, and unfortunately many of these retailers have brought it upon themselves.

Take for instance my local Home Depot... one cashier in the entire store! Or my local Best Buy, which had exactly the camera that I wanted, but hardly any accessories and absolutely no other lenses. Nobody in the store could answer any of my questions and on my three visits there, you had to really work at finding a sales person with even the slightest interest in selling me anything. By contrast, I paid significantly less and got significantly more product ordering through Amazon.

For example, my camera locally was priced at $1,300 with one 18-55 zoom lens and a 1-year warranty. For exactly the same price, I got the same camera with the 18-55 lens AND, a 55-250 mm lens, camera bag, tripod, lens filters, cleaning accessories, memory cards, flash, and a 4-year service contract!. When the camera arrived, it had a defect and I called and got outstandingly courteous and knowledgeable service with a new camera in my hands by week's end. The last time I had a camera problem (defective flash slave unit) with a local camera shop, the owner acted like I was trying to steal his wallet and even though the unit was defective out of the box, I had to deal with the manufacturer, since I got no where with the retailer. (Even though I had spent more than a $1,000 in buying equipment, chemicals, and film from him). He went out of business years ago, and was very bitter about it, blaming the failure on everything else.

The only problem I have with Amazon orders is the UPS delivery. Twice out of six orders the packages have arrived in pretty lousy shape, with torn envelopes and battered boxes. Fortunately nothing was damaged, but I've informed Amazon and UPS and sent them pictures. Hopefully it's something they'll iron out.

SO, I'm an Amazon fan!

CWS

[leehljp]

CWS,

Thanks, that hits the nail on the head!

There is one thing that I don't usually order from or through Amazon - most clothes. I will buy Levis jeans as I know what styles I want and the size that they run. Specific t-shirts and a few things that I buy often enough - I know what they are - I will buy them online. However, for shoes - I can't find shoes to be consistent in size within the same store and same brand, so I go to a shoe store and try on first hand. Coats, sport coats even from the likes of LLBean or Lands End are not consistent for me. Pants are the same. I need a store for most clothes or I will be disappointed.

[mpc]

I tend to look locally for stuff but, after a day's worth of driving in useless circles, it's on to Amazon. Half the time I can't find what I'm looking for in local stores, often what I want is "out of stock" in stores or it's "online only" or they don't have the right size/color/whatever. I have Amazon Prime but I only use it for shipping. I can't recall ever using it for streaming anything other than testing it one time. Didn't find anything I particularly wanted to watch especially since there were all sorts of stupid restrictions. If it won't integrate with my existing HTPC (a Win7 WMC box) then I really don't care about it. All those new streaming gizmos and "apps"... not interested.

mpc

[radhak]

CWS wrote all that I'd have - Amazon is the first, and the last place for me. Rarely do I go local, and that, only after visiting Amazon!

I just checked - I had 81 orders in 2017 till date, for a total exceeding $3000. And as I was out of country for a month, that's around 10 orders a month.

In that duration (this year), stuff that I bought locally - small stuff from HF; glue, 2x4s, paint, and small hardware from HD/Lowes/etc; furniture, grocery and gas. Everything else is primarily Amazon (with a couple of other online stores).

I find that the choice available at Amazon is vast, and the reviews are critical - even the false ones tell me something about the product.

When I'm standing at a store, with two similar products in hand, wondering which one would be better, I look around to ask somebody, and draw blank - mostly nobody is around, or if they are, give me some inane answer. My wife still shops local, but nowadays she has started asking me to check Amazon first :-).

[cwsmith]

I have Amazon Prime but I only use it for shipping. I can't recall ever using it for streaming anything other than testing it one time. Didn't find anything I particularly wanted to watch especially since there were all sorts of stupid restrictions.

mpc

As stated in my initial post, I have a Roku device which I think sells normally for about $50 and has no further charges or subscriptions. With that, Amazon Prime gives me hundreds of commercial free movies and they add some new movies and TV programs every month. I'm a movie fan, especially older movies, and the variety is astounding. There are of course some streaming channels via Roku that you can subscribe, but I prefer the free channels, as it can get out of control really fast. Some of those free channels are pretty lame, but some are quite good too, with TubiTV being my favorite. To support that enterprise, they have commercials but they are a mere fraction of what commercial network TV has. "TubiTv" (tubitv.com) has an immense library of movies, including some real classics. Commercials are very redundant but the nice thing about that is they tell you exactly how many commercials there will be in that particular break. Nice, because I can flip it during that break or take a break myself.

Biggest problem with me though is that there is so many movies in the offering that it's hard to make up my mind what I want to watch tonight. Both Amazon and Tubi have a method by which you can select movies and put them in your own watch list for future viewing though. But as I tell my wife, if your going to a hot dog stand, you know what your going to eat... if you go to an international buffet, you might starve before you can make up your mind!

CWS

[mpc]

CWS - I'm almost the opposite. I'm not a movie buff at all. Mostly a little bit of sports, especially auto racing. And some science/technology shows. One of my former co-workers (she got a layoff a couple months ago) is a movie buff and Roku fan. When her first Roku died she was like a teenager whose cellphone died. It was just a couple of days before she'd picked out a new model Roku and had it installed. There isn't much of anything out there that I care that much about. Nor am I a music buff so I don't use the Prime music streaming either. When I'm in the car I may have music playing but other than that I rarely listen.

mpc

[cwsmith]

I understand and respect that. My wife is the sports person in our family, knows all the teams, the players, the coaches in Football, much of basketball and baseball. NASCAR lover too... trouble is, nobody in our family or neighborhood follows. We have one relative, and when he visits the rest of us just go to another room and let them talk "each other's ears off". Before I retired, she'd jokingly tell me a few times a year, "Remember, so-and-so and so-and-so are playing... don't embarrass me." (Fortunately our differences are good-natured... we just celebrated our 50th anniversary.)

CWS

[atgcpaul]

We shop plenty at Amazon (probably once a week) but now that we pay tax on some of the Amazon orders, I'm a little pickier. On bigger items, I'll send it to my parents in DE and pick it up when I next see them. If it's a smaller $ amount, I'll pay the tax if I can't find it locally or if I'm not in a rush. These days nearly all my online shopping is confined to Amazon or Home Depot. I like to do store pickup at Home Depot--order online and pickup at the store after work or the next morning before work. There are Prime lockers in my area, but they aren't convenient to me.

I do like Amazon's music streaming. If I'm cutting the grass, I'll pop in some earbuds, cover that with some earmuffs, then select a station and cut away for the next hour or so. I'll also stream music while I'm doing various DIY things around the house while the phone is in my pocket. The phone tracks my steps at the same time. Since I can remember doing homework in 2nd or 3rd grade, I've always got music playing. Even here at work, I'm streaming music. Helps me focus, I think.

The Netflix app on our LG TV is easier to navigate than the Prime video app so the kids prefer Netflix. My wife is liking Prime right now because she has to learn a foreign language for her job. She has found several movies/shows in that language on Prime that she likes.

Something I've noticed with Amazon deliveries...I have a camera facing the front porch to capture who's coming and going. You have to walk up 3 steps and then cross 8' of porch to get to the front door/mailbox. If I get something by USPS/Fedex/UPS, the delivery person walks it up and places it at the door or in the mailbox. If it's an Amazon delivery and the box is light enough, they usually toss it up to the door from ground level and walk away. Sometimes the box is still several feet away from the door. Nothing has been broken, though.

[dbhost]

Amazon blows MOST other companies prices out of the water, and they have what I want. Unless it is groceries, large tools, shoes / clothes or stuff like that

[tfischer]

We finally got prime last year and so we've been using it a lot more. Pretty convenient when you can expect your stuff in a few days.

Price wise they're always competitive, but I've often found you can beat them by a few bucks (even with shipping) if you go elsewhere. Really depends on your need for convenience.

[LCHIEN]

Pays to comparison shop Amazon, usually they are competitive but sometimes they are shockingly high.