- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
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OMG YES. I canceled my subscription 2-3 years ago and I’ve never once thought about resubscribing!!! Highly recommend. 99% of the time I still get free shipping because I exceed the $30 threshold. If I don’t, then I’ll just add an item to the cart and wait until I need something else. If it’s something urgent, then I do pay for the shipping, but it’s still way cheaper than $139 per year. Bro, it’s fine.
I don’t care about Prime Video or Music, so for me it 1000000% made sense to cancel.
I hate that Amazon tries to trick me into signing up for Prime on every purchase, but that just pisses me off even more and makes it less likely for me to consider signing up.
And in other news: the sea is wet and the sky is blue.
Now granted, I don’t live in America, but I have never even considered using Amazon, and I don’t understand why anyone would…
There was a time in the long ago times when it was a really good, customer focused service that didn’t have all of the issues it has today. It then of course got worse every year like everything else but now many people use it out of habit or addiction.
Mail order has historically been a large part of US consumer buying. This is due to the number of people that lived in remote rural areas for most of this countries history. Access to goods was severely restricted due to that problem. And didn’t really start changing much until post WW2 and the growth of urbanization. Mailing a cheap catalog to everyone was the best way to show off your goods and get necessary goods to those who wanted them and would have no access otherwise.
Amazon is merely the latest in a very long line of those businesses that developed that marketing stratagem. And since I live in one of those remote areas, Amazon does provide me with easy, fast, and generally competitive priced goods that I would simply never be able to access without making a 600 mile round trip to get. But if you live a large dense city, there is little need for Amazon. But then, people order uber eats or whatever it’s called to get supper when they could cook something to eat cheaper instead.
I could spend hours googling for items from small and possibly sketchy websites and wait times than can stretch to several weeks or more, and sometimes I do out of boredom, but time is money as they say, and I do have other things to do.
As someone else who lives in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, I use Amazon for stuff I can’t find locally. Our local (and family owned) grocery & hardware stores are not much more expensive, so I tend to buy essentials there and save Amazon as a last resort. Amazon’s pricing isn’t anything special, and being able to talk to a knowledgeable shop owner is more than worth the extra few cents in price.
I seldom need to talk to a shop owner unless I want to talk about the fishing or weather. The price difference between items in local stores and amazon is generally measured in whole dollars. And I always balance the cost to buy on line vs the cost of gas money, (when the nearest real grocery store is a 100 mile round trip and still is limited in choice and availability and the local one sells milk, some bread, a few canned goods and such), also gets considered. Amazon almost always wins on price if I can wait the week it takes to get an item.
This next week I need to pull and test some ice cube relays in my tractor. I hope the blower fans stopped working because of a bad relay. If not, I will need to pull to roof off the cab to get at the blower motors. I already know I will need to order any parts. I could have the local John Deere dealer get them for me, but the price will be outrageous. The relays should be available from amazon, not sure about the blower motors though.
As someone who lives in a major US metro, I order online because I’d rather have a truck that’s already on the road make an extra stop at my house than drive a single passenger vehicle 20 minutes each way to get it. Put stuff in the shopping cart, wait for it to hit the free shipping threshold, order. May cost slightly more than stores, but I save on gas and CO2. Groceries, definite go to the store.
Amazon was really great when it started out, you’d find what you were looking for, at correct/very good prices, fast shipping and good service if something was lost or broken. The whole experience was top notch.
But that was over ten years ago.
I did stop using it when it was still very good but all the abuse popped up on media.
I’m in the EU BTW.
The only reason is not having to register to thousands of crappy webshops that don’t know shit about itsec and get data leaks all the time. There are other platforms than Amazon but I don’t think their business practices are significantly more ethical.
Same here. Never ordered anything off Amazon. Not sure about the U.S., but I’ve never had trouble finding anything in other places, so I never had to resort to Amazon. Maybe certain things are harder to get in the U.S. except on Amazon? Some kind of monopoly thing?
Sort of. For me, it is the trouble finding things elsewhere part, but maybe not quite how you’re thinking.
There are all sorts of stores, way too many stores, stores in all directions, stores of all sizes, but especially really big. If I want to get something, I need to go to one of these stores, more likely multiple of these stores. Even the biggest store will only have a limited selection and only at a specific price. Back in the old days, I might spend a day shopping to find what I wanted, I might look for it many weekends in a row, I might pay attention to sales so I can get a better price, then go in as the store opened so I could get it before it sold out. Why do that to myself? Why waste so much of my time and attention? Why drive around so much? It doesn’t make sense. Meanwhile Amazon has it, every brand and variation (even if most are identical), usually to be delivered in a couple days. If it’s not a good price point, I don’t have to click on it.
Amazon has made my life much easier by reducing the time and travel I spend on various necessities. Now in a typical week, my only “chore” driving might be to goto the grocery
Oh, right. I completely understand. Shopping sucks. I always order everything online too, because I hate shopping. But I’ve just never needed Amazon for it. Pretty much every store delivers and if you don’t want to pay for delivery, you can just order and pick up at the store. This way you don’t have to physically ‘shop around’ and you don’t run the risk of something being sold out. Kinda like take-out.
Absolutely not against ordering stuff online, it’s a time-saver. It’s just… Amazon in particular. I prefer not condoning their terrible employee treatment.
I can order stuff from Amazon and ship them to my house for cheaper than walking 100m to a store. During COVID this was a game-changer, post-covid it’s still super convenient.
I’m not even talking about the Amazon drop point that’s across the street from the store. I mean to the 24-hour BlueBox drop in my building for no-contact deliveries I can pick up any time.
I only really use it for the prime gaming free games :').
How does that work? Do they require another launcher or other kind of drm?
Sometimes the games are given via their DRM storefront, many of them are codes to Steam, Epic, and Humble
They have their own launcher. Other times its gog.com, steam or epic.
I got things like both KOTOR games, deathloop, the force unleashed series and a few others.
You need their launcher to install them, but I believe there is no “DRM” as such.
Once you claim the game, it’s yours to keep even if you unsubscribe from Prime.
I’ve never had one nor would I even consider it.
I mostly buy on ebay now and sometimes the main store. If I have no resort but to use amazon then I use someone else’s account but that hasn’t had to happen yet in a while (wanted to get the new pixel 8a and amazon had a promotion with a free $100 gift card)
Yeah but those fuckers stay trying to trick you back into it.
They’re also trying to trick you into staying.
I specifically remember canceling a few months ago but they decided to just charge me for another year anyways. It’s a total mystery to me.
I’ve never had one, other than their free trials. Only then it was to make use of the next day delivery.
The last straw for me was that Amazon drivers always seem to have some kind of problem finding my apartment. So even though instructions say “leave at my door,” it always ends up in Parcel Pending on the other side of my complex.
NOBODY ELSE has an issue finding my apartment: UPS, USPS, Uber Eats, even fucking Door Dash! But I might as well be living in the Bermuda Triangle to Amazon, so WTF was I paying for Prime for?
And honestly, like so many others, I’ve found it not even the least bit tempting to go back. Ebay has been a reliable alternative.
Maybe they’re using different map providers by default? Check Open street map, Apple, Google and Bing and see if some will route to the wrong side of the building, for example.
If you’re that curious, of course. I’m not telling you what to do :-)
It probably takes too long to go to each apartment, especially ones on the opposite end, and they probably are incentivized/punished more on time than accuracy.
Yeah I cancelled my Prime that I had for about 7 years a few months ago and… Its fine. Better maybe cause I don’t buy something stupid online I didn’t need. I try to find stuff locally first and free shipping makes me able to just buy something if I need to but haven’t found anything I NEED to buy from them.
I missed Prime Video but honestly with ads I can also just use Tubi and it’s the same jank cheap movie experience without supporting Bezos.
I do think it’s funny that I know some people who did the whole prime day this year and complained they bought garbage and that the prces were the same when they had to return the items and buy a new one but also the waste still hurts me
I’ve been doing it since December. Agreed
Did you ditch Amazon entirely or just wait until you spend over $35 for free shipping?
I haven’t bought anything from Amazon. Bet eventually I will but I’m kidding just buying stuff from stores locally atm
Dumped prime years ago and never missed it. Here’s a secret: they will keep offering you 30 day free trials. I think I’ve had it five times now since I stopped paying.
Good to know! Thank you
So you pay triple at local stores. Bravo.
Oh, for real? I’ve been “saving” mine for the next time I need to buy computer parts in bulk to build one.
I always look elsewhere and use Amazon as a last resort, especially for expensive or easily scammed stuff like PC parts. I prefer B&H for that in the US. They ship free and faster anyway over $50. And I save time by not needing to inspect everything to see if it’s used or counterfeit.
I really just hate the marketplace models Amazon and Newegg use.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a reliable local PC parts shop so I feel forced to shop online and import from the US if I want quality at a lower price. Items sold or shipped by Amazon have been the most reliable for me so far. It’s not that I don’t want to look elsewhere but I don’t have that luxury. Local shops have been sketchy with their quality and their prices.
Why save it when you’ll spend more than $35. Unless you want all the parts to build in 2 days and there are special discounts for Prime members.
That’s what I did last time and it took over a month for me to get all the parts. I figured that taking advantage of Prime would probably shorten the wait to about a week because I’m importing all the parts from the US.
Check if the sellers are ‘prime eligible’. Not all of them deliver in 2 days. There is a small list of exception. I wanted to buy a product which said 14-20 days for delivery. I ordered using my friend’s Prime account and it still took the same amount of time.
Nice tip. Thanks!
Living without amazon prime is easy; living without amazon at all is more challenging with various manufacturers using amazon as their only storefront
Then the eff with them. If something isn’t available retail, there’s a million other online retailers more local, more specialized, or just plain out of the manufacturer itself.
You can live without. Or you help them becoming even more dominant.
Fight it. Fight them.
We try to, but when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, trying to find solutions to the moving target that is your wife’s fibromyalgia, have a growing, energetic baby boy, sometimes you can’t afford paying twice as much or more for the product that isn’t sold on amazon, assuming such an alternative exists.
Unfortunately, lots of people can’t afford to shop with a conscience
Absolutely this. Blaming the consumer when the system has been rigged is a bad take
….so find different manufacturers. Why do you need those specific ones? Fuck Amazon, stop giving them money. What do they have to do to lose your business.
Since they added commercials to prime video we have been considering dropping prime. Video was really the only thing keeping us lately.
I can never find anything to watch on Prime Video. My subscription is any to renew in September and I’m about to turn off auto renew. I’ll still order my regular things from Amazon but now I’ll wait until my cart has $35+ in it for free shipping.
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What is Video? Prime member asking…
Amazon Prime is also a video streaming service like Netflix. It is included with your Prime shipping subscription but they recently started showing ads.
Was one of the people who dropped it after the commercials were added. Started using our library instead and haven’t really missed the video streaming. I’ll log in via a browser every so often and get offered a free month or week of prime and immediately cancel. Was able to access prime day deals without paying for anything.
I use Kanopy through my library for free streaming. They have quite a bit of a selection too! Also there’s Freegal music streaming, like Spotify, but free through the library.
Hey OP I did not know we had a frugal community. Thank you for your post now I can post there. …no sarcasm.
Enjoy!
I had been considering getting rid of prime. The commercials were the last straw. I haven’t had it for 3 months now and haven’t cared at all.
