I confess: I buy a lot of stuff from AMAZON. Mostly books. But also music CDs, Blu-rays, vitamins, and other essentials. Do you do business with AMAZON?
AMAZON DELIVERS!
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I confess: I buy a lot of stuff from AMAZON. Mostly books. But also music CDs, Blu-rays, vitamins, and other essentials. Do you do business with AMAZON?
Less and less…not least, aside from their bad treatment of employees and small-business vendors, of their customers, given how much the cost of Prime has gone up over the last several years. But in the rare case of late that I can’t find something elsewhere, I will consider them. Of course, I also live with someone who keeps her Prime account, and one in a household is sufficient…she buys some books and not a few items such as vitamins and other sundries from them.
Todd, I’ve been buying from AMAZON for a couple of decades. In the rare instance where there’s a problem with my order, AMAZON has Made It Right every time! No hassles. That’s one good reason I’m still buying from them. Other web sites can be a lot more aggravation when Sometime Goods Wrong.
Yes, I do. Because Jeff Bezos really needs the money.
Jerry, since this is Giving Tuesday, I included an AMAZON order (for poor Jeff Bezos) among my charitable contributions.
Of course! I just dropped $300 their way this weekend (Christmas gifts), with more to come shortly. And my Kindle book purchases alone are enough to keep Bezos in fuzzy bunny slippers for the next year.
Deb, I don’t have many regrets but one of them is that I didn’t buy AMAZON stock back in the 1990s.
To quote Lily Tomlin in THE LATE SHOW, “Does the Pope sh!t in the woods?”
I can’t remember the last day Jackie did NOT order something from Amazon. Books and CDs hold a very small percentage these days, as it is mostly clothes – shoes, slippers, bras,underwear, jeans (for me), shirts, sweaters & sweatshirts, jackets, socks (her latest), pajamas, hmm, what else? Other than clothes we have: coffee, Acidophilus, Hydrocortisone, cough drops (Ricola), three new humidifiers, a calendar, new Kindle cases (we’ve worn out the last two), kitchen scrub brushes, a phone protector, next year’s Week at a Glance calendar, makeup, bathroom light fixtures, an electric broom, Splenda & other sweeteners, hair color, acne cream, packing tape, Community Coffee, Tazo tea, coffee filters, SkinnyDipped Milk Chocolate peanut butter cups, Q-Tips, marmalade, Stonewall Kitchen jams, bathroom towels,.
That’s just the LAST THREE MONTHS,andmany are multiple orders.
Jeff, Diane refuses to buy clothing online (unless she tries it on in a store like L.L. Bean) and then orders the item online. Even the huge L.L. Bean store here doesn’t have the colors or sizes or styles Diane wants so she has to go online to order what she wants. I finally convinced Diane to let me order her mini-Fish Oil tablets from AMAZON (a $10 saving on price and free shipping). I buy most of my vitamins from AMAZON now. I don’t know how Brick-and-Mortar stories are going to survive…
We went to LL Bean when we were in Maine this summer. Of course, Jackie did buy some stuff there too.
It’s true. One of the main features is that if there is a problem, they will fix it. One year in Florida she ordered two pairs of shoes, one for each of us, and they sent it to Brooklyn instead of Florida. So they sent two more pairs to the right address and told her to keep the others, so we each got two pairs for the price of one. No one else is going to do that. Plus, they have started giving her more digital rewards, so when we buy Kindle books they are often cheap or free.
Jeff, Diane and Patrick are big fans of L.L.Bean. They love the quality products and the great service! Who else does repairs these days? Diane bought a winter coat a couple years ago and the zipper broke. She took it back to L.L.Bean and they fixed it for free. You have to love that kind of service!
Any clothing I order is something I already bought in the store pre- covid.
Now the only in person shopping is down in Florida where all my favorite stores are located in our area.
Jackie
Jackie, Diane’s favorite stores right now are Talbots, J Jill, and Chico’s. She’ll try clothes on and will buy them in the store if the size and color are in stock. But, about 30% of the time, these stores don’t have the size and color Diane wants so it becomes an online buy. All three of those clothing chains send Diane e-mail offers (seemingly every day!) but Diane is always skeptical of “on-line only” offers.
Jackie had similar service from Ecco Shoes. The sole separated on a pair of shoes and she sent it back and got a replacement pair in the mail. Last year she had a problem with a loop for the laces on a different pair, and they gave her $150 full credit.
Jeff, that kind of service is rare these days…
Yes, I am one of millions wrapped in the pernicious tentacles of Amazon, have been since 2001, mostly books. So easy to browse and click, dammit. I buy less than I did a few years ago, though.
Fred, same here. Since I retired, I order books from our local Public Library about 50% of the time. But, the music CDs and Blu-rays are strictly AMAZON purchases.
I try hard not to buy books from Amazon. I would like to see other book stores remain open. Other things, since I don’t drive, I do use them for. But more and more other places do a good job of delivering things too.
True. Occasionally, Jackie has gotten things from Costco that they didn’t have in the store, and recently she got an order from Walmart – we have no Walmarts in NYC. And, ashe does still – not very often these days – order online from Macy’s.
Jeff, after years of rumors, we are finally getting a COSTCO. They’re building it now and hope to it around Easter 2024. My sister in Arizona calls COSTCO her favorite store.
Great news about the Costco. We get all our prescriptions filled there, and we’ve gotten most of our vaccines too – Covid, pneumonia, Shingles, RSV, flu. Just walk in, make sure they have it, fill out a form, and wait ten minutes.
Jeff, I’m hoping to get my RSV shot later this week. My sister has booked some trips over the years from COSTCO and enjoyed them.
Patti, I mentioned my experiences with AMAZON CUSTOMER SERVICE in a comment below–they have all been outstanding!–so that’s a Big Factor in my loyalty to Jeff Bezos. Recently I ordered some CPAP wipes from Walmart’s web site. They said the order would arrive in two days. Two WEEKs later I called Walmart Customer Service to find out what happened to my order. The service guy told me the order had been delivered and sent me a photo to prove it. “Would you please look at the photo you sent me,” I asked him. “Okay, I’m looking at the photo.” “Do you see the address on the porch?” “Yes, it’s 311.” “Check my address on your order,” I requested. Silence. Then he said, “You’re 131.” “Yes,” I said. “We can’t send you the CPAP wipes,” he said sadly. “How about a refund,” I suggested. Now I’m waiting for the Walmart refund. That’s why I stick with AMAZON.
Indeed, I’m not a fan of Walmart. And Costco accepted a return of a faulty scanner by Alice, who without realizing accepted a refund on a now-dead card of mine, and a year later, Costco has refused to make good on that $330+. despite several attempts to demonstrate how their “refund” went nowhere. Amazon customer service has been better than that, I will say.
Todd, your “refund” situation has happened to me a few times: Walmart, Target, and BJ’s Warehouse are the culprits. That’s another reason why I stick to AMAZON.
Oh yes, all the time. I still visit brick and mortar bookstores and like to shop from creators on Etsy, but I still do a lot of shopping on Amazon, despite how much they anger me by doing stuff like shutting down Book Depository
Carl, I visit our few struggling used bookstores on a regular basis. And I ALWAYS buy something from them when I do. I want to support them and help them stay open.
My daughter Kristine makes it easy! She sends a list of everything she and her two kids want with their Amazon ordering link! I just press a few buttons and my shopping is done! I buy a few other things there as well but compared to Jeff I’m a piker!
Bob, you’re right: the convenience of AMAZON is alluring!
We don’t do much shopping anymore – our clothes racks are full.
But I fondly remember all those outlets we visited on our holiday trips to the USA (and Germany too).
I feel really sorry that they are in a downwrds spiral.
And don’t even think about bookstores – all my favourite bokkstores in Britain and the USA (The chain Forbidden Planet, Fantasy Center in London) have closed down or been reduced to selling toys. And even in my hometown Tübingen (90 000 inhabitants and more than 28 000 students from all over the world) the leaading bookstores have closed or downsized.
Wolf, I suspect you would be shocked if you visited the U.S. now and looked at the retail stores you visited on previous trips. Online shopping and the Pandemic have closed plenty of stores.
Yes, we buy a lot from Amazon. All kinds of things but especially books. I recently bought two kinds of book lights for reading. After they closed down Book Depository, we have used Blackwells a few times to get books we haven’t been able to get in the US.
Tracy, it’s always important to have good book lights!