Amazon Prime?

[Szwampdonkey]

I’m actually amazed people still pay for Prime. It’s clearly just a money maker for Amazon or they wouldn’t do it.

 

[Throwin Darts]

We use the crap out of it. I’m not spending my time off work running around town to a bunch of stores to get what we need. My time is worth more than the annual cost of Prime

 

[5MilesBack]

If you only knew what his and Jamie Dimon's(JP Morgan) end game was. One merchant and one bank.

Don't forget the one world government, cashless society, and one world currency. But not much anyone can do to stop all of that from happening. That was all ordained before the Creation.

I'm always amazed at the number of times I need something quickly and I order it from Amazon and it arrives that same day. I replaced our concrete chimney crown in early October and no place local (HD, Lowes, Ace) had any high temp caulking. But it arrived same day I ordered it from Amazon.

 

[JF_Idaho]

I’m actually amazed people still pay for Prime. It’s clearly just a money maker for Amazon or they wouldn’t do it.

Well, of course. But it's a balance of people who pay for it and barely use it vs people who are definitely getting their money's worth out of it. Increased sales because of it equals more money.

Just like "Happy Hour", free shipping, sales or a million other marketing tactics.

 

[MuleyFever]

Nah, just venting because I can't get my stuff in 2 days

Seriously, I think with looking at what I spend, and the fact I am a cheap bastard and will drive 45 minutes vs. buying a label. I have to think what shipping I do have may not total the yearly price of prime

I dont pay for prime and never pay for shipping either. Its easy to get free shipping without having a membership.

 

[Kyguy]

Not going to lie, Amazon has made my working life much easier. I absolutely get my money out of Prime. Most of the things that I need for work in furniture repair aren't available anywhere locally and most of the other sites that offer it, it's at least 5 business days at least to get to my door and I'm paying inflated shipping costs. I know they're inflated because I ship enough stuff myself and I'm not getting volume tiered pricing. I can get quite a bit on Amazon and most of it is still two days or less. Here's the kicker.... one of the suppliers I use actually has a local location, but they don't carry the products I need on site and it's FASTER to order from them on Amazon than it is for them to get it sent to their site from their distributor.

Kind of the same thing for auto parts too. 10 years ago, I was rebuilding the front end on my 2002 Silverado 4x4. Replacing everything but the front differential. Between Advance, Autozone, O'Reilly's and Federated, there's probably 20 locations within a 20-minute drive. Not ONE of them had all the parts I needed in one location, and NONE of them actually had all the parts I needed between all of their locations. It was tomorrow for this, two days for that, three days for this. Frustrated, I went home and decided to get on Amazon. I ordered everything I needed and had it in two days, and it was $1200 CHEAPER to get it all, and it was all AC Delco factory parts. I drive older vehicles; I haven't had a payment in 15 years, and I do a lot of the work myself, so I'm intimately acquainted with the auto parts industry. I also managed an Advance for a while 12 years ago and the margin on parts is off the hook.

It's getting to be the same with hunting and fishing gear. I'd much rather buy from local brick and mortar stores, especially locally owned, and I often do, and if it costs an extra 10% or 15%, maybe even 20% to do it, I'm ok with that. The fact of the matter is though, that most of the stuff I'm interested in buying isn't available locally at all. So, to the internet I go.

 

[Maverick1]

It is not necessary. I can wait the extra day or two. Nothing is ever really that urgent. If it is just pay for the shipping. After one year compare what you paid in shipping to the prime membership cost.

 

[dirtshooter]

Here in Canada I've found a ton of stuff on Amazon that I'd have a hard time finding locally. We don't have cable TV so the little TV we watch comes from prime. I also share the prime channels with my dad and these days time is money so not having to run around to buy shit saves me time and usually money

 

[KenLee]

I gave up on Prime. Still use Amazon when I need enough from them to get free shipping.
I've found that many items are cheaper from Sam's, Walmart or Walgreens. Often one or 2 day free shipping also.

 

[ODB]

We use my wife's mom's account. One benefit is returns. We can buy stuff, get shipped free, then if it needs to go back, we drop it off at a local place, also free. No fuss no muss. I do think that will end though and either the goods cost will rise or there will be a nominal return fee - even for prime.

I hate that amazon has such power, but when you literally cannot find item in a store, what other choice is there? for example, I bought some socket organizers. They are 8.95 each - but it costs $12.85 to ship from Oregon to Idaho. Amazon was same cost, but free shipping.

As an aside, as a guy who uses USPS a LOT, I blame the insane postal costs on the leverage Amazon has placed on the system via cheap shipping. I can get a box shipped to me free, but if I sent, as an individual the same box back to them, it would cost $30. I hear 'but they buy a lot of shipping," but don't buy it. If it costs me $30 and them so little they can offer free shipping, only one side is getting screwed.

If someone can elucidate the latter point to the contrary, please do. And I know Amazon has their own couriers, but a vast number of packages still arrive by USPS.

 

[waspocrew]

We use Amazon all the time. It was way better when we lived near one of their “hubs”. Could place an order in the evening and it’d be sitting on the front porch before heading to work. That spoiled us. Moved to MT and it’s about a week or slightly under for most things now.

 

[Dukhtr3]

As a concrete business owner I couldn't imagine going back to running around town after work getting odds and ends to keep everything running smoothly. I literally buy 75% of my stuff off of Amazon. I have a family and it gives me more time with them at nights. I used to have to run around and get stuff organized after work. Now I have spares of everything. If I start getting low on supplies I just go on Amazon and restock.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[cornfedkiller]

Why do you have to pay for a label if you have prime?
I just use either the: 1) no box no label free 2) box needed and choose the location I will take it back to

We've never paid for shipping.

In more rural areas, the “location to take it back to” (for me specifically) is a town 40
miles from here.

Just ordered something from Amazon this morning and its expected arrival is Monday, Jan 13th. Started scrolling down my wish list just to see if anything has had a price drop recently and noticed that i couldn’t get a single thing off there before Jan 13th. Not that I can’t wait, that’s not the point of my complaint - the point is that they charge me so I don’t have to wait.

I’ve been contemplating canceling my prime membership as well…

 

[wapitibob]

I like it. Stuff shows up in 2 days, a cpl clicks and a 5 min drive to return something.

 

[Kyguy]

We use my wife's mom's account. One benefit is returns. We can buy stuff, get shipped free, then if it needs to go back, we drop it off at a local place, also free. No fuss no muss. I do think that will end though and either the goods cost will rise or there will be a nominal return fee - even for prime.

I hate that amazon has such power, but when you literally cannot find item in a store, what other choice is there? for example, I bought some socket organizers. They are 8.95 each - but it costs $12.85 to ship from Oregon to Idaho. Amazon was same cost, but free shipping.

As an aside, as a guy who uses USPS a LOT, I blame the insane postal costs on the leverage Amazon has placed on the system via cheap shipping. I can get a box shipped to me free, but if I sent, as an individual the same box back to them, it would cost $30. I hear 'but they buy a lot of shipping," but don't buy it. If it costs me $30 and them so little they can offer free shipping, only one side is getting screwed.

If someone can elucidate the latter point to the contrary, please do. And I know Amazon has their own couriers, but a vast number of packages still arrive by USPS.

The shipping companies aren't really making money from the volume. I mean, they are, but it's not nearly as profitable, percentage wise. The volume provides cash flow, not profit. The shippers, UPS, Fedex and USPS did push back on amazon years ago, about the costs, especially FedEx. They pretty much told Amazon that they don't need their business, because there's no profit in it. That's why you'll hardly ever see Fedex doing a delivery of an Amazon order. That pushback is also why Amazon invested in its own delivery service. USPS is to the point of such mismanagement that they need every single thing they can get just for cashflow and to fund pensions. During Trump's first term, he said something about having USPS cutting off service to Amazon because it wasn't profitable or increasing the rates but that fell to the wayside when Biden went into office. It'll be interesting to see if it comes back up.

 

[Camo out]

I canceled mine because they started sending to the post office box not to my house and i make it to the PO once a week, So no more 2nd day service

 

[NRA4LIFE]

We use the living hell out of it. We live a bit away from things. If I have to go to, let's say Home Depot for an item, that's $5 in gas. Then, if I have to go elsewhere to find what I need, it's now $10 in gas. Watching Thursday night football is nice too. Often times we will get stuff delivered the same day we order it. There are Amazon fulfillment centers everywhere here. It's well worth it for us.

 

[HuntHarder]

The amount of amazon packages that show up at my house is nothing short of amazing. I think we easily get our monies worth with prime. I rarely use it, but my wife is a different story. I tell her we need something, it is usually at my door within a couple days.

 

[ODB]

And the wife just flipping through and there is a whole meateater channel... crazy...

 

[NRA4LIFE]

And the wife just flipping through and there is a whole meateater channel... crazy...

Thanks. I did not know that.