- The author canceled their Amazon Prime subscription on a whim and realized they didn’t really need it.
- Leaving Prime meant slower shipping but the author was happy to wait and still found the selection and delivery speed satisfactory.
- Many people love Prime for its fast shipping and convenience, but some readers expressed ambivalence and considered canceling.
Archive link: https://archive.ph/3M27c
Some of us have been living without an Amazon account since 2007 and we’re still alive. Go figure.
i have reverted to this lifestyle, and i love it. creating the 5-6 accounts for local platforms was a slight hassle, but now i can enjoy the benefits of a “small” company which still cares about what the customer thinks.
Can you please expound on this?
I gave up on Amazon last year. I do without many things which is fine, but there are some things that are more difficult to find without them. I am still doing without as I’d like to figure it out for the long term.
Can you give examples of the vendors that supplant Amazon for you?
Not the person you asked, but generally I just go to the manufacturer website. Amazon is useful for it’s pictures and an aggregate of similar products, but now it’s usually just a catalog of stuff so I know what to look for
Plus then you can be far more certain you are not receiving a Chinese knockoff of your desired product
Home Depot, Staples, B&HPhoto (decent selection of general tech merch, but tons of photo/video)
As much as I dislike it, google shopping helps me find where I can pick things up locally.
There are things that I’ve been unsatisfied with the alternative options, or particular brands that only sell on Amazon, so I use it occasionally. But I don’t have a subscription to prevent the compulsion to use it.
creating the 5-6 accounts for local platforms was a slight hassle
What “local platforms” are you referring to?
It’s kind of crazy how Amazon has dominated so much that alternatives pretty much aren’t a thing over there.
Here in Sweden we didn’t get Amazon until a couple of years ago, and they’re honestly so skeevy. Most of the stuff they sell is weird computer generated garbage, and the brand stuff they sell is usually available cheaper or for the same price elsewhere. They also use the same shipping all other companies use, so there’s literally no upside to using Amazon outside of buying weird little niche products. These niche things could be bought on AliExpress or EBay anyway though.
When it comes to “real” products, it’s just generally preferred to buy them from Swedish/Scandinavian retailers. You know they operate within our legal framework with consumer protection in mind, and if you ever have any issues, contacting support puts you in touch with real people that work for the store, not some outsourced representative that’s disconnected from the whole thing.
The only good thing Amazon has brought is hilarious machine translations. Like curtains of people frolicking in the sexual assault, or fondue sets with integrated email functionality.
I started boycotting Amazon back in 1999 when they pulled the 1-click patent bullshit. I loved them before that.
In 1999? Brah.
I was an edgy college kid who was raging against software and business process patents. Their 1-click patent started me on a 25 year grudge.
Not a lot of people hold onto such a niche part of their righteous rebellious college years for so long. I love that, and your bar was so high too!
A fellow Great Book of Grudges enthusiast! I too started writing mine early. I have not purchased anything Sony since they put rootkits on their CDs in 2005. Nothing. Fuck Sony. And anything Intuit makes for multiple reasons.
And I am absolutely passing The Great Book on to my kids. They know exactly why we don’t buy certain brands.
What’s this one click patent ?
In 1999 Amazon applied for and was granted a US Patent for One Click Purchase. Before then, everyone had a shopping cart that you had to go into to check out and pay. Amazon realized that a huge percentage of people would add stuff to their cart and then leave without buying anything, either because they decided they didn’t REALLY need that thing or because they found it cheaper somewhere else or whatever. They allowed you to save all your credit card info plus shipping preferences, then just hit “1 Click Purchase.” It was convenient for shoppers because they didn’t have to go through the whole checkout steps or add everything then come back later to check out. They could just hit a button and be done. For Amazon, though, it prevented the dreaded “items left in cart.”
Other sites like Borders and Barnes & Noble, etc also implemented the feature, since it made a lot of money. Amazon filed for a business process patent (I think they also tried it as a software patent??) and forced the entire internet to go back to normal shopping cart purchases. They ended up losing the patent lawsuit in the EU, but that didn’t stop them from enforcing it on US websites. Borders and BN both implemented “2 Click Purchase” to get around it, but the damage was done. In everyone’s minds, Amazon was the place to go for convenience and speed. Amazon made more money, while others started losing money. With that extra money, Amazon was able to move into the “niche” of Walmart, since Walmart hadn’t yet figured out e-commerce. Amazon out-Walmarted Walmart on the web and became the trillion dollar behemoth we have today.
It’s kinda weird knowing I advertised for them (word of mouth) back around ~2007.
Cheaper than brick & mortar! INCREDIBLE customer service! No sales tax (until you paid it at tax time of course)!
Didn’t realize I’d be concentrating power, helping create just about earth’s richest human.
I barely manage, but I suvive.
Buying anything on Amazon hardly seems viable anymore. There’s so much counterfeit crap there, and a million low-effort rebrandings of the same stuff you can get on AliExpress for cheaper.
Shop local when you can, and at least shop not-Amazon for the rest.
Shop local when you can
Not sustainable for me, I price it from time to time and local stores are usually, at best, double what Amazon or even Walmart has it for and that’s if the local store even has what I’m looking for to begin with
So my choices are Amazon or Walmart (or similar big name stores) and going to Walmart…yea fuck that it’s a last resort for everything but groceries…
There’s so much counterfeit crap there, and a million low-effort rebrandings of the same stuff you can get on AliExpress for cheaper.
I keep seeing this over and over, but I order a lot off Amazon and I’ve never had a problem with it. Don’t know if I’m just incredibly lucky or what, but the only times I get counterfeit / cheap Chinese crap is when I order it on purpose.
Ofc, those things I can just get off AliExpress too and sometimes I do when I don’t mind waiting which is the biggest issue with AliExpress, the waiting
I, and probably millions of others, are shopping where the best price/value is and nothing else because we can’t afford not to. I wouldn’t mind shopping locally owned and paying the premium…if I could afford it. Stop pushing for expensive alternatives people can’t afford and push for regulations instead.
Ya simple solution: don’t buy no-name chinesium crap regardless of the storefront and you won’t be disappointed
I can’t say that I have ever gotten anything counterfeit from Amazon. What I have been victim to is no name garbage that has 4.5 stars due to thousands of fake reviews. Generally it is stuff that is difficult to research good brands and the review websites often simply redirect back to Amazon. It’s also very little use leaving a bad review because Amazon will remove it. For an example, Louis Rossman bought some fuses on Amazon. The 2A fuse did not blow until 10A was passed through it. That was not a fluke either. He left bad ratings which were removed and those products continue to be sold on Amazon. That is shit easily that can start a fire. If there actually was blow back, the manufacturer would simply stop selling that named version but keep the half a dozen other identical ones up they use to flood the results. So while this may not have ever been an issue for you, it can easily get someone killed. Your conclusion is spot on. We need regulation for this garbage. While Walmart is generally seen as garbage, there is at least someone responsible for purchasing shit to put in the stores and they generally have it tested. That is not the case for Amazon or Walmart’s online marketplace or AliBaba.
If I see something on Amazon that I want, I just go to the manufacturer’s website and order it directly from them. If they don’t have a site that sells it, then I try other online stores besides Amazon. If they only sell on Amazon, then I decide I just don’t need it.
Except a lot of times it’s cheaper on Amazon, with faster shipping, even without prime. Most recent example I ran into.
$75 direct
$65 Amazon
Cheap items/electronics can be more expensive on Amazon than direct, though.
Amazon:
Direct:
Doubt that site has free shipping tho
damn right
every time i’ve intentionally picked the ASNDSZYY brand i’ve been disappointed in the thing and in myself. now i’d rather just spend up front for something actually good rather than waste time and effort going back and forth returning things
I think people who see countfeit stuff don’t know what they are buying before they go on Amazon and order from Chinese brands. I know what I’m going to buy before I go on Amazon so I never have the issue. I just use it to check prices and buy if it’s a good enough discount.
It’s getting to the point where even searching for specific products is almost pointless. I did a search for a specific phone model recently and the phone showed up as the fifth result after four prompted results and several ads. When it becomes a chore to even track down a very specific thing you want, why would I keep going back?
The only search worse than Amazon is probably Wayfair.
plus i have gotten several obviously used items when it wasn’t even available as used and cost full price.
Shop local when you can,
So local strangers working to support some local guy’s Maui beach house need our support instead of local strangers working to support some faraway guy’s Maui Beach House?
It’s all local business when their main cost is the employment of locals. Don’t be a snob.
Anybody know more about this?:
I’ve heard the following sentiment & a similar stat over the years:
When you spend money locally, those dollars don’t just evaporate to some corporate headquarters across the country or around the world. Instead, they tend to stay in the community, where they’re reinvested between three and six more times. When consumers spend $100 at a chain store, only $13 stays in the local community, on average. At a local business, that number rises to a healthier $48.
I can imagine a local shop owner sponsoring the local little league team… and I know the average hole-in-the-wall donut or phở restaurant owner won’t have a beach home, and I like they have the potential to make a decent bit of dough without college degrees… but perhaps somebody’s actually analyzed this?
I cancelled Prime late last year, and haven’t really missed it, either.
Leaving Prime also meant the end of free Amazon Prime Video (you can still rent or buy many movies without it), but I’ve been able to bear it.
While I had Prime, I think there was 1, maybe 2 instances where I wanted to watch something and it was actually included with Prime. Every other time, Amazon Video had the movie, but they wanted an additional fee to watch it, so this was absolutely no loss.
One thing to note: Every time I check out on Amazon, now, they offer me a reduced price 1-week “trial” of Prime, to get the expedited shipping, for like… $5 or so? If you cancel yours, and also see this offer: You can take the offer, submit your order (and get the free 2 day shipping), then once you get the shipping confirmation, go in and cancel the Prime subscription. Since you’ve had it for only a few hours, Amazon actually refunds the price you paid. In effect, you get the shipping benefits for free. We’ll see if they close this loophole, but for now, it works.
If you decline a few times they’ll eventually offer you an entire month of Prime for free. I’ve thus never paid for Prime, ever.
No gain or loss there. Amazon’s logistics are so grabasstic now that delivery lead times are about the same with or without Prime. So I don’t particularly care.
I only buy commodity bullshit on Amazon anymore, and sometimes not even then. If they have it for a good price I might get a pack of crimp connectors or a roll of 3D printer filament or nuts and bolts or something. Otherwise it’s just wall-to-wall Chinese word salad non-brand knockoff shit on there anymore. You may as well just shop on AliExpress since at least they’re honest about hawking tat from Shenzen and it’s cheaper to boot.
You might find this very interesting
He tests crimps and various Amazon electical products.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/B90_SNNbcoU
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
There have been zero times Amazon video has had something I wanna watch
I canceled my prime subscription when it was announced they would be putting ads on prime video. I don’t even use prime video but I cancelled out of principle.
Same here. It’s a future that I don’t want. Ads everywhere and you cannot escape.
Same. Gonna have to find some way of pirating the shows I ‘purchased’ on prime so that I can still go back to them.
I think that you can still watch them.
If you link your account to Vudu, Google, and Movies Anywhere they should appear on the other platforms I believe?
Same. The shipping was still 2 days or more to my location. No point.
Prime used to mean something. Guaranteed 2 day shipping with no minimum for no extra charge. $5 for next day shipping. Then next day disappeared. Then the 2 day guarantee disappeared. Then delivery times were in the 3-5 day range for most things. Then, in my university town, around the time of students returning to school for terms it would be 1-2 weeks. I’m not paying an ever increasing annual fee for that.
Back then, Amazon was the shit. My GF at the time and I cancelled our Costco membership because shipping was good and selection was better.
Now, Amazon is shit. And now back to buying in-store whenever possible. And got a Costco membership again.
I have a running cart in my Amazon and about once every two weeks I’ll hit the purchase button.
Just not worth it anymore.
Yeah it has definitely gotten worse outside urban centers, but there it’s actually gotten better with same day shipping options on orders over $35. I can impulse buy shit at work and it’s there when I get home.
Dude… We’re trying to live without Amazon and this guy is just giving up prime??? What a martyr…
I dropped Scamazon Slime a long time ago when I figured out they were not meeting their 2 day shipping promise. I really have never missed it.
I hate Amazon for a variety of reasons, but I can’t you seriously after you said scamazon slime.
I can’t you either.
Twinklebreeze.
I can both of you.
The can is the seriously we along the way
they were not meeting their 2 day shipping promise
Oh. That’s like visiting Canada for a bit, where ‘prime’ usually feels like a week.
I can’t live with Amazon, so I NEVER use them out of principle.
‘surprisingly easy’ is laughable because I have never lived with Amazon prime
Exactly, it’s like people are addicted to Amazon, like they need therapy to get out of an addiction.
Amazon sucks, it’s a toxic company, just don’t do it!Its sur… ok its not that surprising to me that so many people shop with a company that is so terrible to its workers and for the climate.
hey, its €2 cheaper on amazon, what do I care if their workers aren’t allowed to unionize
It’s basically like taking that €2 out of the pocket of a worker, essentially.
deleted by creator
Every time I’ve ordered something from Amazon, they always push Prime for fastest shipping. Then when you turn that down, they give you an option to pay a little more this one time to get your order shipped faster. I always pick the cheapest shipping option. The order generally comes just as fast as the fastest shipping, without paying the extra money.
They are going to ship according to whatever is easiest and cheapest for themselves if you pick the cheap shipping option. By now in most large population centers, Amazon warehouses are already stocked. Until they start cutting shipping costs, it will almost always arrive well before their estimates. So just save yourself the money and ditch Prime.
Exactly this. Once you place the order Amazon still has to get it from the wearhouse and ship it too you. If someone is already picking orders in that part of the wearhouse it makes sense to just grab it now rather than wait a few more days. Same with shipping. If the order is together they aren’t set up to just hold it, they ship it.
From what I’ve seen, the difference is that they either ship it same day, or wait a few days to ship it. It still arrives in the same amount of time from when it ships until I receive it, they just take their time (maybe artificially) in getting it out the door.
I’ve been living without it my whole life so I guess it’s possible
Yup. I stopped using Amazon for anything but maybe searching the closest thing to a unified search engine for goods, and when I find good information or a product I need, I will find somewhere else to buy it.
Turn Amazon into a search engine. Buy somewhere else.
It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription
Water is wet
But is it surprisingly wet?
dropped it when they sent me the emails about adding ads, gf was halfway through a season of supernatural though so set it to expire at the end of the month.
they just took the next payment anyway and carried on my subscription. i had to go on again, cancel… again, and get a refund.
slimey sneaky bezos had his fingers in my wallet
I hate to be honest, but I used Amazon Prime a lot because:
- I cannot drive. Thus, getting to the store is difficult.
- I must bring in 3-4 items a week, so yeah, I save on shipping.
- Auto-subscriptions save a little.
- I have priced a lot of stuff over the years, and while Amazon is not always the best, the convenience is impressive.
- They have, multiple times, been incredibly helpful with customer service. Like above and beyond.
- COVID and nobody masks around here. I have an autoimmune condition, so it’s important that I not leave unless it’s a medical appointment or similar need.
- They just have stuff I can’t find anywhere. Yes, as some have said, caveat emptor, but that’s true for all the stores.
I also save a shit ton of money. When I used to browse Walmart or Target, I used to buy a lot of shit I didn’t need. I don’t get as distracted with focused buying. I also order from Aliexpress if I can wait 30 days, and I have only been ripped off three times in several years, for a total of maybe $35.
I’m not saying my way is better, and certainly not if it’s better for you, but it’s been a godsend to the house-bound.
If Amazon genuinely fits your use case, more power to you. I think the problem is the average person being duped into thinking they need Amazon Prime as the default position.
Cancelled two weeks ago, and while it’s too early for me to have a fully informed opinion, so far I’ve noticed that if you just hold items in your cart until you reach some kind of threshold (and I admittedly don’t know what that is) you can get free shipping anyway.
It’s almost like I was paying all that money just so I could one off order anything on a whim. I’m an adult, I can exercise impulse control and stick it to Amazon in some small way by doing it. Win/Win.
That’s what I do. And by the time I have enough stuff built up for free shipping, I realize I don’t need most of it anyway.
Yeah, they have order me minimums for some of their shipping options anyway. $25 for same day in my area, but once my membership lapses I bet I still end up getting shit in around the same time
