I'm in the middle of downtown in a small city shops are heavily weighed towards convenience or kick nacks. EG 2 different gift stores and no hardware store. Lots of convenience stores and two specialty markets but only one grocery store and that at least double the cost and 1/100th the selection of the chain stores with the floor space of 7-11.
Looking back small shops always had shitty prices and selection
Be a local shop owner.
Have "opportunistic" prices.
Always try talking people into buying shit they don't need.
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"Customer support" = Its your fault, no refunds, go fuck yourself.
Why is Amazon taking over?
Yesterday, a user asked how I stopped using Amazon. I don't have the heart to tell him, you just stop.
Honestly though, is there a site to find other places you can buy that's not from amazon? Maybe ebay, alibaba, AliExpress? Those options aren't as reliable and still have iffy ethical practices.
I quit Amazon in 2019, and eBay supplanted them. Sometimes I get eBay purchases delivered as Amazon drop ships and it pisses me off. All I can do is leave bad feedback, so I do.
My anxiety ridden ass loves Amazon. My house is in a private enough area that I've never had a package stolen, but I live near a distribution center, so I can often get same-day delivery.
It started taking 5 days for deliveries during COVID so I cancelled prime and just get $35 free shipping.
I did exactly the same. It's fine if they can no longer ship in 2 days, but then lower the cost of Prime or something. It's no longer worth it, and tbh I'm going to spend a lot less money on Amazon since I won't order until I have enough for free shipping.
This is also what I do. Not very difficult to hit the free shipping. I put stuff in my cart then save for later.
Scamazon prime started looking like a bad deal to me well before COVID. When they were not meeting 2 day delivery and not compensating for it I was done with prime. I don't care much about video or music or whatever other shit comes with prime...it is all about the shipping.
How much is Prime now? And is what you get really worth that much?
Or alternatively, I live in the woods and it’s 60 min round trip to anywhere and there were never local stores near me to begin with, and between kids, jobs, chores, and house projects it’s just too damn convenient not to pull out a phone and have something come the next day- not like I’d have time on a week night to go out and buy it anyway, and then I get all the way to the store and they dont have what I’m looking for.
I detest Amazon practices, but I don’t have a real alternative that doesn’t just shift all the burden to me. I could “make a stand” but it doesn’t solve any of my problems and adds quite a few.
People want what Amazon provides, and I’d happily give my money to another company without shitty practices if one were available- but there in lies the problem. It’s a near total monopoly.
how do i get in on the retail smash and grab mobs on the news lately? where are they selling? do they deliver
Online shopping used to mean lower prices and a bit of a wait.
Nowadays it's: more expensive because of shipping, delivery not doing their job or even stealing your shit, which leads to you having to pick it up at a place further from your house than the store that sells it.
Over here they are supposed to deliver it to you in person but half the time (if not more) they'll just leave a "you weren't home note" even though you took the day off and then drop it off at a pickup point.
Downside is that i can't stop online shopping because the stores never carry what i need.
I don't know about everywhere, but in many places the last point is kinda irrelevant since the Amazon lockers exist. I think there is one at most QuikTrips, even.
The last point is that the one of the advantages of shopping from home disappears, since you still need to get to either P.O. Box or Amazon box or whatever. You could as well go to the store to begin with.
There are things that you can only buy in amazon.