to be considering only ordering online from Amazon ongoing?

Same.

Indeed it’s called moving with the times.

Yes, returns from other companies are currently often dysfunctional and if you don't pay attention you don't get a refund for your return. Newlook never sent a courier to collect, Seasalt and Landsend, even Next on one occassion, needed calling to actually provide the refund. Moss don't offer any collection from home options, even if you are willing to pay. Once you have sent back your items, the tracking shows they are back with the retailer, but the retailer does not give you back your money without you calling, waiting on hold, doing an online chat etc., then i will not be buying from them again. Amazon returns are tracked from the moment the person collects it, the refund is given within hours as credit before they even get the return - that is why Amazon wins.

I only use Amazon if I absolutely can't find what I need anywhere else because of their tax avoidance practices.

I’m usually in so it’s more faff to collect from somewhere else.
It’s the way the majority of the Amazon drivers hammer on the door, chuck the package on the floor are speeding off in the van before I’ve even answered which I find annoying. I have a safe place listed for when I am out which they never use they just dump it on the door step. I hardly ever use them now tbh.

There's also the "quality" of retail staff which has gone massively downhill. Even if you find a shop that's still open, it's usually surly/unhelpful staff who either havn't a clue or don't care. Even in specialist shops, the staff often havn't a clue about the products they sell so are useless if you want some "advice" about which item to buy etc. These days, if you get an enthusiastic/helpful shop assistant you feel like you've hit the jackpot.

A couple of years ago, we needed a ring size altering and phoned around a few local jewellers to ask if it was something they did. We went to the shop where the assistant on the phone had sounded the most helpful. It wasn't where we'd bought the ring from. She was honestly amazing with us. Took lots of time to help us get the right sizing, took a photo of the ring and phoned where they send them to get us an accurate pricing, then gave us an estimate of a week to send it off, altered and returned. All good. In the event, she phoned us a couple of days later to say it was ready! Went back and it was perfect. All for £20!! Hardly worth her time really as the adjustment firm probably charged most of that! Needless to say, that shop is now our "go to" when we want anything else done, ie watch repairs, ear-rings, necklesses, a new watch etc. We must have spent a few hundred pounds with them since. Not always the same assistant, but she's still there, but the other assistants are just as good - very attentive and helpful and know their stuff. It's not a "high end" jewellers either, just a small independent! That follows many previous purchases from other jewellers where the staff were mediocre, not particularly helpful, etc.

I really don't think shop owners/managers understand/realise how crap some of their staff really are and how it's detrimental to their sales when customers get crap service and simply don't buy or don't return to buy more stuff.

Our local village post office has utterly crap owners and a couple of surly staff. The owner is always on local Facebook bemoaning the lack of support, etc., but she just can't see that random closing when they feel like it, staff who don't make eye contact or have any manners, etc just drives customers elsewhere to someone more helpful and reliable!

Evri have supposed to have delivered my DH a ladder. It never arrived. They showed a photo of a smallish package that is obviously not a ladder. It was a coat I ordered for a child. Company he ordered it from have gone silent despite him sending several emails asking when it will be redeliverd and asking for signed for delivery. Like you our Amazon delivery person is reliable and if we are not in leaves parcels with our neighbour. You wouldn't think it would be too hard to deliver a parcel to the correct address but our nextdoor website is full of parcels being delivered to wrong houses. Done clearly have wrong large number on door.

I’d love to get more stuff at physical shops but it’s got harder and harder to do now.

I use Amazon for nearly everything now. A lot of the shops in our town have closed down (no doubt due in part to people shopping online). Amazon gives you an amazing choice of products and always has the clothes size you want. Delivery is usually the next day. What's not to like?

my local evri driver changed from a nice lady to an older man and the parcels always smell like weed now, had a kids clothing order recently and it was stinking... I hate it. I can see how negative my posts look on this thread, its all reality for this area though.

I'd love to buy locally in person but a lot of basic food ingredients are no longer available in my town's Morrisons or ASDA - barley, wholemeal pasta, dried pulses (apart from lentils/chickpeas), rice flour, a decent range of other dried goods/cupboard items, decent bread flour, even dried milk ... all no longer available in the last year or two. Some of the local ethnic shops are great as they still sell a few items, but not everything I used to buy. It's ironic that I now have to go to online shopping to buy basic ingredients - I've just ordered and had delivered all of the above via Amazon!

That depends on your city centre. Ours is literally just vape, charity and turkish barber shops since M&S and Woolworths closed down - everything else worthwhile has gone - once the "Big" draw stores had gone, one by one the others have closed down due to the lack of footfall. Even worse now that the last bank has closed too!

I get Amazon stuff delivered to an Amazon locker or a collection point. It's always a pain using other online retailers as you often don't know who they'll be using as the courier so won't know whether a drop off point is an option until you've bought and then discover who they're sending it by and even then, some couriers have different options with different services, so sometimes you can go on their app to arrange a drop off/collection point or a different delivery day, and sometimes the seller has used a cheaper option with no such choices. That's why Amazon wins hands-down - it's just so much easier and convenient with specified delivery dates rather than the usual vague "3-5 days" and Amazon lockers.

I went into the city centre and did half my Christmas shopping yesterday. It was way easier than waiting on deliveries plus half the stuff was cheaper. I know its a bit of a thought but maybe do that if possible.

ah great, thanks, I did not know that lol

Most only care about convenience and its because life is too demanding now. I would love to go down the town centre and have a butcher, bakery, green grocer, general store experience like the old days but they don't all exist anymore and the town centre is a dump with groups of annoying youth or folks sitting smoking outside the local greggs so its not a fun experience sadly. They have really failed the country with this shit. Even cant go to the local library for peace as the youth come in shouting stupid noises and its right next to a smelly pub with drunks hanging around outside. I know I live in a crap town but honestly... don't most of us now... We drive to get away from it, but with all the talk of cars being replaced/ made extortionate that feels like it will be an issue in the future (according to a recent post on here)

If you filter by Prime you can usually avoid that happening at it's usually Amazon's own warehouses and drivers. Also look for next day delivery, as again, that's usually Amazon's own warehouse/drivers. I always filter by Prime first and then check delivery dates - I only use slower deliveries or non Prime if there isn't a Prime/Next Day available.

My local Evri driver is great. He goes above and beyond.
The Amazon ones annoy me as they knock and run unless they need a signature.

Emotionally, I feel a wrench at the idea of there being no brick and mortar shops. Not enough of a wrench to make me constantly and deliberately inflict unnecessary inconvenience and extra expense on myself every time I buy anything for the rest of my life though.

I think I've only ever had one delivery problem with Amazon, out of all the gazillions of things I've ordered. Evri mess up the delivery more times than they get it right!

You need to make sure its coming from amazon still and not a 3rd party seller on amazon. I have had that happen before and they sent it with not an amazon driver.

Nail on the head again. It was firstly supermarkets and identikit chain stores and then out of town retail parks which killed High Streets back in the 90s! The internet has just killed off what was left of it, including, ironically, some supermarkets and other large chains. Even without the internet, we wouldn't have the same kind of High Street comprising lots of small independents today. It would still be all the identikit Chain stores which people complained about ruining the High Streets back in the 90s!

The delivery issues are still there with Amazon but you can very easily ask them to send a replacement if the parcel has been stolen/damaged/delivered to the wrong house.
No time wasted writing emails or over the phone, no need to interact directly with the courrier. And free returns.

Other companies don’t want to change their model yet but when they do it will be too late.

Nail on the head. Huge numbers of small UK businesses trade through Amazon via their "fulfilled by amazon" service. Amazon pick up from the business, or the business gets their suppliers to deliver directly in bulk to Amazon warehouses and then Amazon deal with the selling, packing and delivery. I've got clients who do this who either operate from their homes or from small shops/lock ups. It's usually cheaper to pay Amazon's selling and handling fees than to rent your own premises, employ staff to do the packing, etc. One of my clients has a turnover of 1.5 million which isn't bad for a couple working from home who never even touch the goods they sell as they get everything imported straight to Amazon's hub! I've got a small record/cd shop client who use Amazon alongside their physical bricks n mortar shop - the shop itself wouldn't be viable without the enormous amount of sales via Amazon!