To ask how you can live with yourself if you use Amazon

[paperbeatsrock]

Just kidding! All those political threads asking how people can possibly vote for X or Y must be getting to me.

I use Amazon. (While I’m frequently ordering from a vendor rather than Amazon themselves, Bezos still gets his cut.) Yet, the more I read about them, the more I realise I’m part of the problem. So I guess my question is, do you have stern words with yourself for using them, but keep doing it anyway?

I have ordered 36 items on Amazon in the past 30 days

Jesus. Well if that's the case, Amazon Prime is clearly worth it! I'm pretty sure most people don't buy that much though!

Doesn't Amazon have this too

Yes but no other website has anything like the breadth and range of Amazon. So as a one stop shop, it’s very easy to meet the minimum spend.

However, I tried to buy everything I buy from Amazon elsewhere, I’d be using a wide range of websites and probably meeting a minimum spend in very few of them. But to mention inputting card details here there and everywhere.

@speakout I'm scared to look to see how many I've ordered

Unfortunately John Lewis. Barge. Shit load for delivery, even more if you select a named day delivery. So the free returns is slightly beside the point

If you want home delivery I think it's free over £50, under approx £3.50

Click & collect from Waitrose, JL, Booths (I think) & Coop is free when spending over £30 & you can get next day on that if ordered by 8pm.

Collect+ is £3.50.

Amazon isn't free either though unless you spend a minimum amount or have a subscription.

Oh and if you’re avoiding amazon because of worker’s conditions and pay... you’ll want to avoid John Lewis too.

John Lewis use Hermes for deliveries...

Yes but no other website has anything like the breadth and range of Amazon. So as a one stop shop, it’s very easy to meet the minimum spend.

That depends on the customer though, I wouldn't order clothes, shoes or make up on Amazon, so it's easier for me to meet the minimum spend of £30 at John Lewis that the £20 one at Amazon.

Doesn't Amazon have this too unless you pay for a subscription?

Yes, but Amazon sells such a wide variety of items that it's easy to meet the minimum spend. If I'm buying something that's say, £18.99 and I need to spend £20, I can just add something like dog poo bags, cat food or socks - something I'll use anyway so it's not a waste, I'm just buying from Amazon as opposed to Tesco.

I'd love to buy my fruit and veg from a greengrocer instead of Tesco, but I haven't seen one in about 30 years.

Which is because everyone went to Tesco meaning the greengrocers closed down due to lack of trade.

Personally, I think the demise of "The High St" etc is a good thing as smaller/independent/local shops are starting to open up again (but not in town centres) as they now have a way of competing - i.e. they're local, easy to get to, friendlier, more responsive, etc. Smaller outlets with easy parking, close to where people live, on bus routes etc are coming back into fashion. We could end up with polarised shopping - lots of small local shops on one hand, and the likes of Amazon on the other - cutting out the hard to access/unpopular High Streets with their unresponsive Chain stores.

again @adaline I think it depends on the customer.

Unfortunately with John Lewis, you have to hit £50 (!) before you get free delivery.

Otherwise it is £12.95 for next day delivery (pre 10.30am), £9.95 for evening, £6.95 for named day / next day (ouch!). You only get to £3.50 if you don't mind hanging around form5 days for delivery.

And pp ask why people chose Amazon over John Lewis!

Personally I find the width & depth of offer on Amazon too much. I was looking at glue guns & my search returned more than 1000 results. I don't like Asos for the same reason.

Unfortunately with John Lewis, you have to hit £50 (!) before you get free delivery.

If you spend £30 you can click & collect next day for free at JL, Waitrose, Booths & Coop. Waitrose will also let you send the goods/part of the goods back if you want straight away so you can get around the £30 fee & you can ask them to dispose of the packaging too.

If you spend £30 you can click & collect next day for free at JL, Waitrose, Booths & Coop.

That's great if you have any of those stores anywhere near you - but my nearest Booths is 50 minutes away, Waitrose is over two hours drive in the next county, and the nearest click and collect shop is 45 minutes away - in a direction I have no reason to travel in otherwise.

Not everyone lives close to major retailers. Living rurally limits your options when it comes to delivery - most shops, for example, offer free store delivery, which is great if you live near those shops, but not so great if getting there involves a long journey, car parking costs and fuel.

Don't live near a JL, Waitrose etc

Can be faffed to dick around with orders purchasing items to escape their delivery charges and then reject part of the order

Life is too short

I didn't realise I was a fan of Amazon until I saw the defenders of inferior retailers

Yes hence why my earlier post said the below! I only replied to you to tell you that John Lewis offers free returns at the PO. 🙄

"I personally don't find them any more convenient or cheaper than John Lewis, Ebay or Argos & find it easier to refund John Lewis stuff. However I recognise that I live near a Waitrose & Argos."

Personally I find the width & depth of offer on Amazon too much.

At a personal level, sure.

But as a one stop shop, nothing comes anywhere close to it. So for me, trying to minimise delivery costs, time, admin, cyber security, it blows the competition out of the water.

I did a huge chunk of my Xmas shopping on it the other day. 20+ items. It took me about 30 mins, at a leisurely pace, comparing options.

I shudder to think how long it would have taken me to do that traipsing round the shops or sourcing from other websites. And I doubt that I could have gotten exactly what I wanted that way.

Life is too short, way too short to not live near a Waitrose or John Lewis 😱😉

I agree I made the decision to stop using them and thought it would be difficult but actually it’s fine and instead of autopilot going on the site it now never occurs to me

@LaurieMarlow - agree!

The clincher was realising I’d ordered items and then one or more wouldn’t be delivered for ages which wasn’t stated when paying

That's your opinion @LaurieMarlow, people like & want different things.

I did most of my Christmas shopping online a few nights ago (whenever the stores had promotions on) at John Lewis & Liberty. I wouldn't have got what I wanted from Amazon.

To be fair, Amazon is not even pretending to compete with Liberty.

people like & want different things

Sure. My point is range.

Nothing comes close to what Amazon offers on this point.

Some categories more so than others. So Amazon isn’t particularly good on say clothes and soft furnishings.

But books, toys, games, gift food, general gifts, general household, crafts, tech, tools, the range is extraordinary.

And that’s before we get into ease of use, which is again, head and shoulders above the rest.

If I tried to do the bulk of my Xmas shopping in liberty I’d be bankrupt

They still have 20%!