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Post by mick on Nov 21, 2023 7:17:27 GMT
I have Amazon Prime and use it quite a lot. If something we want is available (most of the time) we get it next day with zero delivery charge. Without Amazon it would mean a trip into town costing time, fuel and parking. The LA seem to be bent on soaking the motorist, and so the avoidance of parking charges more than pays for the Prime subscription.
Yesterday, my wife received something she ordered the previous day. Zero delivery charge, nicely packed and delivered without fuss or bother. The cost of the item - £1.97!!!
No wonder the high street is suffering.
Mick
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Post by mick on Nov 21, 2023 7:29:14 GMT
I offer a second post to keep organisations separate.
I have a multi fuel stove that needs parts from time to time. I've had it for more than 30 years. I needed a part and called my usual supplier to find that Covid had driven them out of business. I called the manufacturer.
"Oh yes, we know they went under but we got their records. You have an XYZ?543/obsolete. No we don't have the spare in stock but we can make one. Cost would be the same as the in stock price"
I had the part within 72 hours.
Woodwarm, Cullompton, Devon.
Great service
Mick
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Post by Kath on Nov 21, 2023 7:47:22 GMT
I think it's reasonably well documented how Amazon manage it. I'm trying to wean myself off them in spite of the convenience, and to be honest it isn't all that hard. I'm finding less and less of what I'm looking for on there. I read an article about why that was and it's something to do with the way their algorithm promotes certain brands for a commission so that if you search for 'cat harness' for example, you get particular results coming back in your search, which obviously makes it more likely you'll buy from one of the first results. This generates huge sales for that brand/company and essentially means they now rely on Amazon for most of their sales. Which is when they hike up the commission and/or start promoting other brands instead. Right now, almost everything non-techy that I have looked for has come back with an absolute mass of results all of which look like the exact same product branded with some odd collection of letters rather than a proper name, coming from China. (In the interests of saving some cash, I recently searched for Women's Winter coat and one coat kept appearing under different brand names, one of which was Semen. Seems unlikely that was from a UK company somehow.) It has basically made Amazon about as useful as Pinterest for a lot of things.
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Post by spinno on Nov 21, 2023 7:50:16 GMT
I have Amazon Prime and use it quite a lot. If something we want is available (most of the time) we get it next day with zero delivery charge. Without Amazon it would mean a trip into town costing time, fuel and parking. The LA seem to be bent on soaking the motorist, and so the avoidance of parking charges more than pays for the Prime subscription.
Yesterday, my wife received something she ordered the previous day. Zero delivery charge, nicely packed and delivered without fuss or bother. The cost of the item - £1.97!!!
No wonder the high street is suffering.
Mick
It's akin to Jack Cohen's pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap philosophy when he started Tesco. |
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Post by peterob on Nov 21, 2023 8:02:34 GMT
I have Amazon Prime and use it quite a lot. If something we want is available (most of the time) we get it next day with zero delivery charge. Without Amazon it would mean a trip into town costing time, fuel and parking. The LA seem to be bent on soaking the motorist, and so the avoidance of parking charges more than pays for the Prime subscription.
Yesterday, my wife received something she ordered the previous day. Zero delivery charge, nicely packed and delivered without fuss or bother. The cost of the item - £1.97!!!
No wonder the high street is suffering.
Mick
It isn't zero delivery charge - the Prime subscription pays for it - together with the probability that there are (say) 10 Prime subscribers not ordering something each month for every one that is. |
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Post by mick on Nov 21, 2023 8:21:42 GMT
I get that, of course. But, to me, delivery is as good as free. As I said if I go into the local town I get soaked for parking - minimum £3. About 2 parking avoidances pays my Prime.
I don't bother with the other benefits (video streaming for example). Maybe the 10 not using the delivery service are avidly watching old movies!!
Mick
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Post by spinno on Nov 21, 2023 8:36:51 GMT
I get that, of course. But, to me, delivery is as good as free. As I said if I go into the local town I get soaked for parking - minimum £3. About 2 parking avoidances pays my Prime. I don't bother with the other benefits (video streaming for example). Maybe the 10 not using the delivery service are avidly watching old movies!! Mick I use prime for deliveries for other family members!, listening to music and watching the odd bit of sport/tv. Probably get my money's worth, but I won't use Alexa. |
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Post by zx9 on Nov 21, 2023 9:52:37 GMT
I get that, of course. But, to me, delivery is as good as free. As I said if I go into the local town I get soaked for parking - minimum £3. About 2 parking avoidances pays my Prime. I don't bother with the other benefits (video streaming for example). Maybe the 10 not using the delivery service are avidly watching old movies!! Mick I use prime for deliveries for other family members!, listening to music and watching the odd bit of sport/tv. Probably get my money's worth, but I won't use Alexa. ^^^ Same here though I don't use Amazon Music very often, Steph will watch the odd film or series on Prime Video and don't forget the unlimited photo storage for off site back up. Video storage and back up does cost a little if you are using over the included 5GB, I think mine costs about £2 per month for up to 100GB |
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Post by dreampolice on Nov 21, 2023 9:53:46 GMT
My daughter had a student Prime account which was discounted. After 2020 they increased the price so she cancelled it. For some reason Amazon didn’t switch her off. She still has prime and uses the TV service. No money is taken from her bank and hasn’t been for 3 years!
I find it hard to believe but she swears she has looked at her bank account several times over the years and nothing has been deducted by Amazon.
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Post by mick on Nov 22, 2023 8:23:24 GMT
I get that, of course. But, to me, delivery is as good as free. As I said if I go into the local town I get soaked for parking - minimum £3. About 2 parking avoidances pays my Prime. I don't bother with the other benefits (video streaming for example). Maybe the 10 not using the delivery service are avidly watching old movies!! Mick I use prime for deliveries for other family members!, listening to music and watching the odd bit of sport/tv. Probably get my money's worth, but I won't use Alexa. I do the same. Provided that the item required is 100% identifiable it's easy. I watched Prime streaming a couple of times for international rugby but don't use anything else. I didn't know Alexa was part of the deal. It's built into my TV but I've disabled it. I have a few regular purchases. They are not always cheaper but, taking into account fuel, parking and time it's usually worth it - but I do check before ordering. There are also a couple of items that I used to get from Costco - bread flour for example. I do a lot of baking and have a particular favourite flour. I used to get it from Costco, but fuel prices, membership fee and ULEZ mean I don't go any more. Amazon and the original mill are the only sources I know now. Interestingly Amazon often have stock when the mill doesn't.
Mick
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Post by dreampolice on Nov 23, 2023 14:11:41 GMT
My daughter had a student Prime account which was discounted. After 2020 they increased the price so she cancelled it. For some reason Amazon didn’t switch her off. She still has prime and uses the TV service. No money is taken from her bank and hasn’t been for 3 years! I find it hard to believe but she swears she has looked at her bank account several times over the years and nothing has been deducted by Amazon. As a result of this thread, I again got her to check. I was right not to believe it. They now take it out in a yearly sum, not monthly, hence her not seeing the monthly fee going out. So not 3 years worth of free Amazon after all, lol. |
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Post by zou on Nov 23, 2023 20:28:29 GMT
My daughter had a student Prime account which was discounted. After 2020 they increased the price so she cancelled it. For some reason Amazon didn’t switch her off. She still has prime and uses the TV service. No money is taken from her bank and hasn’t been for 3 years! I find it hard to believe but she swears she has looked at her bank account several times over the years and nothing has been deducted by Amazon. As a result of this thread, I again got her to check. I was right not to believe it. They now take it out in a yearly sum, not monthly, hence her not seeing the monthly fee going out. So not 3 years worth of free Amazon after all, lol. Maybe they heard you snitching. |
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Post by dreampolice on Nov 23, 2023 22:34:09 GMT
As a result of this thread, I again got her to check. I was right not to believe it. They now take it out in a yearly sum, not monthly, hence her not seeing the monthly fee going out. So not 3 years worth of free Amazon after all, lol. Maybe they heard you snitching. Oops |
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Post by willien on Nov 23, 2023 22:45:01 GMT
Maybe they heard you snitching. Oops I suppose sneaky, manipulative, data mining, exploitive capitalist bastards is too simple an explanation? |
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Post by spinno on Nov 24, 2023 8:17:56 GMT
I suppose sneaky, manipulative, data mining, exploitive capitalist bastards is too simple an explanation? Ooh you are so cynical  |
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