Two more reasons to shop on Amazon.

[MineralMan]

Selection and availability.

My first instinct is to buy what I need locally. That way, I can see the product and get it immediately. However, the process is often frustrating and wastes my time, forcing me to come home empty-handed. For example:

I needed two things: A winter cover for the outdoor condenser/compressor unit for my central air conditioning system and a pair of waterproof work boots. Both are seasonal products in the Fall. Armed with the dimensions of my unit and my shoe size, I drove to the local Lowes and my favorite place to buy shoes - Mills Fleet Farm. Both are within 10 minutes of my home.

Lowes did not have a cover in stock to match the dimensions of my AC unit, although there was an empty space where one should have been, and Fleet Farm was out of the boots I wanted, despite them showing up on their website. So, I just stopped by the local Lund's supermarket and bought some food for tonight's supper.

When I got home, I fired up the Amazon website. I searched for the AC cover, including the dimensions in the search. Up popped a perfect match and it was in stock for next day delivery, and at a price considerably lower than Lowes, which didn't have the size I needed anyhow. So into my shopping cart it went. Next, I searched for the boots I was going to buy at Fleet Farm, by brand name and size. Boom! There they were, and on sale, too. So, another item into the shopping cart. All in five minutes. Both will be here tomorrow, with no shipping charge, since my wife and I have a Prime account.

I tried to buy what I needed locally. I spent 45 minutes in total trying at the actual stores. No luck. Neither item was available. I spend 5 minutes on Amazon and got exactly what I wanted, delivered to my door. But, I tried the local brick and mortar stores. Now, I'll be even less likely to go to them again.

Local businesses, whether they are part of a national chain or not, need to step up their game, I think. Meanwhile, I found what I needed while sitting at my desk. Since Amazon has local distribution centers, local workers will fill my order and deliver it. So, I still shopped locally and supported local workers.

I can't feel sorry for the local Lowe's store, nor the Mills Fleet Farm store near where I live. I tried. They failed. I'll remember that next time.

[Torchlight]

1. I think for the most part, shopping local is what we make of it.

I've never thought Amazon to be a place where I can get something no one else has because I've never run across that. The local stores in and around my mid-sized town have always stocked everything we need and want in my household. I think we all tend look at these things through the lens of the Allais paradox.

[MineralMan]

4. Whether something is in stock and available is spotty.

That's especially true if you want a specific item in a specific size and don't want something else. A non-fitting AC unit winter cover isn't an acceptable alternative. Neither is a pair of boots in the wrong size. Now, you could say I should have tried other local stores, but one's time also has value. Even with the stores I mentioned being very nearby, it still wasted almost an hour of my time to discover that they didn't have what I needed. Had I gone hunting in other stores, more time would have been spent, along with gasoline for my car.

Some people prefer to hunt around for things locally. I do not. Both items I wanted showed up on those stores' websites as in stock and available. However, neither item actually was in stock, so neither was available to me at the time. Perhaps the inventory system that feeds their websites is inaccurate or too seldom updated. I don't know. My time was still wasted.

My point here is that such situations make me less likely to choose the local option the next time I need something. It's not rare to visit a store and to find an empty shelf where the product you want is supposed to be. That happens at the supermarket, too. The next time I go, there might be that product on the shelf.

This is why Amazon is so successful and why it is attracting consumers who want assured access to products that match their needs as precisely as possible. It's an unbeatable combination of availability and selection. I doubt that brick and mortar stores will ever be able to match that. Retailing has changed forever. There will be no return to the old way this time.

[Torchlight]

11. I've found everything I've needed and wanted locally.

Maybe the spottiness is regional. I've become more likely to shop locally the past ten years, and have find the experiences engaging, especially given the contraction of business and personal interactions my corner of the world has gone through over the past year and half.

But I'm glad Amazon works for you. That's wonderful. Ederville Butcher, Jim's Auto Body & Repair and Mill Road Books works for me. I think it's what we make of it. Maybe they'll close soon. Maybe they won't.

[avebury]

2. I have more from Amazon for delivery since Covid.

It comes down to convenience, savings in time and wear and tear on your car, and so on. If all of a sudden I figure out I need X, one item, it is so easy to pop on line and buy. Depending upon what you are looking for, some shelves around where I live are bare and it is a large city.

[2naSalit]

3. I still have...

Yet to find a reason to shop Amazon. Don't plan on ever doing so.

[MineralMan]

5. OK.

[BannonsLiver]

6. Probably for the best.

Convenience and reasonable prices can be addictive for some.

[Alice Kramden]

7. I personally avoid Amazon as well

To spend my dollars at other retailers who are not behemoth

[2naSalit]

10. I shop locally...

Even if I'm in the neighboring state. 99.9% of my groceries are bought at an employee owned store, we have two in the area, or a small mom&pop type business. Other than food, I'm not much of a consumer.

[Alice Kramden]

12. I buy a lot of books

And I mainly support Barnes & Noble - for more specialized books there is a website called bookfinder.com that lists all the retailers, including Amazon, along with comparative prices

[Torchlight]

14. I do the same. Maybe it's out of habit, or maybe it's just more convenient for me.

But like you, my household keeps conspicuous consumption way down, and my list of "I really need to have one of these!" is tiny. A miscolored screw on our dining room table leg has caused a few guests to tell us where and how we can replace, and my g/f retorts the same way each time: it won't make the table work any better.

[Bettie]

8. I live 40 minutes from a large store of any kind

My husband and kids buy their shoes from the local shoe store, we get some things at the local grocery store, and we go into town every so often.

But, we buy things from Amazon as well.

I use my Kindle constantly as well.

[BannonsLiver]

9. I enjoy the convenience but will still shop locally.

I’m also an Amazon stock holder, though its performance has been sluggish lately.

[Pantagruel]

13. Amazon has already won

the war with local merchants. Price and convenience rule. The problems they will encounter are selling out listing priorities to the highest bidders which could be self-defeating. Also the massive waste of shipping packaging, our poor planet weeps.

[CousinIT]

15. This is me every time I need something except groceries.

Brick and mortar stores just don't stock anything anymore. We're forced to shop online to get what's needed.

[sanatanadharma]

16. The Amazon system has numerous warehouse/ shipping facilities; a vast inventory of "get-it-now"

The Amazon system has numerous warehouse/ shipping facilities.
There is a massive inventory investment sitting on shelves.

My questions!
Does Amazon 'own' all of the merchandise advertised and sold on their site?
Or is all that inventory, supplied by producers and vendors, still owned by them?
Whose money is tied up on warehouse shelves, in every desired size, color, flavor, taste, need for household hope-chests?

For promised quick delivery of Brand Shoe, in many sizes to many people around the country, it would seem that the shoes need to be warehoused in numerous places. Kind of like the back rooms of numerous Shoes R US.

The shoes pending sale, still sitting in the back rooms of main street retailers, were purchased and are owned by the store.
Inventory represents a big upfront investment. It reduces cash in the bank.

Now if Mom and Pop stores could keep their backrooms full of product owned by others (in hope of sales), then Mom and Pop could always satisfy customers with minimal inventory costs (and unsold inventory costs.)

Plainly perhaps, this would plane a more level playing field.
Are the shelves of Walmart now displaying product that is not Walmart Inventory?

[Klaralven]

24. It depends on who the product is "sold by"

If it is "sold by Amazon", I think it is Amazon's inventory. If it is "sold by someone else", I think it is someone else's inventory, even if it is fulfilled by Amazon.

[diane in sf]

17. That's very close to my experience. And returns are super easy. Then there's the whole not exposing

yourself to idiot anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers. It’s less scary now to go out post vaccines. But the number of unmasked and dick-nosed maskers, particularly males, around here, pre-vaccine was enough to make me limit my pre-vaccine, in-person shopping

[sinkingfeeling]

18. I do my darnest to never buy anything on Amazon.

[Hekate]

19. It's possible the items you want are in a shipping container sitting precariously off the port...

… of Long Beach, CA. Give the locals another try later — though gods know how much longer “later” is.

I don’t know why it took me so long to remember my old home state in this context, but the shipping situation must be biting Hawai’i hard at this point.

I have mixed feelings about Amazon. They need unionization by the employees and regulation by the federal government. But they surely do fill a need for us customers, don’t they?

[MineralMan]

21. Sure, that's possible. However, I need new boots before the snow falls, and

the AC unit needs to be covered now, not later. I know that the brand of boot I wanted fits well, so it's a risk-free buy. I know what size of AC cover I need, and the wrong size just won't do. That's often the problem. Some things, you need when you need them. Time was that we didn't have much choice but local merchants or mail order companies like Sears. That's no longer the case, though. Whatever you need, no matter how specific, can be found almost instantly and delivered to you with no delays.

I remember finding a rare car in the 1970s, a 57 Messerschmidt, in some guy's garage. The guy selling it wanted only $200 for it. But, it had a bad bearing in its transmission. I could hear the worn bearing, but the transmission was still in the car. Maybe if I had the bearing in hand, I could have found one at a bearing house, despite it being a metric part. I passed on the car, because it was unclear whether I'd be able to get the part to fix it. It wasn't something you could order at the local parts store.

Just for grins, I searched on Google for that particular bearing the other day. Sure enough, there's a club for Messerschmidt owners and that part and many others are readily available from a supplier in Germany listed on the club's website, even though they'd have to be shipped from Europe. In the 70s, there was no way to find that club, even if it had existed, and it would have taken weeks to find the part, if it could be found at all.

It's really pretty amazing, actually. Today, I'd hand over the money to the owner of that car, knowing that I could get what I needed to fix it.

[Mosby]

20. Lowes and HD both have websites with a vastly expanded selection

I got a garage door opener from the HD website, they had dozens of types compared to the stores 4 skus.

I dont have a problem with Amazon, they aren't the reason for the contraction of retail stores, they were just in the right place at the right time. Its the commercial real estate sharks who are killing mom and pop stores, they can't help themselves because greed.

[MineralMan]

22. Yes, but Amazon has what I need, too, and can deliver it the next day.

Cheaper, too.

[planetc]

23. I have an AC compressor in the yard, too.

And I have discovered that if I fold my blue tarp carefully, and tie it with the drawstring that came with the tarp, it will provide protection throughout the NYS winter. My boots are an old pair of Hunters, which I think are called "wellies" in many English novels. When they finally quit, I intend to look up the Hunter people and see if I can order from them.

I have been boycotting Amazon for several years now, since they started to squeeze the incomes of some of the less-than-bestselling authors as part of Amazon's contract negotiations with Hachette Group. Amazon used to be a pretty nice little bookstore, but I did not ask them to take over the world, which they are now doing. It's boring how little imagination some of our big businesses have: they got some money, and so they felt compelled to have a Lot More Money.

As for books, let me recommend Barnes & Noble, who have lots of books and a particularly nice selection of crossword puzzle books, which are almost the only kind I buy any more. We used to hate Walmart because they drove small businesses out of business. But for some reason, this is okay if Amazon does it. Monopoly is still monopoly, and it's bad for competition. Even though my purchasing power is tiny, I use it to vote for the world I want to live in.

[MineralMan]

26. Yes, a tarp would work, but then I lose the use of the tarp.

A correctly sized cover isn't expensive and fits properly. It has a drawstring at the bottom to secure it and a velcro closed panel where the plumbing and electrical connections come out of the unit. It's a better solution than a folded tarp, really, and inexpensive, too.

As for Amazon's book business. I have three non-fiction books published in Kindle format and as on-demand paperback copies. My royalties are far, far better than my previous books published by regular publishers. Of course, I'm responsible for my own marketing efforts, but they produce an income in keeping with their very specialized and limited audiences. I would never return to traditional book publishing, frankly.

Amazon has revolutionized publishing, giving authors control of their work product and and an excellent royalty program, that gives me an average of 70% of the cover price for each book sold. That's something like 10 times the royalty from traditional publishers. I don't heavily market my books, generally, but market directly to my target audience in other ways. Sales are international without any effort, and I don't have to maintain any stock of printed books.

To each his or her own, I suppose.

[planetc]

28. I'm delighted to know Amazon is doing such a good job for specialized authors.

And I congratulate you on having found the right bookstore for your books.

But I do wonder why the company apparently wants to sell everything else too. It just seems a bit arrogant.

[Klaralven]

25. Local bookstores were never any good at selling non-fiction books

Local bookstores, except for the very largest, carry an inventory of mostly fiction best sellers, fiction, and a few non-fiction high-volume categories like cookbooks and self improvement.

They were never the place to find technical, scientific, and academic books unless they were research university bookstores. For these, you had to go to mail order houses, and mail order books was what Amazon originally moved online.

[MineralMan]

27. That's true. See my post just above for my experience with

using Amazon as a publisher for my own books.