10 reasons not to buy from Amazon

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Paradiddle, Jun 23, 2011.

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  1. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The PI has become unreadable since they went online only. I may have to start my own list soon; 10 reasons to stop reading the Seattle PI.
     
  2. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Reading this Amazon piece would be reason enough.
     
  3. Paradiddle

    Paradiddle Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I'm with you but as I suspected we're in the extreme minority, both on this forum and in our larger society. :sigh:
     
  4. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    I love Amazon and despise Wal-mart. You can not compare the two. I feel dirty just entering a Wal-mart. Amazon has great prices on the latest electronics and media and saves me time by shipping direct. And Walmart has a bunch of low-budget overweight people buying a bunch of cheap Chinese crap or unhealthy processed food.
     
  5. CraigVC

    CraigVC Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Perhaps it would surprise you how many "low-budget overweight people" are buying "a bunch of cheap Chinese crap" from the comfort of their own homes via Amazon.com. Since you can't see your fellow consumers on Amazon.com, perhaps you have an unrealistically high image of what they must look like, and assume all Amazon customers are as god-like svelte, marathon-runner healthy, and only buy expensive American-made products, as you?

    Craig.
     
  6. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    I told you my opinion why I do not go to Walmart....Walmart is low-budget which is demonstrated by the facts I saw with a Google search. Amazon customers are certainly econmically stronger and more educated:

    The average Wal-Mart customer earns $35,000 a year, compared with $50,000 at Target and $74,000 at Costco.

    The average US Wal-Mart customer's income is below the national average, and analysts recently estimated that more than one-fifth of them lack a bank account, twice the national rate.

    Must see link -->
    http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/photos/top-rated

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/27/AR2005112700687.html
     
  7. CraigVC

    CraigVC Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I don't doubt that Wal-Mart's average customers are less well-off financially than the average consumer.

    I was just surprised by your really callous description of Wal-Mart customers, and had to comment. I guess for folks like you (who are deeply offended by people who are poorer than you, or weigh more than you, or who buy cheaper and/or lower-quality products than you), it's best that there are online shopping options like Amazon.com where you don't have to rub elbows with the riff-raff.

    But I still maintain that you might be surprised if you were actually in physical "Amazon" stores, rubbing elbows in the aisles and checkout lines with other Amazon customers - maybe they still are overweight compared to you, and maybe they still don't make as much money as you do, and maybe they're still buying cheap foreign-made products while you've got your Amazon shopping cart loaded up with nothing but American-made products.... It's unfortunate that the virtual shopping world allows us to avoid actually interacting with other people and seeing how other people live and behave.

    Craig.
     
  8. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Every week I typcially go to Costco, and I usually go to a Mexican grocery store. The Mexican grocery store is right by a Walmart. Mexican grocery stores have great fresh produce at great prices. The clientelle there is pretty poor. Very few white people there. Being poor is no excuse for buying Koolaid and potato chips and being obese. Costco and the Mexican grocery store is where its at if you want good produce/meat at good prices. Walmarts are gross.
     
  9. bubba-ho-tep

    bubba-ho-tep Resident Ne'er-Do-Well

    Location:
    San Tan Valley, AZ
    But don't many Wal-Marts also carry fresh produce? Or do they carry unhealthy Chinese produce?
     
  10. JRF

    JRF Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Deep South
    So are you saying that Amazon shoppers are bigots?

    from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigot_(disambiguation)

    A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own or intolerant of people of different political views, ethnicity, race, class, religion, sexuality or gender.
     
  11. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    The fresh produce at the Mexican grocery stores is shipped with less logistics (distribution centers) and I am assuming they have connections with produce growers in Callifornia and Mexico. The proudce is better, fresher, and cheaper that a regular grocery store (and Walmart). You can not get items like portabella mushrooms though. Walmart is all about the factory farm and you get the negatives with this. As far as Chinese produce, you better believe its around. Look at gerlic and apple juice. Watch out for shrimp from Vietnam and other seafood from asia.
     
  12. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    And we all know about lies, damn lies, and statistics.

    Completely apples and oranges comparing Wal-Mart to Amazon to Costco. I would suspect that if you compared the demographics based on the same items sold at Wal-Mart and Amazon, you might see a bit different result.

    If for no other reason, stores selling discount groceries and clothing would attract a different demographic than what you would probably purchase via the internet. You can't compare Costco either since they(alone with Sam's Club) are a membership club and are geared towards a select target demographic.

    As you readily admitted, you hate Wal-Mart, which is fine. Many feel the same way, and I'm no fan of theirs, but your attempt to stereotype Wal-Mart customers was weak at best.
     
  13. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    One of the most popular books in my store is "People Of Walmart: Shop & Awe." It really has some amazing hard-to-believe photos.
     
  14. JRF

    JRF Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Deep South
    I get emails with pictures of "The People of Wal-Mart", absolutely hilarious.
     
  15. jv66

    jv66 Estimated Dead Prophet

    Location:
    Montreal
    That is one funny line :laugh:
     
  16. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

  17. carrolls

    carrolls Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    Don't order SACDs from Amazon.com. 50% of orders are cancelled. The rest are badly packed.
    However its totally the opposite with Amazon third party sellers. I rarely have any problems with third party sellers. I suppose they have the threat of negative feedback hanging over them.
     
  18. MerseyBeatle

    MerseyBeatle Martha my dear (1995-2012)

    Location:
    Charleston, SC
    :righton:

    Was thinking of signing up for Amazon Prime today and reading this piece only solidified my commitment to Amazon.com and will gladly buy from them. In fact, because of this “article” I will go with Amazon Prime, increase my buying from Amazon and will gladly support them and any other company that offers the same great value, low prices, and take the same positions as Amazon and their founder (see reasons #3 & #4). Thanks for posting the article.

    A proud Amazon.com customer.
     
  19. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    From an interesting online article

    The Amazon Kindle is a catastrophe: an interface to a proprietary market managed by a profit-motivated outfit that wants to own and monetize your memory theater. On July 17, 2009, in an act so bumblingly ironic that even Amazon called its behavior “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles,” the company removed copies of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 (!) from customers’ Kindles without warning or permission. The editions, it turned out, were illicit. While the company was sure to apologize and pay a pittance in damages to the affected customers after the ensuing outrage, this incident demonstrated the sort of powers Amazon has reserved for itself in the design of this new, presumably paradigm-changing device. Books (as well as the annotations one makes while reading, which Amazon saves on its servers) are encoded in a proprietary file format, depending utterly on the device and its software in order to be read. No Kindle—and no Amazon to sell you one—no book. The law has yet to determine precisely what it means to access an e-book on a device like the Kindle: is it more like a lease, a subscription, or an outright purchase? These are complicated questions, and rightfully so, since they involve the fortunes of publishers and authors as well as of readers. While lawyers quibble and companies duel, the Orwell debacle showed that Amazon’s technical capabilities far exceed what it, constrained by public relations and legal counsel, has so far taken the liberty of doing. But even those constraints could be transitory ones. The Kindle’s license agreement also states that it can be changed without notice at Amazon’s will.
     
  20. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    I'm not sure why that's a reason to shop or not shop at a particular store. I don't choose stores based on economic or social status, real or perceived. It's the store's appearance, location, customer service, selection, and prices that I am concerned with.

    In my neighborhood, I have Wal-Mart and Target within a mile of one another. They are equally accessible. I choose Target because it's a smaller store, meaning it's easier to find things, it's less crowded, I can get what I want, and the prices are good. The Target is isolated from other stores, so it's also easy to get in and out of there. By contrast, the Wal-Mart is next door to Sam's Club, so the parking lot is always jammed. Target works better for me, but it has nothing to do with clientele.
     
  21. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Another reason why I don't like downloading media. At least Amazon doesn't have power over my CD collection (assuming they have what I want and ship it to me ;)).
     
  22. Thurenity

    Thurenity Listening to some tunes

    I have a friend that refuses to shop in Walmart, just because of the stigma associated with shopping there. Target, for some reason, is permissible in her eyes. I find her arguments quite silly.

    Personally I judge each store on their own merits - my local Walmart has the usually weirdos but nothing outlandish. So I shop there when I feel there's a low price to be had. But if another store actually made me feel uncomfortable to shop there, regardless of its name, I wouldn't do so. Very simple.


    Well, they do have a record of your shopping habits. But, at least your CD's can't up and disappear one day. :)

    Amazon's cloud service makes me nervous, as well. I recall that their earlier TOS basically stated that they own any content you upload, but I'd have to re-check if it still says that.
     
  23. Jim N.

    Jim N. Just another day in what was once Paradise...

    Location:
    So Cal
    The article itself is political as all hell. I'll keep buying from Amazon, thank you.
     
  24. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
  25. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Thanks for posting that.It needed someone from Canada to post a story from my neighborhood(my posting attempts kept failing).This story is not only the talk of the town but its getting worldwide traction(just read responses on a UK news site).It's really nothing new(even for Amazon, as a British reporter evidiently went undercover in an Amazon warehouse in '08)but I suspect most do not know some of the reasons that let Amazon keep prices down.That Borders manager who just started unemployment this week,this is possibly your future.You won't be hired for for knowledge of stuff,ability to handle customers or rally workers to do better.You'll have a gizmo strapped to your wrist telling you to get an item and send it on it's way.Every 30 seconds,walking easily 10-12 miles per shift(which may have extra hours tacked on after you've clocked in).Walking to and from your break and going through security is part of break time.And remember,if everybody makes rate,the rate goes higher.And you'll probably start as a temp,making less with crappier bennies.Turnover is high,but it doesn't matter to Amazon in 2011,where out of work college grads are applying for these jobs.Forget the degree,but bring,and I do mean,literally,bring your high school diploma to the interview because they will not talk to you without it.
     
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