# Amazon: Love it or Hate it?



## thetrailboss (Jun 8, 2014)

What do you think?  Love it?  Hate it?  Prime Member?  Avoid it?

Amazon has been in the news lately with people criticizing it for how it treats employees and how delivery services are often independent contractors barely making it.  But Jeff Bezos is seen by many as a successful and Amazon has a reputation of having everything and fast shipping as well as excellent customer service.  

We are Prime Members.  We use the streaming TV quite a bit and like it.  We like the free shipping.  That said, the price went up a lot a few months ago for the membership and the last two deliveries were pretty bad...with the boxes basically almost ripped apart before it arrived at our house.  Some of the items were damaged.  Not sure if that is from the warehouse or from the badly paid drivers who don't care.  

It is too easy to use I will admit.  My wife just ordered something for work and said to me on the walk that she might just send it back because it was an impulse buy.  I also have been hearing more and more how they do not treat their employees well and that the work atmosphere is really quite bad.  That makes me :-? about buying there.


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## deadheadskier (Jun 8, 2014)

I probably have more transactions through them in a given year than anywhere other than the local gas station and grocery store. 

Not a Prime Member.  I do have a couple of rewards credit cards that are linked to my Amazon account; much better than getting a check in the mail from Chase.

I was unaware of the poor employee treatment.  That's a bummer.  It's a shame that so many large employers get sucked up in greed and refuse to take care of their employees well.  It's not like it can't be done.  Costco, Whole Foods, Wegman's etc., all pay their employees well.  

Wish we had a Costco in the Portsmouth area.  We have a BJs and a Sam's, but those warehouse stores aren't in the same league as a Costco.  I'm surprised we don't.  There's a lot of wealth in the area and Costco seems to be the "wealthy person's warehouse store."  They just have higher quality offerings than the others.


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## Savemeasammy (Jun 8, 2014)

We - and when I say "we"
I mean "my wife" - use it, and are Prime members.  I believe most of our stuff is delivered via UPS and USPS - neither of whom are underpaid - and we have never had an issue.  

I hate to hear of big companies treating their employees poorly. I believe that a fair amount of their merchandise is drop-shipped from other merchandisers.  


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Edd (Jun 8, 2014)

We're prime members and I don't have much to complain about. These stories about the employees have been circulating for years and they're easy to believe. I could live without Amazon without much trouble, but I'd rather not.


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## Geoff (Jun 8, 2014)

I'm Amazon Prime.   By volume, I mostly buy new release Blu Rays and stupidly expensive cat food for my gold-plated cat.


Looking at order history for the last 6 months in reverse order:

2 docking lines for my new inflatable dinghy, tiller extension for the 15 hp Tohatsu, stainless carbiner to hook the kill switch to a belt loop, 2 brass combo locks, 7 foot stainless cable.  I haven't been to West Marine at all this year which is a good thing since they're overpriced.

A printed on order book: The Competitive Cat, Racing Small Gaff-Rigged Catboats

2 catnip mice with velcro on the stomach to add more catnip

Clic reading glasses.   They usually last about 9 months before I break them.   They fasten magnetically in front and live around my neck so I always have them.

Yaktrax - I'm tired of crashing on the ice in my driveway

4 canvas boat bags with zip tops and a large thermal bag

Battery heater for the SUV battery, oil pan heater and silicon sealer for the SUV.   It doesn't like subzero.   I still haven't had it up on the lift to install the oil pan heater.   The battery heater did the trick.

6 cases of cat food 2 at a time were mixed in

The following Blu Rays:
Silver Linings Playbook (yeah, I have a thing for Jenifer Lawrence even in a chick flick)
The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug
Dallas Buyer's Club
Flight of the Phoenix
Frozen
American Hustle
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Taken 2
Thor: The Dark World
Gravity (pissed I never saw it in IMAX)
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Shaun of the Dead
Ender's Game
The Wolf of Wall Street
Despicable Me
Elysium
Kick Ass 2 (I guess I'm a closet pedo watching Hit Girl)
Prisoners
Family
The Lone Ranger (worst buying mistake since Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters)


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## Geoff (Jun 8, 2014)

...and I shop at Walmart for medicine cabinet stuff, toilet paper, Claratin D 12-hour 30 packs, vitamins, laundry detergent, and underwear.   I don't buy much else there since the low end Chinese quality is awful but it's my go-to for anything consumable in my bathroom.


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## thetrailboss (Jun 8, 2014)

Some of what I've heard:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-06-05/dispute-amazon-over-e-book-pricing

How it is helping (at least helping USPS):

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2...tal-service-and-push-expand-same-day-delivery

I think that this show also got into how they don't pay warehouse staff well at all...but that is to be expected considering the work.


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## darent (Jun 8, 2014)

living on a island, online buying is a way of life, We have found amazon very reliable. maybe if these big corps worried more about employees than shareholders we wouldn't hear negatives about employee pay and treatment.


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## thetrailboss (Jun 8, 2014)

darent said:


> living on a island, online buying is a way of life, We have found amazon very reliable. maybe if these big corps worried more about employees than shareholders we wouldn't hear negatives about employee pay and treatment.



Guess who those shareholders are?  Probably you and me with our mutual funds/retirement plans.  That's the irony.


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## deadheadskier (Jun 8, 2014)

yup


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## dlague (Jun 9, 2014)

I am neutral on this one.  Never had a bad experience, then again, I do not but much from Amazon.  I find my purchases on that site to be more opportunistic.


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## Glenn (Jun 9, 2014)

We buy a lot from Prime. It's so much easier to go online, click and two days later it shows up. We use their video service. Between that and Netflix, we were able to cut cable.


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## Cannonball (Jun 9, 2014)

We had Prime for one year for the video service as an effort to cut out cable.  While we had that I found I ordered lots of stuff from them because of the free shipping.  Eventually the video service was way too buggy and with too limited a selection so we didn't renew.  Since not having Prime I find I order from Amazon a lot less.  This was also around the time they needed to start charging tax.  

Their bad work environment is getting pretty legendary.  But it's not surprising. They are essentially just the online manifestation of the Wallmart mentality.


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## Edd (Jun 10, 2014)

Ordered shoes from Amazon last week. I sent them back today for a defect and replacements arrive tomorrow. That is nuts.


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## ctenidae (Jun 11, 2014)

I hate them because I have to spend an extra 15-20 minutes breaking down boxes for recycling.

It's a minor inconvenience compared to how much easier it is to get stuff on line rather than having to load up the kids to go get the one thing you don't need right away. But still, there aren't enough toads in my coal, so I had to come up with something.


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## skiNEwhere (Jun 11, 2014)

I have a friend who just quit working there in Mass a couple of months ago. He packed books and he said the managers kept raising the quotas. He was telling me how he would get written up if he didn't meet his quotas, and was even in the bathroom too long. I've read stuff I found via google that pretty much states the same thing. Kind of makes me feeling morally wrong using their service.


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## jimk (Jun 12, 2014)

I'm a dinosaur.  The only thing I buy online are motel rooms or lift tickets for ski trips.  And maybe the occasional piece of ski gear.  I know the rest of my household messes with Amazon.  
Got to admit I was amazed when my wife and son told me about five years ago there were all kinds of $10 items you could buy from Amazon and have FedEx'd to your house for cheaper than you could get them at Target down the street.  Made me want to invest in FedEx, but I never did.  
After watching the first Dot.com bust back around 2001 I don't trust things like Amazon, Google, and Facebook.  Some new paradigm's likely to pop-up soon and replace each of them.  Now online ski forums - that's another story.  They are here to stay


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## BackLoafRiver (Jun 12, 2014)

I sit firmly in the "like" camp....I love Prime. Free two-day shipping is great and I find a lot of stuff for a decent price. ( i just nabbed a heart-rate monitor for 1/2 what I could find it for other places)  I haven't had to use the warranty side yet. Returns are super fast and simple as well. Generally, if I can find something similar at a smaller local business I will support them but, if not, Amazon gets my money.


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## darent (Jun 12, 2014)

thetrailboss said:


> Guess who those shareholders are?  Probably you and me with our mutual funds/retirement plans.  That's the irony.



u r right,but better pay might ge,t more efficient  results,better. profits,cost of labor is a write off,make a happy work force

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2


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## wa-loaf (Jun 12, 2014)

Just added streaming music to Prime:
http://mashable.com/2014/06/12/amazon-launches-music-service-prime/


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## thetrailboss (Jun 12, 2014)

darent said:


> u r right,but better pay might ge,t more efficient  results,better. profits,cost of labor is a write off,make a happy work force
> 
> Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2



That is true.  But those who manage our mutual funds probably demand $$$ in the short term from companies instead of these other returns.


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## AdironRider (Jun 12, 2014)

I buy almost everything local and pay dearly for it. But for one its principle as a small business owner now myself, and two it seems like 50% at least of my internet purchases end up not fitting right, not what I expected, or overall inferior product. 

One or two returns where I have to pay the shipping, or take an hour or two out of my day to do it completely destroy all the savings I get. Noone ever thinks about that.


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## Cannonball (Jun 12, 2014)

AdironRider said:


> I buy almost everything local and pay dearly for it. But for one its principle as a small business owner now myself, and two it seems like 50% at least of my internet purchases end up not fitting right, not what I expected, or overall inferior product.
> 
> One or two returns where I have to pay the shipping, or take an hour or two out of my day to do it completely destroy all the savings I get. Noone ever thinks about that.



Exactly the same here.  Except I think everyone thinks of that.


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## AdironRider (Jun 12, 2014)

Internet sales would not have replaced brick and mortar if everyone did. 

Although, I think the sensationalist journalism recently about their working conditions is a bit misplaced. They wouldnt be hiring 10% of their applications if otherwise. Also, if you read the articles on Gawker and stuff like that, people are bitching and saying they are horrible employers for such travesties as making them punch into a time clock, having performance targets to hit, etc, aka having expectations of their employees.


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## Cannonball (Jun 12, 2014)

AdironRider said:


> One or two returns where I have to pay the shipping, or take an hour or two out of my day to do it completely destroy all the savings I get. Noone ever thinks about that.





AdironRider said:


> Internet sales would not have replaced brick and mortar if everyone did.



Not really.  You're assuming that savings is the only reason to buy online.  I mostly buy from brick and mortar.  But when I do buy online the top reasons are selection, availability, convenience, and research options.  Price is obviously a factor too, but not the main one.


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## ctenidae (Jun 12, 2014)

So much of our online purchase decision comes down to convenience. The last Amazon purchase I was involved with was a new faucet for the kitchen sink. Home Depot had the same faucet for a similar price, and I presume we could have gotten it at a local small store as well. However, going to HD always takes a good chunk of a day, especially with 2 kids, and that would suck up most of the available installation time. Getting it from Amazon meant we could order it, and install it at my leisure. 

My wife just ordered a new blotter for her desk. I don't even have any idea where you could go to buy on of those, but I'd guess it'd take a fair chunk of time at WalMart or Staples, and that's no better.


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## deadheadskier (Jun 12, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> Not really.  You're assuming that savings is the only reason to buy online.  I mostly buy from brick and mortar.  But when I do buy online the top reasons are selection, availability, convenience, and research options.  Price is obviously a factor too, but not the main one.



I hardly buy from Brick and mortar stores at all anymore.  My top reasons for buying online are the same as yours: selection, availability, convenience and research options.  

Convenience is the number 1 of those reasons though.  I simply don't like the brick and mortar shopping experience.  I dislike going to "stores".

....except for perishable items.  I love going to food and booze stores.  Why?  Nobody is trying to sell you anything for the most part and the occasional chance they do make a sales pitch, it's very suttle. 

I'm 100% a mom and pop supporting business kind of a guy in many ways, especially regarding restaurants.  I don't think I've purchased a cup of coffee from D&D or Starbucks in over a year.  I always seek out the independent options for such things.

But if I need a new set of long underwear to ski with, I'm not driving 20 minutes to Portsmouth to bounce between outdoor stores to find the product I want at the price I want.  I'm going to sign on to Amazon at my convenience, do some research and buy through them.


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## bigbog (Jun 13, 2014)

Amazon's shipping is very slow.....in comparison to other online purchases, but a little thing or two they have that others don't anymore...so I'm not complaining.  This is personal stuff, not business.


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## Hawkshot99 (Jun 13, 2014)

I dont buy much from Amazon.  I use Ebay quite a bit though.  I can usually find a item cheaper online, and I dont actually have to go to the store to get it.  I am almost never in a super rush, so I can wait a few days for the convenience of having it show up on my doorstep.


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## wa-loaf (Jun 13, 2014)

bigbog said:


> Amazon's shipping is very slow.....in comparison to other online purchases, but a little thing or two they have that others don't anymore...so I'm not complaining.  This is personal stuff, not business.



Two day free shipping is slow?


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## Edd (Jun 13, 2014)

wa-loaf said:


> Two day free shipping is slow?



I'm with you. They ship at light speed in my book.


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## bvibert (Jun 13, 2014)

wa-loaf said:


> Two day free shipping is slow?



Maybe he's not a Prime member?

Plus, not everything is fulfilled through Amazon, so the shipping can vary.


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## Edd (Jun 18, 2014)

And the phone has been announced. 

http://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-fire-phone/


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## wa-loaf (Jun 18, 2014)

Edd said:


> And the phone has been announced.
> 
> http://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-fire-phone/



Looks pretty cool and the price is great. Waiting to see what Apple comes out with in the fall before replacing my current phone.


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## Edd (Jun 18, 2014)

I'm not seriously considering it but, if I was, the AT&T only restriction would be a deal breaker.


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## wa-loaf (Jun 18, 2014)

https://bobsullivan.net/technology-...problem-by-making-you-a-mobile-cash-register/


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## WWF-VT (Jun 20, 2014)

Geoff said:


> The following Blu Rays:
> Silver Linings Playbook (yeah, I have a thing for Jenifer Lawrence even in a chick flick)
> The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug
> Dallas Buyer's Club
> ...



20+ Blu Rays is a lot of $$$.  Why own when you can get videos from the local library here in MA for free ?


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## AdironRider (Jun 20, 2014)

WWF-VT said:


> 20+ Blu Rays is a lot of $$$.  Why own when you can get videos from the local library here in MA for free ?



Is this sarcasm?


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## Geoff (Jun 23, 2014)

AdironRider said:


> Is this sarcasm?



Apparently not.   I also paid for two expensive automobiles when there's a perfectly good local bus service.


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