AKA the shopping channel ...

droj

droj

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droj
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I see that Amazon is routinely mentioned across this site as a place to buy stuff. Why? You want to rub shoulders with Bezos? It's the last place that I'd want to buy anything from, but then I'd never vote for Reform either.

Any justifications might be quite revealing ... or maybe not?
 
Are you using a computer?

That's no different to shopping at Amazon.
 
I don't care where i buy stuff from, if it's cheap enough, that's where i will buy it.
 
When our local town had a hardware store, a toy shop, shoe shops, plumbers merchants etc I'd buy stuff there. Those have been gone for a long time, sometimes replaced by big chains, sometimes just disappearing altogether.
 
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dekeyboy said:
I don't care where i buy stuff from, if it's cheap enough, that's where i will buy it.
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This is the correct answer.
droj said:
I see that Amazon is routinely mentioned across this site as a place to buy stuff. Why? You want to rub shoulders with Bezos? It's the last place that I'd want to buy anything from, but then I'd never vote for Reform either.

Any justifications might be quite revealing ... or maybe not?
Click to expand...

Can you perhaps provide an alternative to Amazon that provides the same pricing, next day delivery or for some same day delivery and the same hassle free returns policy?

Also this is the Talk Equipment section of the forum, if you want to talk politics there are other areas of the forum to do that. Maybe you should consider voting reform? They seem like one of the very few political parties that want to actually help the lives of ordinary people in the U.K. Personally I prefer Restore Britain but each to their own.
 
My take on it is once you start climbing on moral high horses, not only is it exhausting, but if you apply this particular idea to any business or product which doesn’t have sufficient purity, it will either prevent you from doing or having anything at all, or make you a hypocrite by not being able to live by the high standards you set others.

I can’t think of many things that don’t exploit somebody, or something at some level. Not saying it’s right, but I’m kind of live and let live classic libertarian.
 
I buy through Amazon but don't shop there. MY distinction is that shopping involves handling goods and trying them on whereas buying is purely selecting my (known) size and paying for it. IF something needs to be tried on in a shop, I buy it from the place that's provided me with the facility (and goods) to do so.
 
Nod said:
I buy through Amazon but don't shop there. MY distinction is that shopping involves handling goods and trying them on whereas buying is purely selecting my (known) size and paying for it. IF something needs to be tried on in a shop, I buy it from the place that's provided me with the facility (and goods) to do so.
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:plus1:
 
ancient_mariner said:
When our local town had a hardware store, a toy shop, shoe shops, plumbers merchants etc I'd buy stuff there. Those have been gone for a long time, sometimes replaced by big chains, sometimes just disappearing altogether.
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Luckily, we've got an old hardware store local to me packed to the roof with all those little bits and pieces you need. How the guy knows where everything is I don't know :ROFLMAO:

Very handy when you want 1 or 2 of something and not a pack of 50 from Amazon. I do use Amazon though, a lot of the time for price, convenience and returns.
 
LeeRatters said:
Luckily, we've got an old hardware store local to me packed to the roof with all those little bits and pieces you need. How the guy knows where everything is I don't know :ROFLMAO:

Very handy when you want 1 or 2 of something and not a pack of 50 from Amazon. I do use Amazon though, a lot of the time for price, convenience and returns.
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Bicester used to have at least 2 family businesses: Ashmores and 'Handy Stores'. Ashmores was a proper ironmonger plus offering decorating materials. Handy Stores did a little bit of that too, but also everything from toys (it was a good toy shop) to the kind of underwear for ladies of a certain age that you'd thought stopped being made in the 1960s.

Ashmores went first, probably due to Homebase and Wickes opening huge stores on the edge of town. Handy Stores went about 10-15 years ago because the parents had reached the point of simply being too old to run it and the son wanting to do more with his life than run a couple of shops - we talked to him about it at the time.
 
I rarely use Amazon these days for the reason the OP inferred, I try to find alternate and especially local suppliers, even if it means paying slightly more and waiting a bit longer for delivery. However Amazon is like all convenience stores, convenient.

I imagine most UK users of Amazon do so because often they sell for lowest prices - a UK cultural preference for price over quality or any other consideration - but that is usually because they are selling cheaply produced Chinese products. Not all Chinese products are poor quality, for sure, some are excellent, but again personally I prefer to buy something made in Europe or the UK than something shipped half way around the world, if I can.
 
I've been using Amazon since before they had a UK presence, in the days when it was cheaper to buy books in America and ship them across the ocean than it was to buy them in the UK due to the net book agreement. Although these days I also avoid Amazon as much as possible, it does no one any favours for one company to have so much dominance. Also amazon are no longer cheap, pretty much anything on Amazon is cheaper on Ebay and much much cheaper from AliExpress.
 
droj said:
I see that Amazon is routinely mentioned across this site as a place to buy stuff. Why? You want to rub shoulders with Bezos? It's the last place that I'd want to buy anything from, but then I'd never vote for Reform either.

Any justifications might be quite revealing ... or maybe not?
Click to expand...
Because I have the choice.
I use it mainly because of the convivence I have just ordered some "chrome" pipe covers for one of our radiators from Amazon. Why would I go from shop to shop trying to find something that apparently few shops stock?


I know a couple of businesses who sell through Amazon, it works for them. They don't make as much profit per item, but both have seen their sales increase overall.
 
droj said:
I see that Amazon is routinely mentioned across this site as a place to buy stuff. Why? You want to rub shoulders with Bezos? It's the last place that I'd want to buy anything from, but then I'd never vote for Reform either.

Any justifications might be quite revealing ... or maybe not?
Click to expand...

Perhaps you'd be happy to vote Green? Who "we" vote for and our motivations certainly go a long way to show who we are if only to reveal our level of comprehension.

It's your money and you're free to choose who you buy from but lots of things are compromised these days. Owning an ordinary thing could mean you're supporting slavery or exploitation. It's amazing how many do good protestors have products they'd find impossible to justify if questioned which I suppose is partly why many wont answer questions at all.

I like to buy from a shop whenever possible and I prefer to use a manned checkout rather than a self service checkout to keep the cashier employed but sadly the days when I could walk into a shop in town and always buy what I want are long gone. It's the world we live in and partly why voting for non traditional political parties seems to be something worth thinking about as it's the traditional ones that have got us to where we are today, buying from the likes of Amazon and potentially voting for Reform and the Greens.

Another point is what if you're house bound? Ordering on line could be your best option.
 
i like amazon, if i don't like it i just send it back simples.
also my house in GC i can get stuff sent by amazon spain very easy :-)
 
We live in the sticks. Shopping at a bricks and mortar business can involve driving anything between 20 and 40 minutes and then possibly paying for parking when we get there. Whereas Amazon deliver to our doorstep, usually the next day. They’ll also let you send things back for free, with minimal hassle, if they break, don’t fit or aren’t quite what we wanted.

I don’t ever intend to vote for Reform.
 
Same reason that I vote reform.
Anything to disagree with you :p
 
I try to use it less, but it's hard because it's so convenient.

things I don't like, it's hard to tell the difference between good quality products, low quality products and those that are drop shipped. There are sponsored results in the searches, what's that all about! essentially have to really search for the products you want to buy!
 
In my previous post in this thread I also forgot to mention how great Amazon is for availability.

Just as one example there is a company that sells car detailing stuff. If i wanted to order from them direct it often meant a 2-3 week wait a lot of hassle and more often than not the bottles etc would arrive damaged. I really liked there products so kept ordering anyway. Then Amazon started stocking it and I can now get it next day delivery with zero hassle. More places are stocking it now, but they often have high delivery costs so Amazon will always get my business for that, they are also cheaper than ordering direct from the manufacturer.

There is barely a day goes past were we don't get an Amazon delivery. The guy that mainly delivers to us is also a mate of mine as well.

They get a lot of grief for how they treat staff and rightly so but he loves it there. It is the highest paid job he has ever had, He has spent most of his working life doing night shifts in factories etc. Working for Amazon has been great for him, he gets to see his family a lot more, earns more money and thanks to Amazon is about to buy his first house, something he could never have done before.
 
I have bought 99% of my camera stuff from E bay and Amazon, there are no camera shops near me that I can find at least, if there was I would go to them.
About ten years ago there was a Sony shop 20 mins drive away, but its gone now.
I bought a few things from them,
Out of all the gear I have for DSLRs only one thing is brand new, bought from a shop in Harrogate.
If there was a shop here!
 
droj said:
I see that Amazon is routinely mentioned across this site as a place to buy stuff. Why? You want to rub shoulders with Bezos? It's the last place that I'd want to buy anything from, but then I'd never vote for Reform either.

Any justifications might be quite revealing ... or maybe not?
Click to expand...
Why on earth should we need to justify ourselves? Have you heard of something called a "purity spiral"?
I suppose we shouldn't use MS products (Bill Gates). Tesla (Elon Musk), anything made in China, Russia, Iran etc. Maybe we shouldn't buy bamboo socks and underpants (crikey, they must be scratchy), because of the negative effects on pandas.
I don't indulge in any of this, because I just want decent goods at the lowest price, if you want to splurge more cash on the same item, then crack on.

Purity spiral - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
andya700 said:
Why on earth should we need to justify ourselves? Have you heard of something called a "purity spiral"?
I suppose we shouldn't use MS products (Bill Gates). Tesla (Elon Musk), anything made in China, Russia, Iran etc. Maybe we shouldn't buy bamboo socks and underpants (crikey, they must be scratchy), because of the negative effects on pandas.
I don't indulge in any of this, because I just want decent goods at the lowest price, if you want to splurge more cash on the same item, then crack on.

Purity spiral - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
This ^
 
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