In a big way I hate it, but Amazon is truly great

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Damn me for being so honest....not any more Jeff!

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

I hate returning stuff to Amazon. Paying for shipping back is often as much as the item itself.

Definitely plays a factor in me buying items (ie clothing, things I'm on the fence on)

I would much rather print a label from my own home and drop it off at a post office whenever I find myself needing to go to a Rexal or Shoppers vs stand in line at walmart or bestbuy or anywhere else that involves searching for parking, standing in a line which usually is serviced by 1 person and then having to get into a detailed explanation as to why I don't want the item.

As others said, alter what reason you are returning the item.

The subscribe and save is pretty amazing. Having toilet paper, paper towel, dog food, toiletries, batteries, cleaning supplies, laundry stuff, etc all just show up on a predetermined schedule without actually having to order it has been nothing short of wonderful!

[photon]

Six year bump.

Today I went to do a return at Amazon and not only do I not need to pay, now I don't even need to PACK IT UP. No shipping label to print. Nothing. They said just bring it to Staples (or whatever is near me for the options they provide) and they'll box it and whatever.

Crazy.

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by photon

Six year bump.

Today I went to do a return at Amazon and not only do I not need to pay, now I don't even need to PACK IT UP. No shipping label to print. Nothing. They said just bring it to Staples (or whatever is near me for the options they provide) and they'll box it and whatever.

Crazy.

Wait until you try the free Intelcom pickup. Just leave the item on your front porch with the barcode. You don't have to box it or anything. Works great, at least for the sorts of things that porch pirates have no interest in.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by photon

Six year bump.

Today I went to do a return at Amazon and not only do I not need to pay, now I don't even need to PACK IT UP. No shipping label to print. Nothing. They said just bring it to Staples (or whatever is near me for the options they provide) and they'll box it and whatever.

Crazy.

I wish -- my most recent return, I was only given the option for Dragonfly (Intelcom renamed themselves to get away from their horrible reputation) to come pick it up from my door. Great!... except their incompetent driver has failed to even SHOW UP three pick-up dates in a row, and then I have to be the one to reschedule them.

I got to drop it off at Staples once, though, that was cool. I have a Canada Post box around the block from me, so it was easy enough to put it back in the package it came in, print the the form, and drop it off to be returned by Canada Pos-... oh yeah.

[Bill Bumface]

All of those Amazon returns just go to the dump for the most part.

It's so convenient and cheap, we'll all gladly sell our souls and look the other way.

I feel bad for people trying to treat their staff well and not generate huge waste. They're all done because you can get it delivered to your door for $10 less.

[blankall]

To be fair a retailer who just resold other people's goods didn't add much to society. You can get better info from online reviews/youtube than you can from observing a product in a retail store for a few moments.

What we really need to work on is more direct producer to consumer products. Less branding. Less middle men.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by blankall

To be fair a retailer who just resold other people's goods didn't add much to society. You can get better info from online reviews/youtube than you can from observing a product in a retail store for a few moments.

What we really need to work on is more direct producer to consumer products. Less branding. Less middle men.

Okay Jeff.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Okay Jeff.

I try to buy products direct from the producer's website when I can. Same with Ubereats. I'll avoid them, if the restaurant has their own website.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by blankall

To be fair a retailer who just resold other people's goods didn't add much to society. You can get better info from online reviews/youtube than you can from observing a product in a retail store for a few moments.

What we really need to work on is more direct producer to consumer products. Less branding. Less middle men.

They employed people

[GGG]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

They employed people

That isn’t a good unto itself. In a perfect world no labour would be required to sustain society. A lack of employment is a wealth and perhaps labour distribution problem.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

They employed people

So did sustenance agriculture, but the fact we don't need that anymore is a feature not a bug.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by GGG

That isn’t a good unto itself. In a perfect world no labour would be required to sustain society. A lack of employment is a wealth and perhaps labour distribution problem.

In a fantasy world where money doesn’t matter, sure, maybe.

If jobs aren’t a good thing why are politicians of all stripes constantly bragging/complaining about job numbers?

And why are we always being told to give tax breaks to the people at the top so that they can create jobs?

Asking for a friend.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

In a fantasy world where money doesn’t matter, sure, maybe.

If jobs aren’t a good thing why are politicians of all stripes constantly bragging/complaining about job numbers?

And why are we always being told to give tax breaks to the people at the top so that they can create jobs?

Asking for a friend.

We’ve gone round this before when discussing automation. But it isn’t a fantasy world. It’s the world we currently live in. The labour required to meet our basic needs is far lower than 125 years ago.

But quite simply the surplus value created from the more efficient distribution of goods is being given to the owners of the companies and the customers rather than to the person whose job was displaced.

So the issue is that the the government fails to capture the value from automation and efficiency and instead of reducing labour done we spend on luxurys.

As to what politicians do to earn votes? I don’t think that is a metric we should use for anything.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by photon

Six year bump.

Today I went to do a return at Amazon and not only do I not need to pay, now I don't even need to PACK IT UP. No shipping label to print. Nothing. They said just bring it to Staples (or whatever is near me for the options they provide) and they'll box it and whatever.

Crazy.

Stock price has (only) tripled. Surprised it's not way more than that.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by blankall

To be fair a retailer who just resold other people's goods didn't add much to society. You can get better info from online reviews/youtube than you can from observing a product in a retail store for a few moments.

What we really need to work on is more direct producer to consumer products. Less branding. Less middle men.

I completely disagree. The internet is full of fake ads, sponsored product reviews and bot posts. It's really hard to try make informed shopping decisions, and rather frustrating.

There's huge value in going to a store and the person telling you what things they never see returned, what features they notice people don't really actually use, what new products are coming etc.

Bike stores are the perfect example. Online bike parts used to be a huge business, and the prices were admittedly great. All the major component manufactures basically took a stance that pricing would be the same everywhere, and made the main channel to buy bike parts local stores.

I love not even having to think twice before going to the store down the street, talking to some familiar faces, getting good info, and seeing what I'm buying before I pull the trigger. I also love the support if anything doesn't go as planned or I need some install tips.

We're hitting the point where we don't really have valuable uses for excess labour like we did when agriculture transformation was happening.

These jobs provide a lot of intangible value, and the "productivity above all else" mantra is running it's course as it hits some extremes.

[woob]

It's so hard to find good, honest feedback that I often find myself using Reddit as my go to for product feedback. Which is insane, but it mostly works.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by woob

It's so hard to find good, honest feedback that I often find myself using Reddit as my go to for product feedback. Which is insane, but it mostly works.

Same. Googling "<thing> + Reddit" is a big problem for advertisers though, as it bypasses all the crap such as sponsored search results, and the fake blogs they pump the produce. Especially with Reddit being public now, I expect it's a matter of time for the in####ification of Reddit/bot abuse to expand and pollute that as well.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

We're hitting the point where we don't really have valuable uses for excess labour like we did when agriculture transformation was happening.

The luddites believed this when they were smashing cotton spinners hundreds of years ago. If you believe this is the end of human progress then sure.

But the huge numbers of people who have believed that for centuries have all been wrong. Human ingenuity is a great thing.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

They employed people

Canada has a shortage of workers, which is only supposed to get worse. Having pointless retail stores open, because they employed people seems pretty pointless.

I find with Amazon and Walmart market, if you google the sellers, you often find their websites, where you can purchase the products directly from them, but cheaper.