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In this Discussion
- 1234 January 2012
- curt January 2012
- distant_shoe January 2012
- joey January 2012
- kdawg February 2012
- Leland January 2012
- Loose_Thread January 2012
- Matthew January 2012
- MirandaJuly January 2012
- swamp_knobbler_mahan January 2012
- the_owls January 2012
- YoursTruly January 2012
Amazon Behavior
Rather than debating the good and evil of AMZN (my investment is up 5.9%) let's talk instead about how we use it.
On Sunday I was cooking with Sasha and Alex and realized I was missing measuring spoons and a paring knife. So I just went to the computer and ordered them. With Amazon Prime I didn't even have to bother thinking about bundling my order. Just magic.
On Monday, as I was looking at the HK book I decided I needed a food processor. Boom, placed the order. From my chair on my iPhone without really stopping reading the book.
On Tuesday I went to Powell's to buy a Portland Map. I wanted to see them in person before I bought them. Then I walked down to that Core77 shop to buy a compass in order to draw circles on the map. I was so proud of myself for "buying local" until they said they are out! They won't have more until next week. Well, Amazon has a compass, and it will arrive on Friday.
As a person without a car my life exists mostly between my home and work. Things for the kitchen are sold at overpriced speciality stores in the Pearl District or low end places like Sears. Other objects like a compass... where do you even buy that? My first thought was Target... But I'm not near a Target. Amazon is almost always the closest store to me as long as I don't mind waiting 2 days to get my thing.
On Sunday I was cooking with Sasha and Alex and realized I was missing measuring spoons and a paring knife. So I just went to the computer and ordered them. With Amazon Prime I didn't even have to bother thinking about bundling my order. Just magic.
On Monday, as I was looking at the HK book I decided I needed a food processor. Boom, placed the order. From my chair on my iPhone without really stopping reading the book.
On Tuesday I went to Powell's to buy a Portland Map. I wanted to see them in person before I bought them. Then I walked down to that Core77 shop to buy a compass in order to draw circles on the map. I was so proud of myself for "buying local" until they said they are out! They won't have more until next week. Well, Amazon has a compass, and it will arrive on Friday.
As a person without a car my life exists mostly between my home and work. Things for the kitchen are sold at overpriced speciality stores in the Pearl District or low end places like Sears. Other objects like a compass... where do you even buy that? My first thought was Target... But I'm not near a Target. Amazon is almost always the closest store to me as long as I don't mind waiting 2 days to get my thing.
Comments
You can buy kitchen stuff amazingly inexpensively at any thrift store, though small appliances are a bit of a crapshoot. Also, I bet you could find a compass at Muse, the art supply store on Hawthorne.
Good point about thrift stores.
His program has a relationship with AMZN such that if you grab a (bookmarkable) link at this page as your gateway to AMZN: http://majority.fm/support-the-show/ a percentage of your purchases go to his program as a kind of commission.
I think Sam has one of the brightest progressive minds out in the public eye (or ear, it's an audio program).
If you feel compelled to do business with AMZN, at least by using Sam Seder's link, you can also support the team that is working for humane, decentralized, democratic, law-abiding, and fair economic and political structures.
Consider it a hedge bet against AMZN's monopolistic practices while you enjoy the benefits of those practices.
This was to be one potential outcome of 20th Century mass-automation. I think it still should be.
I'd like to see a 5 hour work week. 6 day weekends. Work vacations like, "This year I'm going to Costa Rica to work for three weeks. Next year I think I'll try to work in Berlin for a month."
If everybody could live pretty well on a little bit of work it wouldn't be so bad that there might be really shitty jobs like fish-sliming or making iphones for 16 hours a day. If I could have a decent place to live, the freedom to travel and decent access to cultural resources in exchange for doing something shitty 16 hours a day for 60 days out of the year, I wouldn't have a problem with it.
The problem is that all the wealth has gone into a giant abstract counting game instead of being "spent" to take care of everybody. Some people have what they need. Most people are scrambling. Meanwhile, .0001% hold most of the stack and have an overwhelming incentive to keep the game set this way.
Obviously it is KmikeyM's fault and I just wish he would quit being such a giant dingleberry and do something about it.
We are toast. Nevermind.
Mostly I buy books. When I look for books online I use this amazing site: bookfinder.com. I have found so many great deals this way and it's also helped me step outside the amazon box, because often a different seller (abe books) will be way cheaper
I feel Mike's call, though, about, like, we don't live in a medieval European village anymore--you can't spend your entire day going around to all the different stores and picking up individual purchases. We live in a metropolis and we have tons of shit to do and you can't drive around all day. Or like when I lived in L.A. and realized that you literally couldn't even do the normal amount of errands on your list that you could do in any other city. Because the bank, the store, the optometrist, the place where you get the notebooks you like, are all somehow an hour-long drive from one another and it's just not feasible. So yeah, instead of driving all over town looking for a compass I'd probably just order it from amazon.
This is a problem! Internet sales are definitely the future and can't be avoided, I just think much in the same way we are aware of NOT SHOPPING AT Wal-Mart or whatever, we need to try to be aware of which online stores we want to give our money to. For example I buy tons of stuff off etsy and feel great about it in every way.
On The Importance of Mongering
2. Enjoy the hunt.
Make shopping more complicated and you'll get better stuff. Find a restaurant-grade speciality store; seek out the best ethnic markets in your city; buy cheese at a cheesestore, beer at a beerstore, and beans directly from a coffee roaster. ... Bottom line: the convenience of one-stop shopping is a veiled dagger, ready to bleed creativity and vitality out of your kitchen.
I agree with this. But it's hard. But I shouldn't be a baby.
(I am planning to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday.)
I believe Alibris.com is an independently-owned sellers network that lists merchandise through AMZN and other services, including their own.
As a person who's never driven a car, I enjoy the hunt for the things I need. I love going to five stores in a day. It is time consuming and the situation would be different if I had a different schedule. But it's also "my work out", it's good for my health to be out there and walk a lot, or ride my bike a lot.
Living in a small town there is this feeling of guilt/stupidity whenever I buy something from the internet that I could have found in town. You can't help but know the local shop owners. Watermark, the main bookstore here, employs several people I see on the street regularly and is owned by a super kind and supportive lady. I like to buy as many books as possible there, even if it means I have to order them in. She knows that some books I want are substantially cheaper on Amazon, but she appreciates that I basically check with her first. Most of the time I only pay a couple dollars more, it's always worth it.
My relationship with Nick at the Business (the record store) is the same, except I don't buy as many records as I buy books.
The extra dough spent means that I get to have these excellent stores near me where I can feel free to loiter and talk about whatever's on my mind. It makes our small town less lonely.
As for kitchen things: we have a fancy kitchen store in town, but I can't go in there anymore without feeling extremely guilty. The man who works there often makes the face of "please buy something". I stick to the hardware stores, or I make a list and when we go to the big city we have a shopping spree.
I sometimes buy art supplies online when I really really need them. I tend to find myself in Mount Vernon Bellingham, Seattle often enough to get what I need. It's probably better not to have a good art supply store too close, I would buy so much crap all the time.
Now, clothing is a different story. Lots of internet clothes shopping. I can't remember when the last time I was trying clothes in a store was. I buy stuff like sweaters and shirts from the thrift stores for fifty cents. I never bother trying it on.
For some reason it just popped into my head, I was (obviously) not reading this thread at the time...
speaking of etsy, look how deep this is.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/73254687/moonstone-essence-calm-and-balance-the?ref=sr_gallery_2&sref=&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=hormone+balancing&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=US&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
also I did not realize they had switched to every other week, that's crazy
I'd like to mention that it is maybe my favorite store in town, and I am also biased because I love Emily (proprietor and jewelry designer) and have done photos for her.
Get your potions and lotions, only locally made! Get cool jewelry, get a cool tiny antique doodad, get some resin incense (amaze), get all kinds of cool shit!
It can't take ALL your compost, until you build it up into kind of a big colony (and do you have a big enough space for a giant box thing? Maybe not) but still even if it takes 1/3 of your compost or 1/2, that's still good
I wish apartment buildings would start implementing communal compost piles. It doesn't take that much space, right?? Or like a row of 10 of those black plastic composters....wouldn't that work? Or would they just fill up way too fast, or what?
So I used the Amazon app to scan the barcode and order it.
AWESOME.
And didn't hurt a small business.
Also, my AMZN investment is up 7.82%.
To compare this, my WWE investment is -31.46%.
And my MSO is -66.27%. COME ON MARTHA STEWART!
It is supposed to appeal to my desire to protect the earth
Is it about how they will do anything to destroy the competition, even removing their bow-side breast
Does it just mean the river of commerce
"exotic and different"
What a turd! There I said it
I woulda named the company "WEBBOOKZ"
https://twitter.com/#!/kanyewest/status/154786968721567744
https://twitter.com/#!/kanyewest/status/154788994591363072
Bezos wanted to name his company after something huge, opaque and full of piranhas.