Whilst it’s all well and good to take the moral high ground, the elephant in the room is that supporting ‘local business’ rather than evil Amazon / Tesco / Insert Conglomerate Here has a financial overhead that unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of affording.
Well, you could just... you know... buy 10% less stuff if it costs 10% more, which everyone has the 'luxury' of doing.
Don't get me wrong, I've had a terrible Amazon habit in the past and still use it very occasionally so I have no moral high ground to stand on, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pretend I think it's ok.
Yeah, I remember the Tenda stuff being recommended on the previous discussion.
Hard to choose between them all if I'm honest, it's a bit of a minefield.
… actually, where are you seeing Kindles for £30? Do you mean a Fire tablet?
My mistake £44
The thing that grates about Amazon for me is that it's become the default for a lot of things. It's convenient and quick but also very often more expensive than other places. It's kind of a lazy option. The amount of sheer tat they sell is off-putting too.
Well, you could just… you know… buy 10% less stuff if it costs 10% more, which everyone has the ‘luxury’ of doing.
Good idea. My cat wouldn`t mind not eating every 10th day and im sure if we used no detergent in every 10th washing machine load no one would really notice.
Well, you could just… you know… buy 10% less stuff if it costs 10% more, which everyone has the ‘luxury’ of doing.
Not everyone buys tat! You’re beating a drum based on your own experience.
Good idea. My cat wouldn`t mind not eating every 10th day and im sure if we used no detergent in every 10th washing machine load no one would really notice.
Terrible examples. Your cat would just eat at one of it's other houses a bit more and detergent is killing the planet. You should be ashamed of yourself.
A Roku TV stick for £18 down from £29.99 then £24.99.....
Well, you could just… you know… buy 10% less stuff if it costs 10% more, which everyone has the ‘luxury’ of doing.
Do I get to choose which 10% of my kindle that I don’t get, or is it random ?
You’ll also find that a lot of the stuff sold on Amazon is sold by a small local (to somebody) business.
There is that – I bought some screws for some corrugated sheet from Amazon (I had already tried my local DIY store where I bought one pack of 8 for £4.99 but it was the last pack they had). I ended up getting a pack of 50 for <£10 from Amazon (which is why we all often DO use Amazon unfortunately). Somehow I got into a conversation with the Amazon marketplace seller and they mentioned that they get hundreds of transactions a day via Amazon so it must be a very good earner for many of them.
Well, you could just… you know… buy 10% less stuff if it costs 10% more, which everyone has the ‘luxury’ of doing.
or if you buy 10% more stuff, your money filters down to some factory workers in a 3rd world country, who probably need it more than some hobbiest shopkeeper living in leafy surrey
If they paid as much tax, employed as many people, treated the people they did employ humanely, as the businesses they displaced
Of course they wouldn't be as cheap then.
and if they didn’t do everything they could to encourage the acquisition of yet more tat I wouldn’t be so bothered.
I don't think that is unique to Amazon. People have been acquiring useless tat for, well, ever.
You’ll also find that a lot of the stuff sold on Amazon is sold by a small local (to somebody) business.
Very much this, Amazon have for a long time provided the internet presence for many individual sellers, warehousing and dispatch for others.
See also banggood, aliexpress, etc.
Somehow I got into a conversation with the Amazon marketplace seller and they mentioned that they get hundreds of transactions a day via Amazon so it must be a very good earner for many of them.
The value of being of a visible and popular website is very high.
Some while ago I was working alongside a married gent who was the less active partner in their family B&B business. They had tried lots of ways of advertising but in the end they found simply being listed on booking.com got them more customers than everything else combined.
Whilst it’s all well and good to take the moral high ground, the elephant in the room is that supporting ‘local business’ rather than evil Amazon / Tesco / Insert Conglomerate Here has a financial overhead that unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of affording.
Fair point.
*goes off to browse campervan, woodburner and e-bike threads*
I rank people that use Amazon at a similar level to the muppets that used to buy second hand car radios.
Please people, don't do it. You're killing society.
Amazon Black Friday clearing out old shite 🙁
You’re killing society.
It's really not that simple, in my opinion.
Whilst it’s all well and good to take the moral high ground, the elephant in the room is that supporting ‘local business’ rather than evil Amazon / Tesco / Insert Conglomerate Here has a financial overhead that unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of affording.
And the elephant in the other room is that part of the reason that society as a whole, and some people in particular, have no money is.....
Tax dodging global corporations killing off small businesses and exploiting the needy so they can line their own pockets. If people stopped buying at Amazon then perhaps a few more shops would be open paying their owners decent wages instead of subsistence wages. Those people would have a bit of cash to spend, which might provide jobs for other people etc etc. You could have a functioning society where businesses thrive and generate wealth for the general people . Rather than just the 0.005% at the top of the heap
I use Amazon a lot as I don't want to have to pay to go into the city centre to shop, it's either £5 in parking charges and fuel or £3.50 on the bus and have to walk a mile. I sometimes ride in but the chance of coming back out to no bike is quite high, happened once and that was enough! So Amazon it is usually. But:
You’ll also find that a lot of the stuff sold on Amazon is sold by a small local (to somebody) business.
I try and use the small shops that have a presence on there, easy to find them if you look at the listings. Amazon then are just the courier company that deliver to me. If you avoid all of the cheap tat on there and only buy stuff you need from UK businesses it is actually rather good. That's not defending their tax-dodging practices at all, but I do know a few people who would be in dire straits right now if they hadn't picked up a delivery job with them. Using the Marketplace in the way I try to keeps money flowing to UK shops and keeps these couriers in a job so it's not all bad.
molgrips +1
Tax dodging global corporations Global corporations who can trade in the UK yet aren't required by English law to pay tax here.
There's no "dodging" going on, the root of the problem is higher up the food chain.
Still, brexit will fix all that, hey.
From the article:
“There are now even more ways to shop from local bookshops: booksellers have developed websites, and adapted to offer ordering by phone, email and online, with home delivery often an option. We are actively encouraging book lovers to start their Christmas shopping early to spread out demand. Shopping locally and early will help secure jobs and support a thriving community high street.”
It is somewhat amazing that it takes a global pandemic for stores to adapt to the 21st Century. If only they had adapted a bit sooner.....
Not everyone buys tat!
I use the term tat to describe any non essential purchases. I would say that almost everyone I know buys 'tat' from Amazon IME.
Funny how prickly people get at the suggestion that rampant consumerism benefitting a global megacorp that barely pays tax and treats employees like dirt might not be a great idea.
Anyway I'm mainly annoyed at their price gouging during the lockdown shortages. Sellers are still charging ridiculous amounts for certain items.
I use the term tat to describe any non essential purchases. I would say that almost everyone I know buys ‘tat’ from Amazon IME.
I’m not sure that’s exclusive to online shopping let alone Amazon.
I usually hate use of the term 'virtue signalling', but if you look up a definition it points straight to this thread...
I bought a diesel heater for my campervan from Amazon today. It's a Chinese rip off of a German design. My pal has one and it's really good.
I don't have a job because of the pandemic and no more are forthcoming, so the only thing my girlfriend and I can do as far as giving ourselves a reason to bother getting to the next day is sex and campervanning, sometimes at the same time. But it's getting cold - for both of those.
I don't pay any tax because I'm unemployed, she earns about £800 a month and the shop she works in is hanging on by a thread with just her left to staff it, stock it, do the purchasing and online listings and sales for her monthly pittance.
I'm sorry I couldn't spunk the £600 on an Eberspracher which I probably can't buy from any of the newsagents, charity shops or betting shops on my street, but this purchase (which I had to think about for ages and fund by selling bits of my bikes) will let us do the one thing we can do that is enjoyable and relatively virus-secure for the rest of the year. Like Christmas and New Year since there's no way we'll be allowed to see family or friends.
Anyway, just remember, when judging people on their choice of retailer that some folk out there's dole money is less than the cost of the lease on your car.
If people stopped buying at Amazon then perhaps a few more shops would be open paying their owners decent wages instead of subsistence wages
Shops paid crap wages long before amazon came along, £3.20ph when I started in one in the mid 90s, I took a job as a KP a month later on £4ph.
I'm plenty old enough to remember life before ebay and retail has been on its arse since the mid 80s, first it was chain stores making the highstreet ubiquitous, then it was out of town supermarkets followed by out of town shopping centres, then parking charges etc.
High Street retail has had more excuses than any other business model I can think of for why it isn't successful. None of those reasons have been "we're doing it wrong" they've all been "the big bad man isn't playing fair 😭" they haven't woken up to the fact that (amongst a plethora of other things) people want convenient and a shop which opens the same hours they are at work isn't. It's not 1950 any more yet the highstreet retail model is the same. Its traded on good will for decades rather than looking in the mirror and now it's buggered.
Back on topic, Tado radiator valves are cheap today
I rank people that use Amazon at a similar level to the muppets that used to buy second hand car radios.
Please people, don’t do it. You’re killing society.
The definition of stupidity: not realising that you can get a brand new car stereo cheaper on Amazon than second hand.
And 100 pencil sharpeners for £2.99
I'm not convinced Amazon treat employees like dirt, I was a temporary worker for them (albeit 14 years ago) but it wasn't like any scathing reports I saw at the time.
Because this is the internet where nuance isn't a thing.... I'm not saying never shop at amazon or you are a bastard, I just think it should generally be avoided, and I think some of the justifications for using it so much are a bit spurious. I think looking for things to buy on the basis of 'bargains' is particularly pernicious, and yes, I've been there.
I think also now that you don't generally have to set up a new account with every independent/smaller seller due to things like shop pay it makes using non-Amazon options a lot easier.
I took a job as a KP
Are you some kind of nut?
DC rainmaker has a link to decent cycling/gadget deals https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/10/amazon-prime-day-best-sports-tech-deals.html
Ordered the Garmin Explore and two massive cat food boxes of Felix. The Garmin is from MrsF for Christmas (asked her as she said what do I want a few days ago - couldn't miss it at that price).
I usually shop local, but will use Amazon for bargains or stuff needed in a hurry. Ebay has been good for new stuff I can't get locally, but from small traders.
Don't forget all this delivery is keeping people in jobs - I'm stuck WFH, so being here for deiveries has meant we've been in shops very little, unless local grocery. MrsF out of a job now, and son lost a job, but he's now delivering Pizza.
TBH, the Garmin deal was great - my 705 doesn't navigate that well, and I have a few things planned that the Explore will be great for - the 705 - I can't see the screen to navigate. I was thinking of trying to use my old phone, but that went to my son when his screen broke on his.
Another who won't go near Amazon here. If I ever did need to, I'd be using smiles.amazon.com. But nah, don't even go looking there.
Are Amazon doing cheap deals on Teslas or BMW's - any good PCP deals... says the man still driving a 2002 Nissan as it doesn't break and carries 4 bikes and blokes and muddy kit no problem, and has clamate, sat nav, reversing cameras - oh and has hardly used it this year.
I took a look at the mesh networking. I may go Tenda but Eero doesn't do PPoE which most of the UK uses, so I'd have to use the router I already have, turn off its wifi and plug the Eero into one of the network ports. Which would mean double NATing as the Eero would DHCP an address from the router and it would then have its own DHCP system for client devices. I just didn't want to go there.
I don't do on-line grocery shopping - we've Morrisons a mile away. So far, we've been avoiding going out, essential shopping only, and have been virus free. But we don't have an on-line regular customer profile with a supermarket if we get told to isolate - only going to come from daughter or son (college and work for them). Registered for Amazon Prime with Morrisons a fair few weeks ago. Tried on-line ordering with Morrisons, filled a big basket, no deliveries at all. Tried again a few days later, nothing. Invite came through yesterday, from Amazon/morrisons. Did a shop last night, had a delivery 10am this morning. They notified me a shoper was picking our basket, and would say if substitutions were OK - we'd said OK. Then delivery on way. It arrived in a car bagged up in paper bags within 15 minutes.
It was excellent. I'll still shop locally, but if we get ill, I now have a way of getting food delivered promptly.
Because this is the internet where nuance isn’t a thing…. I’m not saying never shop at amazon or you are a bastard, I just think it should generally be avoided, and I think some of the justifications for using it so much are a bit spurious. I think looking for things to buy on the basis of ‘bargains’ is particularly pernicious, and yes, I’ve been there.
Well said
Shops paid crap wages long before amazon came along,
Erm yes. But when there were multiple shops there were also multiple shop keepers. Now there is effectively 1 immensely stupendously ridiculously rich shop keeper and hundreds of thousands of serfs/ drones working for him.
Don’t forget all this delivery is keeping people in jobs –
That's such a fragile arguement. I'm sure you see the flaws in it.
So if I buy my my toys from a uk local shop but manufactured by a sweatshop that’s okay. The balls on some of you.
I took a look at the mesh networking. I may go Tenda but Eero doesn’t do PPoE which most of the UK uses, so I’d have to use the router I already have, turn off its wifi and plug the Eero into one of the network ports. Which would mean double NATing as the Eero would DHCP an address from the router and it would then have its own DHCP system for client devices. I just didn’t want to go there.
Is this a joke post or not? I genuinely can't tell.
Anyway, I've ordered a bottle of Quarter Cask, cheers.
They don't sell it at my local Booze Bargains, unfortunately.
Err.. no. Discussions a few hours ago were about buying networking mesh kit on prime day...
Unless I got something wrong, in which case please update me, I like to learn from my misteaks.
So if I buy my my toys from a uk local shop but manufactured by a sweatshop that’s okay.
Your straw man is very straw-y.
Unless I got something wrong
Pretty much my interpretation also TBH. I'm likely to be going with Virgin so the whole PPPoE thing is an irrelevance, I'll just stick it in modem mode and forget about it. I had assumed that this is how they all worked, piggy-backed off the existing router with Wi-Fi knobbled, I was surprised today that this isn't always the case.
The dual-NAT thing I was less sure of, whether it was likely to be a problem or whether it Just Worked and I was over-thinking it.
The Eepo stuff appealed because it's near-half price for the next 24 hours, I could potentially get a 3-pack for like £150, deploy two units and sell the third for nearly £100. But it sounds like whilst it's a mature product in the US it's not quite ready for the UK market yet. I'm eyeing this up for a new house, I think I'd be more confident if I'd actually moved and could test / return it.
