Loss of the High Street? Nice sentiment but who really cares?

Online gives me wider choice, better prices, excellent service and more convenience. The local Coop is pretty much the only shop I ever go in to nowadays to top up the weekly, online, Tesco order. The nearest decent sized town with choice of shops is 1hr away by train or car, now way would I choose to give up a day to go shopping when I can do it online.

I won’t boycott Amazon because of their tax avoidance, it is up to the Government to sort that out, not me.

Loss of the High Street? Nice sentiment but who really cares?

It will just adapt. Our local high street has gone from 100% shops to 50% cafes, bars and restaurants. Absolutely thriving, but from ‘experiences’ rather than ‘shopping’.

These arrived yesterday 😍😍😍

Rachel

You must be my wife Derek…. she orders pretty much daily off either Amazon or groupon.. nothing yet today though.

I got fed up with Amazon when they became a reseller for other companies, you fill your shopping basket, half is free delivery but then you end up paying 3 or 4 delivery charges and everything gets despatched separately.

These arrived yesterday 😍😍😍

Rachel

They’re fraying, love – time to try out that famous customer service 😉

It will just adapt. Our local high street has gone from 100% shops to 50% cafes, bars and restaurants. Absolutely thriving, but from ‘experiences’ rather than ‘shopping’.

Same as ours. Its just evolution, innit? We went to a local history exhibition yesterday that showed that back in the days of the mills about half the buildings in the town centre were pubs, then they gradually all became shops as the economy changed. Now it’s heading back in the other direction with bars and restaurants and specialist shops.

I’ve made a deliberate move to stop using Amazon lately (as the bloke who runs it does appear to be an absolute weapons grade bell end). I buy a lot of picture frames, and foamcore, mounting board and stuff for mine and Mrs Binners prints. I used to just order the lot off Amazon. But I worked out it’s only actually saving a couple of quid. So now I always use my local art supplies and picture framing store as I’d really miss it if it wasn’t there. And as I’m using them on a regular basis, they now discount everything for me, so it’s costing the same as an Amazon order would.

And you can’t put a price on the opportunities it then affords you to be smug, superior and sanctimonious on internet forums 😉

And you can’t put a price on the opportunities it then affords you to be smug, superior and sanctimonious on internet forums

You win this week’s STW Order of Merit….

I reckon I could be addicted… I ordered some 0.0 lager to arrive this afternoon while I’m stuck in the office (my weekend starts tonight)

Your life has come to a pretty pass when you get your human interaction fix from Wayne, the nerdy bloke at the hifi shop or Jamie, the kid with the acne problem at Burtons. I find actual friends work well for human interaction. Are you that old boy that gets to the checkout at the supermarket one in front of you and it’s obvious they’ve not spoken to anyone other than their cat for 3 days and you’re stuck between feeling desperately sorry for them and wanting to vapourise them from the planet?

Well done for pointing that out for 99% of us stw members- nice, real nice 😂😝

Mainly because they are tax dodging ****

I think it would be more fruitful to redirect your ire towards those who allow such tax avoidance to be possible in the first place.

EDIT: Not intending to defend Amazon’s actions though either

Was genuinely shocked that they have ‘click and collect’ lockers in hospitals…

I was genuinely shocked by the price I had to pay for a USB charging cable from WH Smith when in hospital. All such items were way overpriced because of the closed market.

I was genuinely shocked by the price I had to pay for a USB charging cable from WH Smith when in hospital. All such items were way overpriced because of the closed market.

Isn’t that their business model now? Run shops in motorway services & hospitals where they can charge what they want for stuff rather than being competitive?

Isn’t that their business model now? Run shops in motorway services & hospitals where they can charge what they want for stuff rather than being competitive?

and you think they get a discount in rent for their shop being in a hospital?

Nope, charged more as it’s a captive market, so they have to up their prices to break even…

No different to Starbucks / Costa in a train station. Landlord knows its a premium location and the rent reflects this.

All the silly little things I could get from Amazon, I tend to buy from EBay sellers. Mostly little one man and his dog sellers in Grimsby. I feel better about giving them a few quid. Usually cheaper than Amazon too

So global profits announced today – $2.5bn

Clearly massive, but I was surprised how much smaller it was than say Apple which is $40+bn

Edit.

Living out here on the edge of civilisation, LOADS of stuff isn’t available locally, so Amazon is a regular source.

However, I’ve noticed that ebay carries much of the same,  cheaper,  so I’m gravitating towards that as a first stop…

I usually use eBay for small generic stuff (DIY etc) though also the local shop is pretty good for that. Sports stuff is either eBay or one of the on-line specialists, amazon rarely competes.

So global profits announced today – $2.5bn

Clearly massive, but I was surprised how much smaller it was than say Apple which is $40+bn

I think it has long been amazon’s business model to constantly invest into the company and expand to increase share price rather than pay dividends.

I’m addicted, as has already been said, it’s often available cheaper elsewhere but the convenience is worth it.

I’m more relaxed on the tax dodging, if they weren’t doing it here they’d be doing it somewhere else and not employing a lot of people in the UK. The issue is not the company, it’s the law, but you change it and you risk the above.