Comment by taurath
5 days ago
> 1. Average American spends THREE THOUSAND DOLLAR year at Amazon.
Where else would americans be getting home goods like soap, appliances, electronics? Vitamins, perscriptions, etc?
The answer to almost every one of those, for the vast majority of Americans, is one of like 5 megacorps. Target, Walmart, Kroger, CVS, Amazon. Things have largely stopped being available retail because of all this consolidation. If I want to go buy a multivitamin, its no joke like $25 a bottle at my grocery store, and $8 on amazon. It is just kinda... a part of people's lives now, and the alternatives all involve either spending more money or time.
It’s funny: a loved one gifted me a book knowing I’m opposed to Amazon’s practices. They let me know they bought it elsewhere and the act of paying more was part of the gift’s charm (they’ll use Amazon otherwise.)
I've found that books of all things are usually something you can get for Amazon prices elsewhere.
You can buy used books, they sell extremely cheap and are perfectly readable. There is a lot of seller, at least in France, but I guess it must be similar in usa.
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I just Google the book name followed by the word epub and generally find what I'm looking for pretty quickly.
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Love is "I remembered."
I have found eBay to be cheaper for books than Amazon.
For vitamins/supplements specifically, there's Costco, iHerb, nootropics depot.
While they might not be the absolute cheapest options, they're usually a pretty good price and at least with those sources I'm not too concerned with counterfeit or tainted supplements, unlike Amazon [0]
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20499808
There used to be 6 Walgreen's in my city. Now there are 2. I've used Amazon to fill some of that gap because the 30 minute drive is bonkers for toothpaste. COVID hit this economy like a Mack truck and helped the monopolists grab even more of a share.
Toothpaste is in basically every store. Dollar stores, grocery stores. Probably most convenience stations.
It might surprise you to know that there are different kinds of toothpaste and even toothbrushes, all with differing levels of effectiveness. Some people get advised to use specific kinds by their dentist.
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> If I want to go buy a multivitamin, its no joke like $25 a bottle at my grocery store
Such a rort. There's so much margin in them that my grocery store permanently has "buy 1 get 1 free" deals, and occasionally "buy 1 get TWO free".
Soap comes from Costco.
Add Costco to the 5 and that’s pretty much it for options.
At least I don't feel morally repugnant shopping at Costco. I live right next to WalMart and leave it as a means of last resort. Cancelled Amazon Prime. I guess Vonz/Ralphs/Albersons are all Krogers, so I'm got there if I need small groceries.
Soap comes from everywhere. It's in the grocery store, drug stores. Hell it's in every hotel you stay in. Just grab it before you go and you've got a few weeks' supply.
I would guess that the median American can count the number of times they've ever been to a hotel on their fingers. Possibly even the average American.
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I'll add to the chorus who ditched Amazon years ago because of their predatory practices. I do recognize though that I'm a relatively rich American so I can afford to, but if everybody who did, could, the market might look different.
That said, how much of that $3k/year is spent on things they need vs things they bought through Amazon's upselling algorithms? I drive past the giant warehouses and I wonder, how much useful stuff is actually in there? Because when I do find myself on amazon.com most of what I see is just trash wrapped in plastic.
And it proves a point: Things are still available at retail. Sometimes it is a box store but just as often it's a smaller shop. Does it take more time? Sure! But seriously, what is everybody using all that time they saved by shopping at Amazon for? From what I see it's more shopping online.
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