Comment by ljm
8 days ago
I like to buy books and would never buy from Amazon. Haven't for a long time for many reasons.
I find it more enjoyable to browse a local bookshop or charity shop and, if I want to buy something specific online I'll go with bookshop.org.
Bookshop.org will also pair with local book stores and share some profits. Win-win
It’s ironic that in the 90s, we were warning about large retailers like Barnes and Noble pushing out smaller shops. Now we’re nostalgic for that experience also.
Amazon has truly ruined many things. We traded so much for the cheap convenience of fast shipping and a few dollars off.
> We traded so much for the cheap convenience of fast shipping and a few dollars off.
There's more to it than that. The fast shipping and a few dollars off was a good deal.
But modern Amazon no longer offers fast shipping or a few dollars off. And, separately, they've stopped being willing to provide an amount of packaging that prevents your items from being damaged in transit. They're betting that having provided a good service in the past means they never have to bother in the future.
This is highly location specific, in the last 3 years at my current apartment my orders are received roughly 40% same day, 40% next day, 20% 2+ days shipping. And I've never had a return rejected (and I do a lot of returns) so damage in shipping is a minor inconvenience.
My main gripes are related to search being borderline unusable as it becomes more ad-dominated by the day, and overall trend of other Prime benefits becoming worthless, but not shipping speed or returns.
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