I’ve been on it since things got bad in the US. And in most cases, I found a good replacement. Different Pizza delivery, book order, convenient even, most of the time.
For general products I switched to Otto (Germany) mostly, Thalia for books. And I was able to get the biggest recent order through there (two big screens, screen mount, cables), as well as some smaller ones. Alternate would have been another option.
Cost is significantly higher, often +10 % - +20% for the same product and no free shipping.
But what I miss most is convenience. The whole process at Amazon is just working great, especially for stupid people with bad attention (that might be me). Miss a little detail, and you ordered with advanced payment, adding double the clicks and inputs to do a wire transfer. Or not realise you did that and wonder why the product never ships a few days later. Buy from a marketplace seller who ships through DHL, but can’t use a DHL pickup location anyway.
What I always disliked about Amazon was the exploitation of employees. How much does that even save per product? I bet that the people handling my order would be happy with EUR 2 extra split among them, as they certainly handle many orders per hour, and I’d be happy to pay that. Is there really no market for high convenience with fair prices?
I do have 10 minutes extra per day to work through a lacking order flow for a good cause, but it would take lots of resources to catch up to that level of convenience.
If it doesn’t cost you anything (money or comfortwise) then it wouldn’t be a standpoint. It would just have been a good/better decision.
If you have alternatives that work, but are more expensive or inconvenient, it is up to you to decide if it is worth it, compared to the gain of showing your dislike of American products and services.
For me, it is. Also personally I have come to question if I really do need the products that I want to buy from Amazon. Often the answer is no
Honestly for me the answer has been “yes” or “kinda” every time. But to be fair I’ve ordered from Amazon twice. ANC headphones for my first long flight because I knew I wouldn’t stand the noise and a Bluetooth to aux module in my car that made it a breeze to always have Waze on to tell me about hazards and remind me I’m doing 6 km/h over and there’s a camera coming. The first saved my sanity, the second was just a huge QoL improvement with a jackless phone and two regular dongles crapping out on me. Not a necessity but I literally couldn’t go back to no bluetooth afterwards.
Man if most of people would get to this point, we would have more money and less trash!
I already ask that question, and what I order, I really do need.
E. g. I have a high-end desktop PC from 2011 that is still fine, even though I use it professionally - don’t need a new computer.
But I just ordered lavender, because I have a moth problem. Moths can be managed, but skipping the repellent vector entirely is not advisable.
Or a belt. The last belt I bought is from the 2000s, and it broke about 7 years ago, and ever since my pants are slipping down. It’s not a good impression. I need a belt.
That’s how I view it, I don’t use amazon because I don’t have an account. It makes life harder but that’s the point, I want consumption to be hard.
I had a 6 month blip during covid and noticed because it was easy I bought more.