The Grump has a love/hate relationship with Amazon… or, Amazon.com. The ‘long’ name, ya know. Anyway, on the plus side everything’s so convenient. And almost always the most economical option. Get online, put some things in your cart, call up your conveniently stored payment information, and if you’ve been successfully induced to pay for Prime, it shows up on your doorstep within a couple days. What could be better, right?
Then there’s the flip-side… everything’s so convenient. And almost always the most economical option. Get online, put some things in your cart, call up your conveniently stored payment information, and if you’ve been successfully induced to pay for Prime, it shows up on your doorstep within a couple days. What could be worse?
Be that all as it may, there are some things about Amazon that defy rational explanation, to wit…
- Asking for reviews the day after I receive it. Sometimes even before I receive it. Nothing like jumping the gun, eh? Ya know, maybe… just maybe… I want to have a chance to, oh I don’t know, actually USE the product before I go on record with a recommendation.
- Asking if I want to “buy it again” when it’s clearly something no average person would want two of, i.e. the sump pump I purchased a few years ago. I kept getting asked for several months if I wanted to buy another one. Pretty sure I need only one sump pump at a time.
- Finding that one CD you’ve been wanting for years only to know it’s uber obscure or even out-of-print. See, irrational things can also be positive things. In this way, Amazon is even better than eBay, if for no other reason than shopping and buying is more straight forward.
So there you have it. Amazon is a double-edged sword. Take the good with the bad. Shop local first, of course, but make local compete.