BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 11:10 AM

I remember Argos opening in Cardiff in the early 1970s as a replacement for the Green Shield Stamp Shop.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 10:52 AM

Doug - yes.. that was it..

.. and Littlewoods is one of the big empty
closed down department stores our high Street...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 10:46 AM

Nigel - Fair guess, but nothing as aspirational lifestyle as Next..

The company we're try to remember
the name of was a rival almost complete clone rip-off of Argos catalogue business.

It disappeared from high streets about a decade ago...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 10:43 AM

Anyone remember the name of that other catalogue company...???

The rival to Argos was, I believe, Index. It was owned by Littlewood's and closed down in 2005.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 10:16 AM

Mudcatters might help solve a question me and the wife are puzzling over..
Years ago when we had a big Argos only a handy few minutes walk away from our house,
there was also a copycat catalogue orders chain.
One branch of it operated from a concession at the back of another big town centre department store which has also recently shut down..
Anyone remember the name of that other catalogue company...???

Good question:

"Next!" ?

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 09:53 AM

When I shop I go to the local store after I've researched the item online first. Yesterday I made the post-ice-age decision to set up the emergency supplies now so there is no excuse for their not being handy when I next need them. It could be in summer after a tornado goes through, not only just during an ice event. I will refurbish the camp stoves out in the garage (white gas burning so must be used outdoors) but am getting a propane burning small two-burner stove. REI (Recreational Equipment Incorporated) and Academy Sports and Outdoors have local outlets, and carry various stoves. I looked at the copious reviews on Amazon, and except for the fact that local stores are completely out of stock of any gear to deal with the cold weather and lack of power, I could have purchased them locally. I will buy the propane bottles locally, those don't ship for obvious reasons.

My small portable power supply for charging the phone died last week so I've also replaced it (again reading reviews on Amazon, but also on the electronics review sites like CNet or ZDnet).

I'm sure there are people who still do impulse buying when they're in the store, but once you figure out about comparing online (and figure out if the reviews are real or compensated by the product seller - those are usually pretty easy to distinguish from the rest) it's more a matter of calculating the odds that a product will work the way you want without a catastrophic fail. Reading the one-star reviews first is how I approach these, and if they don't have at least 60-70 percent happy customers, I go to the next product for reviews.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 09:35 AM

Mudcatters might help solve a question me and the wife are puzzling over..

Years ago when we had a big Argos only a handy few minutes walk away from our house,
there was also a copycat catalogue orders chain.
One branch of it operated from a concession at the back of another big town centre department store which has also recently shut down..

Anyone remember the name of that other catalogue company...???

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 09:24 AM

I've used Argos 2 or 3 times when I have wanted same day delivery. One I remember was to get an air bed for a relative who was visiting that night to sleep on. It's worked out well.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 07:29 AM

Bollocks to argos and sainsburys ...!!!

As with most other big chains..
permanently closed down in our derrlict town centre,
and moved out miles away to a trading estate
situated for the better convenience of the more affluent commuter belt suburbs and villages...

All we town centre dwellers
have left to rely on is Amazon delivering
smaller packages to our precarious High Street post office.
Or a lost wasted day waiting in for delivery of bigger parcels...

Not much choice now about being dependent on Amazon
(and less useful home delivery only internet stores)..

So again I say boycot the smug self righteous boycotters...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 06:04 AM

Thank goodness for Argos - ordered new greyhound sized bed yesterday at 4pm - delivered to our local Sainsbury's 10am this morning!!

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: JHW
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 05:33 AM

Long before the internet when car keys had no chips I ordered one by post. Posted as often at the nearby sorting office. New key was there in the post when I got home that night (from town about 50 miles away)

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Feb 21 - 04:24 PM

No major complaints here: in fact most things we have ordered have arrived well before the predicted delivery date. Anything from watch batteries (both of our watches gave up soon after lockdown) to unusual lightbulbs (not stocked in your usual supermarket), Christmas presents for the grandchildren, replacement computer battery, knitting row counters and circular needle. No failures, nothing that had to be sent back. (Touch wood!)

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Feb 21 - 09:58 AM

Yes I had to supply my address.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: JHW
Date: 20 Feb 21 - 06:13 AM

There's an enormouse new Amazon warehouse on the outskirts of my nearest town. Amazon and Ebay both demand personal details up-front guarded by a password. Good Luck to those who find them useful. I'm wary.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Feb 21 - 03:52 PM

The quickest delivery time from ordering was 3 hours. The longest never arrived but was refunded.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Feb 21 - 10:21 PM

This paint is strange. It acts like watercolors, except when it dries, that's it. You can re-constitute watercolors, but this stuff is permanent. I didn't want acrylics, because that's what I've been painting with, and I have a ton. These paints are like a weird cross between inks and watercolors.

I'm impressed with how they handled this, right up to the point where I realized every bit of this product is mislabeled in this particular warehouse/"fulfillment center"/whatever, and they have absolutely no ability to fix it. I doubt I'll ever encounter a problem like this again, and they treated me well, but if I were running Amazon, they'd have the ability to do something about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Feb 21 - 09:28 PM

Wasn't it Google that came up with the slogan "don't be evil"? So I guess Amazon figured, "that slogan's taken. we CAN be evil!" Or was that Facebook?

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 21 - 08:19 PM

I find Amazon convenient for big heavy items like furniture, toilets refridgerators, electric bikes and rugs. I did order a unique small comb like titanium item that does haircuts.

HQ 100 inch Projection TVs are now $300 reduced by 50% or more since the new laser projection TVs are now the stupidly expensive over powered alternative. When we invent transporters, Amazon will sell them.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 05:51 PM

"dog treets"...melt in the mouth, not in your paws...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 05:02 PM

A case of tubes of dog treets arrived today with a huge pack of tea tree wipes, kindly put just inside our front door by the driver.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 10:54 AM

When I had more spare time..
persistent polite persuasive telephone complaints to Amazon about problem resolution,
got me significant refunds,
and at best some free [expensive] guitars, and an amplifier...

But not needed to complain to that extent for about 4 or 5 years,
so don't know if amazon is still as helpful and generous...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 10:13 AM

"International" can be a warning sign but it can also mean a call from brother in Queensland...

I too got some Acrylic from Amazon the other day too, Jeri, though in my case I wanted it. It sticks pretty well to PLA but, even if I could paint, I'd not be doing a watercolour with it...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 09:54 AM

I don't answer the phone unless the call is from someone I know. I've changed the ringtones for numbers I expect might call me. I don't know if I've received any scams about Amazon. They aren't FROM Amazon.

My latest adventure was I ordered something, and they sent the wrong thing. I complained, sent it back, and they sent it again. Both times, I ordered one set #3, and they sent three wrong set #1.
I called, and they said someone would call on Monday.
Come to find out, some idiot had slapped a label for the thing I wanted over the top of the thing it was.
On Monday, they e-mailed me, telling me to leave them my number so they could call.
I was pissed off, and sent them an email. I was surprised to get one back, apologizing, and telling me to keep/give away/donate the wrong paints.
So I have three sets of the wrong paints (which are still nice), and are $40 a set, plus I ordered the correct ones from a different place. If Amazon had replaced them again, I'd still get the wrong ones, because they're mislabeled in their warehouse (or wherever they keep stuff), and they don't seem capable of fixing THAT problem.
Probably, a screw up that won't happen with anything else, but it's annoying they can't do anything about the mislabeling problem.

Now, to find homes for the two unopened sets...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Jos
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 08:03 AM

The number on some says 'INTERNATIONAL', but if a number is displayed, it is often fake, using a dialling code that doesn't exist.
Lately I have been getting many calls saying I have ordered an i-pad or similar from Amazon or ebay for a several hundred pounds, which will be taken out of my bank account - I am to 'press 1' if I didn't place the order. They all go to the answering machine. I only answer if I know who is calling.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 07:26 AM

I've got a block button on my phone but they just use different numbers.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 07:22 AM

Isn't it annoying Steve? Since my last post, we just got yet another one! Our number is ex-directory and not listed anywhere, so they must be random-dialling.
I'm not sure if BT can block them?

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 05:51 AM

I get several of those types of calls every week.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 05:28 AM

Not Amazon's fault, but for the third time I got a call (this morning, 8am) which is the Amazon Prime scam. The recorded message 'informs' you that the wrong amount for Amazon Prime has been deducted from your bank. "Press 1 to speak to an adviser". If one does, bank details are requested 'to refund the amount'. Of course, they help themselves to your bank account. I have never had Amazon Prime, so I always just replace the receiver.
Pity it's a recorded message, as I'd like to vent my anger at the scammer.
Amazon suggest merely that one informs the relevant Fraud Department of the Police etc. I don't suppose to be fair there is much Amazon themselves can do.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: The Sandman
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 04:45 AM

bon appetit bonzo mon petit chien

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 02:02 AM

One of my daughters works for a company that sells online and has reported a strange knock on effect of Brexit. Amazon are now insisting that the vendor pays any duties incurred on sales into Europe from the UK or vice versa. Her company are stopping selling through Amazon. I suspect many more will do the same so expect to see a reduction in choice of items from Europe.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Feb 21 - 08:50 AM

Try it with a spicy tomato sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan is my advice...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Feb 21 - 08:37 AM

15kg bag of Burns dry dog food delivered yesterday while I was at work. The kind driver pushed it inside our front door!

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 08:34 PM

Yeah.. After reading guitar forum advice about pros and cons
ordering from Ali,
I was expecting to wait months..

Surprised that delivery was no more than a couple of weeks,
both times around xmas...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 08:18 PM

AliExpress - is that part of the huge Chinese company AliBaba? There is such a wide range of stuff quality-wise from them, and shipping, while cheap, can take a very long time. Very long. Maybe it's different from China to the UK. Another "Buyer Beware" situation.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 07:45 PM

I joined AliExpress to order specific cheap guitar gear
which Amazon is out of stock of, or overcharges when they do have it.

Since ordering, AliExpress has been sending me emails promoting similar guitar gear..
.. and guns and gun accessories..

Which just shows how much AliExpress's international market profiling
is being skewed by American guitarist customers...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 07:01 PM

But your quiet eloquence knows no bounds...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 06:37 PM

I dropped in to say nothing.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 06:08 PM

Boycott Geoffrey Boycott. I mean, what an arse. And if Geoffrey Boycott tries to set up a boycott, I say boycott Boycott's boycott...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 04:26 PM

"boycott, amazon"

how very stupid

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 03:10 PM

I recently signed up to AliExpress,
and made a couple of cheap small purchases before and after xmas
to test them out..

Problem free delivery, much quicker than expected from most internet forum chatter I read..

Worth keeping in reserve for musician's stuff Amazon don't list...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 03:04 PM

boycott boycotts...

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 01:54 PM

boycott, amazon

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Jeri
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 01:49 PM

Walmart used to be pretty horrible to their employees. They probably aren't great now, but I think they've improved. A funny thing was they opened a new store near here, and shut down other places. Maybe mom & pop stores, but there was a K-Mart that closed. The prices at Walmart were good, then started to rise. A brand new Target opened across the road from Walmart, and their stuff was cheaper.
I gave up. I think Target's prices ar back up, but their sizes cater to smallish teens, and they usually don't have items in all sizes. Plus, both of the stores are a 40-mile round trip.

Amazon takes a bit longer, but I don't have to go anywhere. They cater to my laziness. That works for now, but when I have to actually go places and do things, it's going to be a hard transition.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 12:33 PM

The store I rarely go to is Walmart, but I suppose, upon examination, Amazon has pretty much done what they did, just Walmart did it earlier. They put small mom-and-pop businesses out of business. They pay so low that most of their employees are eligible for food stamps (SNAP card these days) and they've lowered the average income and economic power of a lot of small towns where they popped up because they are now the only game in town. They negotiated so ruthlessly with companies who were their suppliers that they drove many of them out of business. There used to be a robust Snapper lawnmower and power tool company warehouse near me in Fort Worth, but Walmart kept insisting they have their equipment made more cheaply (and of lower quality materials) in China so Walmart could sell them inexpensively. The company resisted as long as they could before going belly up. Just one of myriad examples.

Amazon CEO soon-to-be-something-else high on the food chain Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, and after a generous six month free trial people can subscribe to the digital version for $4 a month. It's a real bargain.   

They do take back returns very easily. I have discovered that if I deliver returns to the desk set up for this in the Kohl's nearby, Kohl's offers me a percent-off coupon to use in the store. I don't shop there often but when I do I've found things I needed (they are like many of the other secondary market stores that seem to get the unsold stuff from big department stores at pennies on the dollar and sell it themselves, like Ross or Belk or TJMax here in the US.)

They have shipped some very large items. I have a "standing" desk that has a sturdy steel base and a good-quality veneered wood table top that I needed help moving into the house (several boxes, shipped flat, and a lot of assembly was required.) Sometimes very small items come in absurdly huge boxes and I've joined folks on Instagram to shame Amazon for such silly shipping.

When researching new purchases I look at Amazon for reviews, but before buying I usually do a Google search to see where it turns up. If it is available locally for a price comparable to the online businesses, I get it locally. I have a number of online places I go to for specific items (like my sewing machine equipment pieces come from SewingPartsOnline.com because they keep high quality stuff in stock and the listings on Amazon are rather haphazard). They also have better prices on thread and their shipping costs are more reasonable than Joann.com. Amazon's thread prices are through the roof, no way I'd buy there.

Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 12:15 PM

Un-paved road - sounds very middle class!!

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 11:53 AM

We haven't got a road.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 11:41 AM

Amazon drivers do have the annoying habit of just stopping in the middle of the road for a delivery.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 11:29 AM

All I can say is that I heard it only this morning. When I come to think of it, my Prime deliveries generally arrive in unmarked vehicles of various shapes and sizes. They don't much look like "official Amazon vans" but I suppose I just haven't remarked on it until today. I suppose it's possible to have an unhypocritical extreme view of Amazon as long as you never use Amazon. I'd love to take an extreme view but that would definitely make me a hypocrite, and I don't think I'd manage too well here without the occasional resort to Amazon, so I'd better be measured. I could feel the same way about Apple, Microsoft, Google, Starbucks, McDonalds, Sky and a whole bunch of others. Actually, I never go in either Starbucks or McDonalds, but if I were to publicly excoriate them I'd have people, perfectly justifiably, asking me why I wasn't also saying the same about Amazon...or Sky...or Google...who are just as bad... Because you use 'em, don't you, Steve?

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 11:18 AM

Not all they are cracked up to be.
Note today they have taken an official investigator in US to court to try to stop them investigating their ill treatment of employees.
That's another win for the lawyers - it really is Christmas everyday for them - the lawyers.
There are people today getting away with things they would have been jailed and even hung for in wartime.

Subject: RE: BS: Thank goodness for Amazon!!
From: Raggytash
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 11:15 AM

I would think we are witnessing a fundamental change in the nature of shopping. The high street will change beyond all recognition and we will find many shops being changed over to residential use.

On-line purchases will continue to grow and grow and high streets will continue to decline. We just have to get used to it.