Amazon Prime - Have you quit?

[Pattree]

If I need presents, I think ahead, and don't leave it untill last moment so there is no panic about not having a gift.
My money doesn't get wasted on tat that I realy don't need, and I can then afford to buy quality items that last.

……. and remind me: when is St Woody Girl’s day I’ll light you a candle.

No malice intended WG. You are quite right. However, I don’t use Amazon at all but then I also forget stuff and dates until last minute or beyond. In the past I have Moonpigged or created my own e-card with a message to the effect that i await our next meeting to deliver pressie.

I have never used Amazon for borrowing films or books. I do use Kindle but I buy the e-book. Prime has never entered into my life equation.

 

[Woody girl]

……. and remind me: when is St Woody Girl’s day I’ll light you a candle.

No malice intended WG. You are quite right. However, I don’t use Amazon at all but then I also forget stuff and dates until last minute or beyond. In the past I have Moonpigged or created my own e-card with a message to the effect that i await our next meeting to deliver pressie.

I have never used Amazon for borrowing films or books. I do use Kindle but I buy the e-book. Prime has never entered into my life equation.

I've just never needed it. I survive perfectly well without it.
Nothing about being a Saint ol' chum! I've just carried on living the way I have always done, and havnt given in to "its easier"
I don't want a faceless China man knowing what I buy any more than nessasary.
Consequently, I don't get spammed with dozens of adds and emails trying to tempt me with stuff they think I might need or want.
What is funny is the amount of adds on you tube that try to tempt me with girls to chat to, and male underpants!
The algorithm ain't got me sussed yet!
Ps, the halo is fine, but I need new wings, it's a bit tricky as nowadays they seem to only be available online! Gotta have a word with him upstairs I think.

 

[Paul_B]

Sorry, as soon as I hear amazon mentioned it gets my back up.
If we as individuals don't pay our taxes we get fines, or worse.
The huge multinational doesn't?

Not OK.

With the amount of money it has?

I stopped using that company about 15 years ago.

Are you using chrome, Edge browsers? Microsoft Windows? Chrome os? Anything needing data centres? Chances are they're effectively avoiding tax on uk generated data and hence revenues by sending it to Republic of Ireland data centres to benefit from avoiding our business tax regime and paying tax on UK derived revenue streams in the UK by legally moving the tax liability to the lower tax Irish regime. No difference from amazon in that respect. Oh but it's worse because it's heading to the situation the high energy demands of these data centres could result in power cuts to domestic users. A real threat to the country. All to legally reduce tax burden just like Amazon does.

My point being we're too far into the global tax reduction process to be able to boycott companies that do it. All you cam do is pick the odd one or two that are most public and boycott them but close your eyes and ears to the others.

I vaguely remember a report about the damages/ risks to EU economy by Irish system.

 

[Paul_B]

Isn't kindle amazon too?

Also, iirc you don't actually own kindle books but kind of rent them. There was a thing I heard about years ago when someone bought a kindle book in another country / part of the world and when they got home found it was deleted from their account because it was bought in a country operating under another amazon company. When looked into they were pointed to a contractual clause explaining how they can do it. I can't remember the details just that unlike other ebook retailers kindle and hence amazon don't concede full ownership rights to their customers.

Best option for books is free of libraries like project Gutenburg, or perhaps rental from borrowbox.

 

[GreyCat]

It's a difficult one because some "bricks and mortar" shops may not always be the better option.

A few years ago I recall a discussion on Radio 4 where the presenter was trying to get the guest- a small SME supplier to retail- to say how bad Amazon were. What the supplier said was interesting though: they supplied the same things to both Amazon AND a big high street retail chain and (a) Amazon paid a higher rate per widget and (b) Amazon paid on time whereas the big retail chain played the usual "screw the supplier" payment routine games. Guess who the small supplier preferred to deal with?

Also, the "bricks and mortar" high street store in question was in fact owned by a big multinational corporate who had sold their property and leased back and were doing the usual leveraging and asset stripping to extract profit- not any better ethically than Amazon, indeed possibly worse.

I feel it's more a case of choosing small suppliers/makers carefully. They may use Amazon- but there's a number of other platforms in use- Etsy for example. Some have own websites. One example I use: an outlet called Fabworks (has own website) who commission tweeds and other wool fabrics made in Yorkshire from English wool, the fabrics are designed, spun, dyed and woven in Yorkshire. I have bought on line and then at a later date when working in the area also visited the shop, they are clear that they have survived by going online and thus broadening the market they can reach- there's just not enough people making clothes (so buying fabric) in the local area.

Not really much different to the old mail-order concept, just through a different medium, and a lower cost to the small supplier than producing catalogues.

So, it's complicated. Perhaps it's more about considering (a) do I have a need for this thing and (b) what's the most appropriate way of obtaining it (for me, at this time)?

GC

 

[Pattree]

The algorithm ain't got me sussed yet!

It’s off the OP but I have an internet persona as far as retail web sites go. Among my browsing for 3mm lifting bolts, steel bar and 12mm cotton rope, are browsings for top end dresses in XXX sizes and very expensive high heeled shoes in size 49. Oh and the most expensive large handbags I’ve ever seen. I still get spam but it can be odd. Having an androgynous given name doesn’t help them I suppose.
I am perfectly aware that once someone cross references data streams very little is hidden from the determined data miner.

Prime looks very expensive from where I sit. I’ve never been tempted to purchase it.

 

[William_Montgomery]

I need new wings

I'll ring a bell for you.

 

[MartinK9]

When other companies offer next day/same day delivery and their courier of choice lives up to that promise then maybe but they'll have to throw in a streaming service for free as well.

All for £95 a year half that of the BBC Licence. I know what one I'm paying for...

 

[Brizzlebush]

Sorry Tony, I kinda knew, as I was responding, that I shouldn't have said anything!
(so, er, here I go again?)

I deliberately gave a shorter reply as to my reasons for not using Amazon, as there's a long list of why I don't, other than tax. Writing replies on my phone is very laborious, (I'm rarely at a keyboard for bcuk) so I tried to be concise, more fool me, however I have the time this morning. Also Amazon are not the only business I boycott.

Clearly there's others here with more information about UK tax and how it is, or is not paid, than I. So thank you for the education on that, I wasn't aware. Also it's interesting to read the other points made on shops vs. online etc.

I think how we spend our money is a complex and often emotive global and local subject. It's also, like many things, very personal and subjective.
Perhaps I don't know as much as I thought I did on the subject. So I enjoy reading other people's considered replies.

Globalisation is not my specialist subject. But personally I try to spend my money carefully in a way that I think benefits people and planet. But, it's very, very difficult as so many issues are tied in to one another.
All I can do is read, learn as much as I can, and base my decisions on what I believe is best for me, my family and the people that sells the goods and services along the supply chain, whilst trying to minimise the impact on the natural world and resources.
Really, it's a bloody tall order!

I don't always get it right, it's near impossible to avoid hypocrisy, and we live in a very fast-changing world that requires adaptation. So good luck to us all.

I enormously enjoy the input of others on this forum as I've learnt a huge amount, beyond bushcraft. Which is an unexpected bonus and joy of being here.

I think we are all doing our best in a challenging world where we are as much a commodity as the goods and services we buy!

 

[NickH]

Ooo, Amazon and "Bushcraft" - You couldn't really get two things further from each other could you?

I've been a prime subscriber for..... 10 years plus I think.

But it's shared between 3 houses (back when that was allowed, and providing we keep the subscription, it'll stay that way), so the £95 per year is only about £32 per household.

I buy much less from Amazon these days than I used to.

Part of that is price (cheaper elsewhere) and part of it is that even the "worst" shipping service in the UK only takes 48 hours, so speed of delivery isn't a major issue anymore.

However, I don't buy into all of this "boycott Amazon" business.

Amazon operate just like any other business do (be that small or large).

Your local bricks and mortar store are not going to be paying more tax than they have to!

I think Amazon CS is still one of the very best, and I've had significantly worse experiences with smaller stores who can sometimes have an air of entitlement about them (obviously depends on the store).

We also use Amazon (via Morrisons) for our weekly shop, as the delivery time is same day (and free) vs Tesco where we can never get a delivery slot!

For more specialist/niche kit, Amazon doesn't often have what you need.

But for your consumables and other generic stuff, it's really hard to beat.

Side note.... I just picked up the Helinox Zero Chair (Large) from Amazon via an Outdoors Store for less money than anywhere else.

Delivers tomorrow for free.....

 

[Wayne]

I have pretty much stopped watching prime. All the time the fee for free delivery and the other benefits remains reasonable i will keep my subscription.

I'm not an amazon hater like some. A lot of small business benefit from selling the amazon market place giving them access to far more customers.

 

[slowworm]

Well, just watched my first hour of something on Prime with adverts and they are very short and not that annoying so far.

And Fallout was worth watching so far...

 

[Decacraft]

Well, just watched my first hour of something on Prime with adverts and they are very short and not that annoying so far.

And Fallout was worth watching so far...

Have to agree- fallout has been a pretty good watch. Currently on episode 5. Never played the game so had no idea what to expect

 

[FerlasDave]

Have to agree- fallout has been a pretty good watch. Currently on episode 5. Never played the game so had no idea what to expect

I doubt it will live up to any of the games (I’ve played every one!) but I will give it a try…

 

[Kadushu]

It definitely captures the essence of the game but they've held back a lot of factions/creatures/etc for the next series. Might ditch Prime for a while now because there's not much else on it that interests me and the ads are annoying.