Amazon Shopping v. Buying "Local"

[kib]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I have no idea where to put it. Mods please move as appropriate!

On the recommendation of my eye doctor, I set off to purchase some lubricating eye drops. Before I left, I checked Amazon. Upshot: the Exact same package, same product, same amount can be bought for $10.90 delivered to my door, or I can drive to a chain supermarket near me and pick it up for a mere $24.99.

Do you frequent the Evil Am-pire? Do you think there's really anything usefully "local" about shopping at a branded supermarket chain that happens to have stix and brix around the corner? I guess I'm helping provide local jobs but it's really hard to see this as reasonable in the face of a 229% mark up from what is already a retail price with some profit built in.

[bae]

Many of my local on-island stores charge prices roughly twice what I can get by shopping online, or visiting the mainland. It feels extortionate. Especially since *some* of the local stores charge quite reasonable prices - I *do* shop at those.

[iris lilies]

Sure, I order from Amazon all the time. I don’t care about price, I care about convenience. I simply have zero interest in playing the “ shopping morality” game There are few things more convenient than having it delivered to my front door.

That said, I always have an eye out for our local stores. Again, because I don’t care about price, but I would like to support them when possible. Just this week I bought a leather belt from the local leather shop for $55. Then I bought one of a different color for about $12 From Amazon. I can’t see that one is all that much nicer but I’m Satisfied to have supported the local guy.

When we bought a recliner, I made an effort to buy it from the local furniture shop and spent $1000. I could’ve purchased much cheaper recliners online, but I want to support our local furniture store. Besides, it’s just an ugly stupid recliner. No matter which vendor I use, it’s not going to look very good. But when it came time to buy sofas, I didn’t bother to go to the local store because I wanted fashionable pieces and they don’t have that.

We bought our refrigerator from the local appliance store because we wanted to give them the business. We went to talk to them face-to-face about the kind of refrigerator we wanted which was pretty generic, and we decided on an order. We asked if they wanted any money down and they said “no, you can pay later. “ So when the refrigerator was delivered, we asked the delivery guys if they wanted any money and they said “no, just come down to the store when you can to pay. “ That level of small town trust is cute.

I hate big drugstores because I can walk into one and I have to wander around to find what I want. Our local pharmacies are tiny and sometimes I get over-the-counter items from there, and I always get vitamins from there. But I order a fair number of over-the-counter meds from Amazon.

[kib]

Many of my local on-island stores charge prices roughly twice what I can get by shopping online, or visiting the mainland. It feels extortionate. Especially since *some* of the local stores charge quite reasonable prices - I *do* shop at those.

Bisbee was more like that. I sometimes forgave them for gouging since we were off the beaten path and big-town shopping was such a nuisance, but at this point I don't really see a reasonable justification - the locals are just buying from online sources too. Presently I'm in a large city and to me this is really unconscionable. I am also noticing that chains in the upscale neighborhood to the north charge Less for the same item than the local lower income area - nothing new there, but it makes me even more irritated with supporting the "local" chains.

[pinkytoe]

I don't have a high level of trust in amazon things I put on my face or ingest. Probably perfectly fine if you check out vendor - just something I wonder about since they have been known to sell counterfeit goods. The amazon convenience factor is a big plus.

[Tradd]

I get both a lot of stuff AND my groceries from Amazon. Groceries are Amazon Fresh. Prices are really good. I'm in the Chicago area and I have no lack of Amazon DCs in the area. There's at least two, maybe three. I can sometimes get stuff same day, depending on when I order. There are also two Amazon Fresh stores within 20 minutes of me. The Fresh delivery is another $100 on top of Prime subscription, but it's worth it. I tried Walmart and just didn't like it. I have severe osteoarthritis in both knees, which makes even walking around Aldi an issue. I'm not going to deal with pickup when I can have it delivered, especially for a large order. I sometimes do Target pickup for a few items. Target has a huge advantage over Walmart pickup. There's no minimum and you don't have to deal with a pickup window. You just go to Target and wait. Even on the way home from work, it's not that bad of a wait.

I order everything and I do mean everything from Amazon, except for some clothes and Republic of Tea. For those, I go directly to the company websites.

[Tradd]

I definitely agree with Iris that I want convenience. I don't play the shopping morality games either.

[KayLR]

I hope this link below works. I'm on my old Kindle. All the above responses got me reflecting on how far we've come on this board, kind of on the order of the "How we've changed" thread. I suppose most of us are more well off now. At least I hope that's why we've become more consumeristic than in 2011, seemingly.

I did a dive into the oldest posts I could find on consumerism and ftugality. We were so cute back then! I really warmed to the post where members were trying to help Mattj bolster up his crappy couch because he wasn't ready to replace it.

www.simplelivingforum.net/search.php?searchid=8349748&pp

[Klunick]

I tend to use Amazon more than local stores. Pretty much the only ones I frequent are grocery stores (but I do pick up so don't go in) and CVS/Walgreens if I need something immediately.

[rosarugosa]

Kay: That link didn't work for me.

I do try to support local businesses, but I use Amazon as well. There are often small items that I cannot easily source locally, and I don't want to devote huge chunks of time driving from store to store to locate. Sister and I can really enjoy a fun "quest" at thrift stores for something interesting, but I'm not interested in trying to make a passion project out of locating my preferred brand of clear nail polish, to give one example. I often check eBay before making the Amazon purchase though. I wanted to get my sister a little metal ornament tree for xmas. The same vendor had what I wanted on both Amazon and eBay. Some of the comments on Amazon indicated that the vendor wasn't good about addressing defective items, so I went with eBay, who almost always sides with the buyer if there is a problem, and it was actually a bit cheaper on eBay.
I would never buy a chair or a sofa that I didn't have a chance to sit on first. My sister laughingly recalls our quest for a perfect reading chair for me a few years ago. This little butt sat in dozens of chairs, and I felt a bit like Goldilocks. I finally found one that was just right.

[Rogar]

I try to support small local businesses that have nice people and encourage good service. Even the Ace hardware chain where you walk in and immediately are asked if you need help. But I see no advantage of the local big box stores or even the big supermarket chains over Amazon. I recently read a book where the author vowed not to eat at restaurant chains. I could be on that bandwagon too, but ofen dine out with friends who don't share the same concept.

[happystuff]

I avoid Amazon. Having worked in an ecommerce business that sold on the Amazon platform - they were pretty bad to sellers. At least back then. That said, I will shop eBay. I find that I can usually get the same item for equal or less with free shipping. But, this is all said in the context that I don't shop online very often to begin with. I do shop locally and have started returning to shopping more thrift stores. Again, I don't like to shop and I'm working to get rid of stuff - not bring more stuff in! LOL

[early morning]

All the above responses got me reflecting on how far we've come on this board, kind of on the order of the "How we've changed" thread. I suppose most of us are more well off now. At least I hope that's why we've become more consumeristic than in 2011, seemingly. Link won't open for me either. Collectively, you may be right about being more affluent/consumeristic. Me specifically - not more well off, really - just a lot more tired, lol. I simply can't DO the stuff we used to do, as far as DIY, and much of what I can do, I don't WANT to do. We cook less from scratch. We raise no meat nor do we grown many fruits/veggies. I don't can - although I do use my freezer. There are still - again- four adults in this household, and food bills are astronomical, but still, we manage, and MUCH less time is spent on food prep. Now if only I'd use that time productively instead of sitting around reading or scrolling..... :|( We do support local business when we can, but I gotta admit to a reliance on Amazon for a lot of stuff that can't be found easily/locally. We put everything on a credit card that we can, and spend all the points on Amazon.

[KayLR]

All you have to do is open a Forum head topic like "Frugality,Products & Purchases" and then click on "Last" in the pages list. You can see posts and threads clear back to 2011.

[kib]

Ha, I didn't find that one, but I did find a very deep and serious discussion I started about stick blenders.

[iris lilies]

Ha, I didn't find that one, but I did find a very deep and serious discussion I started about stick blenders.
Oh! Several years ago, I got a stick blender from my friend’s estate sale. I really like it! it’s small and easy to clean and just easier to deal with then a traditional container blender.