Since Amazon Prime seems to be the main controversial one in this thread:
- Yes, we spend more on Amazon since we have Prime... because we get less stuff elsewhere. That comes out in the wash and I'm not sure why it's such a talking point against Prime.
- It's many fewer trips to "the store" and no scouring stores for random nonsense. Every "shopping trip" these days is either groceries, Home Depot, or Costco. Truly no reason to go anywhere else when Amazon (and elsewhere online) have pretty much everything you could ever need. Last few orders on Amazon were a mousepad, a flat weight bench, 100ft network cable, ice cube trays, 10x10x6 outdoor dog kennel, hand soap, feeler gauges, oil filters, and fish oil for dogs. Where the hell am I going to find all that under one brick and mortar roof?
- The Expanse
- The Expanse
Punch me in the face for our goddamn DirecTV (still hurts to even admit we have it), but keep your claws off my Amazon Prime.
I'll bite on this one, since I seem to be the resident Prime curmudgeon :)
You say you spend more on Amazon b/c you buy less elsewhere. I say that having Prime lulls you into buying more stuff overall because it's just so convenient. Most of the stuff on your recent purchases list I either don't own or would purchase so infrequently that they're hardly worth a subscription service.
As far as fewer trips to other places, I'd take the angle that having to get off your ass and walk/bike/drive somewhere will at least sometimes cause you not to purchase an item. So for most people I don't think not buying an item via Amazon automatically means buying the item elsewhere. Sometimes it means not buying the item at all. You say it's no more scouring stores for "random nonsense". Why are you interested in buying random nonsense in the first place?
By "random nonsense" I suppose I mean odd one-off things that I need for something. If it read as "stupid bullshit" instead that's my bad. From my list, we'll go with the oil filters. More than once I've walked into Walmart or wherever, poked at the little display to tell me which oil filter I need for my, only to find they don't have one. Maybe I'll be at Meijer and go hunting through the "tools" section just to find that they don't have feeler gauges that I need to fix the AC in my car for $7 instead of $1000 (true story). I'd rather order the new igniter for my stove on Amazon than go trudging around looking for appliance part stores. It's just a waste.
And that stuff was just examples. I moved recently, so there are more one-off things there than typical.
My GF refinished her wooden desk during the move, and now needs a mousepad since it's too shiny to use a mouse without one.
I replaced our weight bench since the old one is too big for where it was going in the new house, and was also falling apart. Ordering online I was able to compare a bunch of different models to compare the exact dimensions.
I bought a 100ft network cable since in the new setup GF's work desktop is in a different room than the router and modem, and wired is always better than wireless, which was tolerable but not worth the hassle. These are either impossible to find in stores or hilariously overpriced.
Our fridge in the new house didn't have ice cube trays, and I left the old ones with the fridge at the old house. I prefer mini-ice-cubes, and I could only find those on Amazon.
The outdoor dog kennel makes life way easier here, as the property is not fenced in.
I hope I don't need to explain hand soap.
We give our dogs fish oil since their diet biases omega-6 heavy. Prices for that stuff are outrageous in brick-and-mortar stores since people love overpaying for pet supplies.
None of this shit is frivolous or impulse-bought if that's where you're going. Closest thing to impulse would be the hand soap, which I ordered minutes after noticing we were getting low, and I ordered around a year's supply.