Ask HN: Replacing Amazon Shopping
A recent thread[0] about Amazon reviews got me to thinking: I'm not so married to Amazon services as a whole (Alexa, Prime Shipping, Whole Foods, etc) that I would be unwilling to drop them. What I _am_ (seemingly) married to is the crazy level of selection.
For example, I need a tool to clean out the dryer vent in my home. Local stores (Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, Mom'n'Pop, etc) all have tools for just such an occasion and often at a comparable price. But Amazon has 20+ in varying lengths, materials, designs, tiers (Git-R-Done <---> Artisanal) and approaches. The same can be said for almost any other category.
Have any of you found alternatives that solve this particular issue? Or are we simply doomed to choosing between either a) supporting Amazon's dominance or b) going back to the world of ACME Dryer Cleaner? Is there a middle ground?
[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25038734
10 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 35.6 ms ] thread[0] - https://lairdsuperfood.com/
[1] - https://dukecannon.com/
[2] - https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Fear_of_missing_out
[3] - https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Overchoice
When I do order online, it's often through Walmart. They will either deliver to my address or deliver to the nearest store where I can pick it up in person without having to pay delivery fees.
For my needs, Walmart is the place that has the solutions that most matter to me. I almost never use Amazon.
I don't really understand why people order so much from it and then bemoan its dominance. From where I sit, it looks like a self-inflicted injury in most cases and I find the entire thing somewhat baffling. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm not looking to attack anyone. I genuinely find it baffling.
And maybe I find it baffling because, for example, my dad fought in the front lines of two wars and my parents helped multiple relatives escape communist East Germany. And I've lived without a car in the US for more than a decade, which is a hard row to hoe, but it's gotten easier over time "with practice" so to speak.
I have ordered stuff from Amazon under circumstances where I literally couldn't find it elsewhere. But most of what I hear is not that people literally have zero other options. It's more like what people are saying in this discussion: It's more convenient than driving to the nearest big box store or it's got better selection than any one venue.
I fail to comprehend how that merits the amount of stress people seem to have over the issue. Rejecting Amazon for most purchases is not on par with, say, trying to escape communist East Germany.
If you object to their crappy policies, you do your research and you buy it elsewhere if you can find it elsewhere. And if you literally can find no other options, then you buy it from Amazon and start letting people know "I could really use another supplier for this here widget. I hate Amazon and I buy widgets regularly. I'm willing to pay extra for ethically sourced widgets. If you hear of something, let me know!"
Or, alternately, pressure Amazon to clean up their act. (Or do both.)
I've looked stuff up on Etsy before and the shipping charges were crazy. I wanted to buy about 50 euro worth of balloons.. the shipping would have cost another 50 euro.