Buying Less
We’ve been debating whether or not to get an Amazon account. We don’t do a lot of online shopping, so it doesn’t feel worth it to me. On the other hand, there are things difficult to get in stores but easy to get on Amazon (e.g., my hair products), so maybe it is.
The thing I’ve noticed as we dithered over whether to get an account is that we’re buying less. When it isn’t convenient because I need to order from three different sites to get what I need, and when shipping isn’t free, I drag my feet on ordering at all. Which probably tells me the thing I’m about to order is a want, not a need.
A case in point: The rubber around my phone case is breaking off. I could order a new rubber sleeve if we had an Amazon account. Ordering it from anywhere else costs more than it’s worth. I’ve decided to live with the phone case as is. It’s kind of punk rock. Or well-loved?
We already order coffee, pet supplies, and books from other sites. If I buy my hair products in bulk, I can get free shipping from other sites. Maybe it’s best if we don’t give ourselves an easy door to step through.
5 comments
Okay, here’s my unsolicited opinion: resist!!! You don’t need Amazon. Nobody needs Amazon. You can find everything you need and want elsewhere.
Here’s a book recommendation: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/how-to-resist-amazon-and-why-the-fight-for-local-economies-data-privacy-fair-labor-independent-bookstores-and-a-people-powered-future_danny-caine/38316024/?resultid=6a7ff481-9c16-4fec-a7eb-21c9c8413198#edition=58762837&idiq=46297405
If I’m going to order from Amazon, I usually wait until I have enough stuff for free shipping. I have sort of been buying less. I have no wish to support this economy beyond food, some of which I have been donating. (I still buy random stuff, but a lot less frequently.)
My secret is, though, when I can’t order enough for free shipping (e.g. for a gift), I buy a gift card and then use someone else’s account. However, my child has a student account which had a discounted rate, so…maybe look into that.
I have an Amazon account but I try not to use it. I’m working hard to get to the point where I cancel it because Amazon actively works to put small businesses out of business, treats their employees poorly etc. Where I live there are things I simply haven’t been able to find locally but I’m hoping to be less Amazon and more local as much as possible.
As others have said above, you don’t need to pay for a Prime account. You can still order from there if there’s something you really need/want, and just pay the shipping. If you order from there a lot, then yeah, it might make sense to pay for a Prime account — but if you’re only ordering from there a couple of times a year, the shipping charges likely still wouldn’t equal your Prime fee for the year. A lot of times the shipping is free if the order is large enough anyway.
I don’t use Amazon a lot (mostly for books for my Kindle app that I can’t get on Kobo), so I’ve never had a paid/Prime account. I try to buy from Canadian/local companies wherever possible. I know a lot of people like Prime for the streaming service, but I barely use the one service I have (Netflix) as it is, so…!
I only order kindle books from Amazon. I don’t have Amazon Prime streaming, and we have no intentions to get it. I specifically have a dot com account, even though it occasionally tries to push me into the Australian site. So I use a NZ based site to get anything tangible sent, as it keeps postage/delivery costs down.