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Why Amazon is eating everyone's lunch

T

Teakettle

Member
Just came in from mowing with my 25-year-old Craftsman garden tractor, during which the drag link came apart (used baling wire to hold it together long enough to get it back to the barn). Amazon has the part for $20 less than Sears -- it's an OEM Husqvarna part, not a knockoff -- and it'll be here tomorrow with free shipping; Sears charges extra for shipping and has an estimated delivery date 5 days from now.

I don't feel good about ordering every darn thing from Amazon but sometimes it's just too painful and expensive to do otherwise.
 
While it's nice to support local mom & pop small business (if there is much of that left at all), I sometimes find it hard to not shop at say Wally World. I can buy a gallon of paint there and the price of the same gallon nearby is at least 50% greater. I guess a guy has to look after himself as well as the local vendors. Sad how the direction of things have moved but that's the reality of modern retail along with the international marketplace. Sears up here is no longer, at least I don't think there are any stores left in Canada. Their fate was apparently sealed when they didn't move to online shopping, or if they did it was too late. And the ironic part is that they were the original and most successful catalog sales company on the planet back in the day. I guess catalog shopping was the equivalent then of today's online shopping.
 
Is it actually coming from an Amazon warehouse or some other vendor?
Amazon has deals with outside vendor companies to sell stuff through the Amazon website. But in reality it comes from the "third party" vendor and Amazon gets a cut on the sale.
Amazon also handles the returns for those third party vendors as well.
 
I agree.

A person should support local businesses, BUT, when I have a choice between making a couple of clicks on a computer or spending all day running around town and then maybe not finding what I want, it's pretty much a no brainer.
 
I spilled some gas onto myself and four wheeler Friday evening about 5. I got mad at my save the planet modern gas can (you guys know what I'm talking about) and ordered a pair of eagle safety cans with funnel for 63$. They were delivered to my doorstep this morning about 10am. Think about that price and delivery, how can I go wrong they were on the way to my place before the gas evaporated from my pants. I know the shipping said free because of my prime membership it's no secret that someone is paying.
 
I wonder how you will feel when all the locals are closed and you cant wait for Amazon. Or how walmart will price when everyone else is closed. In our town the mart was cheap til all the other stores closed, then nearly doubled their prices. When a new store opened the mart's prices dropped again.
 
Funny had the same thing happen to me friday. 1996 JD lx188 drag link fell off while trying to get the lawn done before it rained. Found one 30 miles away at Cahall JD. Went and picked it up sat. Had my German shepherd in training for service dog with me. Herb gave me $10 off for $59 made me happy. Got it on and went to check mower out mowed about 100 ft and deck belt broke.
 
I just kind of see them as a clearing house or central ordering location for items. Most everything I ever order comes from a different vendor. If I had to search a hundred websites,I probably wouldn't bother,but when I search "buy" whatever,the first thing to pop up is Amazon with half a dozen vendors offering what I'm looking for and all at the one place where I have an account for easy and fast ordering.
 
I do pretty much of my buying online. Our major parts source is Oreilly auto and they refuse to pay decent wages to keep good help. I have found that by the time I go to town with part in hand spend no less than a half hour in the store to find out they have to order it and it will be there the next day. The next day I go pick it up and its the wrong part and we go through it again, I am down three hours of my time with no part. If I mail order it, its delivered with in two days and it is the correct part, plus no less than 30% cheaper. I am sorry but it is a no brainer for me.
 
(quoted from post at 13:46:10 05/20/18) I wonder how you will feel when all the locals are closed and you cant wait for Amazon. Or how walmart will price when everyone else is closed. In our town the mart was cheap til all the other stores closed, then nearly doubled their prices. When a new store opened the mart's prices dropped again.
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People said the same thing about Sears and Roebuck 100 years ago.
And Mom and Pop stores are still here yet maybe a little less greedy.
 
Jackson65: Is the Cahall JD your talking about in Georgetown or Amelia Ohio??? If so they will be changing June 1st. JD equipment bought the two Ohio stores and Limestone bought the Flemingsburg store. Just more of the concentration JD seems to want.
 
Amazon is increasingly stocking stuff like this
themselves (hint: if you click the ?Prime? box in the
search what comes up will be shipping from
Amazon). A couple of weeks ago I got one of those
shear-off mower blade adapters overnight from an
Amazon warehouse for half what the local boys
would have charged had it been in stock there
(which as usual it wasn?t).
 
I just had a deck drive belt go bad on my 2002 Troy Bilt 46" lawn tractor with manual engagement for the deck. Local L & G dealer (that I mostly try to do business with) wanted $40+ 6% sales tax. E bay, got an oem belt (kevlar) for $20 freight paid. The local guy was not an oem belt. Makes it hard to buy local with that kind of difference, plus it got here 2 days before they estimated it would.
 
(quoted from post at 10:46:10 05/20/18) I wonder how you will feel when all the locals are closed and you cant wait for Amazon. Or how walmart will price when everyone else is closed. In our town the mart was cheap til all the other stores closed, then nearly doubled their prices. When a new store opened the mart's prices dropped again.
Click to expand...

It's already very rare that you can get a part quicker locally.

We have a hardware store (what's that, you say?) who has decent prices and excellent on electrical supplies so I use them all I can. But otherwise it's usually a waste of time to go looking for a part.

But I seldom buy from Amazon. I've never bought in to the Prime Profit Center they have and generally get a better price with shipping included (no, it's not free) from eBay. Often the same vendors as well but a greater selection.

I'm very surprised to find WalMart raised their prices for a perceived lack of competition. Sounds like WalMart bashing and fear of the big corporation.
 
Teakettle, do you still have the Amazon link for those cans? Would appreciate if you could post that for me. I'm not finding it. ...Maybe it's gone already.

As for whether we buy local or online, let me say this:
We've lived here for 15 years and are nearly an hour drive from the smallest little blip of a town. The nearest Walmart is 75 miles away, and the nearest city is 2 hours away.

Our local grocery store has gotten more uptown and carrying things we've never seen, but there has NEVER been much of a selection at the other stores. We used to be forced to make the 1.5 hour trip to Walmart, but it's a smaller Walmart and often doesn't have what we're looking for -- which means that long drive shot to heck. Can't even remember the last time we went to Grand Forks (2 hours away) just to go shopping. It's been years!

So Amazon has been a great asset to us....has us spending much more than we ever did before, yet paying much less for things we used to get locally but are no longer stocked.

I'm all for the small Mom-n-Pop stores, but for us, they're too far away and don't have what we need. ...Waiting on Amazon? That's normally quicker than us making it to town, assuming we call ahead to make sure they have what we need.

We've got nothing bad to say about Amazon.
 
Serendipity just loves to give you a good kick in the soft spot don't it? Got a good chuckle. Buy a kevlar belt. WELL worth it !
 
Walmart does not have national pricing. They call it regional pricing. Meaning if they can they will charge more. Nothing new, sellers have been doing that since the beginning of time.

My wife shops at Walmart. I rarely do. I hauled into Walmart distribution centers when I drove a refrigerated truck. The worst place in the world to deal with. Different rules for different centers. In general treated all truck drivers like dirt and blamed any mistakes on someone else. So when I think of Walmart I remember that and do not do business with them.

Locally here Fairway and other groceries have as good or better prices for higher quality food. The Dollar General stores beat or match Walmart on expendable products like paper towels and toilet paper. So really do not need Walmart around here.
 
teakettle,Been using Amazon for quite a while and always get surprised at price differentals(sp),between amazon and local,big box stores.Sometimes freight charges causes me to hold up on amazon purchases but in the end,delivery dates and freight charges determine where I spend the money.
You made a great post subject. Regards Lou & Victor
 
I'm with KCM, there isn't much here locally anyway. 55 miles into Fargo which for some stuff is fine. Buying more and more grocery store items from Menards, that is usually where I am headed anyway.

The biggest thing that gets me about shopping in Fargo is the city sales tax. 5% for the state 2.5% for the city/county. Must be nice to shift some of your community tax burden to non residents...

These days we buy more online than anything else. On a first name basis with the UPS guy. Just a couple recent examples - needed a bearing Thursday morning, $3.99 next day shipping on Amazon. A couple weeks ago, I needed a truck part, not a rush item, local Volvo dealer (thats pretty competitve on most parts) - $750.00 plus aformentioned 7.5% tax. Same part in an aftermarket version, $450.00 including shipping from various online sources.
 
UPDATE: Although Amazon said the drag link would come tomorrow, they actually delivered it today, roughly five hours (!) after I placed the order. If I had been in a hurry to finish mowing I could have popped the part in and wrapped up before nightfall.
 
But that catalog served another vital purpose for years out in the country long after the ordering was done. Try that with a computer.:) TDF
 
It's really Amazon's distribution system and inventory system that is eating everyone's lunch, they are really good at keeping costs down.

I'm seeing parts suppliers selling through Amazon. It pays to check the sellers own website, often the price is the same or less on the seller's website.
 
And often times the seller's own website is more. Just ordered something last night that was about 35% less on Amazon than on the seller's personal site.
 
I'm no fanboy for Amazon, but jeez - they sure know how to retail. My wife broke the lower lateral suspension arm on her Mini Cooper. Mini/BMW wanted $196, and it was 103 miles away, no delivery, no shipping, bring(flat tow) car in to them for another $327 they will mount it. Napa had one 813 miles away, it was $97 plus $31 for shipping, 3 days. Autozone, Oreilly didn't have it, and would be special order.

Amazon has it in stock, in a whse and can get it to me on Sunday. Price $36.55 AC/Delco brand. I paid the extra $12 for delivery on Sunday. Car is back on the road, wife is happy, and Amazon is just a bit richer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K8DBM8W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can't argue with success, much as I dislike their corp culture.
 
we've bought a few things on amazoon.

i only buy from them directly or if it is "fullfilled by amazoon". have had bad luck with the other vendors not delivering. ordered a textbook for my daughter and vendor didn't delvier and waited too long (classes started). call amazoon cust service and they couldn't get a hold of the vendor either and ended up canceling the order for us.

got a better deal on eebay from a private seller.

i use rock auto to find part numbers and then search gooogle or eebay and amazoon, or summit racing for prices and go with the one of them that is the best deal. usually eebay beats the others.

sometimes i get a 20% online discount from advance auto and that usually gets them close in price if they have it in the store. . if they need to ship i'll order from one of the others.
 
I'm a long time fan of rockauto.com. They have the exact same part, for less money, but when add shipping and tax collection it came out to within pennies of the price for free shipping from Amazon. They didn't deliver until Monday, and while that was not a deal breaker, I just found that the Amazon order was fast, and easy.
 
(quoted from post at 12:20:28 05/21/18) I'm a long time fan of rockauto.com. They have the exact same part, for less money, but when add shipping and tax collection it came out to within pennies of the price for free shipping from Amazon. They didn't deliver until Monday, and while that was not a deal breaker, I just found that the Amazon order was fast, and easy.
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I am finding that also with RA.
But I do like RA when they let you know via email the stuff that is being clearanced out for dimes on the dollar for my vehicles.
 
I cannot understand why people bash Walmart. They employ your friends, neighbors, and family. Walmart puts food on hundreds of thousands of tables and supporting them is a patriotic thing to do. People will bash Walmart then go to Menards or Home Depot or Lowes and feel OK aobut it. Nonsensical.
 
My son thought he wanted to work for them. He lasted a week....being 50 he's not all that fast.

He said his pass-fail criteria on his evaluation period was 20 seconds to get a part (didn't say what start and finish metrics were on that time), specified the break and lunch and length of shift.....for the wage they advertise. What the consumer gets, myself included is at the expense of the employee, besides the superb overall management and design of their system. Butttt they have benefits and all and nobody has a ball and chain around their neck forcing them to join up with them.

I was looking for some after market parts for one of my mowers this AM. Googled the part descriptions and Amazon popped up in the first several listings. They may have a deal with Google for first shot in the listing. Who knows. Seems reasonable.
 
People bash Wal-Mart because they are predators. First, they drive the small businesses into closing, then they raise prices and take over an area. While they do employ our friends and neighbors, they are also have issues with fair labor practices. Add to that nearly everything in their store is foreign made, and there is your case for bashing Wal-Mart.

I have always found Sears Parts to be more expensive than their competitors. then there is that ever irritating shipping charge. No other vendors charge me separately for shipping on parts that I order, so why should Sears? I never liked that about them. On many occasions, I tried to buy things from them. In some cases, parts were not in stock. Order amounted to paying more for the part, add shipping, so I went elsewhere. On other occasions, part was in stock, clerk brings it out, and starts to add in shipping. Sorry, but if you have it on the shelf, I will NOT pay shipping.

So, Amazon, eBay, Rock Auto, etc. will be dominating the market.
 
(quoted from post at 22:20:05 05/21/18) People bash Wal-Mart because they are predators. First, they drive the small businesses into closing, then they raise prices and take over an area. While they do employ our friends and neighbors, they are also have issues with fair labor practices. Add to that nearly everything in their store is foreign made, and there is your case for bashing Wal-Mart.
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And the larger Mom and Pops did the same thing to the smaller Mom and Pops. Sears and Montgomery Wards did the same thing to a lot of other companies. Bashing Walmart for being capitalists and using a successful business model is nuts. Every other business does the same thing to one degree or another.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Walmart started out the same way.....one store at a time. Was Walton's 5 & 10 for 12 years, then opened the first Walmart in 1962.
 
(quoted from post at 10:16:54 05/20/18) Just came in from mowing with my 25-year-old Craftsman garden tractor, during which the drag link came apart (used baling wire to hold it together long enough to get it back to the barn). Amazon has the part for $20 less than Sears -- it's an OEM Husqvarna part, not a knockoff -- and it'll be here tomorrow with free shipping; Sears charges extra for shipping and has an estimated delivery date 5 days from now.

I don't feel good about ordering every darn thing from Amazon but sometimes it's just too painful and expensive to do otherwise.
Click to expand...

I buy a lot of stuff from amazon..furniture, machinery parts..just bough a battery powered nebulizer...works great. Though I'm skeptical of how long this good thing will last.
 
Amazon is so easy, even too easy like was mentioned. eBay is the same way. A month ago I ordered an outdoor three button garage door switch on eBay. Ya, it came straight from China and took here weeks but ordering it was so convenient. The other evening I decided I wanted another one so I went back to eBay, looked up my purchase history, found the switch and clicked on it. The transaction took all of five minutes while supper was heating in the micro. If I would have ordered this switch on Amazon I could have followed the same simple procedure.
 
(quoted from post at 21:20:05 05/21/18) People bash Wal-Mart because they are predators. First, they drive the small businesses into closing, then they raise prices and take over an area. While they do employ our friends and neighbors, they are also have issues with fair labor practices. Add to that nearly everything in their store is foreign made, and there is your case for bashing Wal-Mart.
...
So, Amazon, eBay, Rock Auto, etc. will be dominating the market.
Click to expand...

Agree about Amazon, eBay, Rock, etc. for internet orders. But for walk-in sales I will bet on Walmart. My daughter worked for them for many years and had a good job, fair wage, decent insurance, job security, and sure didn't have to work too darned hard. She loved the place and the interaction with the public.

As far as predatory, that is just the way it is supposed to work. If a company leaves potential business on the table in order to try to be "fair" to competition then shame on them. That is unAmerican.

We can agree to disagree - I really enjoy your posts!
 
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