Amazon builds property empire, quietly buying land across the US

Re:Amazon builds property empire, quietly buying land across... by bko on Tuesday June 14, 2022 @04:02PM (#31745271)

> Also, their returns process is painless. I thought I’d support local workers and had been shopping at Hobby Lobby instead of using Amazon. For my trouble, when I tried to return an airbrush that didn’t suit my needs (I used it once) they treated me like a criminal, it was a whole production.

I had the same experience. I ordered a $70 worth of cleaning supplies directly from the manufacturer, thinking I'd support the brand and cut out the middle man. My package was stolen (box opened and left right there) so we contacted the seller and told them the situation and they said they can't do anything about it, even with a police report. Amazon would have refunded it immediately. Half the time when I return something they even let me keep the item and donate it rather than dealing with the return.

I want to support smaller online retailers but not so bad that I'm okay with getting ripped off with no recourse every once in a while.

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Re:Amazon builds property empire, quietly buying land across... by c22 on Tuesday June 14, 2022 @06:15PM (#31746711)

The fact that they can afford to take a loss on many returns while their smaller competitors cannot kind of implies you're getting ripped off in some other way, doesn't it?

Where does the money to pay for your stolen cleaning supplies come from? Why would you even think to contact the manufacturer about this? Why not the shipping company? Or your building's management? I've fumbled a soda and broken it on the ground right after checking out and the grocer replaced it for free, but I recognized this as a generous act of kindness and not an expected baseline of customer service. I've also lost a soda in the parking lot and I can't even imagine feeling entitled enough to go back into the store to complain about it.

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Re:Amazon builds property empire, quietly buying land across... by kalleboo on Wednesday June 15, 2022 @06:00AM (#31750970)

> Why not the shipping company?

Typically, the recipient can't make a claim with a shipping company as they're not the customer, only the shipper (seller) can

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Re:Amazon builds property empire, quietly buying land across... by c22 on Wednesday June 15, 2022 @06:34AM (#31751121)

This may be true, but as an argument it kind of misses the forest, don't you think?

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