There are two buttons, and the huge bright one is "Yes" or something (constantly changing), referring to whatever crap (Prime, credit card, rush shipping) thet are pushing in the big interstitial ads you are ignoring.
Amazon isn't worth the bother anymore. You can almost anything worthwhile somewhere else better.
Amazon was founded and run by proud Objectivists, so the ethics they have might not match yours.
Most big-box stores have horrible stock and their online systems are pretty lackluster, including shipping times.
I don't use Amazon to find what I want to buy - I know what I want to buy (for the most part) before I even begin to look at Amazon. Too many crap brands to rely on Amazon's search features.
But it's also a really great deal 14.99/month for free faster shipping, books, movies, music, etc...
I don’t use Prime’s content features and the handful of Amazon orders I make a year usually get free shipping anyway.
I’ve definitely accidentally signed up for Prime and the confusing screen is always a reminder that I should try buying my [whatever] elsewhere. Sometimes it works and I find an alternative, sometimes I find the opt out button and finish my purchase. But their scummy tactics have probably pushed a few $k in annual purchases off Amazon for me.
Always thought it would be quite nifty if you could make a site like this for third-party services. I might see my 2 audible credits on there, and decide I've got enough, or need more. Or maybe apple could offer a free month - so I might pause my netflix. Could even combine stuff (free $10 Dominos credit added for each month of Netflix after month 12 etc).
Whole current system of every service having their own UI, is just a pain. Worked out paying for stuff works better then you can just stick it all on the same card - so why not manage it all from one place as well?
1) Things go out of stock too much if it's a little more specific. 2) Prices are very sporadic and unstable. A subscription should be relatively predictable - with the exception of the obvious price inflation over time, but I'm talking month-to-month.
When you subscribe to something it doesn't "lock in the price" - prices go up and down month-to-month.
On the amazon side, there seems to be a bit of flex built in, when they'll still tell you the item is in stock, and tell you the price before the re-buy kicks in.
A lot of the items I "get told are unavailable, would I like to go with the alternative?" are still available, just for a higher price.
i.e. I think a lot of the "annoyance" is actually amazon bulk negotiating on your behalf. If say P&G decide to raise their price on their detergent, amazon has the power to decide whether 90% of their customers swallow the increase, or they all find an alternate brand. My guess is that amazon decides not to provide P&G detergent to a few hundred thousand subscribers in a month, that helps 'focus' the P&G rep in getting the price back down the next month.
I'm genuinely confused by your take here.
That being said it's been a while since I did the signup flow, maybe it's gotten way worse, do you have an example?
With prime I have to manually select the shipping speed to get it the fastest.
Without prime, it defaults to faster shipping that you pay for. You have to manually select slower shipping to get the advertised "free super-saver shipping"
Agreed. Similarly, if DoorDash could stop automatically setting a high tip on all my orders, that'd be great, thanks. I always give a tip, but it's rarely as high as the app auto-suggests, unless I have a tiny order.
I've done the math before and it's ridiculous that a tipped employee, due to a lower minimum wage, can literally be starving in poverty while employed, with no regulations preventing that. Our country needs to fix its regulations in this area, but until it does, employers should be offsetting the problem, not customers. Or, hell, if they really can't bring themselves to pay their employees fairly, they should at least offset the tip amount by lowering the service fees. The other day, I ordered two subs. Two sandwiches, nothing more, not even any sides or drinks. It was $40 with a $3 tip. Literally more than double the price of the food.
What I'm saying is, I tip because I understand there's a problem, but I don't overtip because I also understand it's the employers' responsibility (if the government won't handle it) to deal with the problem on behalf of their employees, not the customers'.
Show me the real amount up front. Charge me the real amount. Pay them the real amount. Deal done.
It's really not that hard. I don't mind them getting paid what they need to get paid, but it should already be baked in.
I have no idea about what is expected for a tip every time I travel to the US. Don't get me started on "mandatory tips"
It's awful. A good rule of thumb for waiters/waitresses is 15% minimum tip unless they're awful, 18% if they're good, 20% if they're amazing. The idea being that larger bills usually mean more food and/or more work for them. But for delivery drivers, in my opinion, it's the same amount of work whether I order $10 or $40 in food, especially if that amount is artificially inflated by app service fees, so I give all my app delivery drivers the same tip.
I don't know why, or when I signed up for it.
This is the second time it's happened, so I gave up and kept it. I do order from Amazon enough that it matters, I guess. It's scummy as hell, but effective. I'd much prefer a model like the one mentioned in this article.