Posted on 08/16/2017 4:03:29 AM PDT by SMGFan
We spend thousands on Amazon - we live in podunkville northern Michigan where the most traffic I face in the mornings is a herd of wild turkey.
I defy anyone to suggest to me that I should not purchase from Amazon. The selection is unbeatable, the customer service is outstanding, and I have never had more than a few very minor issues with them in ten years. I shop there in high volume and get wonderful deals as well. After that, I can read reviews of sometimes hundreds of people what their experience was after purchasing the item - before I purchase it.
Kudos to Bezos for building a fantastic and customer oriented website. What he does elsewhere doesn't matter to me. Quality should be rewarded. And Amazon is the best, hands down.
FWIW, I will literally drive hours out if my way to shop somewhere other than Amazon. But bricks and mortar retailers are making it damn hard. Some of it is due to bloody government, but some of it is due to pi$$ poor decision making on the part of retailers. They are losing the willingness and/or ability to compete.
Michigan now pays the sales tax, too, but only on products shipped from Michigan. Now we have Amazon warehouses here so there we have it. Amazon’s prices are not always cheaper, it is the speed and convenience that have my business. Life saver for my elderly parents.
Anyone else wondering what going to happen once Sears, JCP, Macy’s etc. go under? If you follow the stock market all are in real major trouble. Millions will be out of work and it could happen quickly.
Not only that, but out in rural areas, for seniors, folks without a vehicle, unreliable/unsafe mass transpo, what Amazon provides is invaluable.
Bezo Billionaire tyrant supporter .
Trump tells the truth .
Bezo is a evil evil soul destroying everything .
Is he destroying your business next .
Think about the monster your defending
Not at all. Implicit in the reasoning that products sold on the Internet are free of state sales taxes is that they are sold in one state and shipped to another. Neither state -- the one where the order is packaged nor the one where the product is received -- has the legal jurisdiction to charge a sales tax.
This is all slowly disappearing anyway. States with sales taxes have laws that define what is a "domestic" transaction (subject to sales tax) and what is an "interstate" transaction (where a sales tax would be prohibited under Federal law), and the distinction usually involves the question about whether the retailer has a physical presence in the state. Amazon is opening distribution centers in so many states nowadays that their shipments are meeting the definition of a "domestic" transaction almost everywhere they operate.
When you start telling people where they have to shop you sound just like a liberal fascist to me.
His Twitter post was nothing more than a poke at Amazon because their owner and founder also owns the “fake news” Washington Post.
I don’t buy from Amazon much.
I buy more stuff off eBay.
It’s cheaper, no tax, often times free shipping, and doesn’t take two weeks to arrive.
destroying mom and pop stores is a invaluable service by a left wing billionaire
Aint he just grand .
One of my favorite used brick and mortar bookstores started posting their offerings on Amazon. At first it was just an occasional sale which became a small but steady source of income.
Many big retailers offer their goods on Amazon. For example, Costco has listings for their Kirkland line. Now I can subscribe to get my Colombian Supreme Coffee in 3lb cans delivered to my door.
They are finding that the Amazon charges are far lower than thre operating costs of physical stores. Small specialty stores can reach a far greater market thru Amazon than thru their own web sites. Another example, a web search for the best deal on 100Ah deep cycle battery lead me to a web site that appeared to beat the same stores price on Amazon. But the kicker was the Amazon offering included free shipping on the 65 lb behemoth battery with a net saving to me of $30 or so. Same item, same seller, just a different venue.
As to Amazon collecting sales taxes, they are in a very interesting niche. The battery was ordered thru Amazon, but shipped from the sellers location in Florida. Seller has no store in the uber liberal state in which I live, so no sales tax. To go after Amazon to collect sales taxes in such an instance, to me, would be like forcing Fedex or UPS to collect sales taxes on packages they ship.
In the mean time big box stores, which are merely middle men in the retail process have fallen far, far behind the new digital reality of the marketplace. The box stores mismanagement, narrow vision and surly sales personnel are reaping their just rewards.
I try to go outside Amazon as well and support other ecommerce sites. For example, I get shaving supplies from Harry’s (way cheaper than Gillette at Walmart), meal kits from Blue Apron and clothing from LL Bean.
I think there will always be a place for specialty “niche” retail shops, probably as part of an outdoor mall with restaurants, cafes, pubs, theaters, nightclubs,and other entertainment options. But I don’t see the big box stores surviving.
And don’t forget the minimum wage, Obamacare, all the various laws and regulations that make it impossible to hire and/or keep talented retail sales people. We’re all reaping what government has sown.
We buy our dogfood in bulk on Chewy.com and it arrives in a few days. Awesome folk, Awesome business.
Found something I needed on Amazon yesterday. There was contact information for the vendor selling the item.
Called the vendor and they matched the Amazon price ... free shipping as well.
I worked for a while for a bookstore chain that had their small stores and big box versions. I worked in a small store. Our sales per square foot numbers were routinely far better than our nearest big box. That should have been telling corporate something. Sigh.
I consistently find products that are less expensive than amazon and shipped free at the original sellers site.
I use Amazon as a wish book and find products in other locations on the web.
Bezos is evil.
I make an effort to shop at stores in the next town over in fact. That doesn't have to be part of denying us the right to find things like a book by Mark Steyn on Amazon - because I won't find it to purchase here.
One does not rule out the other. I am huge about purchasing "made in Michigan" items, especially produce.
Exactly
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