Anyone else find shopping on Amazon infinitely easier and more efficient?

You're hoping Amazon doesn't kill our economy and retail? It already has. One of the things it did was partner with or open markets to Third World counterfeiters/pirates in Asia. So, not only are homegrown businesses getting pirated left and right on the platform, retail is forced to compete with thousands of more competitors from overseas, who, via IP theft, are pumping out exact duplicates of the products they're making.

Amazon has also completely redefined the rules of business to where you can literally lose billions a dollar a year in profit and still remain in business, while businesses playing by the rules go under. Amazon the store has to this day NEVER turned a profit. Ever. The store is kept afloat by Amazon's cloud computing service. So, the store is a shell company being propped up by another venture. Imagine if, say, I started a hamburger company called "Atomic Burgers" to compete with McDonald's and then undercut prices to such an extent that I lose $5B a year. BUT at the same time I buy a whole bunch of highly profitable food apps that earn $100B a year. I then take $5B of profit from my food apps to cover the losses for Atomic Burgers but then take an extra $5B to further undercut McDonald's by 20%. That is how Amazon does business.

Also, retail has shed tens of thousands of jobs since Amazon's inception. This is a disaster. I used to work in retail and for all its flaws, the one saving grace is that it was the only sector where anyone could find work, regardless of background or education. Every holiday season major stores would mass hire people for a few weeks, so everyone from college students fresh out of school and high school dropouts to stay at home moms to retirees could walk into a store without much work experience or education and be able to get some income and/or build their resumes.

If this job sector is destroyed, the economy is completely fucked because retail was the last hope for either people starting out or needing supplementary income.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've used Amazon, and then it was only as a last resort. I'm not one bit impressed with them.

I could fill pages and pages with reasons why online shopping is a bad idea, based on first-hand experience and that of family members.

My number one reason: I want the merchandise in my hands before I fork over any cash.

I buy nearly everything online.

But I can usually find a better deal than on Amazon.

Yes, many do. That is why malls and retail chains are struggling these days.

Yes, I'm a Prime member and rarely buy anything elsewhere.

i personally don't really buy anything (i'm basically an anti-materialist zero-impact type, though not a hippie in the least), so i don't spend any time shopping on amazon or any other retailer.

but i absolutely think the rise of internet retailers has in the main been a great gift to consumers, in pricing & competitiveness & convenience. it's carried some costs - any innovation will, but i think when you look at the results in aggregate, it's been a benefit, even a blessing.

small example: one of the podcasters i follow was relaying a story recently of being at home with an infant and a toddler who was quite ill while his wife was out of town. he realized at 2 in the morning that he was out of diapers - he briefly considered running to the store in the middle of the night with his baby & sick kid, but instead went online, placed an order with amazon, & the diapers were on his doorstep by 6am.

there are costs that come with these innovations, no question. but that option is the kind of thing that makes lives better than they used to be, & i'm all for it.

Very much so, My only complaint is that you can't buy tobacco on the U.K site. Would be handy if you could.

I like to look at and touch what Im buying. I only shop on-line when it's something I can't find at retail. I especially hate getting a gift that has been purchased on-line because I only have two options if I don't like, want, or need it and that is tell the person who gave it to me that I would like to return it, (awkward), or give it to Goodwill.