Technology

Some of us have been living without an Amazon account since 2007 and we're still alive. Go figure.

Buying anything on Amazon hardly seems viable anymore. There's so much counterfeit crap there, and a million low-effort rebrandings of the same stuff you can get on AliExpress for cheaper.

Shop local when you can, and at least shop not-Amazon for the rest.

You're kidding right? Are there actually people thinking they just can't live without Amazon Prime? Seriously? Fuck even if you HAVE to order something off of Amazon, which you absolutely don't HAVE to do, you don't fuckin need prime just for... what... slightly faster shipping?

I cancelled Prime late last year, and haven't really missed it, either.

Leaving Prime also meant the end of free Amazon Prime Video (you can still rent or buy many movies without it), but I’ve been able to bear it.

While I had Prime, I think there was 1, maybe 2 instances where I wanted to watch something and it was actually included with Prime. Every other time, Amazon Video had the movie, but they wanted an additional fee to watch it, so this was absolutely no loss.

One thing to note: Every time I check out on Amazon, now, they offer me a reduced price 1-week "trial" of Prime, to get the expedited shipping, for like... $5 or so? If you cancel yours, and also see this offer: You can take the offer, submit your order (and get the free 2 day shipping), then once you get the shipping confirmation, go in and cancel the Prime subscription. Since you've had it for only a few hours, Amazon actually refunds the price you paid. In effect, you get the shipping benefits for free. We'll see if they close this loophole, but for now, it works.

I canceled my prime subscription when it was announced they would be putting ads on prime video. I don't even use prime video but I cancelled out of principle.

I thought this meant the writer is forgoing Amazon as a service completely.

Cause that would be something worth reading. Not these first world problems ffs

Prime used to mean something. Guaranteed 2 day shipping with no minimum for no extra charge. $5 for next day shipping. Then next day disappeared. Then the 2 day guarantee disappeared. Then delivery times were in the 3-5 day range for most things. Then, in my university town, around the time of students returning to school for terms it would be 1-2 weeks. I’m not paying an ever increasing annual fee for that.

The crap people write nowadays.

It's surprisingly easy to live without any subscription. I don't have any. If you're tech savvy you can either block most ads that subscriptions give you, or bypass the service entirely and get free premium or just dl videos/music etc.

And as the services get worse there's little incentive to actually keep a subscription. Netflix is becoming pretty dogshit for example.

I'll go further, I stopped using Amazon entirely and I don't miss it.

The junky shopping experience is especially clear once you leave and come back.

I only ever order books from amazon anymore, and usually only when I get a gift card or a product isn't for sale elsewhere.

The prices aren't even that good anymore.

I dropped Scamazon Slime a long time ago when I figured out they were not meeting their 2 day shipping promise. I really have never missed it.

I've been living without it my whole life so I guess it's possible

Lmao it's surprisingly easy to live without AMAZON.

Dude... We're trying to live without Amazon and this guy is just giving up prime??? What a martyr...

This may be true at the moment, but Amazon can control how shitty the non-prime experience is.

Personally, I'm trying to avoid Amazon altogether. It's much worse now, and flooded with cheap defective shit. I've also been noticing that a lot of manufacturers don't sell on Amazon (guessing Amazon takes a big cut).

I can't imagine being such a simpleton that this is a revalation worthy of a write up

I've never had prime. Whenever I look at Amazon now it's basically a local AliExpress with loads of cheaply made Chinese stuff. Amazon is not cheap anymore either. eBay is always cheaper.

Someone shared THIS LINK a couple of weeks ago and it hit me hard. Keep swiping.
I haven't bought anything off of Amazon for a decade, I get most stuff used, refurbished or not at all.

I can't live with Amazon, so I NEVER use them out of principle.

Christ, we cancelled it a month ago and I feel so fucking stupid. Stupid that we had it for so long for... what? I don't need anything so quickly that a couple of days delivery makes a difference. Food, water, heat, somewhere to sleep are things I need on a strict schedule. Knock off earbuds and some silicone molds for frozen shot glasses can absolutely wait. AND IT'S STILL FREE SHIPPING, you just add to cart and buy once you hit $35.

Wow, never thought I'd see a headline like this. I've never had Amazon prime except for the free month trial. I had no idea it was such a problem for others that there are articles written about it.

Prime is a waste of money.

Every time I've ordered something from Amazon, they always push Prime for fastest shipping. Then when you turn that down, they give you an option to pay a little more this one time to get your order shipped faster. I always pick the cheapest shipping option. The order generally comes just as fast as the fastest shipping, without paying the extra money.

They are going to ship according to whatever is easiest and cheapest for themselves if you pick the cheap shipping option. By now in most large population centers, Amazon warehouses are already stocked. Until they start cutting shipping costs, it will almost always arrive well before their estimates. So just save yourself the money and ditch Prime.

I wait for "try prime for 30 days" offers. I'll sign up for it, instantly cancel it to prevent recurring bills, and then order whatever it was I was thinking of over the last six months. Because once upon a time I'd be on Amazon all the time, browsing this and that, but it has become such a cesspool that I infrequently bother. If I wanted to wade through a sea of Chinese OEM crap and counterfeit products, then I might as well use Aliexpress and be done with it.

I been anti-amazon for about 5 years now.

Nothing lost or needed. If I need something I go to local store to find it.

My only issue with Amazon is tools that uses their cloud services and Twitch. But since last December I decided to switch to YouTube with ad blocker.

Planning on de-google and de-microsoft within the next two years.

It’s a joke unless you need something overnighted or next day and as a bonus - it will usually be improperly packaged and delivered with malice.

Prime Video catalogue is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Exclusives have dwindled. Now they want 3 bucks for no ads on top of paying for Prime? Naw.

Counterfeits are everywhere. That’s what Aliexpress is for (half joking). Frequently have to check the manufacturer’s site when pricing or picture seems dubious.

One delivery driver commandeers our neighbors’ empty driveway, swings the back doors open and blasts shitty pop music at full volume while fumbling through deliveries for 30 minutes every other day.

Buying direct is now often the same price more or less and you can get in a week anyway for negligible shipping price. Or even free shipping if you spend x amount.

So we cancelled too.

Yup. I stopped using Amazon for anything but maybe searching the closest thing to a unified search engine for goods, and when I find good information or a product I need, I will find somewhere else to buy it.

Turn Amazon into a search engine. Buy somewhere else.

We just dropped Prime a month or so ago and I can't see ever getting it again.

I wanted to cancel Prime for a long time due to all the creeping enshittification. The last straw were ads on the Fire TV boot screen (I switched to Shield TV Pro) and the notice that ads were coming on Prime Video. I immediately canceled after that mail. 90 EUR less from me. Next incentive: order less.

I just order from aliexpress. 10 day shipping (to canada) is worth the ~30% discount and the mask-off, low-cost chinese product offering. I'm sick of getting ripped off by useless garbage with 5 stars from amazon.

And Jeff, I am coming for you.

It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription

Water is wet

With ads being put on the videos now it's definitely not worth it.

This is news to whom? Many "Prime" items don't even get to you in 24 hours as they used to claim.