"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
04/01/2019 at 15:19 • Filed to: Amazon
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"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
04/01/2019 at 15:19 • Filed to: Amazon | 2
| 15 |
Man I knew you guys would be super excited to see this new update on how well I am doing reducing the amount of stuff I’ve been ordering on amazon! Well here it is!
My goal was for 2019 reduce the amount of stuff I buy from Amazon by 15%. This isn’t to save money, though I hope that is a secondary effect, but because I’ve increasingly been dissatisfied with Amazon’s politics and customer service.
January went super well, with a 52% reduction in orders. February also went surprisingly well, coming in at 47% reduction.
March
In March of 2018 I purchased a total of 46 items on Amazon.
In March of 2019 I purchased a total of 25 items. That is a 45.6% reduction in number of purchases and a 41.1% reduction in overall spend.
Not bad, but does show a worrying upward trend. Given that I, unrelated, ordered five things today, with more to come as we have an offroading trip coming up, I’m a little worried.
Still. Penny saved, etc.
So why is this on Oppo?
CAR STUFF! what kinds of car stuff did I buy on Amazon and where were my alternative sources?
On Amazon
Lots of stuff here. Air cleaner conversion for the Civic, fuel hose, and a lot of plastidip related stuff.
I also bought another external TPMS system because I liked the existing one so much. Also a lot of bolt on offroading stuff, a lot of which is going back.
Fun times
Not on Amazon
RockAuto and O’Reily Auto sold me some stuff for the Civic. Also threw a big chunk of cash at Classic Alfa for for bits for the Alfa.
Funny enough I spent a fair chunk of change on Walmart over Amazon. Walmart’s oil prices were a little cheaper, they had the filter I wanted, and they offer free 2-day shipping with Saturday delivery. 10 quarts of oil and a filter delivered to my door for $67 ... not bad!
Then again you know a company is getting pretty evil when Walmart seems like the better option...
On to next month!
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
benjrblant
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 15:28 |
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I’d be interested to see if your total online purchase quantity/spend remains the same and just shifts laterally to another online vendor, or if this is a total net reduction in all online purchases.
no need to divulge this info, just a thought.
Ash78, voting early and often
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 15:29 |
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Amazon: “ 20k square foot Auto Shop, turnkey ready! $2,499 Free Delivery, Setup & Returns”
Akio: EXPLODES
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Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> benjrblant
04/01/2019 at 15:30 |
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I am also interested in knowing this, but not interested enough to run the numbers. I think it is a net reduction as I just find myself buying less stuff in general. I
need
to buy less stuff haha.
Future next gen S2000 owner
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 15:31 |
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Amazing what the gym and a few bazillion dollars will do for your self-confidence and posture.
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 15:34 |
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I’ve drastically cut back my Amazon ordering for several reasons. First, I’m broke. I mean, not actually broke, but with a house I have less disposable income than I used to. And most of that income gets disposed of on more stuff for the house... which typically comes from Home Depot. Which is about 4 miles away from me. Why wait for 2 day Prime when I can just go get it in 10 minutes?
Also, I’m kind of tired of Amazon being flooded with cheap chinese knockoff crap. I wanted to get my wife an Instant Pot for her birthday, so I looked on Amazon, and the first thing that comes up is a Mueller (apparently no relation to the special counsel). It’s was touted as the “ original german engineered pressure cooker” that does even more stuff than an Instant Pot, or whatever . I know pressure cookers have existed long before Instant Pot fad , so it seems reasonable assume some better company has been making them longer and that Instant Pot is just the new kid with better marketing. But I do some research and learn that Mueller is a chinese knock off being hustled on Amazon and most of the reviews are fake.
CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 15:34 |
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My amazon spending fluctuates wildly
Arrivederci
> Ash78, voting early and often
04/01/2019 at 15:41 |
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Pfft - it’ll count as one order, so he’ll be stoked! Though the spend % may increase a tad.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 15:50 |
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Wait - h as OPPO become an Amazon addicts support group?
Eric @ opposite-lock.com
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
04/01/2019 at 15:58 |
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Amazon’s problems are myriad. I have been working for an e-commerce rep firm that focuses on manufacturers for almost two years now and it constantly boggles my mind how much crap we suffer due to the way Amazon operates . They make Walmart look downright nice to work with. The only company that approaches Amazon levels of evil is Target (but they approach it in a totally different way). You’re constantly fighting battles with counterfeits, third party sellers with questionable sourcing (mostly Chinese knock offs, some from companies that are using strong B&M rep contracts to undercut the manufacturer’s pricing), bogus reviews, product page hijacking, and don’t even get me started on the advertising games (they are probably making more than Google at this point because it’s designed to be pure evil and suck up all of a manufacturer’s profits - how often do you have a company that you sell to that you also are forced to pay to advertise your products?).
Their destructiveness to existing systems is so complete that it’ll likely result in little-to-no competition in any market, with the remaining players only those that had top positioning early and found ways to remain relevant while turning a razor-thin profit (which will explode higher the moment their competition has been vanquished; see the video card market for an early example ).
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Eric @ opposite-lock.com
04/01/2019 at 16:07 |
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Thanks for that insight. I read a great article, somewhere, about how screwed up Amazon is, especially for sellers. People hijack seller store names, then squeeze the legitimate seller out, stuff like that.
What’s really crazy to me is that now there’s a whole industry of “ Amazon arbitrators” because Amazon’s customer service for businesses/sellers is awful. Now when you get squeezed out by a chinese knockoff vendor, you hire one of them to get things resolved because it’s almost impossible to do yourself.
Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 16:15 |
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I forget the exact number but it was something over $2k I spent last year on Amazon. Definitely trying to reduce that as well, but mainly just for saving more money. Because saving money equals more track days.
415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/01/2019 at 16:21 |
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Yeah it is tricky, my wife has prime for work stuff too so I usually add stuff to whatever she is getting. I have had excellent service, they resolved a couple things instantly and there is a Loop/Shell gas station on my way to the highway with the lockers for returns. I am not happy with their employee issues etc... I am giving to some animal charities through Amazon Smile and have given them a few hundred dollars off of those sales through Amazon if that is all legit. Yeah it’s an issue for sure, my problem with them has stayed the same but they have upped their game giving me things the next day in the Bay Area, so fast with those grey Amazon Sprinter vans everywhere. Can I pull the needle from my arm.....
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Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> Eric @ opposite-lock.com
04/01/2019 at 16:44 |
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I'd like to respond more to this, but Kinja. I have also heard some horror stories.
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Eric @ opposite-lock.com
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
04/01/2019 at 17:17 |
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There are other games, too. Like the way that Amazon sells their own products in any high-turnover market segment, so the companies are burning advertising money on their branded stuff and in many cases one of the top-5 or so in one of these markets will get approached by Amazon to sell in bulk branded as AmazonBasics. It’s ridiculous.
What’s really strange being this close to the mothership is that you have a sort of cottage industry around people that have inside contacts doing value-add products/services like the one you mention. It’s effectively impossible to work with Amazon directly now that they have taken all the internal reps that communicate with vendors away unless you’re a leader in a high-value category . We used to like working with them...
pip bip - choose Corrour
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
04/02/2019 at 03:18 |
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amount of stuff i’ve ordered from amazon in the last 12 months is zero