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Why I love (Hate!) Amazon

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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Living in the country next to a town that doesn't have a lot of amenities we end up using Amazon more than I would like. I would rather not give Bezos a penny for his yachts.

That said, sometimes you just have to. We have a salt water pool which has been a PITA all summer. One of the piggest problems is that the readings on the salt generator have not matched the salt in the pool when tested (reads much lower). All of this was traced on Thursday to a bad flow switch - this is a switch that closes when the water is flowing - telling the generator to produce chlorine from the salt and when the water isn't flowing (ie. the pump is stopped) it stops so that it doesn't accidently produce chlorine gas.

Friday I went to my local pool store to get a new switch. "and how much are they I asks?" '$250.00' is the reply.

Ordered the same switch on Amazon for $25. I have no words.

The pool store is not in the business of price gouging but, how on earth something can literally be 1/10th the price boggles my mind.

rant over, my wallet is happy and the pool is working properly again.
 
Car parts bought cheap on Amazon frequently turn out wrong in some way or another. This might apply to 'too-cheap' pool parts. You will find out one way or the other.
Bob
 
The popular excuse of "We're raising our prices because of inflation!" comes to mind.
 
I have had mixed results with Amazon myself. I'll usually try to see if I can find something elsewhere and use Amazon as a last resort.
 
I must say it fit perfectly - the old one lasted 3 years - if this does the same I can go for 30 years before I am at the proce of the pool store. I also use it as a last resort and have had fitment issues - notably a carb for my ride on mower that was supposed to fit and was exactly backwards vis a vis linkage.
 
It's all a numbers game. Amazon is the ultimate retailer, they can buy whole warehouses full of goods from the manufacturers and sit on them until they sell, acting as their own wholesaler. Letting them make very slim profits per unit. Your average local store buys a couple of dozen units from a wholesaler and needs to turn a profit on each one.
 
We used to see this (on a somewhat smaller scale) when I lived in Virginia decades ago. A relative worked for a small-chain hardware store (5 or 6 stores total). The wholesalers would not supply the small chain with the same pricing as the massive nationals. It was cheaper for the small chain to go and buy power tools at full retail from Lowes or Home Depot than it was to order them at "wholesale" from the distributor. Which of course meant they had to charge significantly more for the exact same product. Amazon is bigger even still than any national chain store, so they are allowed to stock product for even less. I feel like it is indicitave of an inherent unfairness in the wholesale supply chain.
 
JPSmit said:
Living in the country next to a town that doesn't have a lot of amenities we end up using Amazon more than I would like. I would rather not give Bezos a penny for his yachts.

That said, sometimes you just have to. We have a salt water pool which has been a PITA all summer. One of the piggest problems is that the readings on the salt generator have not matched the salt in the pool when tested (reads much lower). All of this was traced on Thursday to a bad flow switch - this is a switch that closes when the water is flowing - telling the generator to produce chlorine from the salt and when the water isn't flowing (ie. the pump is stopped) it stops so that it doesn't accidently produce chlorine gas.

Friday I went to my local pool store to get a new switch. "and how much are they I asks?" '$250.00' is the reply.

Ordered the same switch on Amazon for $25. I have no words.

The pool store is not in the business of price gouging but, how on earth something can literally be 1/10th the price boggles my mind.

rant over, my wallet is happy and the pool is working properly again.
Click to expand...
The rectifier burned out on my John Deere lawn tractor about 3 years ago. I head to the JD dealership only to find I could get on for only $109. What?
I check Amazon and there was a photo of the exact burned out one I was holding in my hand. $29 and I had it in a couple of days. It continues to do its job.
 
Today was installing a curtain rod that Mrs JP ordered - three sides to fit a bay window. Ordered off Amazon as we literally could not find it anywhere else - Under $100 and astonishingly good quality. Many curtain rods that slide to get longer end up bowing in the middle. (We recently put up two others and I had to cut bamboo pieces to fit inside the rod to keep them straight) Not only are these firm (screwed together) but in addition to the screws and allen wrench it even came with a couple of extra grub screws for the ends.
 
(45) One does not simply wakka-wakka into Mordor Page 72 IH8MUD Forum Toyota, Lexus & Off-...jpeg
 
WE put in an Ikea kitchen - I have soooo many. :LOL: And you're right I can't let them go. sheesh
 
Built a house, 23 doors, each with a door knob. Each door knob came with an allen wrench to attach it.
Yes, I still have 23 allen wrenches, all the same size. At least I didn't need them for the 6 pocket doors.
 
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