Posts: 6,291
Threads: 0
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Knoxville
Agreed. Hartville, CPO Outlets, and Coastal Tool are three places I always check and compare to Amazon. The obvious question that comes up besides shipping is whether the pricing is the same for the same item. Is the net cost the same or different when you factor in both price and shipping?
Bill
Know, think, choose, do -- Ender's Shadow
Posts: 326
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2010
Total price to my door is often less via Hartville or Acme.
That being said, as a prime member who places orders AT LEAST a few times a week for just about everything except groceries, I definitely appreciate the rapid shipping and know they're losing money on me, lol.
Posts: 7,421
Threads: 1
Joined: Sep 2005
I am a Prime member. I do believe it saves me money by the end of the year, but I have not been keeping tally.
But strange is the "add-on" items. These are items that are too cheap to qualify for free shipping--some of the items costing $2.95 or slightly more.
The theory is that they pack the cheap item in the same carton as the next shipment that qualifies for "prime" free shipping. But the last two times I ordered add-on items they traveled in separate packages with separate shipping labels. One of the times they arrived on separate days.
So how does that make any sense?
There is a new competitor out there that claims to beat Amazon on pricing. That company is "Jet" and they started business two days ago.
See:
http://recode.net/2015/07/21/jet-com-wil...nd-center/
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
Posts: 10,718
Threads: 1
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Orlando, Florida
Free shipping is nice. I look at total price. "Free" isn't a gratuity from the seller. It's usually built into the price of the product.
Amazon Prime is well worth the investment to me. I live in CA and the often offered 2-day shipping makes it well worth it. I am used to items shipped from the eastern US arriving in 5-7 days or longer. With Amazon Prime, I can often get items in 2 days, and if shipped from Las Vegas or SoCal, I often get them in 1 day. Where Amazon Prime shines is shipping for small items. I often have to pay $12 or thereabouts in shipping for a bag of odd screws or hardware. Prime avoids that. Anyone considering Amazon Prime should consider how many Amazon items they buy in a year. It's not worth it if you don't order 10+ items in a year.
Another thing you should check is price. There was at least one case in which it was cheaper to purchase an item from Hartville thru Amazon than directly from Hartville, even with the WoodNet 15% discount.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
Posts: 1,815
Threads: 0
Joined: Aug 2008
Amazon has really slowed down on how fast they get their non prime orders out the door. Its honestly pushed me to purchase at other places.
