How Amazon is helping me fire the chains

I hate crowds.  When I'm stuck in a line, whether be at the cash register or trying to leave a parking lot, I start to feel enraged.  When waiting to checkout my thoughts usually start with "God damn it!  All I want to do is give you some money so I can get the hell out of hear.  Hire another cashier!"  It's not all the retailer's fault, to be fair.  It's not their fault I got trapped on Aisle 7000 between the man who's wife has done all the shopping for the last 20 years and the woman who's too busy talking on her cell phone to step aside, despite my polite but firm "Excuse me."  Regardless of who's at fault, shopping is among the last things I want to do.  Thanks to Amazon, traditional shopping is a matter of last resort.

My use of Amazon started like most people.  I started buying my books from them, then my movies.  I never really bought much else though.  Then I needed an O2 sensor for my car.  The local parts store wanted more than $100 plus shipping for a universal sensor to be delivered to the store.  I was still going to have to drive down and pick it up.  I started searching for the sensor online and strangely Amazon had car parts.  At the time they offered a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime.  Anything on Amazon that is marked "Prime Eligible" has free 2-Day shipping.  The cost of the O2 sensor was half what the parts store wanted, plus free 2-Day delivery made it a no-brainer.  I signed up for Amazon Prime, ordered my car part, and had it a week before it would have arrived at the parts store.  I was hooked, and the $79 annual fee for Amazon Prime was gladly payed.  It wasn't for another month or so that I discovered all the free Prime Instant Videos.

Like many people hit hard by the economy, I had to move home with my parents for a while.  I recently made it back out on my own.  Of course, that means I had/have an empty fridge and pantry.  Given my previously mentioned abhorrence for grocery stores, you can imagine my delight when I found that Amazon Fresh delivers to my neighborhood.  As I sat at my desk one slow day at work, it dawned on me:  I could be grocery shopping.  Out came my tablet and 20 minutes later I'd scheduled grocery delivery.  On my way out the door the next morning I was reminded, by a yellow tote and 2 green bags, that I'd gone grocery shopping the day before.  Yippee, no more trips to the grocery store!  In fact, just before writing this I entered my second Amazon Fresh order.  Since I work an off hours shift, and I waited too long to schedule delivery during my commute home, my groceries will be waiting on my front porch, in coolers, when I wake up.  The icing on the cake is that the cost is roughly the same as my local grocery chain, without the time trapped on Aisle 7000 or the time and gas wasted going to and from the store.

You may be wondering how I feel about all the local grocery store jobs that Amazon is killing.  Honestly, great!  Sure this means pimply faced teenagers need to find something else to do for date money, but I think we're all better off if they find jobs working for innovators and real business people who understand the importance of adding value.  The kids working in fast-food restaurants and grocery stores aren't learning anything about adding value.  They may be learning a strong work ethic.  More likely they're learning, from more senior employees, a strong avoid-work ethic.

As a caveat, the local retailers do still sell convenience.  Having my cable installed, I failed to plan ahead and order my TiVo from Amazon.  As a result, I was forced to visit Best Buy.  I got the TiVo, no thanks to the sales goons, in time for the cable guy to perform the install.  When the first TiVo crapped out after 2 days of use, I was able to swing by Best Buy and make an exchange.  Unfortunately I did have to drive to the next closest store as the one closest to home was out of Stock, and the sales goon didn't even know what a TiVo was.

For anything that can wait, and it doesn't have to wait long, I'll order it online.  It's no more expensive, and often less so.  There's the added benefit of finding what I want relatively easily with just a few key-presses and mouse clicks.  Best of all, I don't have to venture out and deal with crowds, clerks, or anyone really, if I don't want to.