[HN Gopher] The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon
___________________________________________________________________
The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon
Author : DanAtC
Score : 126 points
Date : 2025-07-05 20:28 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.thenewoil.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.thenewoil.org)
| Animats wrote:
| A real reason to avoid Amazon is fake merchandise. I'd been
| buying a vitamin supplement from them for years. Then they sent
| me a notice that it was being recalled as a fake.[1] (Archive
| [2]) They paid a refund for the last purchase. But that's all.
| Amazon won't respond to questions about what was in it or who the
| real seller is.
|
| I no longer buy anything from Amazon that could be faked.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx2Q5O0C84HF1GU/
|
| [2] https://archive.is/rN8B9
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Good rule of thumb is that if it goes on or in your body do not
| buy it from Amazon.
| recursive wrote:
| Or if it's electronic. Fire risk.
| blibble wrote:
| the fact legitimate electricians buy fuses/wiring/circuit
| breakers/crimps off amazon thinking they're as advertised
| is actually terrifying
|
| all the buildings you enter: houses of friends/family,
| supermarkets, hospitals, transport, restaurants, offices,
| all with potentially fatal fake electrics
|
| hopefully the fire door and extinguishers weren't bought
| from amazon
| SoftTalker wrote:
| I recall reading about some counterfeit circuit breakers
| that were basically just toggle switches. They had no
| "trip" mechanism at all.
|
| The few tradespeople I know don't even shop at Lowes.
| They have accounts at supply houses that don't even offer
| public retail sales.
| encomiast wrote:
| I wonder if this applies to Amazon Pharmacy -- seems like
| maybe this might have a bit more governance.
| speed_spread wrote:
| I buy my pills on AliExpress, it's much safer.
| throwup238 wrote:
| Amazon Pharmacy is its own regulated pharmacy with licenses
| in all of the states, not a marketplace/platform like
| Amazon.com.
|
| It's really a renamed PillPack [1] which they acquired in
| 2018 with (I assume) Amazon Pharmacy launching on top of
| their licenses in 2020
|
| [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PillPack
| parhamn wrote:
| Where's the best value & quality for that sort of stuff? It's
| insane what some sites charge for seemingly simple
| supplements.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| I recommend now.
|
| https://www.nowfoods.com/
| apt-apt-apt-apt wrote:
| How do you know what cannot be faked? Is shipped and sold by
| Amazon enough?
| nurettin wrote:
| I understood fake as physically harmful.
| qgin wrote:
| It is, people are being ridiculous. The third party stuff is
| where the fraud is.
| onli wrote:
| No, that is not correct or at least it has not been. Amazon
| was said to intermingle the inventory in the warehouses,
| mixing third party products with those shipped and sold by
| Amazon. So that gave you zero protection.
|
| I read that they made internal changes to tag shippings
| properly to reduce the risk of that behaviour, but am not
| sure it is true or has been effective.
| bilsbie wrote:
| I'm having trouble finding alternatives. Do I really have to go
| to four or five different websites to buy my supplements.
| immibis wrote:
| have you tried a physical pharmacy
| wredcoll wrote:
| Um. Exactly how many supplements do you need?
| junon wrote:
| Why is that any of your business?
| davidw wrote:
| I know it's not a very popular cause these days, but
| "Democracy" seems like a real reason too.
| PenguinCoder wrote:
| My rule is anything that goes on or in my body, I don't buy
| form Amazon for that reason.
| bawana wrote:
| And also because their logo is shaped like a penis.
| renewiltord wrote:
| Trains are shaped like penis, bus is shape like penis,
| skyscraper is shape like penis, rocket is shape like penis, now
| Amazon logo is shape like penis? Why are all Americans always
| looking everywhere for shape like penis. Every time.
|
| "Hello, American, look at this pencil"
|
| "Pencil?! Shaped like penis!"
|
| "Hello, American, look at your hands"
|
| "Oh my god! That is five penises a hand!"
|
| Constantly searching for penis everywhere. Is there reason for
| this? It is not as common elsewhere, but American is always
| constantly searching for penis. If not provided, American will
| construct it out of household objects. Desperate for penis,
| American will find it even in intangible objects like logo.
| DanAtC wrote:
| If not penises... https://velvetshark.com/ai-company-logos-
| that-look-like-butt...
| renewiltord wrote:
| Ha! Good reference. Look at perplexity logo. It is fan of
| rectangular slats with line in middle. To American this is
| "butthole". Can only imagine that in USA, people are like
| duck with strangely corkscrewing genitals. Fan shaped
| butthole is for insertion of Torx T6 bit perhaps, to
| fulfill local slang of "screwing".
| immibis wrote:
| I guess people want what they can't have, and Americans are
| shielded from body parts since birth.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Yeah and once you notice that you can't unsee it.
| Spivak wrote:
| I feel like the author is undermining their own complaint in
| regards to Rekognition. Anyone can just sign up for an AWS
| account and start using the service, pretty much the same as
| anything else AWS sells. Then in response to specific bad
| behavior by US police departments Amazon cut off their access, a
| practice they've kept up to this day.
|
| Amazon could have quietly (or loudly in 2025) lifted the ban at
| any point in the last five years to much nothing in the terms of
| pushback.
| ajross wrote:
| I guess, but Amazon gets me stuff tomorrow or the next day,
| reliably, week in and week out. Yeah, I _could_ find this stuff
| elsewhere on the internet. But not for Tuesday delivery. And not
| without opening another account. Also, right now, often only by
| paying a tariff-adjacent fee to cover the import costs of the
| vendors that didn 't have the foresight to pre-stock imports like
| Amazon did.
|
| People who want to write stuff like this _really_ need to reckon
| with the fact that Amazon is and remains the superior product,
| and by a very significant degree.
|
| They're not winning because they "hate democracy" or are "full-
| stop evil" or whatever. They're winning because they're the best.
| fred_is_fred wrote:
| Canceling my Prime account mainly meant I bought less stuff
| overall. A win for my wallet and the planet in the end. I need
| zero friction in my life for healthy eating and exercise, not
| for buying crap from a Chinese brand of the week (Glorf, Qerdu,
| Plund or whatever).
| ajross wrote:
| > Canceling my Prime account mainly meant I bought less stuff
| overall.
|
| Which sounds like an agreement with my point, no? Buying
| stuff without Amazon was in aggregate "more expensive" for
| you in the broader sense of value that includes
| effort/experience/whatever. So you didn't.
|
| And, bravo? I'm all for efficiency and reasonable asceticism,
| and likely agree with you about the general consumerist bent
| of our society.
|
| All I'm saying is _that constitutes an argument in FAVOR of
| Amazon as a retailer product_ , and not an indictment.
| no_wizard wrote:
| This is the reality.
|
| I have moved anything I don't need quickly off Amazon as much
| as reasonably possible, and I do avoid some things from Amazon
| as well, but for too many things they're the cheapest and
| fastest option, or the 2nd cheapest and fastest option.
|
| Also if I think there is a reasonably high chance I'll return
| an item, I also go through Amazon, because they haven't once in
| 20 years I've been using them giving me an issue, charged a
| restocking fee etc.
|
| Other online shops simply don't match enough of these Amazon
| value prop to sway me over
| PaulHoule wrote:
| My take is that Walmart.com comes pretty close. When I was
| driving through Pennsylvania two weeks back I saw a huge
| Walmart.com warehouse right next to an Amazon warehouse. The
| last mile delivery service of the two seems close to
| identical (though Walmart+ disingenuously offers "free"
| delivery from my local store that expect you to tip the
| driver. [1])
|
| Amazon often costs 5 cents less and you might find that all
| the issues of _Bocci the Rock_ are at Amazon and one is
| missing from Walmart, but Walmart is taking the fight to
| them.
|
| For photography stuff in particular, I buy from B&H, Adorama
| or direct from vendors such as Red River Paper. Often the
| prices are better than Amazon and the service is much better
| (e.g. the owner of the later has schooled me on details of
| papers and printing that most people couldn't imagine)
|
| [1] Not against giving the tip, just against saying I don't
| like the comparison against free shipping from other vendors.
| ajross wrote:
| FWIW, my suspicion is that people motivated by "Amazon is
| full-stop evil and an enemy of Civil Rights, Human Rights,
| Workers, Small Businesses, and Democracy"[1] would be even
| less motivated to shop at the temple of Sam Walton.
|
| But even so, I just checked and of the last 12 items in my
| Amazon purchase history, Walmart.com loses on every one of
| them _before_ shipping is included. They 're not really in
| the game absent externalities like location or specific
| product.
|
| [1] Not hyperbole: those are the sections in the linked
| article!
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I have my own grievances with Amazon, not least that 2
| day shipping became 5 day shipping without warning during
| the pandemic although I know they had infrastructure in
| my area because for years I saw their delivery van going
| around on Sunday. I felt it was really unfair because if
| I have to wait 5 days for something to arrive I am
| inclined to go get it at Target or another store in town
| if I can.
|
| Since then I've taken them up on offers of a free month
| of Prime or a week for $2 which is attractive if it gets
| me free shipping on a purchase. Now I get the same
| service as everyone else but if they wanted to be a loyal
| customer hey should have treated me as if they wanted to
| impress me as an earlier.
|
| Notably Walmart has a + service which is a little cheaper
| than Prime but doesn't have the video and other benefits
| that I'm indifferent too. I agree with the direction of
| that guy's critiques of Amazon but not the magnitude but
| I'm a strange case in that I'm an amateur political
| scientist who works as a software dev with real political
| scientists that I have to be deferential to.
| no_wizard wrote:
| If the ida is to avoid Amazon on any sort of ethical basis
| (including monopolistic practices and squeezing suppliers
| etc) Walmart is no different. You could change any issue
| you have with Amazon and replace it with Walmart and they
| all still apply, sans the peeing in bottles of delivery
| drivers
| tenuousemphasis wrote:
| Humans survived up until about 20 years ago without free 2-day
| shipping. You'll be fine.
|
| Or you could compromise your morals for convenience, I guess.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| It's not free. It's baked into the price.
| SlowTao wrote:
| This statement is not an attack on your character or being just
| a broad generalization.
|
| The biggest addiction of the modern era is convenience. Once
| people have it, it is very difficult to give up. We are all
| addicted to this, we aren't running this site via the letters
| column in a newspaper, because of convenience. But it also
| means we tend to ignore the negatives of said services.
|
| Your point of them winning because they're the best, that can
| also be true. But because of that and the convenience addiction
| they provide, we let them get away with all the other stuff.
|
| I'm not saying this is an excuse to use Amazon, I have never
| used it. I am just saying it is a hard hurdle for some to
| overcome.
| ezst wrote:
| And that's kind of an issue. Amazon effectively has a monopoly
| in this space, and competing at a similar level just is not
| possible anymore. And Amazon is so big that, even when you have
| a better product and service, it can buy you off1.
|
| 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souq_(company)
| viraptor wrote:
| Amazon enables us to buy lots of things we just wouldn't if
| there was just a little bit more of friction. I'm not sure it's
| an overall positive that they have next day delivery. We'd
| definitely be better overall if Amazon didn't undermine smaller
| shops using discounts only they can afford long term.
| Aloisius wrote:
| I understand hyperbole is a useful rhetorical device, but it's
| very hard for me to take anyone who uses it seriously or trust
| anything they say at all.
|
| And it _really_ doesn 't help develop trust when the citations
| used to support one's points directly contradicts them (like that
| bit about Amazon providing real-time surveillance from Ring
| doorbells to police without owners' knowledge - the one and only
| thing I decided to read the source for which said quite the
| opposite).
|
| It's a shame too since I'm sure the author had some good points,
| but I have neither the time nor energy to research every single
| claim made to see which ones aren't bullshit.
| coredog64 wrote:
| It's right there in the second paragraph of the WaPo(!) story
| that Ring owners opt in and can decline to share data.
|
| Does Rekognition perform poorly? Maybe it does, but it's a best
| effort service, not a police officer in a box. That AWS was
| shamed into not selling it to law enforcement doesn't mean law
| enforcement won't have access to facial recognition, only that
| the vendor they choose isn't capable of being embarrassed by
| bad PR.
| Aloisius wrote:
| Yes. That made me scratch my head. It also says explicitly
| that no real-time feeds were available. It appears the
| program just let police contact owners to request video.
| Never mind that program was discontinued last year.
|
| I can only assume the author didn't think anyone would read
| the links they provided.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Myself I can't stand the media blitz that tries to talk up Prime
| Day every year.
|
| I like hunting for bargains as much as anybody, I love checking
| out the used games at Gamestop or items on clearance at Best Buy,
| not least the reuse center at Ithaca where I might find a
| cassette or Video CD deck with karaoke features or a minidisc
| player.
|
| Prime Day seems to be just a waste of time. I don't see any
| attractive prices on anything I want to buy. So many web sites
| scour Amazon for good deals and can't find any. It's a snoozer.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| It's because Amazon buyers are used to Amazon prices.
|
| It's literally been a decade or more since Prime Day, or Amazon
| in general, had the best prices online.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I've often seen items selling in physical stores (like a UV
| tooth whitening kit) for $40 and at Amazon for $65.
| whall6 wrote:
| This honestly may as well have been a paid ad by Amazon. It
| served as a reminder for me that Prime Day is coming up. That
| reminder was followed up with several extremely weak arguments
| that Amazon is the pinnacle of evil. Also felt like it was
| written largely by AI
| johncole wrote:
| Would you consider Target or Walmart more ethical? Or better at
| policing counterfeits?
| cogman10 wrote:
| Strangely enough, yes to both (at least for in store
| purchases). And I find neither company particularly ethical.
|
| They have a tighter control on their supply chain and don't
| have a truly open "market" where anyone can sell crap (or
| stolen crap).
|
| A lot of this comes down to limited stocking and shelf space.
| Amazon effectively has unlimited storage space. Hence their
| ability to show off 6000 drop shipping products which are
| actually the same product.
|
| Walmart and Target, on the other hand, have to be somewhat
| judicious because shelf space is limited. They can't have a row
| of the same products under different labels. And if what they
| choose to sell has quality problems they get hit harder for it.
| They take the loss for the unsold counterfeit goods. Amazon, by
| their nature, sees minimal hits when products are determined to
| be counterfeit. That usually just means they blacklist a
| seller. They are hardly impacted.
|
| Also, funnily enough, it's why I don't worry about counterfeits
| at Wholefoods even though it's parent company is Amazon.
| yupitsme123 wrote:
| What you said is true for their physical locations, but both
| Target and Walmart implemented Amazon-style marketplaces a
| while back, and my impression is that there's very little
| oversight or quality control. Even less than on Amazon.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| I'm pretty sure they don't co-mingle though. So if you make
| sure you're buying from Walmart or Target and not some
| other party you should be getting the same items that are
| in the stores.
| yupitsme123 wrote:
| Yes, it's on you to identify if the seller is Target or a
| third party. It's listed on the product page, but if you
| didnt know that there were third party items, you would
| probably just assume you were buying from Target/Walmart.
| jbermudes wrote:
| Many of the things the author accuses Amazon of doing are
| troubling, but the logic the author used in the Chris Brown music
| buying example to tie it all together shows of a lack of
| distinction between types of cooperation with evil.
|
| When an act has both a potentially good and bad effect
| Philosophers like to distinguish the morality of this act of
| "cooperating with evil" by analyzing the degrees to which your
| cooperation is: - formal or material (do you want
| the bad thing to happen and that's why you're buying from
| Amazon?) - immediate or mediate (are you supplying a
| critical component such that without your specific instance of
| cooperation the evil could not occur?) - proximate or
| remote (Do you work for Amazon?)
|
| Each of these dimensions should be taken into consideration
| because without such analysis one can easily become scrupulous
| about every act that one does that may have unintended side
| effects. This is how you get people who say things like "there is
| no such thing as ethical consumption in capitalism" and other
| extreme statements that would otherwise force you to be a monk in
| a desert lest your acts accidentally create harm.
|
| To learn more about this principle of double effect:
|
| https://thinkingthoughtout.com/2021/01/24/cooperation-with-e...
|
| https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/double-effect/
| djoldman wrote:
| Regardless of what one thinks about Amazon, one's actions have
| approximately zero effect on it.
|
| Even if one controlled, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 people
| and commanded them to not use Amazon, it would have little
| effect.
|
| If someone opts to stay away from Amazon, they should at least do
| it with clear eyes: they are doing it to feel something and will
| not actually affect the company.
| recursive wrote:
| I do it not for the feelings but just to avoid hypocrisy.
| jvanderbot wrote:
| I hate to be this guy, really, but did you consider that
| hypocrisy and anti-hypocrisy is basically what OP meant by
| "feelings" since they are based on (mostly self) perceptions?
| (Have you ever pointed out hypocrisy to someone? They are
| quick to tell you why you're wrong - it's absolutely about
| self justification not external judgement)
| add-sub-mul-div wrote:
| I don't understand the point you're making. Someone is
| living according to their principles and we're playing
| games with semantics as if "feelings" is a bad word? Okay,
| you win, it "feels" better to satisfy one's values.
| bluGill wrote:
| It would have a big effect on the alternatives though.
| kristianp wrote:
| I wish our local postage carrier was more efficient. Amazon
| provides next day delivery, whilst other online stores dispatch
| your purchase within 2-3 days and the package arrives is a
| further 2-5 days.
| add-sub-mul-div wrote:
| I noped out of Prime a long time ago when it became clear they
| were training the population to treat all their purchases as
| instant gratification impulse buys.
| Den_VR wrote:
| That's a bit interesting. Do you have similar ideas about
| commercial air travel?
| add-sub-mul-div wrote:
| No, because taking a week out of my life to go by train
| instead of plane is impractical. Making myself wait a few
| extra business days for my books to arrive is not. I
| apologize if you had a better point you were trying to make
| and I missed it.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| How much of your spending requires instant gratification?
| Aloisius wrote:
| Presumably nothing they buy from Amazon.
|
| If they wanted instant gratification, they'd buy it from a
| local store and get it immediately rather than having to wait
| a couple days.
| gibbitz wrote:
| All of my restaurant purchases for sure.
| II2II wrote:
| It can be about predictability as well. If Amazon says two
| days, it is usually two days. I arrange the purchase for a
| day when I don't work or work a short shift. If it is a
| valuable product that requires someone to receive the parcel,
| I don't have to deal with shippers who force people to use a
| pickup point that is a 15 minute drive away. (I don't drive,
| so that is usually problematic.) At the end of the day, in my
| case, it is more about receiving the product than getting it
| right away.
| dosinga wrote:
| Am I missing something, the article randomly says: "For context,
| the US federal government spent $53 million on public education
| in 2022." and links to: https://educationdata.org/public-
| education-spending-statisti... which says K-12 schools spend
| $857.2 billion.
| wging wrote:
| The federal government is distinct from state or local
| governments. The numbers still might not be consistent (it says
| "[t]he federal government provides 13.6% of funding for public
| K-12 education", which would be more than $53MM) but the page
| you linked draws that distinction too. State and local funds
| make up the difference.
| Phelinofist wrote:
| Honestly I hate Amazon because they are a mega corp that just
| gets bigger and bigger. But on the other hand they are just the
| best online store hands down. I ordered an electric toothbrush
| yesterday at 23:30 and it arrived today at 15:30 - that's just
| amazing. Also returning stuff is hassle-free and they often are
| the cheapest.
|
| I tried using Otto for some time but it just cannot compare.
| Sure. I could also shop from multiple shops but that is kinda
| waste of time. Amazon is a real one-stop shop.
| witty_username wrote:
| Why do you hate mega corps getting bigger and bigger if they
| provide good service?
| gibbitz wrote:
| As they get bigger competing with them becomes harder and
| harder as their overhead per transaction reduces due to
| volume. Eventually they become the only choice. I feel like
| with Amazon this is nearly the case. Many local brick-and-
| mortar stores that would have existed in the early 200's are
| non-existent today. Even chains like RadioShack and Circuit
| City are gone. This leaves the next alternative to be slower
| and more expensive online stores that struggle to compete.
| submeta wrote:
| Amazon manipulates your product searches. When you search for a
| product, it will push a few select brands and you won't get past
| that, except you deliberately search for a specific brand. So it
| will limit your options. But it will give you the illusion to
| show you a large amount of various brands.
|
| Searching for a product category on Google won't allow you to
| find a big number of brands either. Because they will push
| certain products as well.
|
| So be aware that these platforms will limit your options.
|
| But I admit that Amazon has a very polished UX. It's a one-stop
| shop, returns are handled very generously, and you don't need to
| visit a dozen sites to get various products.
| AvAn12 wrote:
| It's like some Soviet-style retailer where everyone is supposed
| to shop for everything. It's about as contrary to competitive
| capitalism as a company can be. I signed off two years ago and
| haven't missed it for a minute - though you should make your own
| decisions, as with everything.
| starik36 wrote:
| I don't think you have the slightest idea of what a Soviet
| style retailer is.
|
| Standing in line for 2 hours to buy milk with my grandma is a
| childhood memory that's burned into my brain.
| deadbabe wrote:
| The _only_ standard I hold Amazon to is if they can get me the
| things I want in the fastest time. Until someone does that
| better, I have no reasons not to use Amazon.
| ______ wrote:
| A good first step is not paying for Prime.
|
| It's like $140 annually now... and if you're mostly just buying
| things and not watching their content, it's a nice speed bump to
| just accumulate items in the cart until you hit the minimum free
| shipping and only order then.
|
| When you occasionally do for some reason need an instant item,
| you can pay the shipping then. It's kinda like for most people,
| having a second or third car is much more expensive than just
| renting one when you actually need it.
|
| That said, I am close to a Costco so that's where I get most of
| my bulk items - the Amazon stuff tends to be more discretionary.
| fvgvkujdfbllo wrote:
| That's the key.
|
| Amazon is very convenient when needing something one off. But
| we are not going to renew Prime and slowly ween off it.
|
| Still looking for alternatives though, Costco is okay, but when
| you want something asap, you need either to drive to stores or
| pay for same day delivery and tips.
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| > Amazon needs to be stopped, and legislation will not do so.
| Only its loyal consumers - who keep the beast alive - can do that
| by taking their money elsewhere.
|
| We've (my wife and I) tried to stop using Amazon. But recently,
| I've run into issues where I need particular specialized bits and
| pieces (e.g. just today, a low profile 4" HVAC 90 degree elbow)
| that are _only_ available via Amazon. A variation is where the
| item is available from one or two other places, but at a 10x
| markup.
|
| We need to convince vendors to also avoid Amazon, and that may be
| even more of a difficult sell (no pun intended).
|
| ps. Amazon employee #2, and I approve this message.
| hinterlands wrote:
| The other problem are people doing price arbitrage. You find
| the item on eBay and think to yourself, "cool, I'd rather
| patronize a small business" - but as it turns out, the item is
| drop-shipped from Amazon, Walmart, or the like.
| w-ll wrote:
| This got me the other day, and it had me cracking up, they
| just put my shipping address and and checked out from
| Walmart. $5 lesson that Walmart actually sold what i wanted
| and i should have checked there first.
| lisper wrote:
| I would love to avoid Amazon, and indeed I would love to support
| local retailers, but more often than not it is simply impossible.
| The only way I can find out if a local vendor carries an item I'm
| interested in, and if they have it in stock, is to physically go
| there. The amount of time that requires is _orders of magnitude_
| more than what it takes to order the item on Amazon, where I am
| all but guaranteed that it will be available.
|
| It is astonishing to me that brick-and-mortar retailers have not
| banded together to put an on-line front-end onto their stock. It
| would technically straightforward (albeit not trivial) to build a
| web site as easy to use as Amazon, but with guaranteed same-day
| or next-day delivery via a partner like doordash, and with more
| reliable quality because local vendors have more of an incentive
| to vet their suppliers. I would _love_ to use a service like
| that, but AFAICT it doesn 't exist.
|
| Someone here, please build this. I will be your first customer.
| mitthrowaway2 wrote:
| I've been hoping someone would build the same thing. Even
| without delivery, I'd love to be able to search for products
| across multiple stores through a web interface and see their
| availability in a map view, with price and in-stock status. I
| would be happy to go to the store and buy it, as long as I only
| need to make one trip and I know it will be in stock and at a
| certain price.
| PhoneTag wrote:
| You seem to forget that you can call nearly any local retailer
| and they will check their inventory for you and often even set
| it aside for you. A phone call does not require orders of
| magnitude more time than an online order and you can build a
| friendly connection in your community that way, too.
| bluGill wrote:
| I can almost always find a small company - often thing-i-want.com
| that has just as good deals and they provide useful advice about
| which version is best - often I have bought the more expensive
| version for those reasons. (I think for the better though I
| rarely buy enough of anything to have an informed opinion on
| relative merit)
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