Amazon is getting scary

I have an Echo.
I ordered 2 Echo Dots for $24.99 each. I wanted the 3rd Gen, but, they weren't listed as available. The day after I placed the order, the 3rd gen was listed as available. I went onto Amazon to do a return and they were going to charge me $5.99 x 2 for the return (they had the return as 2 packages). I got onto the online chat assistant and told them that I wanted to return them as 1 package since I received them as 1 package and didn't want double shipping charge. They sent me a prepaid shipping label so I won't have to pay ANY shipping charge! Thank you, Amazon.
Then, when I ordered the 2 3rd Gen versions, they were listed on special for $29.99. When I placed the order, it showed me that there's a 2-pack special for $50. Thanks again, Amazon!

 

I think I’m the last generation that had the opportunity to jerk it to magazines. Fucking kids today have way too much porn access. When I found the Victoria’s Secret catalog it was a revelation. I was always looking for a glimpse of ‘toe. Then I found my dad’s stash of Black Tail magazines and it was another revelation. I discovered that I love chocolate.

 

Like father, like son

 

Let me know how you like it, I just bought the 3rd gen and looking forward to it. Despite this being the latest generation, I heard the response is actually slower compared to the 2nd gen........should be fixed with an update once enough people complain.

 

I’m sure my 14 and 10 yr old neighbors that I’m getting them for will be fine with them until they drop it in the fish tank or use it as a weapon against the other.

 

just learned about the drop in feature and calling to another echo feature....now these things are useful for more than the weather or timers, since they are intercoms too

 

That's precisely why I bought them, the other features are a bonus.

 

yeah, going to put one in the garage now, so now I don't have to go back and forth from the garage to the house, or call on a cell phone, if I'm under the car or working on the bike doing a 45 minute job in 7 hours with dirty hands, etc.

 

Amazon being an ultra successful mail order business isn't what's scary. The level of infrastructure they've developed, control, and leveraged for others is scary. Their biggest customer is about to become the .gov. They're about to get a $ 10 billion contract to build and maintain military data infrastructure. They already do work for the alphabet soup agencies, and are probably involved in analysis and developing tools as well. Yeah their marketplace business fills the same niche as Sears, but it's the infrastructure business and data that's making them a force to be reckoned with. I won't say more so we don't dungeonize this, but for sure it's going to become a case of "Where does Amazon end and the government start?"

 

https://mashable.com/2014/01/21/amazon-anticipatory-shipping-patent/#imBdrAwcDiqD

https://www.smartdatacollective.com/amazon-wants-predictive-analytics-offer-anticipatory-shipping/
Plenty more articles out there on this. Kinda scary.

 

Anticipatory shipping to hubs (it’s not direct to consumer) is a common sense practice if you have the data and infrastructure. No different than other methods of demand forecasting really. The thing that’s scary isn’t that they can and want to do it. It’s the fact that they’re literally the ONLY company on Earth that has the scale and resources to do it. No one else would have the data to make it accurate, nor the infrastructure to make it cost effective. Not even Walmart most likely. Size and scope enable entirely new operational modalities that would be inconceivable to lesser entities. Amazon’s goal isn’t to dominate the marketplace. Their goal is to BE the marketplace. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 20 years Bezos is the most powerful man on Earth. He’s already more influential than most national leaders.

 

Watching sesame street right now with the kids, and a pig in a brown suit just delivered a package from Hamazon.com lol.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/05/us/amazon-workers-bear-repellent/index.html

 

And still they reserve the ability to be painfully inept. Their delivery contractor can't even find their own locker.

 

USPS just hands my stuff out of the window at the post office to anyone who lives in the same area.

 

Heads up if you’re flying through Seattle today and have access to Amex lounge they are giving away free echo dots when you check in. I thought it was a hoax but nope it was free.

 

Is that how they do it now?

I was wondering what was going on last time I went to the post office. Everybody knew each other, lol.

 

My Amazon prime just auto-renewed. Was $119. Then they charged me TAX! ON A MEMBERSHIP. They charged me $128.22 WTF..

 

When my membership is up ,I'll have to renew. The speed of shipping, original shows and movies, music for the child, cloud service, and discount at Whole Foods makes it worth it for us. If you would've asked me 2 years ago if I'd have paid $120/year for a membership, I would've told you to eat a dick.