Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Is Amazon Prime worth $140?

My parents are 12 minutes up the road from me. We are both 30-40 miles from the biggest city. They get stuff in 1-3 days, I get stuff in 5-7. If I need something quicker, I send it to their house. All of they stuff gets delivered by Amazon (contractors) and ours all goes USPS or UPS.

Last night was Saturday night

LoL

interesting,

because of Xmas those Amazon vans are on our street 5-6 times a day and they are delivering at all hours of the night and early morning.

We do a lot of online shopping simply because the stores here don't carry much of the stuff we want. We're also out of town a ways and gas is expensive. Amazon gets a large share of our business but some of their prices are ridiculous. We can often get it cheaper elsewhere even after paying shipping. I was looking at an item of clothing on Amazon. The price for L was $10, the price for XL was $25.
That said, Amazon does have an amazing variety of stuff and with Prime, you get it in a reasonable time.

As far as Prime video, It galls me when we pay for Prime but still have to pay more to rent the better movies. Then you also have to watch their advertising. I guess I need to learn how to record shows so I can FF through the ads.

Nice dogs...

Mine...





FedEx dog not pictured (Witness Protection Program kinda stuff)

We are not even close to getting 2 day shipping, never were, but it's even worse the last year or two, not UPS' fault that I can see. Nearest FedEx is a hundred miles away, they claim they never 'hold freight' for rural customers, but when tracking shows a parcel stops somewhere for up to 48 hours, that is the only explanation. None of which matters unless you are awaiting repair parts.
Our UPS driver tells us that the hub he works out of has never been profitable in the 26 years he has worked there. I think rural routes are a bitter pill for the big carriers. That's why I don't bash the USPS locally, it's kinda a form of welfare, but we'd be screwed without them.

Amazon, UPS and FedEx dudes all have doggie mini milkbone treats for my Labs.

They try to climb on board the vans and trucks. 😃

OMG...

Well; considering the typical cost of running a vehicle to go fetch things(and hope the store has what you need) is about .60 a mile; pretty cheap ,IMO. Plus ease of returns.

If you factor in gas & the headache of store visit, the $140 looks better & better!

Thumbs up.

I probably save that $140 or more in time and fuel in a year if I had to drive to a store.

Hardware store looks like a fun place to work though.

The number of oddball stuff I order from Amazon for the farms is kinda amazing. Brass fittings for oxygen systems, pool leak fixer, oil pan heater, stainless 5mm wing nuts, and on and on and on. We’ve got a great farm supply store in town (pop. < 1,000) and I buy a bunch of stuff there, but there’s just so much weird stuff we need that they don’t carry.

My son lives near Seattle, he can find anything he needs almost immediately somewhere in town. We just assume we can’t.

I've kept it. I easily blow the 140 a year out on 2 day shipping, often I get my stuff in 1 day - depending on the item. Is it in stock at the closest fulfillment center or does it come from the DC.

I'm 37 miles from the nearest Walmart/Fleet Farm/Target type place. My town doesn't have a hardware store at all and the only parts store is a Napa that "can order things for you" like anti-seize and brake clean. I 1/2 think they order from Amazon themselves.

They just don't have the shipping prowess that Amazon has with Prime and I almost never find the prices to be cheaper than Amazon.

Fair enough... I assume that may be location dependent for you.

For me... 95% is 2 day (3 max).

The things they drop ship from NAPA, Advance, Vevor are typically 3 days max.

The China direct stuff is indeed 10+/- days, but the prices crush Amazon. i.e. Amazon advance buys and retails in 2 days at a premium.

I use Amazon when needed don't do prime but do have an Amazon card. The huge fulfillment center in Baton Rouge is now open. Most items I order get delivered in 2-3 days but have to pay shipping on some things. I also like shopping on eBay get free shipping and acceptable delivery time, also shop at Academy sports get free shipping for any item $15 plus and a 5% discount if I use my Academy store card. At this time don't feel the need to pay an Amazon prime membership fee.