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Post by Slinger on Apr 25, 2018 12:58:48 GMT
Just curious; is anyone else using this? I got a notification about it yesterday and I've set it up to support the British Heart Foundation; you don't have to go with the example charities that they suggest. Basically, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns, shipping fees, blah-blah-blah) from any eligible AmazonSmile purchases. You can use your existing amazon.co.uk account on AmazonSmile if you have one, or create a new account if you don’t. Simple to set up, and although it's not a huge amount I'd rather the BHF have it than Amazon. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 25, 2018 13:46:58 GMT
Usually see it when I go to Amazon.com
Need to work out the charity I want to support for next time
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Post by davidf on Apr 25, 2018 21:09:13 GMT
How about finding a high street store that’s cheaper, and donate the difference between them and Amazon charity? That way, Amazon get nothing, an independent business gets something, and the charity gets more than they would’ve done via Amazon? Since leaving my last employer, I’ve not had a lot of spare cash to do what I used to do - buying lots of vinyl and Blurays. Most of my purchases have been through Amazon. Not long before Record Store Day, I thought I’d check the website to see who the Birmingham dealers were going to be for the day - I already knew of Swordfish, but hadn’t realised there was Ignite Records in the Oasis shopping centre in Birmingham city centre. I couldn’t make it for RSD, but popped in there the day before, and found a record I’d had on my Amazon which list which I was waiting for to drop in price as it was £35....at Ignite it was £25! Also picked up Villians by Queens Of The Stone Age which was £4 cheaper than Amazon too. They were almost £5 cheaper on Radiohead’s OK Computer OKNOTOK edition.
I know that some may not have a local dealer, but now I’ve found one, he’ll be getting my money rather than Amazon, unless there’s something exclusive to them that he can’t get, which will be rare.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 25, 2018 21:16:46 GMT
I do most of my shopping online through necessity. I don't drive, so if I do actually go into town it costs me cab-fare both ways. I've got a bum knee and am currently stuck using a walking stick so I can't even walk the couple of miles into town either.
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Post by julesd68 on Apr 25, 2018 21:17:49 GMT
That's great David. I like your style. I don't buy much in the way of new release vinyl but when I do I can think of one local record shop I could try.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 26, 2018 14:07:04 GMT
Good point David.
We are held too much by the big boys, Amazon amongst them
Laziness is the main reason for me, plus we are 5 miles from the nearest town.
Amazon isn't always the best even online and I do look around, often end up with Amazon or Ebay
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Post by davidf on Apr 26, 2018 23:39:17 GMT
When I was a kid, the Argos catalogue was the “go to” thing if you were looking for absolutely anything, or to see what choice there was when looking for something specific. Amazon seems to be that modern day Argos catalogue. They may be cheap sometimes, but more often than not, the same products can be had cheaper elsewhere.
And if we all buy from Amazon, goodbye smaller online retailers, goodbye high street, and goodbye to numerous small businesses that are probably doing everything right, but being ignored because of the big boys.
Fair play to Amazon to have become as big as it is, but I think we all need to be a bit more careful if we don’t want to eventually end up with shopless city centres. I walk through Birmingham, and it’s crazy how many shops are empty. I’m seeing localised shopping centres being torn down.
I don’t so much blame Amazon for this, but the government for not looking after small businesses. They could thrive if rents and rates weren’t stupidly excessive. Instead of empty retail units, why not lower high rents and rates and actually get business back into city centres - better to make a bit less every month than have a unit sitting empty for years on end! Maybe I’m looking at it too simplistically, but surely it’s not rocket science.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 27, 2018 5:08:58 GMT
I don’t so much blame Amazon for this, but the government for not looking after small businesses. They could thrive if rents and rates weren’t stupidly excessive. Instead of empty retail units, why not lower high rents and rates and actually get business back into city centres - better to make a bit less every month than have a unit sitting empty for years on end! Maybe I’m looking at it too simplistically, but surely it’s not rocket science. The government don't own many of the properties, it's the landlords that won't put their rents down, seemingly preferring to leave them empty rather than offering a bargain rent. I've often wondered at empty shops in our shopping mall, left as an eyesore when someone could take it as a short term let. |
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Post by davidf on Apr 27, 2018 9:02:50 GMT
I know it’s the landlords for rents, but the government play their part by passing laws for “distance selling”, which are pro buyer and completely against any growth or survival of the retailer. I appreciate there should be laws for distance selling, but as it stands, you can order anything available for delivery, and send it back for any reason whatsoever - in fact, you don’t even need to give a reason. That’s wrong.
And yes, empty stores are an eyesore, and mint make new visitors to the city centre or shopping centre think twice about going there again.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 27, 2018 9:17:49 GMT
Governments especially are not good with change.
*Rapid* change - no chance. In governmental or large organisations this is lightning fast change.
The fleet of foot large organisations like Amazon, Google and others are a new force. Rarely ever seen before.
Remember loads of small places sell via Amazon and Ebay.
Thinking of shops I visit.
Bike shop mostly for servicing.
Hifi 'shop' but Tony comes here 99% of the time.
Visiting shops was never something I wanted to do. With the spread of the interweb I will visit even less.
Now how do we stop he big boys taking over the world ?
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Post by davidf on Apr 27, 2018 20:51:02 GMT
My guess is small places sell via Amazon because they have to - do or die. The problem is they’re just fuelling the obvious.
Do you order your groceries via the internet? Some might, but you’d generally have to either be extremely lazy or extremely busy to do so. It probably takes longer to do a shop on the internet than it would if you visited a supermarket. Granted, if you buy exactly the same thing every week, you can just hit re-order, but how many people have such a routine? Surely we all like change every now and again? Something different for tea on a Friday?
If the internet really is the way forward for any type of retailing, why are supermarkets still extremely busy?
If we let the big boys take over, we’re back to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer - with no opportunities for the little guys. And that’s not me speaking from the point of view of being one of the little guys trying to make my business work - I’m talking from the point of view that if the big boys out me out of business, I wouldn’t want to buy my hi-fi and home theatre their way.
If this was something that affected the well being or profitability of the government itself, they’d have closed these loopholes that the likes of Amazon are using the first chance they got - I wonder how much Bezos pays them to turn a blind eye?
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 28, 2018 11:07:58 GMT
Confess to having most of the food shopping on tinternet.
Started off as the boss was not well and I was all day at work.
Now I see it as very cost effective especially with the special deal from Tesco.
Going to our local big supermarket means getting the car out, rare for me, driving about 5 miles, parking some distance from the entrance, trolling around with loads of other punters, queuing up to pay, bunging it into a trolley, back to the car, taking the trolley back, driving home, unpacking the car, packing it away. Timed it once. Around an hour could have been a lot longer.
Order on tinternet. Driver comes in a 1 hour window. Help him or her and into store.
Rare occasions we need summat down to the local shops, which yes I know we ought to support.
Must have a look at times taken and prices
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Post by MartinT on Apr 28, 2018 11:39:26 GMT
We actually enjoy food shopping although we often go further to the Morrisons (7 miles) as our local vast Sainsburys (3 miles) is quite poor.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 28, 2018 11:59:17 GMT
As I said before, it's pretty much a necessity for me, and prior to this situation, my wife's heart condition had made shopping impossible for her, which is why we started doing our main grocery shop online in the first place.
An annual delivery pass from Sainsbury's is £156.00 and that's equivalent to roughly 17 weeks of visiting the store by cab, and the chances are I'd bugger my knee up, even more, by walking all the way around the local Superstore to boot.
A "favourites" list is automatically generated at the website and I go through that first, ticking off which of the items I want for that particular week. The list appears to be aggregated long-term rather than just being a copy of stuff you've bought over the last couple of weeks. Next, I'll go through the week's offers to see if there's anything new I fancy. I've had a whole week to think about what I might want for a "bit of a change" and the search function on the site is pretty good. Job done!
I also do a weekly online shop for my 93-year-old mum. I don't time my own shop, as I add (and subtract) things from it several times over the week before it's finalised. My mum's shop I do on the phone with her and takes about 15-20 minutes.
I won't say I'd be lost without the facility, because we manage things, don't we? What I will say, though, is that my life would be far more expensive and far more painful, both physically and mentally, without it.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 28, 2018 12:18:41 GMT
Back to the original point of the thread, as per my opening post. Even if you only use Amazon once a month, wouldn't you prefer that a portion (albeit a very tiny portion) of your money went to the charity of your choice rather than into Amazon's bottomless coffers? It takes seconds to set up.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 28, 2018 12:51:31 GMT
I need to work out who gets my pennies.
So many to choose from
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Post by Slinger on Apr 28, 2018 13:04:16 GMT
I need to work out who gets my pennies. So many to choose from I had a personal reason for choosing the British Heart Foundation but the only other people I give to (other than local charities), without hesitation, are the RNLI, and Cancer Research. The RNLI take no UK government funding and less than 2% of the RNLI’s total funding comes from government sources. Around 94% of their total income comes from donations and legacies. I can respect that ethos, and they do a bloody dangerous job to boot. They're also not scared to publish, publicly, their annual report and accounts, which includes everything from their Chief Exec's salary to how much energy they've saved over the year. Cancer Research? That one speaks for itself. |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 28, 2018 13:17:31 GMT
It would be Cancer Research for me.
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Post by Slinger on Jun 14, 2021 16:29:54 GMT
I thought it was worth mentioning this, and encouraging people who don't already subscribe to do so. It costs you nothing, and although the individual sums you donate won't be huge you can see that they do add up. Also, be aware, you don't have to choose from the initial list of charities you're presented with. If you've got a favourite charitry that's not listed try to activate donations to it. That's what I did with the BHF.
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Post by brian2957 on Jun 14, 2021 16:56:26 GMT
Yup, I'm registered with Amazon to donate to CLIC Sargent. You're right Paul, it does add up  |
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