Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts

3 Feb 2024

Crab apple jelly - NOT amateur radio

Each autumn, I try to make crab apple jelly with the crab apples on our one tree. Last autumn was pathetic. Looking around the shops, we found it impossible to buy.

In the end we turned to Amazon who had some. We ordered it and it was delivered next day. Some are dead against online shopping. There is little doubt our shopping habits are changing. Having things delivered to the door next day is very convenient!

Having used them for many years, I have never been disappointed.

28 Dec 2022

Amazon - NOT amateur radio

Amazon is like Marmite in that some are dead against Amazon and some are for the company. 

They should always treat workers well. Yes, they should pay fair taxes. In fact, perhaps all online sales should be taxed so that we are encouraged to use high street shops more?

Personally, I quite like the convenience of Amazon. Things get ordered one day and the goods usually arrive the next day. 

One day my wife went to our local chemists to buy some very ordinary nail scissors. They had none and no plans to stock any. She went on Amazon and they came next day. I cannot remember the price we paid. If you are housebound or unable to carry things a long way, the convenience of online delivery is great.

The demise of retail outlets on the high streets is sad, but our shopping habits have changed.  I just wonder what our high streets will be like in 2030. We cannot be like Canute. Change always happens. Perhaps the nature of high streets will change with more independent shops and bigger retailers offering free home delivery of goods bought in store. Also, I expect there will be more places to meet and more flats.

UPDATE 1513z:  Toilet seat broken. Ordered from Amazon after lunch yesterday. Arrived and fitted just after lunchtime today. Free return not needed.

UPDATE 1515z: Amazon has been used here for years. In all this time, I have never had things delivered to the wrong place. I have had to return things very, very infrequently. Whether from Amazon or other suppliers, my experience of shopping online has been good.

21 Sept 2022

Memory costs - NOT amateur radio

Amazon is selling Sandisk Ultra 128GB micro SD cards for £13.99. A few years ago this would have been unheard of. 

Imagine what memory will cost in 2032!

16 Jan 2022

Big brother is watching - NOT amateur radio

They must all work on algorithms, but it always seems creepy when all the emails I get from Amazon recommending new things always relate to past purchases: for example I bought an Airfix kit for a grandson, so I get recommended another. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary last year, so we get further 50th wedding anniversary stuff!

I don't mind, but I have never bought from these recommendations. My usual course is to delete these.

9 Feb 2021

Alexa - NOT amateur radio

A few months ago we bought an Amazon Dot at half price from Amazon. I bought it as it was so inexpensive: if it was no good, I would not have wasted that much.

What has surprised me is how effective the voice recognition is.  Even with my poor voice, it seems to understand me most times. When not in use we turn it off at the mains to prevent it picking up unintentional conversations. 

When it arrived it was much smaller than I expected. At first I wondered if they had only sent the PSU.  At a guess I reckon it is about 10cm across. Sound quality is much better than expected. It is very good.

You can say things like, "play BBC Radio 4" or "play a 1930s mix".

I am impressed. It is much better than I expected. My wife enjoys it even more!

12 Dec 2020

Alexa joke - NOT amateur radio

Recently, I bought an Amazon Dot with Alexa at about half price. When not in use we switch it off at the mains to prevent any data gathering.  Some are paranoid about it hearing things it shouldn't. 

It is very small.  I am very impressed, as is my wife. Even with my poor voice, it manages to recognise commands most times.

Like many, we have bought a lot on line recently. My wife ordered some Christmas cards from a well known charity a week ago. They (eventually) came today. We ordered some charity cards via Amazon and they arrived the very next day! 

We know Amazon is far from perfect, but we cannot fault them on service. We ordered some sanitiser gell yesterday. It was here before breakfast today.

This Alexa joke came to me yesterday. It made me laugh.

13 Mar 2020

Amazon and amateur radio

Amazon is a bit like the UK yeast spread Marmite: you either love it or hate it!

My wife and I really try to support local, village businesses. As our son tells us, without our trade they will just go. The local butcher does amazing bacon and the local bakers great soft rolls and pasties.

I digress. What I was going to say was that Amazon does a great range of amateur radio products and books. With Amazon Prime you can order these for next day delivery.

Our shopping habits are changing and many choose to order from the armchair and get them delivered to the door the next day. OK, we cannot browse as we can in a real shop, but returns are easy and painless.

I was saddened by our local chemist: last year my wife just wanted some nail scissors. Nothing fancy, just simple nail scissors. She was told they had no stock and were not getting any! She went on Amazon, ordered them and they were delivered promptly, for less money! If local businesses are to survive they have to stock common items at sensible prices. Many people will pay a little more to shop locally.

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/

1 Aug 2018

How do they do it? - NOT amateur radio

So this appeared in my inbox this morning. 21p with free delivery!! This is considerably cheaper than UK postage. At these prices how can anyone hope to compete?

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007OX3TJA/ref=pe_1229731_270343941_em_1p_1_ti

14 Apr 2018

Amazon Prime - NOT amateur radio

Both my wife and I have been "caught" by Amazon Prime. Neither of us wanted this service and we both cancelled immediately.

As far as I can tell, I did everything possible to avoid signing up, yet still found I had joined! To this day, I do not understand how.

Amazon must be employing some very dodgy methods to make you sign up. Unless you manually opt out they will charge your card every month. To my mind "this is not cricket" as they say here. If you want to sign up then make this clear and simple. If you do not want to sign up then it should not allow you to sign up by mistake.

28 Feb 2018

Amazon failure - NOT amateur radio

As part of my wife's Christmas presents I ordered a CD from Amazon on Nov 11th 2017. Despite many new dates it has still not arrived.

If this was a rare CD of Mongolian folk music I could understand this, but this is a very simple CD of common music. I am still struggling to understand why this should take so long.

In this time (nearly 4 months) this could have been handmade in China! At the very least "a human" (these seem in short supply) could have said they cannot get it, sorry. As it is, they are still trying to get it.

Maybe Christmas 2019?

17 Dec 2017

Ultra tiny mobile phones

Years ago I visited someone in prison and the searches on the way in were very thorough. Apparently there is a real issue with drugs and smuggled mobile phones. So, there is a ready market for mobiles phones that cannot be detected when hidden within the body.

Imagine my surprise when I could easily find such phones sold via Amazon! OK, I am sure some users just want a really tiny phone, but these are aimed, allegedly, at the illegal market in phones to be smuggled into prisons. Should these be banned?

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/J8-World-Smallest-Mobile-changer/dp/B00O586YB2/ref=pd_sim_107_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0HQM62NG9CBSKACSHZMN

12 Mar 2017

Buying books on the internet - NOT amateur radio

At Christmas, I bought my wife a lovely hardback book filled with colour photos called " English Cathedrals" by Simon Jenkins. I bought it at a Cambridge bookshop where it cost me £30.

The book was a great success so my wife wanted another copy for her brother's birthday. A quick check on Amazon where the very same hardback book was less than £9! It now retails at just over £20 on Amazon. We bought it at less than £9 and it came a few days later.

How can local bookshops survive? We are as guilty as anyone. We see a bargain and grab it.

It is sad as I love browsing bookshops. Maybe the long-term answer is a bit like John Lewis? Browse in stores and buy (increasingly) online? I do not see the future high streets, but the retail trade will change in the future: fewer shops and more cafes? Whoever gets this right will be king. Amazon now, but who will succeed in the years ahead?

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Englands-Cathedrals-Simon-Jenkins/1408706458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489312522&sr=8-1&keywords=english+cathedrals+simon+jenkins

29 Feb 2016

Morrisons via Amazon - NOT amateur radio

Morrisons is signing a deal to sell its food via Amazon in the UK. Does this spell the beginning of the end of the high street as we knew it?  I have to confess to buying quite a few things via Amazon, but never food.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35684829  .

18 Feb 2015

Internet of Things (IoT) already here

 This morning I received this email from KK4HSX saying that (certainly in the USA) Amazon is already selling wifi connected slow cookers called "Crock Pots". Not sure if this is a stateside generic term.
It's already here. Behold,the Crock Pot you can monitor and control with you phone.
http://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-Wifi-Enabled-6-Quart-Cooker-SCCPWM600-V1/dp/B00IPEO02C#