My Amazon prime is up for renewal at the new price of Ā£95. We (my wife and I) have decided to cancel. Our thinking goes as follows:
Weāve noticed in the last few years that prime items are more expensive. Iāve done a few searches for the same item only to find it a few pounds (Ā£) more expensive when logged in with prime. In reality this seems to reflect sellers adding the shipping cost into the item price for prime items. This happens ridiculously often and I feel Iām paying for the shipping twice.
Secondly, next day delivery is quite often not next day and sometimes next week (I did have one next month!).
Thirdly, I want to wean myself off Amazon purchasing reliance. All UK amazon transactions happen in the EU (to avoid tax I assume) and I do not wish to support this behaviour and want to invest into the local economy.
I will do the same. IMO, its not worth it, as far as Iām concerned. Personnally, I donāt care about next day delivery. And like you wrote, itās a bit of a sham. In my experience, the package rarely gets delivered the next day. In Canada, delivery is handled by a company I donāt like, called Intelcom.
Yes, it appears to vary greatly depending on where you live. There is an Amazon fulfillment center about 10 miles from me so I occasionally get some items like cables & ssds within a couple of hours. And common items like microwave ovens the next day. OTOH less common items take 2 or 3 days, sometimes longer.
Weāre sticking with Prime. In these inflationary times, weāre dropping a lot of things (cinema, less frequent dinner-outās, etc.) but we still need what Amazon delivers. Our family watches a lot of Prime TV, enjoy competitive prices on Amazon and certainly the selection is much wider than available in my city. Delivery is next day or later (if shipped from somewhere other than an Amazon depot), saving time/money avoiding driving to to expensive shops who often wonāt have what I want. And for the Amazon tax issue, my position is clearāif taxing authorities think they are breaking the law then prosecute to the full extent of the law, or change the law. Simple.
We have done in the past, but realise you donāt actually get to keep the films you like and they disappear quickly enough.
If only it were that simple. Iām afraid my view of politics is that Iām always trying to vote for the best of a bad lot. Politicians in the UK have been clearly seen āgiving favoursā legislatively to businessās that theyāve benefited from at a later point. Laws penalising this sort of behaviour is unlikely as the law makers are the perpetrators. In the end it falls to the citizen to vote with their feet. The simple answer for me is not to give custom to businesses that want me to pay outside the UK. Itās not convenient, but I do feel better doing so (which matters to me).
I donāt see any hint of a bad attitude in Wayneās post.
We juggle the Prime free trials and $2 offers. Occasionally weāve just paid for a month. Maybe 30 extra clicks a year to spend $2-20 or so instead of $140. Clicking trials on and off (set it to expire right after signing up) is a bit of a lifestyle, but it saves on the subscription and keeps a little friction in our spending.
Reading this, I also decided to quit. Although my sub will only run out Feb next year. When the time comes, I am curious, how much I will miss it.
I donāt think the accusation is that they break the law. It is more about voting with your $/ā¬/Ā£ to support local business instead of multinationals with a creative company structure.
Thatās OK with me. There are very few movies Iāve watched in recent years that I would want to see a second time.
And 90% of the movies I purchased in the past are now streaming for free on one service or another. Going forward I would expect to see most new movies in heavy rotation on a streaming service within a year or two of release. Top Gun Maverick has already been on Prime for about six months.
Getting a little off topic, but I assure you that there are many people in UK who are unaware of the difference between tax avoidance (which is legal) and tax evasion (which is illegal).
The claim by many people is that these multi-nationals are tax evaders. Iām confident that Amazon avoids taxes, like we all do and should do (IMHO) and are not tax evaders. If they were, they would be prosecuted, eventually. If law makers donāt like tax avoiders, then they have power to change the laws.
I also like to and do support local businesses, but in my city the competitors to Amazon are all big corporates themselves.
For us, Amazon Prime will be the last of two subscriptions to go (the other being Costco). I hate shopping and the convenience of online shopping, even if it might be more expensive, outweighs the hassle of going to a physical store hoping to find what I want. The higher credit card cashbacks pay the subscription costs for both Prime and Costco. On Amazon I use Keepa to spot lower prices on things I donāt need right away. Shipping here is always on time and occasionally even early. There is a distribution center only a couple miles away.
All the local stores here (but some restaurants) are either gone or bought up.
I understand the difference between avoidance and evasion, but cannot agree that all should avoid tax. Iād also argue that just because itās legal donāt make it right.
