You went to one giant corporation to avoid another giant corporation. Buy directly from sellers, ideally locally. Find their own actual websites. Ask word of mouth for recommendations.
This only works if you don’t live in the middle of fucking nowhere. Buying directly from a local seller for me means Walmart or Dollar General. After a 25-minute one-way drive, I can choose from a few more big chain stores. If I’m lucky, there’s a private business that sells what I need 9a-4p, Mon-Fri for 1.5x the price anywhere else IF it’s in stock.
Recently, I needed a network switch. Walmart didn’t have any in stock, but I could order ome online and have it in 5-7 business days and pay $15 for shipping. Best Buy said they could order one and have it for me in 7-10 business days, then I could make the 50-minute round trip to pick it up. There are no other stores within a two-hour drive that might even have one in stock. Amazon had it for $10 less than WM and BB and had free shipping in 2-3 days without Prime.
I needed a switch. I can’t build one. I can’t do my job without it. I can’t afford to wait for one to appear on Craigslist. I don’t want to support any of those companies; they’re all union busters and Trump donors. What’s a person to do in that situation?
Even if you live somewhere dense, there’s so many niche things, no brick and mortar place stocks it. For my own router, I had to find one recommended by forum users a decade ago for a specific disconnect issue within the Xbox One’s internal 360 emulator. BB and WM didn’t have the known-good options. In my recent case here, it was hobby stuff that my local craft store doesn’t have at all, despite carrying similar items. And I mean my classic example is I used to dabble in LEDs before everyone was just buying mains bulbs and 12v strips. The price of a single blue 5mm LED in the hobby electronic store was the same as 100 on ebay.
newegg or something other than Amazon / Walmart. at least that’s what I try to do. find a company whose leadership is furthest away from being oligarchic shitheads (even if that’s what they aspire to be)
Newegg is just as bad as Amazon, or were the last time I bothered to try them to avoid Amazon. They burned all the good will they had with me over a decade ago.
That typically doesn’t work well for hobby and craft supplies. Limited selection at the physical stores, if there’s any at all, and there’s no individuals selling raw supplies.
You went to one giant corporation to avoid another giant corporation. Buy directly from sellers, ideally locally. Find their own actual websites. Ask word of mouth for recommendations.
This only works if you don’t live in the middle of fucking nowhere. Buying directly from a local seller for me means Walmart or Dollar General. After a 25-minute one-way drive, I can choose from a few more big chain stores. If I’m lucky, there’s a private business that sells what I need 9a-4p, Mon-Fri for 1.5x the price anywhere else IF it’s in stock.
Recently, I needed a network switch. Walmart didn’t have any in stock, but I could order ome online and have it in 5-7 business days and pay $15 for shipping. Best Buy said they could order one and have it for me in 7-10 business days, then I could make the 50-minute round trip to pick it up. There are no other stores within a two-hour drive that might even have one in stock. Amazon had it for $10 less than WM and BB and had free shipping in 2-3 days without Prime.
I needed a switch. I can’t build one. I can’t do my job without it. I can’t afford to wait for one to appear on Craigslist. I don’t want to support any of those companies; they’re all union busters and Trump donors. What’s a person to do in that situation?
Even if you live somewhere dense, there’s so many niche things, no brick and mortar place stocks it. For my own router, I had to find one recommended by forum users a decade ago for a specific disconnect issue within the Xbox One’s internal 360 emulator. BB and WM didn’t have the known-good options. In my recent case here, it was hobby stuff that my local craft store doesn’t have at all, despite carrying similar items. And I mean my classic example is I used to dabble in LEDs before everyone was just buying mains bulbs and 12v strips. The price of a single blue 5mm LED in the hobby electronic store was the same as 100 on ebay.
newegg or something other than Amazon / Walmart. at least that’s what I try to do. find a company whose leadership is furthest away from being oligarchic shitheads (even if that’s what they aspire to be)
Newegg is just as bad as Amazon, or were the last time I bothered to try them to avoid Amazon. They burned all the good will they had with me over a decade ago.
That typically doesn’t work well for hobby and craft supplies. Limited selection at the physical stores, if there’s any at all, and there’s no individuals selling raw supplies.