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It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription (slate.com)

submitted 9 months ago by AnActOfCreation@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world

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The author canceled their Amazon Prime subscription on a whim and realized they didn't really need it.
Leaving Prime meant slower shipping but the author was happy to wait and still found the selection and delivery speed satisfactory.
Many people love Prime for its fast shipping and convenience, but some readers expressed ambivalence and considered canceling.

Archive link: https://archive.ph/3M27c

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[+] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca -16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Shop local when you can,

So local strangers working to support some local guy's Maui beach house need our support instead of local strangers working to support some faraway guy's Maui Beach House?

It's all local business when their main cost is the employment of locals. Don't be a snob.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Anybody know more about this?:

I’ve heard the following sentiment & a similar stat over the years:

When you spend money locally, those dollars don’t just evaporate to some corporate headquarters across the country or around the world. Instead, they tend to stay in the community, where they’re reinvested between three and six more times. When consumers spend $100 at a chain store, only $13 stays in the local community, on average. At a local business, that number rises to a healthier $48.

I can imagine a local shop owner sponsoring the local little league team… and I know the average hole-in-the-wall donut or phở restaurant owner won’t have a beach home, and I like they have the potential to make a decent bit of dough without college degrees… but perhaps somebody’s actually analyzed this?

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In summary, I think the statement is untestable because it's so poorly confined. Basically it's something that grumpy local business owners with poor value-propositions tend to say. One of those things that sounds like it ought to be true but doesn't stand analysis.

For example, there might be a "local" store which doesn't need many employees but sells products manufatured elsewhere. It's a local store but most of your money is going elsewhere.

OTOH there might be a chain store that employs 100s of local people, and buys fresh produce from local farms. Not a local business owner but most of the money is benefiting your local community.

Additionally, local people own just as many shares in large chains as anyone else.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What an excellent point.

Have to get to know the business owners in your own community and figure it out yourself perhaps!

I suppose a study could figure out average impacts though, via random sampling? Not sure how my source had calculated it.

Additionally, local people own just as many shares in large chains as anyone else.

You mean our neighbors own stock of Wal-Mart so shopping there is beneficial that way?

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I think that saying shopping at Wal-Mart is "beneficial" might be a bit of a stretch, I just mean to say that when someone says "shop at a locally owned store so your money stays local" they're really saying "shop in my store so I get your money". What most people don't realise is that their pension plan (called super in Australia, 401k or something in US?) probably owns a bunch of shares in Wal-Mart, so you may as well shop there if you're a part owner.