Economic blackout

[Rontuner]

Costco 98% Dem 2% Repub
Crest 43% Dem 57% Repub
Colgate 91% Dem 9% Repub
Tide 43% Dem 57% Repub
Arm and Hammer - company and senior employees do not dontate significant amounts
Persil 98% Dem 2% Repub
Finish 98% Dem 2% Repub

[wtg]

Yay, Costco!

[Steve Miller]

Buy Tide at Costco and break even? Buy Persil at Costco and win all around?

Does anyone use Persil? I don’t get my clothes dirty like I used to and even if it’s not quite as good as Tide I’ll bet it works fine. Your experience?

[RealPlayer]

Has anyone seen whether Friday’s no-buying effort has had any effect?

[wtg]

@Steve-Miller said in Economic blackout:

Buy Tide at Costco and break even? Buy Persil at Costco and win all around?

Does anyone use Persil? I don’t get my clothes dirty like I used to and even if it’s not quite as good as Tide I’ll bet it works fine. Your experience?

We’ve been doing Tide but will revisit Kirkland next time we buy. We used to use Kirkland and it worked fine. Not sure why we switched.

Rumor is that the German company that makes Persil makes Kirkland. Is that what you were referring to?

[wtg]

I remember why we switched. We went to powdered detergent, stopped using liquid or pods. At the time there was no KS powder. Not sure what they have now.

[ShiroKuro]

@Rontuner

Thanks!

Although I think Amazon’s donation to Trump’s inauguration find sort voids things…

[Rontuner]

Even if you don't have a Costco nearby, a membership allows you to purchase online - often more items than are available at a local Costco... $65/year?

[Steve Miller]

This post is deleted!

[wtg]

@Steve-Miller said in Economic blackout:

Maybe I don’t need them.

I’ve adopted this strategy.

[Rontuner]

I wondered about Amazon's profit sources... subscriptions, or online sales???
https://fourweekmba.com/amazon-revenue-breakdown/

[wtg]

@Rontuner That's great info. Thanks for posting it.

[Rontuner]

As for hard to find items....? I suppose if Amazon isn't the first place I go, but the last, that should make an impact.

[ShiroKuro]

@Rontuner thanks, I'll look into that.

My Amazon prime expires in April I think, so we'll keep it until then (unless I get a prorated refund?)

I already pay for prime, so taking that expenditure elsewhere makes sense. As much as I hate Walmart, I was thinking that I would prefer joining Walmart's program over staying with Amazon.

But Costco, yes, that would be much better.

@Steve-Miller

But are a lot of things I can’t get anywhere else.

Maybe I don’t need them.

Yes, this is how my thinking is going....

[ShiroKuro]

@Rontuner thanks Ron!

AWS is Amazon Web Services, which I'm pretty sure is the tech backbone for many, many university systems. I was surprised it's only <16%. Interesting.

But of course it's the online stores and third-party sellers at 65% that make up the biggest chunk.

What this chart doesn't show is that, probably the biggest reason for those sales numbers is because of those subscriptions, along with the purchase bundles non-subscribers do to get free shipping.

So without the subscriptions, people will shop elsewhere.

[wtg]

@ShiroKuro said in Economic blackout:

AWS is Amazon Web Services, which I'm pretty sure is the tech backbone for many, many university systems. I was surprised it's only <16%. Interesting.

That was my first reaction until I looked at profit.

AWS is their profit maker.

[ShiroKuro]

@wtg said in Economic blackout:

AWS is their profit maker.

Ahh... yikes, this is a good illustration of the difference bw profit and revenue, I guess.

And it explains a lot, bc when I saw that pie chart, I was very surprised.

[ShiroKuro]

I would imagine that AWS has fewer associated costs, the main costs are the tech infrastructure and the people managing the tech. Which is surely a much smaller number of people involved than sales, since product sales, require distribution logistics and people etc...

I have the impression that AWS was fully embedded as a major internet service provider before anyone even noticed.

I wonder if AWS does medical, like those "mychart" systems that hospitals and clinics use....

[pique]

Most of what I bought on Amazon I can also find on eBay--usually from the same sellers.

Otherwise, you can visit Amazon, look at the name of the seller, and then buy from them directly. It is often actually cheaper that way.

[pique]

Another option is join a local community "Buy Nothing" group. People do swaps and freebees on there. Our town has one online. Or, whenever you need something, post in your online neighborhood group what you need and see if someone local is selling it.