No, but they're consistently reasonably close to that. I'm not likely to pay drastically more on Amazon than elsewhere.
What they do have is a very large selection, which is a major benefit; I don't want to deal with eight different retailers and eight different orders when I can just hit Amazon.
At a lesser scale, this is what made department stores do so well.
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury.
Amazon's basically done the same, writ large. They can offer pretty much anything you want from a consumer standpoint at a single location.
People only care about price so now everything is built as cheap as possible, corners cut everywhere so now everything is shit.. because it needs to be cheap! It’s getting harder to find anything that seems built to last more than a year.
As scummy as Amazon might be, they’re still the only company that offers anything that resembles convenience. eBay could’ve challenged Amazon but profit over service and those in charge walking round with their head up there arse’s and now it’s a poor copy of aliexpress that seems to be 90% chinese crap in the UK! I’m not wasting an hour trawling every online store when I know Amazon has it… so what if its £3 more!
And sadly the cheap money has gone and no-one wants to offer a better Amazon because there’s money in it because… everyone wants everything cheap! 🤦♂️😞
USB switch. I have a desk with work laptop to the left, personal laptop to the right. My keyboard, mouse, and camera feed into the switch, then the switch into each laptop. With a press of a button, I can switch all my peripherals from one laptop to the other without unplugging/plugging USB connections
Buzio water bottles. I specifically love the half gallon size, but that's too big for most people, id say. But they're freaking great. Keep ice for like 2 days.
About 3ish years ago brought myself a spring assisted knife for around 14$. Its my go to for everything where a knife is needed and holds a decent edge for a month or 2.
Edit: only downside is the spine is a bit too rounded so it's not the best for striking ferro rods
Edit 2: totally forgot tis the season. There's this solid ice cream scoop that has a gel that heats up using the heat from your hand. It's one piece of metal so it should last the giftee a while. I'll find the link for you. Here it is
A keychain jewellers loupe, inexpensive but invaluable, can be used for inspect something up close, whether it's writing on computer chips to helping with mushroom identification, to identifying makers marks on old silware.
In a similar vein, cheap usb microscopes, though less versatile are incredibly useful for soldering/inspecting PCBs
In a similar vein, cheap usb microscopes, though less versatile are incredibly useful for soldering/inspecting PCBs
While I did like getting one, I have to say that in retrospect, I would have liked an auto-focus function, which low-end ones didn't have when I bought one and I assume still don't have. Unless whatever you're looking at has a very fixed height, it's kind of a pain to keep fiddling with the microscope to bring things into focus as you move an object around.
I didn’t buy this on Amazon, but the Cirkul water bottles are awesome. Cheaper overall than buying energy drinks, but much better for you, easier to swap out flavors, practically never have to wash them by design, and it keeps me way more hydrated.
Bought mine from Walmart for $20, each drink pod lasts me 3 days at $4/pod, meaning I spend about $9.33/week on average, assuming I drink as much as I do consistently. The energy drinks I like most are about $2.50/each, so that ends up with $17.5/week, and that still means I have to throw it away and find another drink for the rest of the day. This one I just refill with water.
Since the flavor strength can be adjusted with a dial, it suits pretty much anyone, and because turning the dial to 0 means just water, I can easily just switch to plain. Definitely worth the investment.
My family HAD to have these about two years ago. Everybody got their own bottle, and we got a bunch of pods, and two months later they would never be used again.