It seems that everywhere I look, everyone is talking about Amazon Prime Day, which will span 30 hours centered around July 11th, 2017. Things kick off at 9pm July 10th.
There will be sales days leading up to Prime Day as well.
Advertisement
All the news sites have been posting about it, I’ve been getting emails from Amazon – as both a customer and publisher – and I even caught some TV commercials.
What is Prime Day? It’s said to be a day full of Black-Friday-like deals for Amazon Prime subscribers.
Last year’s Prime Day was actually pretty decent. There were some tool deals, but I don’t think I took advantage of any.
I scored deals on an Amazon Echo which I have used a lot this past year, a bunch of baby stuff, a bunch of everyday stuff (e.g. garbage bags), a “special edition” version of headphones I needed for video stuff, a textbook on quantum physics that my professor always said was better than the one we were working out of (but it was out of print then), and some Star Trek atlas book thingie.
I just checked, and the current prices of some of what I bought last Prime Day are comparable or better. The prices were good at the time, and there were some great coupons – I think $10 off books, $30 off $150 or similar for using a Visa card, and a few of what I bought are still good deals.
All this hype, it makes Prime Day an event where we feel compelled to spend money.
Advertisement
And I most certainly will be buying a bunch of stuff. Hopefully there will be better tool-related deals than last year, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Most of what I bought last year was printer ink, baby wipes, diapers, and a few other non-exciting things. Some things, like the Star Trek map book thing, were completely on impulse. Others were from my wish list or things I had been planning to buy anyways, such as a baby swing.
But… Prime Day! Give it a name, and the world goes bananas. Yes, many if not all international Amazon stores are also having their own Prime Days.
Just take a look to see what I mean… Google search for Prime Day.
What to expect? Some very specific coupons, and a bunch of stuff on sale that you didn’t think about buying until you saw them on sale.
Prime Day. There’s so much hype and excitement that I find myself jaded. But… I’ll tune in anyways, half to cover it to the same [limited] extent as last year, half because there are bound to be some deals I could benefit from.
More Info(Prime Day Page)
Buy Now(Free Prime Trial)
Did you buy anything good during last year’s Amazon Prime Day?
fred
As a septuagenarian, I’m probably not part of the target audience for most Amazon shopping – perhaps with the exception of impulse buying for the grandchildren and travel books.
I too, however, do a lot of my online shopping with Amazon. I have become less enamored of Amazon Prime with each passing year. Probably, like most, I started out paying the then very modest Prime Fee to get free shipping. I watched the fees go up over the years and the shipping costs get built into Amazon base pricing. Lately, it seems that Amazon misses more of their 2-day Prime shipping dates – especially when they are the shipper. I’ve complained a few times (when I really needed on-time delivery) and gotten my Prime membership extended as compensation – but more often I find it not worth the bother. I don’t avail myself of much if any of the other Prime “benefits” – so I keep wondering what I’m paying for. Its more out of force of habit and the fact that I generally like dealing with Amazon that keeps me allowing them to automatically (another quibble of mine) renew my Prime membership.
Maybe this year’s Prime Day will surprise me and make me less of a curmudgeon for the day.
Nathan
Here’s another curmudgeon doubting it. Amazon is still good at what it does but it’s more by virtue of clout now than innovation. Having crushed the competition they are definitely not in lean, mean mode anymore.
Still better than Sears, though.
On an unrelated note, it seems that HD is clearing out the M12 LED Lantern/Flood light (2362) from in stores. It’s available for delivery for $60 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M12-12-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-LED-Lantern-2362-20/205410811) , but i’ve seen it in the clearance area in two HD stores for $35. There were still five left in my store. At $35 it’s a pretty nice deal for a good CRI work light, or even a photography or emergency hurricane light .
BonPacific
As a Millennial I agree with all your points. The core service has been getting worse and worse as they expand into more and more industries.
Bryan
On a positive Prime note, I just discovered free magazines for prime members via the Kindle App on my iPad. This Old House, Popular Mechanics and Handyman are three titles that may be of interest to the Tool Guyd community.
Stuart
Amazon has been missing “guaranteed” delivery times with me too, more on same-day items, but also on 2-day items. I was supposed to receive some camera pouches on the Sunday before the Milwaukee media event, but they were inexplicably delayed, and arrived Wednesday instead.
Instead of delivery via Amazon van, or through LaserShip – which I hate – they sent it via UPS and then USPS, presumably because it was cheaper, but it resulted in my not receiving the items in time.
LaserShip has a 9pm target for Same-Day delivery items. They’re marked as delivered, I can never find then, I complain to Amazon, and then they’re usually delivered by 11pm and left somewhere on the property. They did that the other day. One item was marked delivered by 8:50pm, and the other 8:51pm.
I’m guessing that the Amazon van drivers and LaserShip drivers are being tasked with delivering too many packages in a short period of time, but then why does Amazon “guarantee” same-day delivery?
The other day, a few other items ordered for same-day delivery showed up the next day, with no explanation as to why.
If I complain to Amazon, they’ll give me a standard “we’re sorry” email. If it’s a huge inconvenience and I complain further, they’ll extend my Prime subscription by a month. That’s what they did when I had to improvise on the Milwaukee media event trip, with a larger camera bag than I wanted to take. I thought ordering with Sunday delivery wasn’t cutting things too close.
I still order a ton from Amazon, because they carry what I want or need, the prices are competitive or better – most of the time – and because their customer service is very easy to work with.
Although I run into problems, it’s not disproportional. One part of my recent MSC order was delayed. I ordered from Zoro and something arrived damaged. I ordered from B&H and they sent me a product that was wrong due to being mislabeled. Diapers.com, now absorbed into Amazon, missed a same-day delivery with me when my son was born, and it was stuff I needed and really didn’t want to go to different stores to buy.
fred
I guess stuff happens and there is a lot more stuff being shipped now than had been in the age when we shopped at the mall. I too though have had the nonsense of them saying that an item was delivered on the promised date – only to actually get it a day or even 2 days later. I’d have more respect for them if they just fessed-up.
On a more remarkable shipment – bought from Zoro – but I suspect being dropped shipped – I was given a UPS tracking number that, when I checked close to the promised delivery date, indicated that delivery was going t be made almost diagonally across the country from where it was supposed to be. I tried alerting Zoro customer service – but the item was apparently delivered to an address outside Seattle instead of NY. Zoro was nice about putting the item back on order – but when I got the tracking info – sure enough it was going to Washington. This time Zoro customer service was able to intervene and get it redirected. I have no idea what that was all about.
ktash
Ha, that happened to me recently with Vitacost. I’m in the Eastern time zone, but they shipped it to somewhere near Seattle. I was about to go on vacation, so I told Vitacost to take it back and I’d reorder when I got back. They did that. So no vitamins sitting outside for weeks in the heat and rain :). They don’t promise 2-day shipping, though they are quick enough for me usually.
Toolfreak
I’ve found the whole Prime thing to be a joke.
Their “2-day” shipping doesn’t mean you get it within two days of ordering it, it means once they ship it, they’ll ship it using the 2-day method, whether that’s UPS 2nd day or USPS if the warehouse is close enough and the item is small enough.
I’ve ordered items that were in stock and Amazon has sat on them for over a week, then shipped it after a week and a half so it winds up being two weeks from order to receipt.
I will say that if you PAY for expedited shipping, like next day delivery, they do seem to be pretty good about getting items out that same day if you order by the deadline, and then it’s up to UPS to make it by the promised delivery time. The expedited delivery prices are substantially lower with Prime (an item that was $29.95 next day was only $8.00 next day with Prime) so if you order enough stuff next day during the year, the $99 Prime membership is certainly worth it.
ktash
So, I’ll start putting things in my basket. Like you, Stuart, I plan to get some everyday items, computer stuff, books, etc. Probably not tools, though, unless it’s a true black Friday deal. That’s when I get most things I don’t need right away.
I’m less than thrilled that Amazon bought Whole Foods. There will be a lot of specialty items they’ll probably cut out, which is the only reason I go to WF anyway. (Diagnosed allergies to some common things.) Also they have good customer service to help me find those things presently. Word is that Amazon will automate a lot of that.
I’m planning on shopping less on Amazon because of this. I don’t like what’s happening to the smaller companies, even online ones, that treat their employees well and you can get good technical advice. I tried stopping Prime when they raised the prices.
Stuart
I don’t know if there are reasons for concern yet. Look at Zappos. Amazon bought Zappos and pretty much left them alone. Their customer service is excellent. Sure, you pay full price, but the return policy and quick shipping is worth it. My “VIP” next-day shipping is a lot slower than it used to be, though.
But look at what happened to Small Parts and Diapers.com. Neither exist anymore as separate entities. Amazon bought them, and then eventually absorbed them.
Hilton
I bought an Instant Pot pressure cooker from Amazon UK and they shipped to South Africa. Probably one of my better purchases as it gets used almost every day and I’ve since bought an additional inner pot and glass lid. I too didn’t notice a whole heap of cool tool deals, either on Amazon US, UK or even DE.
KenZ
Instant Pot is the BEST! That thing gets used more than our Vitamix, which is an awesome instrument unto itself. For those stretched thin on time, and who want to eat well, and Instant Pot is a gift from the Gods. Now if I could only silence the ‘done’ alarm on it….
Stuart
Got one on my wishlist now, thanks!
ktash
Another vote for Instant Pot.
brewer
I regularly shop on Amazon however, I shopped or at lease tried to shop on the first prime day. I found it frustrating if I wanted something it sold out before I could get it in my cart. I skipped it last year and will skip it this year .
Stuart
The first Prime Day was extremely lousy, but they did things a lot differently last year. Better planning, greater quantities of sale items.
dar
right on,Hilton ,Every man & boy out there deserves to get his better half an Instant Pot… a real marriage saver…the Safety aspect is phenomenal -no more hot & smelly kitchen; no sweaty & harried cook; in my case, there would not have been a huge&nasty third degree burn on the foot, costing thou$ands in low level laser therapy . [yuk: how is the first 3 weeks of a 3rd deg burn like the first 3 yrs of marriage? no pain…but on the fourth, all h3ll breaks loose] FYI: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39058736 ‘Last summer on Amazon Prime Day,…more than 215,000 of them were snapped up in the US on that single day.’ The Instant Pot’s story began during the 2008 economic bust when Robert Wang, a laid-off Ottawa telecom engineer, made a 180-degree turn …
John
Whilst a big fan of pressure cooking I’d stuck with mum’s old 1950’s model….up until last year when the movers in Thailand lost one box…..which had the pressure cooker in it! Back home in Australia I scored a new one (less the bells and whistles) in the post christmas sales frenzy. It will have to do for now!
……what were we talking about besides cooking???
KenZ
Once you get an instant pot, you’ll never go back to an old pressure cooker. Sooooooooo easy.
Toolfreak
The first Prime day was a bust, basically a garage sale of junk they just hadn’t sold. The second was better, but still nothing really worth buying unless you got in on the very few HDTV deals.
I find it’s more of a gimmick to get people to sign up for the free Prime trial, then hope they forget to cancel the auto-renewal, so you get thousands if not tens of thousands of new Prime members, multiply that by $99 plus the stuff they bought and that’s quite a bit of money.
Amazon is great for some stuff, especially things you can’t get other places or that aren’t usually available for cheap, but I find their Prime Day, Lighning Deals, etc. petty lackluster. They may have something I want to get once in a great while, but generally I’m just happy when I find a tool or part I need at the lowest price anywhere with free shipping.
BikerDad
Amazon is now almost my last resort for online shopping. They have voluntarily teamed up with the State of Utah in order to collect sales tax. Note that Amazon has no operations in Utah.
As far as Prime Day goes, I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an Amazon Prime member. Just never saw the value. As someone who used to do real old fashioned mail order a lot back in the last century, I learned long ago to manage the time windows when ordering stuff.
Robert
I remember waiting for my X-ray glasses and sea monkies I ordered from the back of one of my old Richie Rich comic books. Seemed like an eternity checking the mail box every day after school for them to arrive.
Say what you want about Amazon but when it comes to small intricate parts like say a cooling fan for my Samsung DLP or a new bulb noone can compete with the price.
Bought a cooling fan system for the car recently that as many many dollars less than my auto parts dealers and EVEN cheaper than rock auto which blew me away.
ktash
Decoder Ring, Invisible Ink! 🙂