That’s me I’m talking about, unfortunately. I will take the occasion of Amazon’s Tenth Anniversary (via Glenn, but I think I would have found out about it within the next five minutes anyway) to admit publicly for the first time that “My name is Roger Simon and I am an online shopaholic!”
Just yesterday, I ordered a $392 rug for my office from Overstock.com without having the slightest clue what the damn thing looks like other than a blurry postage stamp sized photo from Bengladesh whose colors are… well, never mind, because: “My name is Roger Simon and I am online shopaholic!” [Better than alcohol or coke.-ed. Marginally.]
Somewhere Jeff Bezos is laughing.
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15 Comments
1. Fausta:I’ll drink to that out of my Amazon coffee mug, courtesy of Jeff himself.
Jul 19, 2005 - 7:22 am 2. David Thomson:Amazon.com has done much for the world. The information provided on its web site is priceless. I buy a lot of used books, VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs from Amazon. It is often astonishing how little money I spend on these items. The problems are few and far between. Delivery sometimes takes less than a week. Thanks to Jeff Bezos for all he has done for us.
Jul 19, 2005 - 8:04 am 3. Silicon valley Jim:Definitely the way to go. Lower prices than the stores, far wider selection, no trip, and, perhaps best of all, no waiting behind people who think that shopping is a recreational experience and have nothing better to do with their time than keep me from buying things by standing directly in front of what I want for ten minutes while fondling every item on the shelf, talking endlessly with the sales help, or arguing with a cashier.
God bless Jeff Bezos and the less-famous founders of Overstock, SheetMusicPlus, drugstore, Miller Hats, etc.
Jul 19, 2005 - 8:34 am 4. Dale Gribble:The internet was invented so that men can shop too.
Jul 19, 2005 - 9:14 am 5. Roger:Ah, yes Miller Hats… Haven’t been there today.
Jul 19, 2005 - 9:36 am 6. ahem:I’ve been shopping at Amazon–and other wonderful places–since day two and I’m still relatively unenlightened about the possibilities of e-commerce: I was shocked to learn a friend bought his car on line. And I was even more flabbergasted when a busy attorney told me he bought his house online based only on the realtor’s photos! What a world, what a world….
Jul 19, 2005 - 9:42 am 7. Silicon valley Jim:E-commerce has the effect of making the whole country (whole world?) into a competitive market. The effect is, I’m sure, much bigger for somebody who lives in, say, Elko, Nevada, than for somebody who lives in a major metropolitan area. Somebody in Elko probably has only one place to buy hardware, one place to buy clothes, etc. He’s buying in a monopoly market, and, therefore, probably paying a high price, whereas I, in Silicon Valley, experience competition for my money. E-commerce provides even more competition for me, with the attendant advantages of lower prices, better selection, etc.; I can only imagine what it’s like for somebody who’s nowhere near a major metropolitan area – not that there aren’t some other advantages from that.
As for Miller Hats, Roger, I’m awaiting delivery of my “Virginia” hat (style 433B) from them. It should arrive tomorrow. Check it out in the cowboy hats section (telescope hats). I’m getting it in gunmetal grey.
Jul 19, 2005 - 12:11 pm 8. Doug S.:Jeez, has it been 10 years already? Hard to believe.
I bought a little bit of stock in Amazon back when it was selling for about 1/5 of its current price. Through all the ups and downs, the wild-eyed hyper-optimism and the equally unrealistic chants of doom, I’ve always felt that the company was based on a pretty good idea, and my experience as a customer said that they were executing it pretty well. So far, so good, and I feel like my quiet confidence has been validated.
So I guess at the end of the day, I’ll leaf through a book or pop in a DVD that I bought on their site and drink a toast to Jeff B. and company. May they continue to prosper and fund my retirement!
Jul 19, 2005 - 1:07 pm 9. Knucklehead:Dale Gribble,
The internet was invented so that men can shop too.
You had to say it, dincha! You couldn’t just let us go on pretending that we were driving something, couldja! Shopping – patoouey! You just set the whole process back a decade.
Jul 19, 2005 - 1:16 pm 10. JeremyR:On the downside, though, it’s something of a case of the rich get richer. Many internet sellers only accept credit cards. If you don’t have one, or have bad credit, well, you’re out of luck. (Amazon.com does take money orders, but then you have to spend a decent amount of effort to get one).
And some websites are just impossibly slow if you don’t have broadband. Not amazon.com, but ebay is getting to be so slow these days, I can’t really use it. It takes 3-4 minutes to load the main page.
Jul 19, 2005 - 3:12 pm 11. Katherine:Amazing, how things changed.
If I am in a need of an item ñ a book, a light fixture for the house, a digital camera, window drapes, wine carafe, special single malt, even a new car, the first stop for me is always the Internet. If Amazon does not have it, then somebody else will (I have not gotten to buying cars online yet, but the information available on the Internet makes things so much easier!). I personally hate non-online shopping. Itís a waste of time.
Jul 19, 2005 - 3:23 pm 12. Terrye:I do still go to stores. In fact I just bought a book on Amazon and it has never gotten here. Now I have to try and get my money back. I should have bought it in Walmart when I went in for kitty litter.
Jul 19, 2005 - 4:35 pm 13. Dean Douthat:Roger, is there a 12 step progam available yet?
Jul 19, 2005 - 4:52 pm 14. lindenen:I’ve read that a large chunk of Ebay’s revenues comes from selling used cars over its website. Also, Amazon.com does rock.
Jul 19, 2005 - 5:02 pm 15. Syl:There are specialty shops too and online communities that frequent them. Not all internet commerce is general merchandise.
Online commerce did not meet expectations in the ’90’s and that was a big factor in the dotcom crash. It took two things before commerce reached a tipping point: easy and secure methods of payment became more centralized and the quantity of people already participating in online commerce branched out to more generalized merchandise. The people already enthusiastically buying stuff gave newbies to the ‘net and commerce a boost.
BTW, Roger, you spent way too much for that rug. I got a rug for 1.99 and the package included a table, chairs, corner stove, bed, pillows, four walls, a ceiling, and a floor.
But it was for Poser and is only virtual. My shabby apartment is real, but I spend more time in Poser than in my own living room so it’s okay.
Jul 19, 2005 - 6:23 pm