[evanriley]

For me its even worse than Walmart. No matter how shitty it is, at least I know what I'm getting at there.

With Amazon its pretty much a gamble whether or not I'm getting what I actually ordered or some cheap knock-off crap.

For the entirety of quarantine I've been ordering directly from companies and its saved a lot of headache, sure theres no 2-day shipping, but I'm no longer receiving a fake Anker charger four times in a row.

[libraryatnight]

Quarantine has also taught me Amazon is just terrible at handling some stuff. I ordered a new French press from them, which came broken both times. Ordered from Crate & Barrel and it came wrapped and packaged beautifully. Special bubble wrap with creased edges for folding to the contours of the box, and a box that actually fit the product (as opposed to Amazon: "let's toss this in a box 3 times the size of the item, with 3 squares of inflated plastic. Surely nothing bad will happen as it bangs around in there.") I'll never order any glassware or glass products from Amazon again.

And before I tried Crate & Barrel I actually was making excuses for Amazon. "Well, shipping glass and ceramic is hard. I knew there was a chance it would break in shipping." Still valid concerns, but easier to stomach a bad experience when it shows they put forth effort and thought.

[wombat-man]

Yeah, I'll use them as a last resort but going to B&M retailers or even walmart online is working real well for me. Free shipping online if you spend more than a certain amount a lot of the time.