I’ve always enjoyed shopping a Amazon online and usually took advantage of th free shipping offer. Often the wait was longer than I wanted, but I resisted paying the $79 to get Amazon Prime and free two-day shipping.
Until this summer when I took advantage of the free month trial of Amazon Prime to get a couple of purchases more quickly. I was so pleased to be able to order things without considering the cost of fast shipping, that once the trial was done I paid the $79 fee with no regrets.
Since then I have ordered a number of things from Amazon and pretty much limited my purchases to Prime qualified ones. I like not having to come up with $25 of stuff in order to get free shipping. The least expensive item I ordered was $6.69 and I got it two days later without paying for shipping.
Of course, Prime is a good deal for Amazon. Unless you make a number a purchases, you may end up paying more for two-day shipping than is reasonable. But Amazon makes a lot more if you become a frequent buyer. I already liked the convenience and speed of buying online and now one of the barriers to online shopping, shipping charges, had been removed.
In the last few years more and more of my gift shopping takes place online – most of it at Amazon. However, my Amazon shopping has changed in the last few months. I’ve discovered new types of merchandise that I didn’t know existed before.
Large Print Books
The broad range and extraordinary depth of Amazon’s large print collection is probably the most important discovery I’ve made in the last couple of months. My brother is an avid reader but can only read large print. Local libraries have a lot of mysteries, romance, and popular fiction in large print. There is only a small smattering of non-fiction available. My brother asked for some books about Ancient Rome and I was able to find lots on them at Amazon. I just bought him an excellent quality large print paperback “Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul.” Now this book is unlikely to show up in any public library. On most book pages you can limit the format to large print and prime on the left-side navigation menu.
In case you don’t know it, new large print books are quite expensive. In fact earlier this year I bought Joe a couple of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher book from small book dealers via Amazon. The books were cast-offs from public libraries and in very good shape. They cost about $16 apiece, a bargain compared to $35 or so that brand new large print books would cost.
If Joe was younger and more savvy about technology, a Kindle was be ideal. The ability to resize text and download a wide range of books available instantly for a rather small fee is wonderful.
Grocery Subscriptions
I can’t believe that I’m on the verge of subscribing to empty calories via Amazon. After ordering several diet books, I found that Amazon sells my favorite candy, Werther’s Chewy Caramels. The item was out of stock when I found it listed on Amazon, so I set an email alert for it. Last week I got an email that offered 12 bags for only $20.94. What a bargain, local stores never sell these caramels for under $2.00 a bag. Now I’m tempted to go for a quarterly subscription to candy.
On a more serious note, the grocery has many hard to find items and bargains if you are willing to buy more than you usually would at one time.
The Goldbox Calls
From time to time I’ve looked at Goldbox items that I missed getting in on with a bit of regret. Recently I bookmarked the Goldbox and now I visit the Goldbox like some folks Twitter. It only takes a second to see if the item offered is a good deal or not.
I’m happy to say I finally scored a Goldbox item. I’m the proud owner of a Brother PT-80 P-touch Electronic Labeling System. This labeler usually costs $27.49 at Amazon, but the Goldbox price was $11.99. Of course, I already have a working P-touch 65, but this one can print time and date labels. Just think of all the nifty uses!
The MP3 Store Bonus
Because I bought something in Electronics between November 28 and December 25 that usually costs worth $25, Amazon sent me an email informing me that I have a $5 credit that I can use for Amazon MP3 music downloads. I’m so tempted to get “Cheater, Cheater.”
What’s Popular Now
This a pretty long post so I will wind up here by listing some of the most popular gifts at Amazon this holiday season.
- Samsung Touch of Color T260HD 26-Inch LCD HDTV Monitor
- Citizen Eco-Drive Men’s Chronograph Canvas Watch
- 14k Gold, Round, Diamond Stud Earrings
- Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube
- Keurig B30 Mini Personal Single-Serve Brewing System
- Il Divo
- Maxim
- Philips Sonicare FlexCare Rechargeable Sonic Toothbrush with Sanitizer
- Guitar Hero World Tour Guitar Kit The Dark Knight on Blu-ray DVD
As you can see there’s something for everyone on this list.
