Hacker News Reader

Comment by nkozyra | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if this says a lot about immediacy and consumerism. Do people go elsewhere or does time permit them to realize they don't really need/want what they were about to buy?

Impulse purchases at the click of a mouse have really changed the way I personally consume. Anyone aware of any studies on the impact of instant feedback?

View on HN

I'm not too proud to admit that a large number of my amazon purchases are low-price impulse buys. I'd imagine I'm far from alone in this.

An reason I used to use to stop that behavior in myself was "oh, it will take a few days to get here". It's difficult to use that logic these days. If one day Amazon could get it to me in an hour without extra fees I'm in trouble.

Is getting it to you in 2 hours without extra fees not good enough? I feel like we're basically there. https://primenow.amazon.com/

That's a pretty short list of US cities to make the claim 'basically there.' https://primenow.amazon.com/onboard?sourceUrl=%2F

It's too bad they haven't expanded faster - Walmart just barely rolled out their curb side pickup service where I live - if Amazon had made it here with same day delivery even just a few months ago we'd be customers for life, but as it is we'll probably stick with Walmart for groceries even when Amazon does eventually get here. (better the devil you know, etc.)

Amazon and Steam are really the only places I impulse buy.

I'm sure if you totaled up my Amazon purchases and my Steam library it's cost me thousands.

You can total up one of those here: https://steamdb.info/calculator/

I find that interesting because Amazon is a "no impulse buy zone" for me. Everything I buy there is meticulously planned. It is probably an effect of living in Hawaiʻi - shipping can kill a good deal very quickly (and Amazon, while I'm at it, you know where I live - stop telling me that the item is free to ship when it isn't!).

Amazon doesn't deliver most physical things to my (current) home, so all of my purchases are Kindle (impulse) buys. I'm guessing that for a lot of international readers the Kindle Store is the most important part of Amazon.

I'm working in Antarctica and everything takes at minimum 3-4 weeks to arrive (often 6) after ordering, so it's really taken the starch out of impulse buys.

Did you buy Minecraft by any chance? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11822993

I didn't, but it's most likely at McMurdo (the largest U.S. base on the continent).

Oh man Steam sales cause ramen dinners in our house. The Wife and I are equally guilty.

I solved this problem by putting it on the wishlist and buying everything I still want at the end of the week.

So, just for one point on a graph... I didn't really need the Star Trek salt and pepper shakers and Star Trek ice cube trays that I bought last night. If Amazon search had been down last night instead of this morning, it's a safe bet I wouldn't have bought them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com