Amazon mini-rant

[Paul F Franklin]

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, I admit. I like the selection and the quick delivery. The reviews are often helpful as long as you read between the lines a bit.

What I don't get are the "we found an item we think you might like" emails. Say I've bought a left handed hammer, or a muffler bearing, or an insta-pot or whatever. Over the next few days and weeks, I will invariably get suggestions for a different brand/size/color, etc., of each of the above items. Usually multiple times.

What are the chances, having bought a muffler bearing, that I'm in the market for another one? I can understand if the item is a consumable, like rubber gloves, or baking powder, or the like. But how many people buy multiple insta-pots?

I quickly got to the point where I just delete those emails without even opening them; how can that be effective for the big A?

Not talking about things I looked at but didn't buy; these are items I actually purchased.

<EOR>

[Chris Schoenthal]

Interesting, my wife and I have been Prime members for years and do a whole lot of browsing and buying from Amazon.
There must be a setting somewhere that I opted out of those early on, as I don't even get emails about the items I've looked at.
Rockler however, is a different story.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Like Chris, we have been Amazon Prime members since early on and don't receive those emails. Check your account setup maybe?

[Jim Koepke]

One of the on line retail sellers of clothes always sends me a special order code for as much as 25% off on my next order after my order is shipped.

Most of the time my purchase is configured to qualify for free shipping so the discount isn't that big of a deal. One of my thoughs is to purchase a single item before making a big order to see if they will send me a discount code for my next order.

jtk

[Günter VögelBerg]

I get none of those from amazon.

What gets me, however, is if I google one thing I see ads for it for months, and then if I buy something google cannot employ its machine learning to understand that I have already bought that exact item and it is not something I am likely to buy again. A week ago I bought a replacement edge guide for my circular saw. I now see ads for edge guides for circular saws all day. Can they really not understand that I a) bought it already and b) do not want to buy another and c) bought one for a Makita saw so there is no reason to show them to me for Bosch and Dewalt and Milwaukee saws? There are so many data points that can easily be interpreted to arrive at some logical conclusions here.

[Brett Luna]

Paul,

You can elect to receive all/some/none of Amazon's promotional e-mails. Go to Your Account and under Communication and content, select Communication preferences. Under Promotional Emails, you can choose the specific kinds of marketing you wish to receive or opt out completely.

[Mike Henderson]

I receive those emails and don't mind. I learn about options that I wasn't familiar with. After looking at them, I usually delete them, but occasionally buy.

Mike

[Doug Garson]

The emails that bug me are the requests to rate a purchase before I have received it. That reminds me of my other pet peeve is people who rate a product before they have used it. They give it 5 stars because it was delivered on time.

[Paul F Franklin]

It had occurred to me to check amazon preferences but I never did it...I've now updated communications preferences, so that should help. Too bad in a way, I wouldn't mind getting useful suggestions, just not stupid and repetitious ones.

Thanks all!

[Bill Carey]

The emails that bug me are the requests to rate a purchase before I have received it. That reminds me of my other pet peeve is people who rate a product before they have used it. They give it 5 stars because it was delivered on time.

My favorites are the Q&A. Someone will ask Will this get the BBQ sauce off my 3 wood? And they answer Sorry, I don't eat BBQ. Or Sorry, I only use my hybrid. Who has that much time on their hands to go looking for questions they can not answer??

[Günter VögelBerg]

My favorites are the Q&A. Someone will ask Will this get the BBQ sauce off my 3 wood? And they answer Sorry, I don't eat BBQ. Or Sorry, I only use my hybrid. Who has that much time on their hands to go looking for questions they can not answer??

I think the questions are emailed out. I have received emails like "Can you answer...'s question?"

And I think the people replying do not really understand how the internet works and think an answer is expected of them even if their answer is not helpful.

Also, how DO you get bbq sauce off a 3 wood? I have been looking for something for ages. That famous daves is killing my club head speed.

[Jim Koepke]

What gets me, however, is if I google one thing I see ads for it for months, and then if I buy something google cannot employ its machine learning to understand that I have already bought that exact item and it is not something I am likely to buy again.

Maybe we should be thankful of Artificial Intelligence still being of lesser intelligence. With a few more improvements it might be able to convince us to buy or do things that are not really to our personal advantage.

One of the fears some have against AI is if it becomes self aware it may see the human race as competition.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Another frightening thought…

AI = Amazon Intelligence?

jtk

[Barry McFadden]

I love it when I am searching for a present for my wife and the next time either one of us uses the computer there are adds all over the place for that item!!!

[Matt Day]

If you read the emails, they’ve done their job.

[Brian Elfert]

The emails that bug me are the requests to rate a purchase before I have received it. That reminds me of my other pet peeve is people who rate a product before they have used it. They give it 5 stars because it was delivered on time.

Even worse is when the item is a day late or arrives broken and they give the item a one star review. Late arrival or being DOA has no bearing on if the item is a good item or not.

People seem to get pretty upset at an item being a day later than the seller said it would arrive. It wasn't all that long that ground or USPS they couldn't tell you which day your item would arrive. I believe package tracking has only been around maybe 25 years with any sort of real time tracking for maybe 20 years.

I have a package due to be shipped overnight as soon as the item is made. I will be upset if that doesn't arrive overnight as I paid a lot of money for overnight shipping. It is a part for an RV so I can take a trip next week. It only broke recently.

[Doug Garson]

:cool::cool:
I think the questions are emailed out. I have received emails like "Can you answer...'s question?"

And I think the people replying do not really understand how the internet works and think an answer is expected of them even if their answer is not helpful.

Also, how DO you get bbq sauce off a 3 wood? I have been looking for something for ages. That famous daves is killing my club head speed.
I gotta ask how did you get BBQ sauce ​on a 3 wood? I always use a sandwedge around the BBQ. :p

[Doug Garson]

Even worse is when the item is a day late or arrives broken and they give the item a one star review. Late arrival or being DOA has no bearing on if the item is a good item or not.

People seem to get pretty upset at an item being a day later than the seller said it would arrive. It wasn't all that long that ground or USPS they couldn't tell you which day your item would arrive. I believe package tracking has only been around maybe 25 years with any sort of real time tracking for maybe 20 years.

I have a package due to be shipped overnight as soon as the item is made. I will be upset if that doesn't arrive overnight as I paid a lot of money for overnight shipping. It is a part for an RV so I can take a trip next week. It only broke recently.
Yeah, too many people review the buying experience rather than the actual product.

[Bill Carey]

:cool::cool:
I gotta ask how did you get BBQ sauce ​on a 3 wood? I always use a sandwedge around the BBQ. :p


groan..............actually, I was just ribbin ya............

[Doug Garson]

[QUOTE=Doug Garson;2946205]:cool::cool:
I gotta ask how did you get BBQ sauce ​on a 3 wood? I always use a sandwedge around the BBQ. :p[/QUOTE


groan..............actually, I was just ribbin ya............
OK BBQ sauce on ribs I understand.

[Paul F Franklin]

Doug: Double groan! But in a good way....

[Stephen Tashiro]

I think using gmail entitles Google to read the content of your emails. Anyone notice a correlation between what you email about and what Google wants to sell you?

[James Waldron]

[snip]

One of the fears some have against AI is if it becomes self aware it may see the human race as competition.

jtk

Not to worry! Any AI that becomes aware will quickly recognize that we are not able to keep up and are totally not competition. We'll soon be left in the dust.

While AI systems are continuously learning, much of the human race remains proudly ignorant and perversely unwilling to learn anything new.

The real question is whether - or not - AI will find us worth keeping around once we've been left behind. What can we offer AI to justify keeping us around?

[Bill Carey]

................ What can we offer AI to justify keeping us around?

comic relief

[Bruce Wrenn]

In Fire Fox, go to History, and erase last hours worth after doing anything on Amazon. Gets rid of the cookies that tell them your computer is connected to the internet.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Web beacons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_beacon

[Chuck Wintle]

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, I admit. I like the selection and the quick delivery. The reviews are often helpful as long as you read between the lines a bit.

What I don't get are the "we found an item we think you might like" emails. Say I've bought a left handed hammer, or a muffler bearing, or an insta-pot or whatever. Over the next few days and weeks, I will invariably get suggestions for a different brand/size/color, etc., of each of the above items. Usually multiple times.

What are the chances, having bought a muffler bearing, that I'm in the market for another one? I can understand if the item is a consumable, like rubber gloves, or baking powder, or the like. But how many people buy multiple insta-pots?

I quickly got to the point where I just delete those emails without even opening them; how can that be effective for the big A?

Not talking about things I looked at but didn't buy; these are items I actually purchased.

<EOR>

If you use an email client it can be trained to send those unwanted emails to the junk folder. you will never need to deal with them.

[Günter VögelBerg]

Yeah, too many people review the buying experience rather than the actual product.

Reminds me of the time I watched Phil Mickelsen hit a ball that rolled under a hot dog cart. The hot dog cart was ruled a movable impediment and several people picked it up and carried it away.

[Bert Kemp]

I can't use Amazon at all. Many years ago I applied for and received an amazon credit card used it for a while then decided not yo use it anymore and the card was thrown in a draw and eventually disappeared. Then one time when ordering stuff from them they asked for the usual security password and ID which I put in the I get this new this they ask as an extra layer of security they want the last 4 numbers of my credit card well thats long gone and theres noway around it so I called them and they fixed it but after a few months it was happening again so now I just buy off ebay much easier and most the time cheaper.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Not to worry! Any AI that becomes aware will quickly recognize that we are not able to keep up and are totally not competition. We'll soon be left in the dust.

While AI systems are continuously learning, much of the human race remains proudly ignorant and perversely unwilling to learn anything new.

The real question is whether - or not - AI will find us worth keeping around once we've been left behind. What can we offer AI to justify keeping us around?

In mid-read of Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow (by Yuval Noah Harari). It has a very scholarly feel to it, so it is a tough read (slow). Available even on AMAZON!!;) I highly recommend his 1st book Sapiens.

He postulates that humans are busy incorporating AI into our physical and mental processes even as we type here, so we are creating the title beings, 'God-Man'. He makes an interesting point, extrapolating that man's historical treatment of any species/culture we consider inferior does not bode well for the future of mere Homo Sapiens. (...I'll let you know how we fare :):( when I finish!)

[Doug Garson]

Yeah, too many people review the buying experience rather than the actual product.


Reminds me of the time I watched Phil Mickelsen hit a ball that rolled under a hot dog cart. The hot dog cart was ruled a movable impediment and several people picked it up and carried it away.
OK, I need some help in understanding the connection.