Is Amazon Prime to Hawaii really worth it?

[macuu222]

So you save money on tires with free shipping. But what does it cost to have 4 tires mounted and balanced here?

[leilanidude]

$10-$15 each, same as if you bought the tires from the over-priced local vendor.

[Karma96749]

I live in HPP with a HPP mail box, so I have had all my Amazon items shipped to my friend's PO. Box because I thought Amazon used USPS which will not deliver to HPP houses.
How does Amazon deliver to your house when you dont get mail delivered to your house?

Karma

[macuu222]

I believe they use Fed Ex and United Parcel Service also. And they deliver to your house. When you purchase stuff on amazon..they always ask where to send it. Use your street address. They tell you right away if it can be delivered there. If it doesn't like the address...then use the P.O.Box.

[terracore]

If you're not sure, use your street address as line 1 and your PO box as line two.

[punafish]

Lex Brodie charges for the tires, plus has a separate charge for mounting and balancing (at least that's what they told me). The tires I want are about $60 less (each) than what Lex Brodie is charging...$240 savings is nothing to sneeze at.

[Midnight Rambler]

quote:

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Originally posted by knieft

That said I have been rethinking Amazon lately. Still getting an absurd range of stuff from them, but starting to wonder if I am falling for something untoward. I used to think that Amazon was "Walmarting" Walmart, which I viewed as progress. Now with the recent unpleasantness with publishers, and the realization that it isn't just staples that are available on Amazon, but nearly every niche of esoteric merchandise as well...well, they pretty much have the potential to put every goods seller out of business. Not services, but I can _always_ find a part online, and usually from Amazon, that beats anyone selling locally.

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True, though most of what I get there is things that can't be found locally - which is quite a lot. The issue with the publisher, Hachette, was more complex than it was often presented in the media; basically, it was two types of wannabe-monopolists competing to screw each other in trying to eliminate their competitors. Amazon wanted to sell e-books for less, in order to increase its market share (a crucial thing when the book format is proprietary to the reader sold by them); Hachette wanted to sell e-books for the same price as paper ones even though they cost nothing to produce individually, since people already seem willing to pay that price (but the extra was going to them, not the authors). Neither was really the good guy there.

One important thing to keep in mind about Amazon is that their prices fluctuate constantly. You'll see this if you put something in your cart but don't buy it right away; when you check it later there will often be a notice saying "The price of item X has increased/decreased from...to..." Sometimes it's just a few cents (I have no idea why they do that), but sometimes it's quite a lot, and sometimes a low price only lasts for a day.

If you don't need something right away, there's a site called camelcamelcamel.com that tracks Amazon price information. You can set it to email you an alert when the price drops below a certain level. For example, here's one of those 4500w generators mentioned earlier; currently at $510, it started out at $650, but was down to $390 for a few days last June:
http://camelcamelcamel.com/DuroMax-MX450...B002S5PP28

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

There are occasional items that are Prime, that won't ship for free. Sometimes it is because of a hazardous material in the product that cannot be shipped by air.

If you find an item Amazon won't ship (for free or otherwise), save it for later and try again in a week or two. I've done this with laser toner, and other office supplies (usually liquids) and often enough it works. This is not just because it's a seller other than Amazon, it's for items listed as sold by Amazon.

[kalakoa]

How does Amazon deliver to your house when you dont get mail

Courier services (UPS, FedEX) deliver to any street address whether or not USPS delivery is available, even if the street address is fabricated (as in "guessed the number based on neighbors, made up a sign"). The problem is that you don't get to decide what shipping Amazon will use, despite paying for both the merchandise and the shipping.

Amazon does seem to prefer "commercial address in town", where "commercial" means "staffed front desk". I get FedEX 2-day for my non-Prime "free shipping" more often than not, and the money I pay for office rental stays right here in the community...

Sometimes it is because of a hazardous material

Other times it's completely arbitrary. If all else fails, there's always eBay -- some sellers refuse to ship to Hawaii, but most of them just drop it in the mail. Example: I needed a replacement battery (specialty type, not available locally), Amazon wouldn't do it, nor would Amazon allow any of their marketplace sellers to do it, so I found the same part on eBay for less, no shipping hassle.

[ericlp]

PunaFish,

Try costco, They beat out Lex Brodie by around 200 bucks and that was when Lex, had em on sale. Also, wait for costco's 60-80 off coupons, they seem to have them all the time.

As far as, is it worth it? Well, yes, if you buy books for college you want that stuff like yesterday. Not only are items shipped faster but usually the longer an item stays with a shipper the greater the chance of that item getting lost or damaged.

Now if I could just figure out HOW to get one of them 4x6 or 4x5 small 200 dollar trailer from Harbor Freight that says NO SHIPPING To Hawaii.

I tried Amazon and Ebay and asked about adding shipping money, no dice. and I haven't seen any on the island or on CL. But, I'll keep looking! Maybe I'll find someone to ship it out or accidentally ship it out!


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