it's official: Amazon to tax Hawaii consumers

[kalakoa]

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...ded-charge

I am offended by this oft-repeated sentiment:

"It's leveling the playing field, especially for brick-and-mortar stores," Yamaki said. "When you're buying from Amazon, you're not buying from the aunties and uncles who actually work in the retail stores..."

If those "aunties and uncles" actually had what I needed in stock ... if they weren't charging "island price" at double (or triple) ... I wouldn't bother with Amazon in the first place.

[randomq]

If you can't afford island price, you're obviously not growing enough pakalolo. Don't be lazy, put some more money into our economy.

[Norm]

Kalakoa: I agree with you . I order items not on Island also.The economy hear leans to the tourism and stores can not afford the cost of shipping items to Hawaii.While waiting to sell them to local;s

[bluesboy]

it will still be cheaper (and more convenient) to order on amazon.

[knieft]

I wonder if everyone has explored the amazon option of subscriptions called subscribe and save. An item or list of items can be maintained that is repeatedly ordered on a specific time interval (monthly to every six months). Any item eligible gets a 5% discount. Five or more items gets 15%. Sometimes initially attractive prices go up (sometimes down), but it is easy manage your list to keep it over 5 items. Sometimes its worth it to add some very inexpensive items (toothpaste, whatever) in order to get to the 15% threshold. We have two going: one is every three months with things like olive oil, coconut oil, etc, and another goes to my loved ones work office each month.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/...=200902190

Another option is the amazon credit cards. One is like any other card with cash back percents that vary (it is high at 5% for amazon purchases right now but will likely go back down soon). Another is kind of a virtual card that offers 5% cash back only on amazon purchases. After the first bill is paid, it is easy to set up an auto payment from a checking account.

http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning...101449508/

You've probably seen the "your price could be $5 instead of $75" or some such. I always ignored it as spam, but besides the initial credit, adding the 5% to a 15% subscribe and save, on top of the usual amazon low prices, would more than make up for the Hawaii sales tax.

(Sorry if this is all common knowledge, but who knows who knows?)

Cheers,
Kirt

[BillyB]

Epson Ink is cheaper at Office Max than Amazon. Lincoln welding wire is cheaper at Home Depot. Pecan Log Rolls, well you order them in or you do without. The Plebeians must still be hunters and gathers if you want to survive.

[knieft]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BillyB

Epson Ink is cheaper at Office Max than Amazon. Lincoln welding wire is cheaper at Home Depot. Pecan Log Rolls, well you order them in or you do without. The Plebeians must still be hunters and gathers if you want to survive.

---

"Epson Ink" is a pretty wide arc but checking the first item that came up on amazon...yielded:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/72...ite-Ultra/

https://www.amazon.com/Epson-DURABrite-T...003LD5QIE/

Cheers,
Kirt

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Just placed my first taxable Amazon order:

<27.39> Deducted because I qualified for free shipping
+1.16 Added for tax

I can live with that.

You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Amazon is making a bid directly to mega-corporations to sell products designed for direct shipping to your door. Once they take over the world of consumer products, we better hope they still offer free shipping to Hawaii:

Amazon Wants Cheerios, Oreos and Other Brands to Bypass Wal-Mart
The online giant has invited Mondelez, General Mills and others to its headquarters to persuade them it's time to sell directly to online shoppers.

Laundry detergent could come in sturdier, leak-proof containers... cookies, crackers and cereal could be packed in durable, unadorned boxes. Plants could spit out products for individuals rather than trucks-full of inventory. It's unclear who would handle the shipping, though Amazon offers a range of fulfillment services. The company declined to comment.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-wal-mart

You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.

[VancouverIslander]

Paying GET is no big burden. If that makes goods online uncompetitive, they weren't competitive in the first place.

Me ka ha`aha`a,
Mike