I also found that I was going back to physical stores more often, which seems weird, but makes some sense too: I stopped feeling like I could trust the quality of things I was getting delivered and there are few substitutes for actually seeing goods on shelves before you buy and buying exactly the item that you looked at.
For me the "drop Prime" realization hit just after 2020 when I realized that even with everything that went on in 2020 I had nothing actually Prime "Next Day" shipped and had visited more physical stores than I had Amazon orders. In 2020. That certainly seemed a sign that I wasn't getting much value from Prime anymore on the shipping side and pushed me to re-evaluate all the other Prime benefits.
It felt interesting canceling Prime because I was an early adopter and it was a key resource for things like text books for me at that time. I realized one of the things I missed from that Amazon was how much better the eBay-like "Marketplace" orders were differentiated back then (I certainly made quite a few intentionally and it was nice knowing it was a choice between options) and it how much Amazon intentionally fuzzied and then wiped that border away and the UI treats almost all sellers the same now whether first/second party, large automated third party drop shipper, or even small "hobbiest" eBay-like shipper. In this world, physical stores seem safest again and I can see the difference between a major retailer, an overstock warehouse, a thrift store, and a flea market so much better that trying to guess based on what few tea leaves are left in the Amazon shopping experience. (Even Walmart and Target's websites aren't safe as both try to keep up with Amazon and both now have weird second and third-party relationships that are kept intentionally blurry on the websites themselves.) It's almost funny because solving that trust problem of who the seller was was one of the reasons of Amazon and Prime's early success to make online shopping feel nearly as safe as physical shopping. I appreciate the irony that I've returned to physical shopping because it is the only thing that feels safe.
> I also found that I was going back to physical stores more often
I would have mentioned this myself except that I never stopped going to physical stores. They always were, and remain, my first stop. I only go online if I can't find what I need from a local shop.
For me the "drop Prime" realization hit just after 2020 when I realized that even with everything that went on in 2020 I had nothing actually Prime "Next Day" shipped and had visited more physical stores than I had Amazon orders. In 2020. That certainly seemed a sign that I wasn't getting much value from Prime anymore on the shipping side and pushed me to re-evaluate all the other Prime benefits.
It felt interesting canceling Prime because I was an early adopter and it was a key resource for things like text books for me at that time. I realized one of the things I missed from that Amazon was how much better the eBay-like "Marketplace" orders were differentiated back then (I certainly made quite a few intentionally and it was nice knowing it was a choice between options) and it how much Amazon intentionally fuzzied and then wiped that border away and the UI treats almost all sellers the same now whether first/second party, large automated third party drop shipper, or even small "hobbiest" eBay-like shipper. In this world, physical stores seem safest again and I can see the difference between a major retailer, an overstock warehouse, a thrift store, and a flea market so much better that trying to guess based on what few tea leaves are left in the Amazon shopping experience. (Even Walmart and Target's websites aren't safe as both try to keep up with Amazon and both now have weird second and third-party relationships that are kept intentionally blurry on the websites themselves.) It's almost funny because solving that trust problem of who the seller was was one of the reasons of Amazon and Prime's early success to make online shopping feel nearly as safe as physical shopping. I appreciate the irony that I've returned to physical shopping because it is the only thing that feels safe.