People should check again. After I decided to avoid Amazon, I’m surprised by how many things are cheaper and/or better quality at my local stores. I think Amazons reputation for lowest prices is less true every year.
Yes, sometimes Amazon is cheaper. But one reason I quit amazon was because, even when it’s cheaper, I got so much counterfeit and super low quality disposable junk.
Seriously, take another look at your local stores. I suspect many people aren’t and are just making assumptions. I was surprised to find my local pet store offers free delivery, and literally everything at my local mom and pop hardware store is cheaper and better quality.
Local hardware stores are a must. And if you find a good one where they know what they're talking about you can get a lot of great advice depending on the project you're working on.
Did they ever have a reputation for lowest price? I assumed I was paying more for the convenience of not having to go to 5 different dollar stores to find the thing I need.
Try using them as a reference guide instead of buying from them. I find what I'm looking for rhen loom up the products own website.
A couple extra steps but it's not like I'm out hunting and gathering, I'm in air conditioning and chair or taking a huge dump.
I'm sure most people here don't remember when power strips and HDMI cables were $40 and coin batteries were like $15 each pre inflation because stores wanted to make money on them. We could only read, listen to, and watch what our local stores decided to stock and most things didn't have reviews. If we needed a new power adapter for that one device with a special shaped connector, too bad. It's literally impossible to buy it.