AMAZON ON TRIAL -- HOW I WAS JUDGED TO BE WORTH LESS THAN THE SALTED PEANUT TO BE HAD FOR THE PRICE OF A COCKTAIL*
i bank with Wells Fargo, strictly online and by phone. i shop through Amazon Prime, strictly online and by chat. i've had problems with both mega-corporations, and both mega-corporations have also treated me pretty well, all things considered. this week, Wells Fargo was the hero; Amazon, the zero.
my mail goes to a mailbox. it's just a couple of blocks from my double-wide (aka manufactured home -- this is a high-class community), but i'm homebound, disabled, don't leave the house except for the rare doctor's appointment, and i can't walk more than, say, ten feet without having to sit. heck, i can't even stand for more than a minute or two without having to lean on something.
i'm an Amazon Prime member, and i really appreciate their service. but there have been issues. on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, a big one blew up on me, one that i'd warned them about just the day before that.
my deliveries from Amazon need to come directly to my residence. if they go to my mailbox, they will sit there. i have no way to get there, except for the one time every (usually) 3 months i have an appointment with my prescription manager. then, i take a volunteer vehicle and driver to the doctor, and on the way home, they let me pick up my mail. after 3 months, it's touch-and-go as to whether it'll still be there. i found out a few months back that USPS will return mail to sender after 3 months, so i now know my time limit.
i've asked USPS to please deliver my mail directly to my home, but unless i have a letter from my doctor affirming my disability, USPS refuses. in order to get such a letter, i have to see the doctor. in order to see the doctor, i need to have medical insurance. last September, i was stripped of my Medicaid (thanks, Trump!), so i'm now completely uninsured and have to pay for doctor visits and prescriptions out of my Social Security check. at the same time, my food stamps benefit plummetted, from $149/month to $20/month.
i could go see the doctor, but that would mean paying out of my own pocket. i tried calling him and requesting that he just fax a letter to USPS, but he wants me to come in. i really should, but i have a pronounced aversion to being in public -- it's a real strain, to put it mildly. in the doctor's office, there's the doctor -- a nice elderly gentleman -- and two other people, his nurse, and an assistant; and they're all looking at me, the center of attention. i feel like an exhibit in a zoo, and i get VERY uncomfortable. i am unable to talk about any problems i may be having; instead, i assert that "everything's just fine." so i avoid it like the plague.
in addition to the social discomfort, there's the money. a doctor's visit will cost me approximately $150 -- simply to get a doctor's note to comply with USPS requirements. hence, my monthly Social Security check is less than $1,000; out of that, i must pay rent, utilities, food and household goods, and any extras. hence, that doctor's note is very expensive. consequently, USPS refuses to deliver my mail to my residence.
over the past many many months, i've contacted Amazon via Chat and spoken with many representatives. when i talk with them, i explain my situation and i request that they have their Shipping Department not ship via USPS because of their refusal to deliver to my residence. UPS, however, is perfect, as they always go to my "second side door" as indicated on my Amazon address 4-1-1, which serves as my entrance.
but there's another catch here.
i live in Central Florida. last February 14th, you'll recall, was the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and the birth of a strong gun-control and voting rights student survivor MSD activist movement. they have been mercilessly attacked by (R)s, Fox News (e.g., Laura Ingraham), and by the "tool-of-Russia" NRA. i am so anti- those groups, it ain't funny. at the MSD students' suggestion, i'm boycotting FedEx, because they service the NRA and have refused to drop them as a customer. i've therefore instructed Amazon to NOT use FedEx in delivering my orders. that's my second caveat, the first one being to NOT use USPS.
so far, Amazon has not used FedEx, which is good, but they continue to use USPS on a fairly regular basis. that means that i have to keep complaining to them and getting items either returned or rescued months after the fact. Amazon keeps refunding me my purchase prices and giving me "promotional $10 certificates" to make up for the inconveniences, but they really don't. i currently have 3 books and some other items in my mailbox, with more on the way because of Prime Day.
well, it so happens that i'm not flush with money. i survive on Social Security; i have neither investments nor savings. so i have to figure out exactly how much i can spend each month, to the penny -- literally. this month, i spent exactly enough at Amazon last Monday (Amazon Prime Day, Part One) to leave myself the amount necessary to cover my MagicJack and TYT Network bills coming due, plus the few podcasts, websites, and causes that i choose to support.
however, that estimate included a $10 promotional discount from Amazon. i contacted them BEFORE i placed my order, just to make double-sure that they'd honor the $10 credit, because it doesn't show up until you click "Order". the Chat representative assured me that it would register, so i went ahead and placed the order.
the $10 didn't register, however, so i was $10 short on my estimation on what was in my bank account. the very next morning, my MagicJack renewal bill came due.
this is the funny part. the bill was $42.51, and i had $42.41 in the bank. Wells Fargo declined payment on my Visa debit card for lack of TEN CENTS.
before i contacted Amazon that morning, i called Wells Fargo Online and spoke with Rolando, a banker. i explained the situation to him, and when i got to the part about Amazon not honoring my $10 promotional gift credit, he said AHA! you can file a claim against Amazon for the $10! so i did just that.
then, i connected with Amazon via Chat, and my 5-hour marathon Chat session began. (BTW, ALL of my Chat conversations with Amazon are in my email files; therefore, i have solid proof. and i'm polite, precise, and i don't (usually) curse, although as a rule, i love to.)
i began by asking Chris, the Chat representative, to please put ten cents into my Wells Fargo account ASAP. Chris was unable to do that; however, Amazon COULD give me a promotional $10 coupon ... another one. i explained to Chris that, while i'd appreciate that, i really just wanted ten cents ASAP so i could pay my bill and keep my phone from being disconnected that very day. plus, Amazon owed me $10.
you see, as a disabled and homebound individual, i rely on telephone service very much. without my MagicJack connection, i'd be left with only an unreliable chocolate bar -- a not-smart phone -- that i get through a government service known as Lifeline; a service, BTW, that Trump is considering ending. https://money.cnn.com/2017/11/17/technology/fcc-lifeline-poor-americans/...
Chris reiterated that Amazon couldn't do that. so i asked to speak to Chris's manager.
Bert, Chris's Manager, after another LONG discussion, offered me a $25 gift card but said no to the immediate ten cents. by then, it was getting ridiculous. i asked to speak to Bert's superior. Bert said he couldn't do that. i was incredulous -- What? i said, you're telling me i'm out of luck? i stood firm, however; eventually, Bert transferred me to HIS supervisor, Jeneth. after another long and tediously repetitive conversation, Jeneth offered me $30; again, no way on the immediate ten cents.
by that time, i was both exhausted and frustrated but still finding humor in the situation. during the many frequent pauses between my and Chris's and Bert's and Jeneth's comments, i'd been reflecting on what my time was worth -- to ME -- and estimating how much time i'd put into the various situations throughout "Operation Amazon," as i thought of it by then. it came to about 15-20 hours, plus the 5 hours of this particular marathon Chat, starting at about 4 am EST.
as to how much i'm worth an hour, i was in a feisty mood by then; i figured that my time was worth a cross between that of a high-powered attorney and a high-priced call girl -- so, about $1,000 an hour. of course, Jeneth refused that outright, but i figured there was room for negotiation. Jeneth, however, refused to negotiate.
i, in return, refused to take Jeneth's final offer -- two $10 promotional gift cards and a $30 credit on my Visa debit card, which would show up in my bank account in approximately 3-5 business days. by that point, i felt dissed mightily, treated like rubbish (politely, though); when i worked out the math in my head, it came to $50 for 25 hours of effort and frustration, not including the ongoing sideline dispute with USPS re: the required doctor's note. that works out to $2.00 per hour for my time. i'm 64, so my time is limited on this Earth; the older i get, the MORE valuable my time is, to me; not less.
[Bert, the Manager, had earlier told me that i needed to understand Amazon's limitations. i replied that, to my knowledge, Amazon founder slash CEO Jeff Bezos was worth at least $150B -- with his personal fortune increasing by some $275M per DAY, and that was the only limitation i needed to understand. also BTW, Jeff's earnings come out to approximately $2,800 per SECOND! just sayin'.]
thus, the 5-hour Chat session ended unsatisfactorily for me. i had been told, without a word being said, that i was worthless to Amazon; put side-by-side in comparison, Jeff Bezos's $150B estimated wealth trumped my request for a mere ten cents out of Amazon's $10 overcharge, and that my remaining time alive was worth no more than $48 per day, as opposed to Jeff Bezos's $275M per day. take it or leave it. i left it.
reluctant though i was, i had thought i would seek legal assistance. i posted a request to all my Facebook friends, briefly explaining that i was looking for an attorney to help me with a complaint against Amazon, that it was an emergency that needed to be addressed that very day (July 18, 2018), and that attorney's fees would be generous -- IMO, it was the principle of the thing that mattered, not the money. truth be told, money DOES matter, but damn it, so do incidentals like, e.g., dignity, empathy, and morality.
i knew that, technically, this kind of consumer complaint is considered one for Small Claims Court, but as a moral person, i was adding insult to injury. the punitive damages were uppermost in my mind, because of the great disparity in the capitalist-based morality of the system that had just shat all over me and denigrated my self-worth. America had, essentially, just informed me that, due to my financial situation, i was LESS THAN, and that Jeff Bezos, in view of his superior financial status, was not only GREATER THAN but my superior in every way that mattered to society.
after posting my brief request, i checked my email, and there was an email from Wells Fargo, informing me that my $10 claim against Amazon had been approved -- so quickly! -- and that $10 had been refunded to my bank account; all this while i was playing dueling banjoes with three tiers of Amazonians.
i was thus able to pay my MagicJack renewal fee, which i did immediately. however, i'll still be short on my TYT membership charge, which should be coming up soon; when Wells Fargo declines payment on that, i'll just have to re-enroll next month. or they'll go ahead and honor the fee. either way, i'll be charged $35 for the inevitable insufficient funds notice issued by the bank.
(i speak from experience.) so there's that extra expense, as well.
there's also my electric bill, but i just send Arcadia Power -- they use wind power for part of my energy! -- an email every month, requesting them to delay withdrawing my funds until the 3rd of the following month, when my Social Security check is deposited directly into my bank account. they're pretty good about that. and there are also a few incidental charges for the causes and podcasts that i support -- those are likely to generate additional insufficient funds notices. hey, it's expensive being poor in America!
i haven't decided what to do about those upcoming insufficient funds notices. i'm thinking that i'll just add those charges plus additional punitive damages onto what i believe Amazon owes me. i'm as worthy of human dignity as Jeff Bezos, if not more so. i admit, i don't provide jobs and livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people -- as Jeff does -- but i also don't treat my employees (or, in my case, all and sundry, friends and strangers alike) like Orwellian slaves (https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1019733561778343937)
and then receive well-publicized humanitarian awards, such as the Human Rights Campaign's 2017 Equality Award (https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-at-amazon/human-rights-campaign-hon...).
it appears that Jeff Bezos treats his LGBTQ+ employees just like everybody else. here, check it out -- first, there's a sample of Jeff's thoughts about employee treatment; then, an outsider's examination of employee working conditions; finally, a survey of 241 warehouse employees, in their own words:
1/ http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-responded-to-reports-on-amazon...
2/ https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17243026/amazon-warehouse-jobs-worker...
3/ https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/whats-it-really-like-working-for-am...
in sum, i'm throwing this case to the Court of Public Opinion. what say you, O Commonweal? have i -- Ten-Cents Short Hollis Evon Ramsey -- equal worth in society to the likes of Multi-Billionaire Jeff Bezos? more? less? please, be my jury, estimate the punitive damages that Amazon should reimburse me, if any.
i do request that you supply your reason/s for your decisions in the Comments Section, though, since i place a high value on critical thinking and would appreciate having the tools by which to judge your judgments. while i may not be worth the facetiously suggested thousand-dollars-an-hour, am i yet worth the offered two-dollars-an-hour for my time and tsuris? (tsuris = Yiddish word, https://www.momentmag.com/jewish-word-tsuris/) you decide.
* quote from "All About Eve" (1950) -- Bette Davis as Margo Channing: "I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut."
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I'm sorry that you had to go through such an unpleasant and exhausting experience. I generally have a positive outlook for humanity, but incidents such as this show people can be so thoughtless and do an incredible amount of damage from even very small acts.
I have no idea about what legal action would be advisable! Although if it was me, I would not name an overly inflated figure simply because I would want to maximise my chance of getting a speedy and somewhat satisfactory resolution. And I would most likely send Amazon a stern letter mentioning all the facts, including the time wasted unnecessarily and the great deal amount of stress caused. I'd ask them what they can do to prevent such incidents in future, and finally, you could say that you do not want to go through the further stress of pursuing legal action and that you are thus hopeful that Amazon can give satisfactory resolution to the matter.
thank you for a well-reasoned comment, Sapporo. i've done several things, and several things have happened since i first wrote this post.
first, the very next Amazon delivery, which was -- yes -- made by USPS, came directly to my residence, the very next day. i was shocked -- SHOCKED! -- when i opened the door for what i'd assumed would be a fruitless check, to see the sorely-needed supplies standing there! i immediately made use of the supplies and then contacted Amazon -- again via Chat -- to give them the positive feedback i thought they deserved. i hate complaining, and i love praising, so good news was great to impart. Ma-Luisa, the Chat representative, at first thought i was contacting Amazon to complain; she started out by apologizing. i had to interrupt her and assure her that i was one happy camper. i guess they're not used to positive feedback. too bad. when i worked, i was an office worker, and i really enjoyed giving positive feedback at every opportunity. i have a long memory, and i remember receiving positive feedback, at school, since First Grade ... literally. Miss Rang, my teacher, was about to give me an "Excellent" on an assignment; i shyly asked if i could please have a "Beautiful" instead, never having had one before; she complied :) i'm also used to getting great feedback at work, but as an Aspie, i made more enemies than friends because of my often-awkward social gaffes; so, in addition to receiving heaping amounts of praise, i also got fired a lot. i resorted to doing a lot of temp work.
i wrote this post instead of taking legal action. i decided NOT to take legal action, since it would only be a Small Claims Court case, and i would be just another number in a long line of numbers. i wanted to humanize my situation, as well as to emulate authors such as, e.g., Barbara Ehrenreich, by delineating the reality of struggling financially in America. as i said in the OP, it's damned HARD -- and expensive -- being poor in America today. you don't get loans; you get PREDATORY loans. same goes for interest rates. those of us with the least access to funds are charged the most, because poverty is seen as an exploitable weakness and the Poor seen as unworthy of financial respect. i thought the disparity between my ten-cents' ask and Jeff Bezos's $150B fortune, and the hourly breakdown side-by-side comparison, made that point rather well.
i've also made an appointment to see a Sliding-Scale Counselor at my local Community Health Center, where i'm pretty sure i'll be able to qualify for sliding-scale fees. that'll mean i'll be able to make an appointment to see my doctor for somewhere between $25 and $150 (hopefully, on the lower end). then, when i do make that appointment and see the doctor (and the two spectators), i'll bring a few print-outs of the OP and have them read it, so they'll understand my extreme level of discomfort and inability to speak freely in the doctor's examination room. this strategy ought to help me get the letter that USPS requires of me. which will eliminate THAT problem.
instead of sending a letter to Amazon, which will get lost in the mail -- or an email, which will get lost in the email -- i posted the OP on several (about 8-10) Facebook pages. i also posted the OP on my personal Facebook page, using that link as a method of communicating my story all over Twitter. i sent out one general tweet, and then i went through my Twitter followers (only around 100) and picked ones i thought would be interested in the story, and sent them a link to the post. THEN, i went through the Search function on Twitter and picked random persons and groups that i thought might be interested in the story. i even sent a tweet to the Bezos-owned Washington Post. haha. i'm nothing if not ballsy.
i've gotten exactly two constructive responses thus far -- yours, and one by a Facebook friend and fellow Aspie. on the Sam Harris Uncensored Facebook page, i got the (expected) TL;DR-type comment from someone who said the following:
"Bruh. Nobody is reading that shit. Say it in 1/10th the length or you might as well not being saying it at all, because only .01% of people who see it will read it."
i took offense at the "that shit" remark, but i wasn't surprised by it. here's what i responded:
"then i'm talking to the .01%, because i belong to FB pages where people not only read my long posts, but actually have constructive comments to make about them, after reflecting on the points raised in them.
the length of my essay is not the problem; the brevity of your attention span is."
and that is true. i used to post here at Atheist Republic, but after getting lots of TL;DR criticism, i left to do two things: (1) practice brevity on Twitter, and (2) find sites that would read -- and appreciate -- what i have to say. i'm happy to report that i've done both. when i decided to post this OP here on Atheist Republic, i was simply "testing the waters," seeing whether i'd be getting the TL;DRs (again) or striking it lucky. with you, i've struck it lucky :) however, i'm still expecting TL;DRs, if anyone else even bothers to respond.
Then I shall excuse myself first and foremost, for admitting I too wished this post was a bit more compact.
But I understand the necessity for elaborately explaining your situation. Really, humanity has plummeted in not just my country, I thought as I read it. It reminded me of my short-lived days as a cashier, to get the much needed funds between semesters. One of my workplaces was but an upstart store chain, with reasonable supervisors and policies. We addressed our clients problems even if the company policies differed. Me and my direct supervisor (a very nice and intellectual christian lady) occasionally doing so at our own expense. But it didn't matter, we were loved by the people, and recovered more than what we spent from bonuses earned for the good sales. I eventually came to such good terms with my direct supervisor, that we still keep in contact. I even ditched a slightly better temp job opportunity, to offer my helping hands when they were in dire need of any. Never regretted my decision.
Imo problem starts, when people stop accounting for other's interests and rights. Definition of a capitalistic company, alright. Profits are good and all, what they don't seem to understand, is that their policies against costumers and workers alike can actually increase their profits. You'd be surprised how many good acquaintances I have among my ex-customers, who were coming to our store out of respect for the workers, rather than overpriced goods. Something both my supervisors, and my mom's ex-boss (brilliant man) knew all too well. You can think of it as sort of marketing, if you will, I don't mind.
Regrettably, as the company grew and expanded, their initial values diminished. The aid and understanding towards their own employees has dropped significantly. They are indeed no longer considered 'human', but rather just money making machines. A sad reality, one I'm confronted any time I go to the store still run by my ex supervisor and the same old, good collective. It pains me seeing her defending her subordinates all on her own against the policies. Giving them the understanding they deserve. Most faces have changed, but those that haven't are the store's only saving grace. It is still by far the most popular store in town, despite having the highest price tags. And the only one in chain that I know of, boasting such acceptance among locals. Never heard a good word about others in the chain, never expect to. My only experiences of ever visiting them along the way, honoring my past loyalty, has only left me disgusted.
Well, it's just me rambling, really. It just pains me that personal or corporate greed gets taken as more important as humanitarian values.
a wonderful observation, Muashkis, really wonderful! maybe it's impossible to retain bonhomie, the bigger the company gets. when it turns into a corporation aka "person" under the law, it loses all humanity whatsoever. how ironic. perhaps "bigger" isn't the right way to think of it; maybe i should say "more bloated"?
your point about visiting the business to honor past loyalty leaving you disgusted is a valid one -- "disgust" is an experience of revulsion. we say that something unsatisfactory leaves a bad taste in one's mouth; the gustatory symbolism is apt, isn't it? the act of honoring past loyalty is rather an impotent one, even repulsive. it's an empty -- a hollow -- deed, done out of a sense of support and the honoring of a past commitment, but to no avail, to no respondent appreciation. all sense of humanity has gone, replaced by the mechanical -- not the human -- touch.
that goes for the employee as well as for the customer. mechanization forces the personal out of personnel slash customer contact. interaction is reduced to no more than a transaction, without the warmth that compassion and mutual respect bring to the intimacy of relationships. such a distancing of human interaction forces us into becoming intimate strangers only, without any other connection than the cold-capital transaction. why should i, the employee, give a damn about you, the customer? it's impractical. the workplace has traded intimacy for the primacy of efficiency -- everything is dependent upon the function of Time. faster is better. lingering, communing, reaching out and touching -- these acts are frowned upon, considered unnecessary and impractical.
that's it, then. we have traded intimacy for efficiency. more is more. higher production rates, higher sales rates -- that's what matters. you can call it "greed," if you wish, but it's a kind of greed that is based on meeting daily/weekly/monthly/yearly quotas, numbers on a spreadsheet. the personal touch has been effectively excised from consumerism. all that's left is blind, automated capitalism.
Unfortunately, I can only agree to your statements. Luckily, there are still individuals who spit on that notion though, creating the few islands of actual welcome, much like the ex-supervisor lady I respect. Her store is still filled with kindness and warm reception. Humanity is still there. She is doing it right, unlike some restaurants even. I'm honestly against ever going into one again, the cold, unfeeling, really mechanized greetings revolt me..
This is also what all of my ex-customers are complaining about. Many have even expressed their wish to see me back in the chain. Some have offered other working opportunities. But I just can't see myself returning there, despite the respect I feel towards the supervising lady. The profit machinery is creeping in her store regardless her best intentions and efforts. It's just plain sad to see that happen.
It's still not too mainstream in my country, but it is gradually getting worse. A local pizzeria recently opened two more places. But only the original one has retained it's quality and warmth. The two new ones I can hardly consider anything more than fast-food joints. I can understand the wish for expanding and making it more efficient, but our culture only suffers due to that. To make things worse, some recent changes in local law regarding smaller businesses have actually made it harder for individuals to start up their own private companies. They are actually required to hire professional accountants, or at the very least their services, to do the bookkeeping. One can no longer do it on his own without the certification, something Americans might find especially repulsive.
So yeah, corruption and greed. People are just blind on what they are trading in for satisfying their basal instincts. Luckily, not everyone. I just hope the sane minority won't ever die out.
EDIT: wanted to add my current solution to the problem. I smile and greet any employee I meet. Not every one responds the same, but those times someone does, makes both of our days much, much better. I'm just hoping this habit sticks on to at least some of them.
yes, as to your solution. when i talk with customer representatives, anywhere, i get personal. i've been having problems -- MAJOR problems -- with my DirecTV NOW service with AT&T. so i've been chatting with a lot of folks. so far, i've gotten one or two Twitter followers out of it! i love chatting with people on a personal level, and my favorite things to talk about are religion, politics, and cooking. well, books and films, too. and hobbies. heck, there are tons of subjects i can talk about. but religion and politics are definitely my top two. and, of course, Speculative Fiction. that's my other passion. the classic Golden Age SF of the 1930s-1960s, mostly. i'm not an expert, but i've got a wide knowledge base. and a great website -- PRESCIENCE. i used to talk about it a lot here on Atheist Republic, but it's too much like advertising a product, so i don't do that anymore.
anyway, out of the months of Amazon chatting i've been involved in, only once have i met up with a representative that i had a hard time with. so i actually did provide negative feedback about her. by name. i ALWAYS fill out the after-surveys, and i always add personal commentary, using the representatives' names, so they can be ID'd and get credit. with the negative-feedback rep, i provided the feedback directly to her Manager's Supervisor. i was very specific. it wasn't personal; it was -- like the Godfather would say -- just business.
99% of the time, my chats end very nicely, with thanks on both sides. my reps usually remark that it was very pleasant talking with me. i try to make it easy for them, and i am usually friendly, chatty, and funny. that percentage is not an exaggeration. as a former temp, i've worked many types of jobs; on more than one occasion, i've worked as a receptionist, handling phones. back in 1983, i was working as a typist for an insurance company in Houston. after Hurricane Alicia, i worked the Reception Desk and answered LOTS of frantic phone calls. many people cursed and yelled. the more they did, the more i smiled. i empathized with them and understood their panic and anger, and i was usually able to calm them down, but i was never hostile to them in return. when i wasn't able to appease them, i just took messages with their information. but when i was able to soothe them down, it was wonderful. we both felt much better. good deeds make for good days.
the love of money is nothing when compared to the pure joy of happiness in living well. every day, i count my great good fortune that i'm not a Trump, that i have indoor plumbing, electricity, and A/C, and that i eat well (because i'm a darned good cook). and, yes, i hope the habit sticks on to some of the folks with whom i interact.
I apologize that I did not make it all the way through your post. (I am so busy these days I do not get to spend nearly as much time as I would like on these boards.)
It is a sad and scary fact, that in the US and many other places in the world, that a comedians line of:
"If you are rich, you get paid to be rich, if you are poor you get charged for being poor."
With the US increasingly being an extreme example of this.
One small money saving tip that jumped out at me, is: there are free versions of the service that magic jack offers. I assume you have your own internet access in your home that is mostly unlimited, (as you are posting here and ordering on amazon.) It does require a bit more computer knowledge then the more simple magic jack, but it seems very manageable to you based on the knowledge and awareness you showed in your post.
If you happen to live in the part of florida that is near an amazon distribution center, they have amazon now service, where you can get things within a few hours of ordering them, and there is no usps or fedex, it is amazon employees or regular drivers that do the package delivery, and they have no problem leaving things on your doorstep if you arrange it ahead of time.
Walmart also has within a few hours delivery done by their employees. Sadly, and obviously of important note, these services do cost more then standard delivery options. (I am not sure how much, I have not used them.) Sounds like your latest situation, amazon/usps finally came through for ya, hopefully it stays that way.
Lots of other ideas on solutions come to mind, but I am guessing you already tried/explored most of them. (And might have said so in your post I was not able to read all the way through.)
so, Logic, tell me what part of my post you haven't read. haha -- that's just my way of getting you to finish what you started. if you ever saw the film AMADEUS, i'll remind you what Mozart said to Salieri, when the latter complained that Mozart used "too many notes" -- please tell me which ones were too many, and i'll take them out. just paraphrasing, but you get the idea, i'm sure.
thanks for the suggestions. i'm not at all computer-savvy. every skill i own came at the result of much-spilled blood, i assure you. for groceries, i use Instacart online. i order online and they do the shopping and delivery. yes, it costs me, but it's well worth it. shopping is my most dreaded out-in-public activity, and i gladly pay for the privilege to avoid it and have it done for me. besides, my Instacart shoppers are much better at grocery-shopping than am i. also, by using Instacart, i have a record at my fingertips of every shopping trip, so i can reorder, i don't forget things, etc. Instacart is all kinds of good. (also, one of the stores they shop for me is a liquor store! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!")
btw, i love the comedian's quotes; they're right-on. and don't you think the ten cents v. $150B dichotomy is so ironic? Amazon would rather gift me $50, later, than ten cents, now. but MY time is only worth $2/hr. v. Jeff Bezos's time, worth $2,800/second! it boggles the mind. personally, i believe that MY mind is worth WAY more than Jeff Bezos's mind. he has a better business model; that's all. it's a virtue question -- quality v. quantity.
Sorry I did not get back to your post until now.
Read it in full.
To me this case goes right to the core of what I consider one of the largest if not the largest issue the US faces right now. Equality. In this country the level of freedoms you enjoy, power you have is in so many ways directly tied to how much money you have. And money you have is increasingly a very strong factor closely related to the amount of money and wealth your parents and grandparents have/had that afford you the opportunity of how much money you can make, or in more direct cases, have purely direct form from: gifted/willed money.
In simple terms, no you do not have the anywhere near close to equal worth to Jeff Bezos. Not close in an obviously monetary sense, but also in just about every other sense. Not because Bezos is better than you somehow and deserves greater rights than you, but simply because he is far richer than you. Just look at how many cities around the country are willing to write Bezos multi billion dollar checks just to get him to decide to build HQ2 in their city.
As an imaginary jury of one, after listening to your side of the story only.
- I do believe you but in a real world scenario I would also hear the argument of the other side (if any) before I pass verdict and award damages. -
I award you $1,000 for your time and suffering, and another $10000 for the public service of bring this case to the court and to cover for legal fees, (the left over funds as a reward for bring this matter successfully to court where it can be decided by a jury of peers on what is fair, rather than they typical corporate titan crushing you and others in similar situations under foot.) I as a jury of one, further demand that Amazon Immediately create a highly accessible and useful program that allows those that feel they have special request to have it honored and enforced upon their shipping partners of which Amazon holds powerful influence over. I also demand that amazon has accountability for honoring coupons, of which when a coupon is not honored, funds are made to correct the error made immediately.
I may be dating my self here, but I have seen it, but it was well over 20 years ago I only vaguely recall the movie, I actually should take the time to see this excellent movie through my now more mature adult eyes as it is my understanding it is an excellent movie.
This plus all your work and effort is a good thing, so much effort on your part to make it all work, makes it much easier for me to consider you done everything in your power to try to help and fix your own situation, and you ask for handouts from no one.
Jeff Bezos is no genius in my mind, perhaps a savvy business mind, but he more or less lucked out in my mind, he saw a powerful new communication tool (the internet) for what it was, and got in early on this new tool as a way to do business, I doubt even he ever saw the level that amazon would grow to. (He did start off just selling books.) He then surrounded him self with great minds and took every opportunity to allow it to grow. Bezos probably surpassed 160 billion now, in just a few short weeks, as Amazon stock continues to do very well on the markets as Amazon surpassed market expectations on revenue and profits in their latest quarterly filings.
I rambled on for long enough I will stop here :)
muchas gracias for your verdict, O Logic! IMO, you could have "rambled on" for much longer, because you addressed many of the points in my OP. it was music to my ears. of course, the fact that you agreed with me was really nice, but it's your reasons for doing so that i appreciate.
i'm particularly bothered by Mr. Bezos's treatment of his Fulfillment Center employees. the kind of atmosphere created in that kind of environment is evocative of Arbeit Macht Frei, but not so much emphasis on the Frei part. it's more like "just another brick in the wall" with the bonhomie of a Birkenau factory floor. i think that even Winston Smith had better working conditions in Orwell's 1984 -- even though the author never specifically said so, i'd guess that Smith and his coworkers got at least as much time for bathroom breaks as they did for the Two-Minute Hate sessions. if that hadn't been the case, i suspect that Orwell would've mentioned that fact. but in the Amazon Fulfillment Centers of today, every room is Room 101 -- without the hungry rats, perhaps, but with the constant surveillance and strict policing. they've got "i've got you covered" down to a precise Science ... with no room for Art at all.
and thanks for the generous damages. of course, i immediately cut it in half, for the government's "take" -- or should i say, their "vig"? plus, that kind of a windfall would play havoc with my Social Security. i've always understood that, if i were to get any award at all, it would end up doing the exact opposite of benefiting me in the government's eyes. rather, i would become a Target, ripe for audit and eligible for a major reduction in monthly payments. look at what happened to poor Stella Liebeck when she asked McDonald's to help her out with her hospital bills, after her injuries suffered when she spilled hot McDonald's coffee on herself. if you think you're familiar with that case but you haven't seen the documentary, Hot Coffee, or otherwise read up on the reality of the matter, you have no idea what that woman -- and her family -- went through, and how McDonald's -- and Big Business, in general -- was able to use her case as an attack against excessive damages (in THEIR opinions) awarded by juries, and as a motivating factor for tort reform that benefited the large corporation at the expense of the individual victim thereof.
to use your quote, i've "rambled on for long enough" -- i could go on and on, ad nauseam. i'll end by saying that in our society, one is judged not by the content of one's character but by the extent of one's financial worth, and that's NOT a Good Thing. not because i dislike money -- i like it just fine -- but because i value virtue and morality more. there is as much to be contemplated in the term "Noble Savage" as there is in the term "Useful Idiot" -- one of those two is our POTUS, the other is a conquered People who had the sophistication to understand that land ownership is less a personal right than a shared value. the Indigenes caretook a beautiful country; look at what the Donald Trumps and Scott Pruitts have turned it into.
Why not cancel the TYT subscription... before you get charged the $35 fee?
it squeaked through. i live on the edge ... sort of.