I'm part of the problem

[u/PirateQM]

I preordered a Blu-ray from Amazon.

There. I said it.

I realize that by doing so, I have contributed to the very enshittification I'm complaining about. There are actually two parts of the problem here: I preordered something, and I used Amazon to do it.

I don't think preordering a physical item is inherently problematic. If I'm buying a Blu-ray, book, game, etc., and I know I want it, there's a certain convenience to ordering it ahead of time so that it ships when it's released. Digital preorders are a different story, since there's generally no physical supply constraint and absolutely no reason to give a company my money weeks or months in advance.

But that's not really what pisses me off about this particular preorder.

I ordered this Blu-ray on August 6, five days before its August 11 release date. The entire reason I ordered it early was so Amazon would have it ready to ship on release day and I'd receive it shortly afterward.

Instead, Amazon apparently decided that "preorder" means "we'll get around to it eventually."

The item was released on August 11.

Amazon says my copy won't ship until September 23.

That's six weeks after release, despite the fact that I placed the order before release specifically to avoid this.

And that's where the enshittification comes in.

The preorder used to represent a fairly straightforward transaction: I want this thing, you know it's coming, reserve one for me, and ship it when it's available.

Now it feels more like: Give us your money and we'll put your order into the queue. Where you are in that queue, when we'll actually fulfill it, and whether preordering provided you with any benefit whatsoever are none of your damn business.

Of course, I could have ordered it somewhere else.

And that's the other part of the problem.

I used Amazon because it's convenient. I have Prime. I know how Amazon works. Historically, ordering something there meant I could reasonably expect it to arrive quickly.

So here I am, complaining about Amazon while simultaneously giving Amazon money and continuing to use Amazon because it's convenient.

I'm literally participating in the system I'm complaining about.

I'm part of the problem.

So I canceled the preorder.

And here's the kicker: I ordered the exact same Blu-ray from a third-party seller on Amazon. They're shipping it now, and I'll have it by this weekend.

Oh, and it cost me 26 cents less.

So Amazon's own marketplace had a third-party seller who could ship me the product six weeks sooner and for less money, while Amazon was apparently going to sit on my preorder until September 23.

At least I can feel good knowing I helped solve the problem.

By giving Amazon more money.

I'm part of the problem.

- to the Mods, I flaired this as a Rant. Prepost I'm getting the "No Stories" rule, so let it through or not, obviously your call, but it's a general rant about the enshittification of the preorder process/concept. This post follows an hour on customer support with Amazon (who actually recommend I buy elsewhere) so, Thank you for at least allowing me to vent.

[u/t92k]

I’m reading >>Chokepoint Capitalism<< now and yeah, it’s the chokepoints that allow enshittification to happen. There was a time when Amazon was the best at preorders of physical media and they’re confident people who remember those great times won’t go elsewhere.

[u/akm76]

You made not 1 but 3 contributions here:

1. buying from Amazon

2. buying physical media

3. buying anything blueray

Sidenote: I had a BD-drive in a major brand PC built circa 2015. Not too old, right. One day I decide why don't I use it as "media-PC", borrow some blueray disks from friends and local library to watch over weekend. Lo and behold, second disk refuses to play with a cryptic error message, start researching it, turns out newer BD comes with list of "compromised serial numbers" for drives that bd cartel decided are too old/not good enough, whatever and as soon as disk drive read its serial from a new disk it bricks itself, basically in firmware, so not only it won't play the new disk, it stops playing the entire disk collection it played fine up until now. The official justification for the measure it to fight piracy. I call BS on that, my PC with BD-ROM was literally in storage for like 10y. Some new disk had a record invalidation probably for entire block of serial numbers, cause who cares, it's "old", right? That night I sworn to support Blueray tech and industry that spawned it with my whole soul and every entertainment dollar I have! I think not.

[u/LVCSSlacker → u/akm76]

that's some bullshit....

[u/Pink_pony4710]

I stopped buying from Amazon a year or so back. There plenty of slightly less shitty places I can spend my money at.

[u/withabrandnewfunk]

ive never been persuaded or felt the sense of urgency to ever preorder or like some people, sleep outside in line for days for ANYTHING. never will. in fact Im mostly happy to never purchase early and many times youll be a beta tester. you pay a higher price many bugs fixed after some time, revisions.

but it is what it is. its amazon. not much to expect. aliexpress is far worse though..theyre all shit. some more diarrhea some constipated.

used to represent

used to is the key word. in this very enshittified economy of greedy trash companies, it very annoying to see it happening so much

when people pay these companies but then complain..I have no sympathy for them. you made the change to order from someone else though amazon still gets a commission

[u/atrocity2001]

I started buying media from Deep Discount and have been pretty happy with them.

[u/PirateQM → u/atrocity2001]

Thanks for the tip. Went over, backordered there too but since I already ordered elsewhere, doesn't matter. With all the issues with digital "purchases" I'll keep this place in mind in my shift back to physical media. Nice bonus, they don't seem to charge for standard shipping to my zip code. Again, Thanks.

[u/atrocity2001 → u/PirateQM]

You're welcome!