Online Shopping- How Spoiled are We?

This Takes “Instant Gratification” to the Next Level

My ten-year-old son came to me last night and had 40 dollars of his hard-earned money in his hand. He had been looking for watches online as he had graduated from the Vtech watch we had bought him a few years ago. He wanted a “Big Boy” watch. I also told him I wasn’t going to invest in an Apple Watch until I knew he would be able to take care of it.

(Wyze Watch) media by Amazon

My son settled on an offering by Wyze, which was pretty reasonable at roughly 36 dollars. My surprise came when I placed the order at 8 PM last night, and Amazon confirmed delivery between 4 AM and 8 AM this morning. I am writing this little informatory piece at approximately 6:30 AM EST, and the watch was delivered one hour ago. That is pretty impressive, and I will never cease to be amazed.

Sure, I have received same-day delivery on several items (usually high ticket items), but I had no expectations someone would be delivering this item as early as 4 AM. Some poor delivery driver’s day begins as early as 3 AM so he can deliver my package at the crack of dawn.

What scares me is what are we teaching our kids? Thinking back to when I wanted something from my parents, I had to beg them for an item. Whether I paid for it or not, it still required my folks to take us to a store to pick something out. You had to work on them for hours or days. They would eventually relent, and off to the store, we would go. We would peruse the articles at the store and often leave with something different altogether.

media by Amazon

This reinforces what I wrote in an earlier article about Amazon being “Too Darn Convenient.” I shouldn’t be too surprised, given the number of Amazon Distribution centers being erected in the Metro Detroit area. I can think of three such centers within a 20-mile radius. Online shopping, in general, has made it too simple to order things. Don’t get me wrong; I love the convenience factor. It has also made it easier to find those hard-to-locate items. I wonder what comes next!