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Yesterday, and today to some extent, is Amazon’s Prime Day. It’s an unnecessary holiday plopped in the middle of summer by the world’s biggest company to clear out inventory and increase margins. But hey, a deal’s a deal, and this year’s Prime Day promised thousands of Amazon’s best ones. If you were actually able to get on the site without be redirected to numerous 404 – Not Found pages full of cute puppies, you might have found some deals. You most likely found a lot of duds in the process.
If you’ve delved into the depths of Prime Day before, you’re probably used to sifting through the crap to get to the quality. While deals on premium products like TVs and laptops can be prevalent, so are deals on tummy busters and cleaning supplies. 2017’s event even tried to sell a 55-gallon bottle of lube. Here’s a look at 5 of the weirdest things I found this year.
Unnecessarily Large Quantities Of Stuff
New year, same Amazon. Amazon has become notorious for peddling weirdly large amounts of products you most likely need only one of during Prime Day, and 2018 was no exception. It’s a solid strategy to help clear low-tier inventory, but it doesn’t give out the best look to shoppers who are just looking to score a deal on a new Roku streaming stick. My two favorites from this year: a 4-pack of 8 oz. bottles of Purell hand sanitizer and a 100-pack of 5×7 burlap packing pouches that position themselves as being the perfect gift vehicle for weddings or birthday parties. Just trying to think of how to use 100 of these small bags gives me anxiety.
The Sun Joe SPX3000 Pressure Joe 2030 PSI 1.76 GPM 14.5-Amp Electric Pressure Washer
Let’s be honest, how many people actually know how to use a pressure washer and/or need one on-hand for their everyday landscaping needs? I get investing in things like a snowblower or a Roomba to handle chores, but how many people actually clean their gutters or driveways more than once a year? Buying this — even with its steep discount — just seems odd. I’d be surprised if this one gets to even 30% of its full order capacity.
Sports Research Sweet Sweat Premium Waist Trimmer
Pseudo-science sells, especially when it comes to fitness and weight loss. Doling out $25 for a glorified version of Saran Wrap to induce excessive sweating seems a bit much for me, but wait, there’s more — it even includes a free sample of “sweat gel,” which I guess dehydrates you even further. Unfortunately, the fine print says to discontinue use if you develop a rash on your midsection… so I’ll stay away for now.
Four Paws Wee-Wee Pads, X-Large
This is exactly the type of item Amazon gets shit for every year when it appears next to deals on things like their Echo Dot. It’s just so… odd. First off, the name of this product is amazing, but why is it only available in XL? Does the normal size not work for big dogs? I totally get that this pad might help remedy your dog peeing indoors, but it feels a bit limiting. Puppies aren’t very predictable, so I find it hard to believe that they’ll seek out this small piece of white tarp when they’re furiously looking for a place to wee. Then again, for $27 bucks, it might be worth seeing if it will save you a floor-cleaning service.
Weird Books That Were Clearly Gathering Dust
Amazon is going back to its roots! Before it was the ecommerce behemoth slowly taking over our lives, it was a modest online bookstore. Seeing Prime Day deals on incredibly odd books seems like a full-circle moment for the online retailer. My two favorites from this year have to be Beekeeping for Dummies and Teach Yourself Henna Tattoo. On second thought, I am looking for a new hobby…
Hopefully you have better success finding some more worthwhile deals..
Image via Shutterstock
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@TaylorLaabs
@taylor1laabs
Nived can elaborate but Prime Day is just a way for Jeff to get us to sign up for prime so he can gather our information and use it against us when he’s ready to replace us with robots. And also he became the richest man in the history of the world yesterday
Folks, when you dig into the economics of automation, it tells a terrible tale. As I’ve said before about how productivity has skyrocketed the past 25 years while wages have remained flat, the silent killer isn’t immigrants, outsourcing, or poor people like the people at the top want you to believe, it’s automation and the massive investments that companies have put toward it especially after the 2008 economic downturn. They realized that they could do far more with far less amd even if prices of goods and services are valued less than they were, they can make up for that in sheer volume due to massive efficiency increases and that has been the story since. After each successive downturn, the labor market has shrunk and so have overall wages relative to the size. Money is hyper concentrated in a small pool while the population of people keeps increasing. This means that the people who once had job security, benefits, and a livable wage from one source who were replaced by automation, either couldn’t/can’t find work with their current skills, or they voluntarily took multiple “gig” jobs and lesser skilled jobs for less pay just to survive and this doesn’t even factor in software automation or AI yet. The “unemployment rate” % is extremely misleading after you delve into the details of those “new” jobs that are created. Now factor in a steady decrease in disposable income and it causes a problem even for the companies like Amazon because without consumers, they are in trouble which is why price slashes for the sake of volume is shrinking their margins and bloating their operational costs which is why their ecommerce arm of their business is still not profitable. How else does Amazon and other companies like them fuck things up for the future? For every job they create, more than 2 are eliminated due to automation and the jobs that are created by them, only a small % are high paying with high job security. There’s a reason why they are tracking their warehouse employees wrist movements and speed because one they have enough data they will automate that operation too just in the name of efficiency so that people can get their bullsbit products they probably don’t need that are paid for with credit which leads to the next problem. There’s already a huge amount of debt outstanding that is already unplayable, now factor in automation and labor loss and you have a bunch of displaced people who can’t pay their debts back and that my friends will lead to an economic collapse that will make 2008 look like a 10% Bitcoin swing on a random Tuesday lol
And that’s why you either hope for post-scarcity in the future or make sure your kid doesn’t pursue a career likely to be automated.
Post scarcity with universal basic income that increases as productivity output increases as a dividend to the people who’s tax dollars paid for such R&D on this new technology before it was dissipated to the private sector. This will only be able to work if we decouple labor with money and market value and rethink our entire societal structure by focusing on resources based means and eliminating greedy, egotistical people with highly trained attack robots lol
Also, creativity can’t be automated…yet so maybe let your kid paint whatever the fuck he wants instead of forcing him to get some shitty job to understand the value of a dollar when in reality it doesn’t have much value so that he/she can thrive in the post collapse world
It’s not all automation. I’ve eliminated 2.5 jobs with a $300 tool and a little creative thinking more than once. Sometimes people are better off not spending their day drilling holes.
Modern world* but also it’s just Amazon discounting all the shit they didn’t sell and by discounting it mentally fucking you into thinking you need it only because it’s discounted.
Otherwise known as the “poor tax.”
I have that pressure washer. I use it all the time for cleaning off the patio, generally when my kid steps in a dog mine and smears it all over my pristine concrete.
Plus the fact you can clean the driveway, front of the house, and the car all in one Saturday morning. Maybe the authors dainty little hands can’t handle a pressure washer?
Guy who sits next to me at work bought the pressure washer – he is HYPED and I am hyped for him
This comment is right below Nived’s exposé which is just fantastic. This is why I keep coming back, folks!
Came here to comment that I too own that pressure washer. It’s pretty great.
I want to start a pressure washer art collective where we all just go around with our power washers and spray giant dicks all over advertisements around our cities and let graffiti artists bring back some fucking culture around here lol
Scored a sweet roomba that’s connected to Alexa. That way it FEELS like I have found a stay-at-home trophy wife since I can yell for Alexa to clean up and things get cleaned up. In reality I’m alone in my gym shorts listening to RBP trolling bumble.
Pressure washers are completely necessary….driveway, house, deck, patio, car, brick, fence, rock. You really wouldn’t regret owning one IMO.
Gas powered pressure washer or GTFO
Underrated comment. Had to use the brother-in-laws electric one once…could have done a better job with my thumb over a normal hose.
Look at Mr. Fancy Pants over here who didn’t have the site crash on him