online shopping- yet another disappointment

I have reduced online shopping almost to nil. be it quick commerce or amazon or Flipkart.

only if I don’t get it anywhere or its an emergency I order on these:

like books, siddha supplements

I have started searching for physical stores and even if I have to spend some time and money I still do it. because I am worried about what is going to happen in future.

so I don’t want to contribute to it.

this is completely my opinion. and I think we can exclude senior citizens out of this. but even they (at least the people we know do not order from the platforms)

already I read the other day, that 200 maligai kadai all over India has been shut down because of quick commerce.

more will follow. a big super market near our house in Bangalore has been shut down.

these giants are not going to let anyone survive because of their competition between them and the physical stores.

there will be a lot of job losses.

and later when only these giants are there in the market, then they will dictate. they will give what they want and we have to buy it. already in Swiggy here you don’t get most of the Indian vegetables. only exotic ones.

so the other day I was ordering on amazon and before I realised I had hit the place order, and the order was placed without going to the payment section. I was perplexed but was busy with something so ignored it and left it.

after 2 days or something received a message that your order is going to be delivered, it is cash on delivery so if you are not going to be at home, pay the money in the following link.

I thought ok, fair enough and paid much before the delivery.

so after 2 days again had to order something, and I had some time now, so was following the process. and I noticed that Amazon had defaulted my payment other cash on delivery. ok that is fine. I can go and change. but when I went to payment, I noticed a rs.10 charge extra for cash on delivery.

look at the trick. he charges rs.10 for cash on delivery then later asks you to pay upfront because we may not be at home.

so now, I am careful.

the other day wanted to order a batter packet from swiggy on the day before holi for my son in Chennai.

the charges by swiggy

item total rs.74

festive handling charges rs.8.90

small cart fee rs.15

delivery partner fee rs.30

long distance high demand rs.30

get 4.30

total to pay rs.162

for a 74 rs item, they are asking me to pay rs.162. double and more.

I did not, it looked crazy and highly punishing for me to order online.

when I am ready to pay for delivery charges even for one order, why does he need to charge a small cart fee?

this is what will happen if we are too dependent on these.

imagine now itself if this is done, in another 5 years what is going to happen?

all our money is only going to these service charges.