Also, I’d like to add that I have an Amazon Visa and I use it almost exclusively for all purchases (except the American Express Costco card that I use at Costco and get rebates for my gas purchases). I pay off the card each month, so no problem there. Anyway, having done some research, that Amazon Visa has one of the best ratios for an awards card. It’s 3 points on the dollar for each spent at Amazon and 1 point anywhere else. Earn only 2500 points for a free gift card. Most other point cards I’ve seen require around 5000 points to trade in for an equivalent Amazon gift cert. With all of our bills and grocery purchases, we earn a $25 gift certificate about every 1.3 months. And since Amazon seems to sell just about everything now, we can save them up and get tools or other fun purchases for free (or at least greatly reduced).

The books are still great deals. I sell books on there as well. That’s easy, and works great.

Lisa

Time cost, as I discussed here. As stretched as I was for time, the time cost was too high to make my own for most of a year.

I did price Amazon grocery once before on a few items, but I’ll have to check them out again. The 3% cash back would be a nice bonus. Right now I only get 3% on gas and convenience stores.

Benecol Smart Chews are only available online. Amazon’s Subcribe and Save service brings the price down lower than the other online sources.

There’s a particular brand of finely ground oatbran I like to use for baking. It’s really expensive at the supermaket and isn’t carried by Costco. So I get it at Amazon.

“Another point to take into consideration that *might* give Amazon Grocery the edge is taxes. In my state, most of these non-food items (diapers, soap, etc.) are taxed when you buy them at the grocery store, but tax-free when you buy them from Amazon. There’s a difference of 7.4% right there, and for me that’s what sometimes gives Amazon the edge over buying at the local supermarket.”

Eh, all depends on how honest you are come about April 15 of each year. In some states you are still supposed to declare and pay taxes for whatever you bought online but never paid sales tax for.

And to the commenter who suggested that having groceries shipped to you is not “green”, think about it. What uses more gas: 100 people driving their cars to the grocery store, or a single delivery truck making coordinated deliveries to 100 houses? I’d say in most cases it’s the latter.