The Amazon world is so convenient, it saves me ton of time…right?????

Living in an Amazon world—more now than ever—we shop without experiencing the thing we’re buying firsthand. Instead, we rely on a description and a picture (one that likely took someone hours to select from dozens).

We spend hours a week browsing, reading reviews, comparing features and prices. Once we feel satisfied, we hit buy—knowing that if we don’t like it, we can just send it back. We feel a sense of security knowing we can return it and get a refund.

Self-service shopping like this is an amazing convenience. We can do it from anywhere, anytime—on the train, in the carpool line, between meetings, during kids’ games, while watching TV. There’s no travel, no store hours, no annoying clerk who doesn’t know anything. Just frictionless shopping at your fingertips.

Here’s the thing, though: it’s still time.

While we may not have to leave our house or deal with in-store logistics, we are still spending time. I might even argue we’re spending more time shopping than we did in the pre-Amazon days.

An Experiment in “Convenience”

Take me, for example. I recently ordered groceries for delivery to our home. Super convenient, right?

I fired up the app and started shopping. About five minutes in, I realized I had spent four of those minutes scrolling through categories trying to figure out what we “needed.” I hadn’t asked anyone else in the house what they wanted. I hadn’t made a list. And this was my first time using the app, so I didn’t have any order history to pull from.

Still, for all its promised convenience, the experience wasn’t saving me time.

I finished the experiment and placed the order. The first available delivery time? Six hours from now.

Convenient? Not so much.

Honestly, I would have been better off putting one or both kids in the car, driving to the store, shopping, and being back in a little over an hour. How much time was I really saving?

I’m Not Their Market

That’s when I realized: I’m not their market.

I don’t shop like that. I shop with a kid in the cart and a half-baked list in hand. I grab what we need, and the rest I improvise.

I’m not right and they’re not wrong—it’s just not for me. While I don’t love shopping, it was more efficient for how I operate. And I feel the same way about a lot of things in today’s world.

I Don’t Want Self-Service. I Want A Guy.

I don’t want self-service. I want expertise. I want specialty. I want a guy.

Need tires? I’ve got a guy. A car? Check. Tradesmen, bankers, credit card processors, computer guys, graphic designers, golf courses—I’ve got a guy for all of them. I prefer it that way.

I like having a friendly neck to choke when there’s a problem.
I may pay more sometimes, but when you factor in the hours spent researching, comparing, reviewing… I’m pretty sure I come out ahead.

Paying a little more for the right product or service—one that fits what I actually need—saves me time.
And time, friends, is money.

Are We Headed Back to Personal Shopping?

I feel like I’m not alone here. I have a tribe—fellow humans who like buying things from people who know us, know what we like, and can make great recommendations.

If I were the only one, companies like StitchFix wouldn’t be growing like they are.

I think the pendulum is no longer swinging in the direction of impersonal self-service shopping.
I think it’s swinging back toward personal connection and trusted advisors—people who help us cut through the noise, save time, and get what we actually need.

Let’s Bring Back the Humans

If you feel like you’re spending more time researching products than enjoying them, you’re not alone. The best investment isn’t in more tech—it’s in people who get you.

Let’s bring back the humans. Let’s bring back the guy.

Are you team “I’ve got a guy” or team “I’ll just Google it”?
Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear if you’ve felt the same shift I have.