The IoT has arrived - Presenting the Amazon Dash Button

Yeah, just wait till your kids find it and the next morning there is 55 rolls of toilet paper outside your front door.

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Why would you want to have these things all over your house? Seriously

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Actually...I could see these being quite useful. Not for everything, obviously, as it would be absurd to have like 200 of them, but a few frequently used items would be nice. Combine this with their eventual 1-2 hour drone delivery and I'm never going to a grocery store again

I could easily see using these for detergent, cat/dog food, cat litter, and diapers/wipes. It would get kind of ridiculous having one for every toiletry, especially if you have a significant other using completely different brands. A more practical solution would be Amazon Echo integration, even on your phone. I believe you can already use the echo to order shite, so it would make sense to have that capability in the Amazon app, set up a gesture to instantly activate amazon echo, tell it "need more men's deodorant" and it auto-orders (or adds to cart, depending on your preference) a pre-selected item under the command "men's deodorant." Dedicated amazon-centric hardware like the Fire products and Echo don't reach enough consumers.

But of course, the primary point of these dash buttons is essentially to sell ads. I imagine a gilette dash button isn't gonna order anything but gilette products. Likewise for Tide, etc. I don't use Tide, but a lazy consumer like myself might switch to Tide if this free magic button takes all of the thought and energy out of buying detergent.

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Actually...I could see these being quite useful. Not for everything, obviously, as it would be absurd to have like 200 of them, but a few frequently used items would be nice.

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I think that's exactly the weakness of the idea. You won't have 200 of the things, or even more than a handful, so it doesn't really solve a problem. I guess it will make people feel warms and fuzzies for Amazon when they push that button every month or two when they run out of detergent, but this seems like just a tiny stepping stone to a more generalized voice solution.

Anyone that is considering buying this should first look into doing Subscribe and Save at Amazon. It just takes a few minutes to project your usage of certain products i.e. toilet paper, paper towels, detergent, etc.

The only thing that I can put on subscribe and save is pet food. Everything else in the house is not really used consistently enough. I think Amazon is also realizing that a lot of consumers are averse to the idea of subscriptions, regardless of how easy it is to cancel and adjust them. It's an inherent commitment phobia that a lot of humans possess, plus general jadedness from years and years of seeing companies use the subscription model in a less honest way.

I do like Subscribe and Save for certain things I can't reliably find at stores and that are usually cheaper at Amazon, like Closys mouthwash. For bulky stuff, I go to Costco.

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Non consistent use doesn't really bother me either. taking 5 minutes a month to check if we actually need what is coming is so much better than remembering to putting these things on a grocery list and buying it at the store. If we get something we don't need yet, just put it in a closet. If we don't get something we do need, just pick it up at the store when we do go. Both of these scenarios hardly ever happen though.

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Yeah, we use S&S for a lot of inconsistent stuff, too, and it's not much of a problem for us either. They send you an email a few days before the order ships, and you can manage your shipments with the Amazon app pretty easily.

That said I do currently have about a year's supply of paper towels.

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right but it ends up being as much work as remembering to order it. Yeah, you save a few pennies on it but I also have 6 bottles of gaviscon in the closet.

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If it even crossed your mind that you needed to subscribe to shipments of antacid tablets, I think managing your subscribe&save is the least of your problems.