Thursday, 15 October 2026

One thing I’ll often defend when people moan about them is cheap flights – mainly to Europe.#

They complain about the upsell, about the unreliability, about the airport experience. But modern airline travel is miraculous. Especially for the price.#

When my Dad was a child, Europe wasn’t really a travel destination.11 He went to Sweden with the school via bus – but that was all. And for my Grandparents, it certainly wasn’t an option. For them, a caravan holiday or a day out to Margate or Brighton was their big annual holiday. But thanks to the rise of cheap airlines, my Dad goes to Europe several times via £50-£100 flights.#

So when I hear someone complaining about a RyanAir flight being delayed by an hour, I want to shake them and shout “do you know how lucky you are‽”22 Also, as Del-boy might say: “well what do you expect for £50?” If you’re that sensitive to these things, give Qatar or Singapore Airways £500 and I’m sure they’ll likely get you their on time, without the upselling. You get what you pay for.#

Anyway, it’s similar for shopping deliveries. Amazon has got this down to an art form.33 Which is amazing considering how little they pay their workers. Amazon is a good example of a company spending money on expensive technology where it matters (such as warehouse robots). And being cheap where it doesn’t matter (such as using banged up Ford Transit vans, and not charging their workers (I really wish that last one did matter)). But even other companies are catching up. For years I would use Amazon for three reasons:#

1. It was cheap.#
2. I didn’t have to sign up for another account on some random shopping website.#
3. It would be delivered next day.#

But whilst other companies aren’t always as cheap as Amazon,44 Though they can be cheaper that you’d expect. Amazon is no longer always the cheapest around. I’ve finally truly understood Amazon’s plan: be the cheapest around and take the financial losses. Then when they’re the only game left in town, jack up the prices. It’s the classic Venture Capital play.55 You can see it in effect with Uber, which is now often pricier than a traditional cab. When I was earning less I struggled to adopt the moral position and not use Amazon. But I can increasingly avoid them now – and I do. And now that shopping sites increasingly offer Single Sign-On (SSO) via your Apple or Google account, or Shopify, I now longer need to create an account. So that’s point two taken care of.#

Point 3 (next day delivery) is still the biggest reason I use Amazon. Mainly because they don’t charge for it, whereas lots of sites require you to spend £50-£200 to get free next day delivery. I get it, Amazon has its own infrastructure network. Whereas others have to rely on Evri, Royal Mail, DPD, DHL or UPS.66 Many companies use Evri, as they’re cheap, but awful. Formerly known as Yodel, until they got such a bad reputation they had to rebrand. But Evri quickly got a bad reputation too (a bad business is still a bad business) But plenty of times I’ve put items in my basket, was ready to buy, but backed off when I realised my £25 order was going to become £35 with delivery.#

However, some times I’ll pay the cost of shipping. And with my Paper Republic order I was even willing to pay £18(!) for the "express delivery", so my new notebook is delivered in time for my trip to Cambridge.#

And just like with airline travel, airline deliveries – and delivery systems in general – amaze me.77 I know the Royal Mail isn’t what it once was. During the peak of letter sending I believe you could get a letter sent from one side of London to another within an hour or two. And a postman would deliver to you up to six times a day. UPS picked up my order at 21:00 last night in Austria. Two hours later it was in Koeln, Germany. And at 06:32 this morning it was in the back of a van and on its way to me. It may have cost me £18, but it’s still miraculous.#

I recently tried out upgrading from the Claude “Pro” plan (£20/mo) to the “Max” one (£90/mo).#

But I haven’t really noticed any benefits. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great. But so is the Pro plan – it was rare for me to hit usage limits. So with Max I haven’t once got close to hitting its usage limits. So it’s a bit of a waste of money I think, and I’m going to downgrade.#