I have a macaroni & cheese button

For all of the bloviation about Wal-Mart taking over suburbia and whatever else, it’s Amazon.com who’s really making a hyper-aggressive play for your business every single time you buy anything. I’ve even started searching for car and appliance part numbers there, for cryin’ out loud. More often than not Amazon.com has them, and at a competitive price. There is a windshield wiper relay in Lea’s van, and a heating element in our oven, that each came from Amazon.com.

The Dash button is the first full-on Amazon.com IoT assault on groceries and household goods. They’re available to Amazon Prime members. You hook an Amazon Dash button up to your Wi-Fi. You need an Android phone, iPhone, or Amazon Fire phone to do this. When you configure it, you can tell it what to order when you push the button. There are scores—hundreds? maybe?—of buttons available, for foods, drinks, cleaning products, toiletries, and so on. They’re $4.99 apiece, but you get a $4.99 credit the first time you push the button. So, they’re free.

For example, I have a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dash button. Now you may be wondering to yourself “Brother Bo, how much macaroni & cheese does that button order when you push it?” Well, let me just tell you: it orders a shitload of macaroni & cheese when I push it.

It’s fun. And, it’s pretty cool, really. We have one for dishwashing detergent, and a couple more for other things. Maybe I’ll add some more. Maybe we’ll use them long-term. Maybe we won’t. They’re inexpensive enough that we can participate in the experiment, you know? We don’t need a plan. Right now it’s entertainment as much as it’s household management.

I will watch the pricing. It’s, uh, close. It’s sensible enough if you talk to yourself about gasoline prices, and convenience, and time spent, and so forth. But there isn’t much maneuverability. If the prices jump, say, 20%, that’ll be a deal-breaker.

But for now? Sure. Why not? Let us consume.

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