As if I didn’t have enough to do, Amazon sent me a free puzzle book for my Kindle.

English: Amazonian rainforest, upper Amazon basin, Loreto region, Peru. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amazon has sent many free products to me over the years. Some of the gifts I liked, some I didn’t.  I supported Amazon via reviews during their early start-up days and they never forgot it, apparently. 

I stopped writing reviews for Amazon about 10 years ago. The competition became quite fierce and underhanded in some instances. Besides, what had been a fun activity came to feel  much like a chore. That one of my co-workers said one day, “I wonder what kind of fools write reviews for Amazon,” made matters worse. 

I read the reviews other folks write about products, usually both the best and the worst opinions. Most of the time I can glean some useful information by doing this. For example, I found a nice carry on case for my trip to CA last fall by reading reviews.  Ditto my Chicago Metallic baking pans.  

I also use other services like Angie’s list to ‘suss out’ potential products and services. I found the woman who cleans my house via Angie’s list. She is just as excellent as the reviewers said.

We also get referrals from businesses we already use. For example, when we needed an electrician, we called our furnace maintenance company.  They referred us to a small company run by a man in his 70s.  Real old-style service here. 

The upshot is this.  Although some entities pay big bucks for advertising, some of us are immune to big-buck ads and rely on word of mouth.  The old-fashioned way to do business in this fast-changing world.