KNova

yes, always disappointing when this happens, but you can usually find vendors who avoid the practice (with some trial and error).

This has been my play since last February. In some ways it sucks, because Amazon really cornered the market on niche solutions to niche problems. However, when there is something I absolutely need I try to look for a local solution and if I can’t find that, I use eBay. By no means a perfect solution (ie. a lot of the eBay vendors still use Amazon to fulfill their shipments) but my mindset shifted from “oh yeah go on Amazon and press Buy Now immediately” to really working through a solution, and whether or not I need to purchase an item to enact that solution.

Stupidity of the US health “system” aside, there is never a situation where a pay raise “spilling over” to the next tax bracket leaves you in a worse position in terms of take home pay.