Friday, December 20, 2013

Why My Christmas List Included Boycotting Amazon

For this year's Christmas gifts (and every one before), I didn't buy many things online. I tried to buy original stuff from people who actually made it or from small local businesses.  And I've made a list of my top five reasons I'll never buy from or support Amazon (that means even going to their web site), regardless of the season:

5. It used to sell only books (remember that?) at such a discount that it hurt local many small business booksellers and eventually drove some out of business. (When I do buy books, I do so from those brave local independent stores who are still serving their communities.)
4. It now thinks it needs to be a one-stop shopping online center, perpetuating the myth of 'convenience' as god, and again keeping folks from supporting their local economies.
3. Its founder (he who shall not be named) made so much money that he bought the Washington Post, and we need a big retail conglomerate to own a newspaper because . . ?
2. It's in the process of developing delivery drones. I guess those silly humans can't do it well enough.
1. It's out of control. Enough said.