John Wilker 👨🏽‍💻

Important thing to remember as Prime Day(s) start rolling out.

You’re only making Bezos more wealthy and adding cement to Amazon’s monopoly/monopsony power.

Just sayin’ maybe you don’t need that thing after all.

#amazon #primeday

Jun 23 at 1:55pmWeb
Show threadsteeph   🎆 ٩(˘◡˘)۶1d ago

@jwilker I'm pretty sure nobody needs Amazon. I was suprprised how easy it was to stop buying anything from there after I used to buy almost everything except groceries and building materials from there. And now I find it strange that I thought it might be an annoying constraint to not buy from Amazon.

But actually they have nothing interesting to offer me, except the 1-click-checkout. Today I think that if you have a problem entering your address and clicking two or three times to buy something, you either really don't need it or you may have a stress problem or other personal problems that should be addressed first before you try to force yourself to quit using Amazon. Is your life really so fast-paced and tightly planned that spending one minute longer in checkout is a hassle? Then maybe it shouldn't be.

Finding other online stores really isn't a problem. And the quality in dedicated shops is usually higher than what Amazon offers you on the first pages. (And what it doesn't offer on the first pages usually isn't on there for long.) Amazon stuff is often cheap to buy but also often not worth even that price.

The only time I thought of trying Amazon in the last ~20 months was when I wanted to buy a book that the publisher didn't ship to Europe. But then I found a small book store really close to me that I didn't know of and they were happy to order it for me. Yes, I spent a few weeks longer without that book. So what?

(Sorry if I'm being "that guy" here but feel free to tell me if I am. This is my experiece and I think it's worth sharing.)

Show threadJohn Wilker 👨🏽‍💻1d ago

@steeph Amazon has very much become Wal-Mart, offering cheap, almost always off-shored crap (from companies with names like sdger or thrtyuer, LOL, yes I mashed keys)

I haven't fully broken free but we've been prime free for a few years now and if we can't or don't want to source elsewhere we pool things vs. just constantly clicking ‘buy’

I definitely look elsewhere for most things and agree, they can be had quite easily elsewhere. Most things I don't need tomorrow so happily buy elsewhere.

Show threadCecelia1d ago

@steeph @jwilker Sadly Amazon can be a more accessible option for some folks because of how hostile the world can be to accommodate disabilities. Whether that is cost, time and effort to locate needed items, scent contamination avoidance, or the delivery option (over physical locations).

I made the switch years ago, but have also needed to stop shopping at other establishments—the real problem in my conclusion is capitalism that allows for this massive wealth extraction and political sway.