Why I’m never signing up for Amazon Prime

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/11/15951108/amazon-prime-dependency

by z3t1 • 9 years ago

3 1 9 years ago

Boothroid• 9 years ago

'Discounted goods are bad for me, as a consumer, because they nudge me into buying things I don’t need just to be frugal and collect the massive "saving" inherent in the discount'

This is so back to front I don't know where to start! Is he really saying 'Amazon, please don't put things on sale because I am so utterly lacking in self-control I cannot help myself when you do'?

'Insofar as possible, I think we should pay full price for the things we want.'

What the hell is 'full price'?! Companies generally price in order to maximise profits, and this can be via a simple or complex strategy, and the profit extracted can change over time. As if most companies are looking to simply add a fair percentage on top of cost and are done with it. This is capitalism, companies exist primarily to generate profit, and their relationship to customers isn't necessarily benevolent.

'Over the past decade, I’ve witnessed most of my nearby independent bookshops closing up, replaced either by estate agents, pizza chains, or the Waterstones book retailer that has none of the old charm but at least some of Amazon’s scale.'

To me this is an argument for inefficiency. We could say, horses and carts were so much more charming than cars (but don't mention the horseshit in the streets). Personally I don't mourn the high prices and poor choice of many smaller retailers. Also, I recall shopping or rather wanting to shop in the 80s and 90s in the UK - prices were high in high street retailers for things like clothes, electronics, music - the kind of things you want as a kid - the term rip-off Britain wasn't coined for nothing! Amazon/internet shopping has I think helped smash the cosy conspiracy of high prices. I don't miss them.

'But for each of those back and forth trips, there’s a truck, a boat, a plane out there, pushing stuff around the world for the sake of our sheer indulgence and indecision.'

If you stop buying as much, people on the other side of the world get poorer. The delivery driver loses his job. Additionally, how the hell does he think the goods get to physical shops?! And how much needless ferrying of goods to these shops takes place when there are several competing shops in the same area? Arguably internet shopping reduces the total number of freight miles.

'but having a monopolistic retailer of everything is a bad dependency to develop'

this is why we have competition authorities. If it happens, we deal with it.

'Amazon’s employment practices are shit'

No one is forcing anyone to work for Amazon. In an economy rich enough to have such a massive internet shopping bonanza as to cause the supposed problems listed in the piece there is surely enough money swilling around to generate myriad opportunities. There are thousands of unfilled jobs in the UK that are not with Amazon.

Why I’m never signing up for Amazon Prime

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