
Why I’m never signing up for Amazon Prime - z3t1
https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/11/15951108/amazon-prime-dependency
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Boothroid
'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.

