Whether your signature issue is decent working conditions and a living wage for workers; the company’s systematic scamming of US cities in its “search” for HQ2; or the simple fact that no one human (let alone one as notably greedy as Jeff Bezos) should be in possession of $223 billion dollars — it seems that nearly everyone is pissed at Amazon right now.
Which is a little inconvenient, given that we’ve just rounded the corner into the busiest time of the year for Ordering Stuff Online. So we’re wondering: what are people actually doing to cut down their Bezos dependency over Christmas, assuming that’s something you’re looking to do?
Personally, as a Seattle native, I’ve had a simmering vendetta against the company for years, as it’s systematically driven up housing prices and stomped on the culture of my hometown (my personal HQ1). That said, I’ve had Amazon Prime and an Amazon credit card for years at this point, and rely pretty heavily on the company to deliver cumbersome staples like cat food and toilet paper to my apartment at an artificially low cost.
Now that they’re muscling their way into New York City (my personal HQ2) and about to wreak civic havoc all over again, I’m trying to actually change my habits, and stop giving so damn much money to a company that I complain about all the time. I certainly haven’t cut them out altogether — yet — but I’ve been exploring other ways of getting things delivered from companies I hate somewhat less.
For Christmas specifically, I’ve laid a personal ground rule not to do any of my gift shopping on the site, and issued an admittedly somewhat bratty edict to my family that I’d like any gifts for me not to come from Amazon. It’s certainly not going to drive them out of business or make any kind of dent in Bezos’s net worth, but little things add up, and at least I’ll feel better about my own habits.
So tell us: is your relationship to Amazon any different than usual this Christmas?
Comments
6 responses to “Are You Cutting Amazon Out Of Your Christmas Shopping This Year?”
In my case, I am trying to stop using Amazon altogether.
As an Australian, with the change to Australian GST Laws Amazon blocked shipping from the non Amazon Australia stores to Australia. Which would be fine if the AU store was the super-set of everything available in the other stores, but alas it‘s not.
Worse, the pricing here is horrendous!
An audio CD for a german language artist is 14 Euro from the DE store, but $65 from the AU store. WTF!!
I know that Amazon announced they were dropping the blocking policy (which speaks volumes for how well things are going for them over here) as of Black Friday, but three attempts so far and I still get the same German message I got before telling me they can only sell me digital items from the DE store.
So, rather than my regular purchases of German CDs and DVDs that Amazon got, I‘m seeking alternatives altogether and actively not buying anything from them anymore.
eBay is leaps and bounds ahead of Amazon.au.
This is what “we’ve” asked for. Cheap and easy. No more walking to shops – just go online and don’t care about what it’s taken to get you the product.
I find it ironic that LH is trashing Amazon when you’ve been a driving force behind promoting it because promoting it is what your customers want. And customer eyeballs on your site equals revenue. Right?
Why don’t you do an expose on the plight of clothing workers in Sri Lanka? Because it’s not what your readers want…
To be fair, Lifehacker is an advice and deals blog not Four Corners. We regularly call out dodginess in the retail sector whether its Amazon, eBay or general consumer law violations.
But readers want to hear about how they can save money too. I think we cater to both audiences.
Both audiences? In most cases, it’s the same audience and that audience is getting dumber and dumber by the second (as any good bonehead would know). One minute you tell them something is great, then you tell them it’s crap, then you tell them it’s great again. No doubt there will be a link to a great sale on at Amazon in the next week or so.
If LH thinks Amazon is evil, take a stand. I reckon you’d last 5 minutes before some PR heavyweight from Amazon would call and “change your mind”…
PS Please don’t become 4 corners…
I always see this “This item does not ship to..”
I think vendors have to jump through hoops to be able to export goods and many don’t want the trouble.
I know Amazon just want to be stubbon but not all the time.