in the examples you gave about reasons that one might need to shop on Amazon, one stood out to me in particular: the last min birthday gift. I’ve been buying people a lot of experience gifts lately, and it has almost always ended up being a better choice than more stuff, which becomes its own problem.
I find a lot of joy in the creativity it takes to not center Amazon. I’m visiting neighbors more to borrow and lend stuff. I’m realizing I can repurpose a thing I already own to solve a problem I thought required a new product (did you know Blue Dawn cleans absolutely everything off of clothes?? My dry cleaner literally swears by it).
I don’t have a prime account anymore but I sometimes need something that can only be gotten from Amazon but I count it a win that my purchases on there went down from 2-3x per week to < 1 per month.
Boycotting is often set up to be this all or nothing thing, but nothing could be farther from the truth. I don’t feel any guilt from buying from Amazon if I absolutely have to bc I feel like my reduction of overall consumption habits means something, too… and I’ll keep chipping away at it bc doing so makes me feel like i have some agency to live in a way that’s aligned with my values.
This sounds like a great balance! I also love the point that creating a bit of a barrier can help you get more creative in problem solving. These kinds of all-or-nothing challenges can be helpful to spark that creative problem solving for people.
I love this perspective that all or nothing doesn't have to be the goal. I also canceled my prime membership years ago, which drastically shifted my buying habits. I didn't buy anything from Amazon for a long time, but sometimes it created so much friction in my life that it exhausted me. Now, I purchase the rare thing-I-can't-find somewhere else from Amazon, but have a solid habit of not defaulting to that mode of purchasing.
Focusing on perhaps the least important aspect of your response, Blue Dawn truly works wonders!! I used it the other day to get an oil stain off my husband's shirt that had stayed on through several wash/dry cycles.
I began boycotting Amazon in 2009-ish when the news of how they treated their warehouse employees came to light. I held steady until two years ago when the highly recommended ipad case, that I greatly dislike, btw, was only available for purchase through Amazon. And then they suckered me with a free prime account for 30 days because I had not bought anything through them for over 10 years. I was lured by the chance to watch a show that I love and so I bit. But then I went back to remembering all the reasons why I really despise Amazon and so I canceled my prime membership and haven't looked back.
I agree that this shouldn't be on the consumer, I feel this way about a lot of things, but I also believe that we have more power as consumers to impact change more so now than ever. Most of the stuff on Amazon nobody truly needs. And while yes, it is annoying to have to go to stores and look elsewhere for some things, I'm proof that it's possible. Yes, I'm a single woman with cats, and I don't think I'm morally superior than anyone else, most of the time, but I do believe in my convictions, and I do believe that how I spend my money and how I live my life can cause just as much movement as we wish our governments would. It this that allowed me to run for local level politics last year, and even though I lost, I understood that much like you wrote, that for many, where we are, or want to be is comforting and convenient—two important things when the world is literally on fire. Except, I'm not always okay with either of those feelings if the people working for Amazon aren't comfortable or living a life of convenience because their wages are low, or their losing sleep and their health is in poor shape, or where the Earth is literally dying because we think we can just keep consuming it. I just can't be okay with that, but that is me.
I will say that the last year has shown me how much more I have to go to live up to my own standards. For as much as I boycott on Amazon, I access websites that use Amazon's web services to operate. The beast is large. As you say it comes down to where we are in our relationship to goods, services, and the world at large. I appreciate this post mainly because no one should feel stressed about not being able to boycott a huge destructive entity like Amazon, but I also hope people know that they've got more power than they know. And that is ultimately what I believe in.
Understanding our power is an important message, thank you! And thank you for running for office! I managed a campaign last year that lost (it was highly expected) — a heartbreaking experience, but I'm so happy I did it!
I couldn't agree more with you, Sara (and also with you, Dana!). I do my best to shop my values and consume less. One of my biggest struggles when choosing to order from Amazon vs directly from the producer is the shipping costs that put an otherwise affordable product out of reach (for example, the tea I buy in bulk). Then the dilemma becomes about whether I simply give up drinking tea (a legit option) or give Amazon (and therefore the producer) my business. [Short of creating a new email account every time I want to order from the tea company to get free shipping off my first order, lol.]
I've switched to Thriftbooks and Bookshop.org unless it's a new release, and then I buy on Amazon because I want the authors I support to get on that stupid "best seller" list so that their work is more likely to be seen by others, noting too that I generally only do this when the author's links on their websites are to Amazon and the other behemouths.
I guess that's why Dana's take speaks to me, knowing that I'm imperfect but still doing a lot to extract myself from capitalism. And, yet my own conscience resonates deeply with yours. The exploitation freaking kills me and goes against who I am and how I'm a staunch advocate when it comes to living in full integrity with my values.
Just my thoughts. I deeply appreciate knowing that I'm not alone in thinking that Amazon is anything but a godsend.
I saw someone post that if we all just reduced our Amazon spending by 50% it would make a difference. It would be hard for me to quit it 100%, there are several things I need that I can’t find other places. But, I won’t be renewing Prime and Alexa will be shown the door.
This is important to realize, too! It reminds me of Meat-Free Mondays — what if everybody just reduced their harmful habits a *little*? Certainly that would be an improvement.
Same! I cut off Alexa, bought a better record player, and am enjoying it so much. I’ll miss some Amazon Prime media content, but not much. I replaced some Amazon titles with actual DVDs 📀 like workout or meditation stuff.
If I want for something that I don’t want to drive around to shop for, it can wait the two days for shipping.
It’s a good option in between the extremes of all or nothing.
I don't own an Alexa and while I do have a prime account (I mainly use it for the streaming and occasional purchase) I rarely if ever buy from Amazon, picking up perhaps one or two items every couple of months.
I canceled my prime, but still take advantage of free shipping and leave items in my cart until I reach the threshold $35. It feels like a win-win. It also forces me to plan ahead. Also, importantly, I find I often do buy things from Amazon just because it’s easier and sometimes buy things I don’t really need. When they sit in my cart for a week, I find I oftenchange my mind about things, and take them out of my cart! Another win-win.
Thank you for sharing this. It was the contribution to the inauguration fund that pushed me to the point of thinking I need to quit Amazon. And..as I started to dismantle some of the services, I quickly realized how embedded Amazon is in my life -- I hadn't realized Audible is is owned by Amazon, and darn it, I have a bunch of books waiting there that I haven't listened to yet. My main credit card is an Amazon-points generator. While I can stop using the card regularly, I won't close it as it is my card with the highest credit limit, and that will negatively impact credit score. Argh!!! And then I saw that Google had also contributed to the inauguration, and Microsoft. These companies provide the tools of my trade... I'm not going to be able to quit any of them as quickly or definitively as I'd like at this point in my life...
So, I especially love your message. There's a reminder in here, as I see it, that doing something is better than nothing, and you don't have to do everything in order to do something. Choosing vegetarian sometimes over meat is better than never eating vegetarian. Beginning the work to find alternatives to Amazon, Google and Microsoft is an ok place to be right now.
Check out Hoopla at your library too. Also Libro.fm has a similar plan to Audible with monthly credits. I plan on leaving Audible. I am now searching for a book sites similar to Kindle Unlimited. My newest finds are estate sales and the large resale store in my area. It is run by a church who put their proceeds towards great causes. I agree that Amazon's convenience was alluring but these past few years of watching the excesses of its owner has really tarnished it for me. Same with Twitter. I canceled it before the election. I'm on Bluesky and Substack now. Small changes give me a sense of relief & control in a very chaotic time.
Wild how deeply they claw into our lives, isn't it? This thread is a great reminder for me that's it's still useful to do something, even when doing everything isn't an option. Thanks for putting it so well!
If the Amazon credit card is with chase, you can have chase transfer your limit to another card with chase. They offered to do this for me when I closed my Amazon card years ago.
Thanks, I also came here to add the disabled perspective. I’m housebound and can no longer drive. Although Amazon’s business practices don’t align with my values, I still have to use it for items I can’t have delivered from local retailers.
And re: Meta, I’d love to close my accounts, but I rely on many important support groups currently hosted on FB.
Without a functional social safety net and wraparound community care, staying connected to these corporations remains a necessary evil for many disabled and housebound folx. Putting the onus for systemic change on the individual is ableist.
Thanks for bringing some nuance to this discussion Dana.
Would've loved to see addressed the way that Amazon is built to increase spending (and reliance on the website). My partner had a Prime membership 6 years ago and I saw the amount it upped my spending just from its existence in our lives. You go in to buy a non-standard shower curtain and some of your favorite soap your local store stopped carrying and suddenly you've also bought that tea you've been meaning to try and just the cutest notebooks ever and 3 other household things that you CAN buy locally but why not throw them in the basket? The month we cancelled the membership my spending dropped noticeably and my life didn't get one whit harder.
I definitely understand the quality-of-life reasons that people shop online (caretaking logistics, rural-ness, mobility limitations) but we don't ask why do it on Amazon and not on other corporate one-stop-shopping websites (with slightly less abhorrent business practices on all sides of the capitalist equation)? Target offers the same breadth of products, the chain drugstores will ship that toilet paper, and Barnes & Noble has the same books, and all of them are as affordable and ship more reliably than Amazon at this point. (I'd love to see the numbers on how fast "Prime" shipping really is anymore, given how often I've heard of delivery dates changing once you hit the buy button.) So why is Amazon the default for so many people when it comes to online shopping? How did they sell us this idea of the cheapest and fastest option on the block so strongly that people still believe it even when it isn't objectively true anymore?
Walmart+ has been useful to curbing my Amazon purchases. Maybe Walmart.com uses AWS, I don’t know, but I’m keeping w the motto of “some change is better than no change”. I also do month to month on Prime if there is a show I’d like to watch, I’ll load up purchases and then skip a month. Instead of buying the year.
This year I’m trying to reduce my Amazon consumption - but not totally beat myself into submission. What I am ALSO trying to do is keep a log of WHY I bought something at Amazon. So far, 14 days in, I have made two purchases - one because the item seems to literally only available for purchase on Amazon! The product website didn’t sell it, and didn’t link me anywhere else (That’s probably a bad sign). I think there are reasons to stop an Amazon purchase, primarily impulsivity, and by asking myself each time why and then memorializing it I can better understand and address my habits 🎉
I started an “only if I can’t get it elsewhere” plan for Amazon a few years ago, which has evolved into also being mindful of my own adhd and mental load/space when considering “if I can get it elsewhere” along with just trying to spread out big-retailer purchases among all of them instead of just Amazon.
Post election almost dropped my entire account rashly before really sitting down to think about it.
Note:
It was hard to find an online gift list that didn’t add a “find on Amazon” link bigger than the link I added, so if anyone is looking I recommend thingstogetme.com
Thank you so much for sharing the wishlist site! About a year ago I started using Wishlistr in an attempt to move away from using Amazon to track wishlists, even though that was the only thing I used it for (I didn't even buy the stuff from Amazon, I would just throw it in the list there and then reference it later or send the lists to parents etc who asked for gift ideas), but a few months ago it seemed list Wishlistr links stopped working? Anyway all that to say I appreciate this suggestion for a replacement for one of the last things I use Amazon for.
I cancelled. It was annoying, because in the old days, I was able to reach a minimum spend and get fast shipping, but instead it's taken two weeks to arrive. That's actually been incentive to continue avoiding them. I go directly to brands' websites now.
Last year around this time I committed to trying to avoid Amazon purchases for a full year to see how 'necessary' it actually was in my life. As a result, in the past 12 months, I only made one purchase from Amazon and even that was an annoying experience. Their search function is terrible. I hate having to sift through a million near-identical products to try to ascertain which is the least garbage of them. I didn't miss anything about it this past year and canceled Prime. I'm promising I will never make another Amazon purchase, but there is no need to pay Bezos $100+ each year for the privilege of doing so.
Such a great point that the search is garbage now — I said the search is easier than other options, but you're absolutely right that the search results are completely annoying and overwhelming. It's just become embedded in us that this is the place to go to find things.
I try never to buy from Amazon. I'm not a member of prime. I do sometimes research what is available to buy. However, I participate in FB and Instagram, which are Zuckerberg's companies. I have seen many friends struggle with staying or leaving these platforms. We may have been grateful for the opportunity to socialize in such an easy way and to have a stage to show our artwork, to have a place to find out about community news, but now we see that just as the retail market has been decimated in our small hometown communities by online shopping, we have lost our social connections in the real world. I can no longer pretend that my social media interactions are nourishing in the same way as having an extended conversation in person. Of course, it doesn't mean I am a bad person, terrible and irresponsible, if I stay. I didn't invent the system. I didn't know what it would do. It seemed like a good deal. But now I am starting to see it, and I don't think it is healthy, in my best interest, or good for humans collectively. I understand it, but I am addicted. Do I want to stay addicted just because it has taken over my life? I don't have to beat myself up, but it indicates why humanity and the planet are in trouble. We keep pointing fingers at the ones on top who are making big money, but we refuse to say no, to get ourselves disentangled from the convenience of what has been invented. It doesn't seem that there is a collective conversation about what kind of society we want to have, but if we started abandoning what is not serving us well, that would be a strong signal that it's not working.
"I didn't know what it would do. It seemed like a good deal." <-- That is the crux of all of these companies. We've been hoodwinked, and now it's tough to extract ourselves.
I don't have an Amazon account because I am frugal(cheap). I am then not beholden to doing business exclusively with them because of my desire to get the (free) shipping. I can use other sources for occasional items I wish to purchase. They are just not worth it to us. Less is better.
I started boycotting Amazon in 2018. I was working in publishing and I could see first hand how this company was a monopoly in book selling but also absolutely shit with their metadata and search. Lots of great reasons to boycott. I have encountered products, like air filters, that only available on Amazon but if I can get it elsewhere I do.
There are countless extensions to this wisdom. Cause when we moralize “better” decisions, making them simply to avoid the shame we feel for their alternative, we always extend that thinking to others with totally different experiences—and the SHAME we then continue to breed is what keeps us in these ubiquitously addictive, harmful cycles. Individually and collectively.
But when we do a little more of what feels like LOVE and compassion for ourselves and others every single day, we effortlessly begin releasing the shame-based motivations. We gradually begin to WANT Amazon and everything else gross like it far less. So healing and TRANSFORMATION can begin without striving and resistance.
We can’t heal ourselves when we’re fighting and neither can the world.
in the examples you gave about reasons that one might need to shop on Amazon, one stood out to me in particular: the last min birthday gift. I’ve been buying people a lot of experience gifts lately, and it has almost always ended up being a better choice than more stuff, which becomes its own problem.
I find a lot of joy in the creativity it takes to not center Amazon. I’m visiting neighbors more to borrow and lend stuff. I’m realizing I can repurpose a thing I already own to solve a problem I thought required a new product (did you know Blue Dawn cleans absolutely everything off of clothes?? My dry cleaner literally swears by it).
I don’t have a prime account anymore but I sometimes need something that can only be gotten from Amazon but I count it a win that my purchases on there went down from 2-3x per week to < 1 per month.
Boycotting is often set up to be this all or nothing thing, but nothing could be farther from the truth. I don’t feel any guilt from buying from Amazon if I absolutely have to bc I feel like my reduction of overall consumption habits means something, too… and I’ll keep chipping away at it bc doing so makes me feel like i have some agency to live in a way that’s aligned with my values.
This sounds like a great balance! I also love the point that creating a bit of a barrier can help you get more creative in problem solving. These kinds of all-or-nothing challenges can be helpful to spark that creative problem solving for people.
I love this perspective that all or nothing doesn't have to be the goal. I also canceled my prime membership years ago, which drastically shifted my buying habits. I didn't buy anything from Amazon for a long time, but sometimes it created so much friction in my life that it exhausted me. Now, I purchase the rare thing-I-can't-find somewhere else from Amazon, but have a solid habit of not defaulting to that mode of purchasing.
I still have my Amazon Prime account but I rarely if ever buy anything from it, doing so at a rate of perhaps one or two items every couple of months.
Focusing on perhaps the least important aspect of your response, Blue Dawn truly works wonders!! I used it the other day to get an oil stain off my husband's shirt that had stayed on through several wash/dry cycles.
I began boycotting Amazon in 2009-ish when the news of how they treated their warehouse employees came to light. I held steady until two years ago when the highly recommended ipad case, that I greatly dislike, btw, was only available for purchase through Amazon. And then they suckered me with a free prime account for 30 days because I had not bought anything through them for over 10 years. I was lured by the chance to watch a show that I love and so I bit. But then I went back to remembering all the reasons why I really despise Amazon and so I canceled my prime membership and haven't looked back.
I agree that this shouldn't be on the consumer, I feel this way about a lot of things, but I also believe that we have more power as consumers to impact change more so now than ever. Most of the stuff on Amazon nobody truly needs. And while yes, it is annoying to have to go to stores and look elsewhere for some things, I'm proof that it's possible. Yes, I'm a single woman with cats, and I don't think I'm morally superior than anyone else, most of the time, but I do believe in my convictions, and I do believe that how I spend my money and how I live my life can cause just as much movement as we wish our governments would. It this that allowed me to run for local level politics last year, and even though I lost, I understood that much like you wrote, that for many, where we are, or want to be is comforting and convenient—two important things when the world is literally on fire. Except, I'm not always okay with either of those feelings if the people working for Amazon aren't comfortable or living a life of convenience because their wages are low, or their losing sleep and their health is in poor shape, or where the Earth is literally dying because we think we can just keep consuming it. I just can't be okay with that, but that is me.
I will say that the last year has shown me how much more I have to go to live up to my own standards. For as much as I boycott on Amazon, I access websites that use Amazon's web services to operate. The beast is large. As you say it comes down to where we are in our relationship to goods, services, and the world at large. I appreciate this post mainly because no one should feel stressed about not being able to boycott a huge destructive entity like Amazon, but I also hope people know that they've got more power than they know. And that is ultimately what I believe in.
Understanding our power is an important message, thank you! And thank you for running for office! I managed a campaign last year that lost (it was highly expected) — a heartbreaking experience, but I'm so happy I did it!
This is such an important perspective bc we’ve truly lost when convenience comes before human rights
I couldn't agree more with you, Sara (and also with you, Dana!). I do my best to shop my values and consume less. One of my biggest struggles when choosing to order from Amazon vs directly from the producer is the shipping costs that put an otherwise affordable product out of reach (for example, the tea I buy in bulk). Then the dilemma becomes about whether I simply give up drinking tea (a legit option) or give Amazon (and therefore the producer) my business. [Short of creating a new email account every time I want to order from the tea company to get free shipping off my first order, lol.]
I've switched to Thriftbooks and Bookshop.org unless it's a new release, and then I buy on Amazon because I want the authors I support to get on that stupid "best seller" list so that their work is more likely to be seen by others, noting too that I generally only do this when the author's links on their websites are to Amazon and the other behemouths.
I guess that's why Dana's take speaks to me, knowing that I'm imperfect but still doing a lot to extract myself from capitalism. And, yet my own conscience resonates deeply with yours. The exploitation freaking kills me and goes against who I am and how I'm a staunch advocate when it comes to living in full integrity with my values.
Just my thoughts. I deeply appreciate knowing that I'm not alone in thinking that Amazon is anything but a godsend.
I saw someone post that if we all just reduced our Amazon spending by 50% it would make a difference. It would be hard for me to quit it 100%, there are several things I need that I can’t find other places. But, I won’t be renewing Prime and Alexa will be shown the door.
This is important to realize, too! It reminds me of Meat-Free Mondays — what if everybody just reduced their harmful habits a *little*? Certainly that would be an improvement.
Same! I cut off Alexa, bought a better record player, and am enjoying it so much. I’ll miss some Amazon Prime media content, but not much. I replaced some Amazon titles with actual DVDs 📀 like workout or meditation stuff.
If I want for something that I don’t want to drive around to shop for, it can wait the two days for shipping.
It’s a good option in between the extremes of all or nothing.
I don't own an Alexa and while I do have a prime account (I mainly use it for the streaming and occasional purchase) I rarely if ever buy from Amazon, picking up perhaps one or two items every couple of months.
I canceled my prime, but still take advantage of free shipping and leave items in my cart until I reach the threshold $35. It feels like a win-win. It also forces me to plan ahead. Also, importantly, I find I often do buy things from Amazon just because it’s easier and sometimes buy things I don’t really need. When they sit in my cart for a week, I find I oftenchange my mind about things, and take them out of my cart! Another win-win.
I do love all of this. I've had Prime for so long I've forgotten about the $35 threshold. That's a great way to reduce packaging, too!
Smart lady.
Thank you for sharing this. It was the contribution to the inauguration fund that pushed me to the point of thinking I need to quit Amazon. And..as I started to dismantle some of the services, I quickly realized how embedded Amazon is in my life -- I hadn't realized Audible is is owned by Amazon, and darn it, I have a bunch of books waiting there that I haven't listened to yet. My main credit card is an Amazon-points generator. While I can stop using the card regularly, I won't close it as it is my card with the highest credit limit, and that will negatively impact credit score. Argh!!! And then I saw that Google had also contributed to the inauguration, and Microsoft. These companies provide the tools of my trade... I'm not going to be able to quit any of them as quickly or definitively as I'd like at this point in my life...
So, I especially love your message. There's a reminder in here, as I see it, that doing something is better than nothing, and you don't have to do everything in order to do something. Choosing vegetarian sometimes over meat is better than never eating vegetarian. Beginning the work to find alternatives to Amazon, Google and Microsoft is an ok place to be right now.
You can use Libby for audiobooks. It’s free and connected to your public library. All you need to sign up is your library card
Check out Hoopla at your library too. Also Libro.fm has a similar plan to Audible with monthly credits. I plan on leaving Audible. I am now searching for a book sites similar to Kindle Unlimited. My newest finds are estate sales and the large resale store in my area. It is run by a church who put their proceeds towards great causes. I agree that Amazon's convenience was alluring but these past few years of watching the excesses of its owner has really tarnished it for me. Same with Twitter. I canceled it before the election. I'm on Bluesky and Substack now. Small changes give me a sense of relief & control in a very chaotic time.
Wild how deeply they claw into our lives, isn't it? This thread is a great reminder for me that's it's still useful to do something, even when doing everything isn't an option. Thanks for putting it so well!
If the Amazon credit card is with chase, you can have chase transfer your limit to another card with chase. They offered to do this for me when I closed my Amazon card years ago.
Great tip, thank you!
Same, the inauguration contributions are when I canceled Amazon, Instagram and Facebook.
Me too!
Twins 🫡🫡
Check out Ecosia as an alternative web browser
I shop with Amazon because I'm disabled and putting the monthly necessities on the auto ship program simplifies my life by a hundred fold.
Thanks, I also came here to add the disabled perspective. I’m housebound and can no longer drive. Although Amazon’s business practices don’t align with my values, I still have to use it for items I can’t have delivered from local retailers.
And re: Meta, I’d love to close my accounts, but I rely on many important support groups currently hosted on FB.
Without a functional social safety net and wraparound community care, staying connected to these corporations remains a necessary evil for many disabled and housebound folx. Putting the onus for systemic change on the individual is ableist.
Thanks for bringing some nuance to this discussion Dana.
Thank you for these perspectives! This is exactly why I habitually push back against all-or-nothing, or one-size-fits-all maxims.
Would've loved to see addressed the way that Amazon is built to increase spending (and reliance on the website). My partner had a Prime membership 6 years ago and I saw the amount it upped my spending just from its existence in our lives. You go in to buy a non-standard shower curtain and some of your favorite soap your local store stopped carrying and suddenly you've also bought that tea you've been meaning to try and just the cutest notebooks ever and 3 other household things that you CAN buy locally but why not throw them in the basket? The month we cancelled the membership my spending dropped noticeably and my life didn't get one whit harder.
I definitely understand the quality-of-life reasons that people shop online (caretaking logistics, rural-ness, mobility limitations) but we don't ask why do it on Amazon and not on other corporate one-stop-shopping websites (with slightly less abhorrent business practices on all sides of the capitalist equation)? Target offers the same breadth of products, the chain drugstores will ship that toilet paper, and Barnes & Noble has the same books, and all of them are as affordable and ship more reliably than Amazon at this point. (I'd love to see the numbers on how fast "Prime" shipping really is anymore, given how often I've heard of delivery dates changing once you hit the buy button.) So why is Amazon the default for so many people when it comes to online shopping? How did they sell us this idea of the cheapest and fastest option on the block so strongly that people still believe it even when it isn't objectively true anymore?
A great addition and important questions to ponder!
Walmart+ has been useful to curbing my Amazon purchases. Maybe Walmart.com uses AWS, I don’t know, but I’m keeping w the motto of “some change is better than no change”. I also do month to month on Prime if there is a show I’d like to watch, I’ll load up purchases and then skip a month. Instead of buying the year.
This year I’m trying to reduce my Amazon consumption - but not totally beat myself into submission. What I am ALSO trying to do is keep a log of WHY I bought something at Amazon. So far, 14 days in, I have made two purchases - one because the item seems to literally only available for purchase on Amazon! The product website didn’t sell it, and didn’t link me anywhere else (That’s probably a bad sign). I think there are reasons to stop an Amazon purchase, primarily impulsivity, and by asking myself each time why and then memorializing it I can better understand and address my habits 🎉
YES to logging your "why"!
I started an “only if I can’t get it elsewhere” plan for Amazon a few years ago, which has evolved into also being mindful of my own adhd and mental load/space when considering “if I can get it elsewhere” along with just trying to spread out big-retailer purchases among all of them instead of just Amazon.
Post election almost dropped my entire account rashly before really sitting down to think about it.
Note:
It was hard to find an online gift list that didn’t add a “find on Amazon” link bigger than the link I added, so if anyone is looking I recommend thingstogetme.com
Thank you so much for sharing the wishlist site! About a year ago I started using Wishlistr in an attempt to move away from using Amazon to track wishlists, even though that was the only thing I used it for (I didn't even buy the stuff from Amazon, I would just throw it in the list there and then reference it later or send the lists to parents etc who asked for gift ideas), but a few months ago it seemed list Wishlistr links stopped working? Anyway all that to say I appreciate this suggestion for a replacement for one of the last things I use Amazon for.
Giftster is a great app / site my fam uses for wishlists! Highly recommend.
I cancelled. It was annoying, because in the old days, I was able to reach a minimum spend and get fast shipping, but instead it's taken two weeks to arrive. That's actually been incentive to continue avoiding them. I go directly to brands' websites now.
Last year around this time I committed to trying to avoid Amazon purchases for a full year to see how 'necessary' it actually was in my life. As a result, in the past 12 months, I only made one purchase from Amazon and even that was an annoying experience. Their search function is terrible. I hate having to sift through a million near-identical products to try to ascertain which is the least garbage of them. I didn't miss anything about it this past year and canceled Prime. I'm promising I will never make another Amazon purchase, but there is no need to pay Bezos $100+ each year for the privilege of doing so.
Such a great point that the search is garbage now — I said the search is easier than other options, but you're absolutely right that the search results are completely annoying and overwhelming. It's just become embedded in us that this is the place to go to find things.
I try never to buy from Amazon. I'm not a member of prime. I do sometimes research what is available to buy. However, I participate in FB and Instagram, which are Zuckerberg's companies. I have seen many friends struggle with staying or leaving these platforms. We may have been grateful for the opportunity to socialize in such an easy way and to have a stage to show our artwork, to have a place to find out about community news, but now we see that just as the retail market has been decimated in our small hometown communities by online shopping, we have lost our social connections in the real world. I can no longer pretend that my social media interactions are nourishing in the same way as having an extended conversation in person. Of course, it doesn't mean I am a bad person, terrible and irresponsible, if I stay. I didn't invent the system. I didn't know what it would do. It seemed like a good deal. But now I am starting to see it, and I don't think it is healthy, in my best interest, or good for humans collectively. I understand it, but I am addicted. Do I want to stay addicted just because it has taken over my life? I don't have to beat myself up, but it indicates why humanity and the planet are in trouble. We keep pointing fingers at the ones on top who are making big money, but we refuse to say no, to get ourselves disentangled from the convenience of what has been invented. It doesn't seem that there is a collective conversation about what kind of society we want to have, but if we started abandoning what is not serving us well, that would be a strong signal that it's not working.
"I didn't know what it would do. It seemed like a good deal." <-- That is the crux of all of these companies. We've been hoodwinked, and now it's tough to extract ourselves.
As someone currently doing No Amazon January, I so appreciate this!!!!
Thank you! So grateful to you and Corinne for having this conversation and many others about how hard it is to be a consumer in this world.
I don't have an Amazon account because I am frugal(cheap). I am then not beholden to doing business exclusively with them because of my desire to get the (free) shipping. I can use other sources for occasional items I wish to purchase. They are just not worth it to us. Less is better.
I started boycotting Amazon in 2018. I was working in publishing and I could see first hand how this company was a monopoly in book selling but also absolutely shit with their metadata and search. Lots of great reasons to boycott. I have encountered products, like air filters, that only available on Amazon but if I can get it elsewhere I do.
Ugh, the stranglehold on publishing! I'm witnessing this right now with a new book out — constant moral anxiety.
There are countless extensions to this wisdom. Cause when we moralize “better” decisions, making them simply to avoid the shame we feel for their alternative, we always extend that thinking to others with totally different experiences—and the SHAME we then continue to breed is what keeps us in these ubiquitously addictive, harmful cycles. Individually and collectively.
But when we do a little more of what feels like LOVE and compassion for ourselves and others every single day, we effortlessly begin releasing the shame-based motivations. We gradually begin to WANT Amazon and everything else gross like it far less. So healing and TRANSFORMATION can begin without striving and resistance.
We can’t heal ourselves when we’re fighting and neither can the world.
Thank you for writing this💥🖤