Is taking advantage of Amazon’s sale akin to crossing the picket line?
July 14, 2019 2:00 PM   Subscribe

Should you boycott Amazon Prime Day? [The Verge] “It’s Amazon at its most Amazonian — fast, cheap, convenient, and totalizing. Prime Day draws you in, not just to Amazon Prime membership but to a whole world of seamless consumerism. It’s the kind of intra-corporate pride that was on display in the bizarre concert series, and much of the company’s messaging around Prime Day in general. But is Amazon really something to be proud of?”

• Amazon Prime Day Protests By Workers Demonstrate Continued Tension Inside The E-Commerce Goliath [Forbes]
“Amazon warehouse workers in Shakopee, Minnesota, are organizing a 6-hour strike on July 15, the first day of this year’s Prime Day, to protest alleged unrealistic productivity quotas, safety concerns, a lack of clear communication from supervisors and job insecurity for temporary workers. “We’re forced to work like machines,” says Hibaq Mohamed, an immigrant from Kenya who has been working at the Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee since 2016, when she arrived in the United States. “I see it as abuse,” she told Forbes. Mohamed, who is Muslim and one of the organizers of the upcoming Prime Day protest, describes a work environment where fulfillment expectations, “are better fit for a robot,” and accommodations for those who are sick or require extra breaks for religious reasons, are subject to termination.”
• What to know about how Amazon sucks you in on Prime Day (and makes you buy stuff you don’t want) [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
“I didn’t need the fancy dog treats. Seriously, my dog has plenty of treats. She hates most of them. But I’d just bought her a new bowl, and Amazon told me that other people who bought the bowl also bought these delicious dog treats. bviously, I bought the fancy dog treats. The psychology behind that decision will be on full display, on a massive scale, for Amazon Prime Day on Monday (and also apparently Tuesday, and also there are some “early” deals this weekend). [...] Prime Day itself is an old tactic: Make consumers think a price or a product is only available for a limited time, causing them to conduct their own cost-benefit analysis and purchase something because they think the product or price won’t last. Experts say this is one of the driving factors behind Black Friday sales. Some of those deals are actually good prices; others just seem like it. But making you think they’re going away is key either way.”
• While you're shopping on Prime Day, these Amazon warehouse workers will be striking [Mashable]
“Prime Day isn't a cause for celebration for the backbone of Amazon, its fulfillment warehouse workers. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota, plan to strike for six hours on Prime Day, July 15, to call for job security and eased productivity quotas. According to a Bloomberg report, the strike isn't expected to significantly disrupt fulfillment, though it is highlighting Amazon's treatment of its warehouse workers on one of its biggest shopping days of the year. [...] Some "white collar" Amazon workers will be joining Shakopee workers in solidarity, and to continue putting pressure on Amazon around greenhouse gas emissions. Members of the group, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, say their causes are stronger together. In addition to the strike, Amazon employees will rally outside the facility in the afternoon.”
• Your complete guide to living an Amazon-free life in 2019 [Fast Company]
“First, let’s get to the easy stuff. If you want to live the Amazon-free life, the first step is … not shopping at Amazon! Get rid of your Amazon Prime account. Don’t shop on the website. While we’re at it, stop using Amazon products like Echo. Voila! The best alternative is shopping local. I know this sounds trite, but it’s also true. Shopping from smaller shops will probably be more expensive than Amazon’s low prices–but if you’re able to shell out a few extra bucks, it’s definitely worth it. Go to a local bookstore. Brick-mortar retail stores are dying out, so if there’s a small one near you, why not support it? If you need to shop online, maybe try the website of your favorite local store, or even eBay or Etsy, which will also support individual merchants. You may be tempted to look toward other bigger platforms like Jet, which is owned by Walmart, and while it’s not Amazon, it’s not much better, either. Target is another viable option, although it, too, is a big corporation, albeit a less ubiquitous one than the Amazon behemoth.”
posted by Fizz (60 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ah, the rare inverse Betteridge.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:40 PM on July 14, 2019 [19 favorites]


It’s buried in the article, but the workers aren’t calling on consumers to boycott Amazon - in part because during strikes you WANT things and orders to be piling up to demonstrate the power of your work stoppage.
posted by corb at 2:54 PM on July 14, 2019 [53 favorites]


Word.
I'm very freaked out how Amazon has become infrastructure.
Amazon's Platforms Are Used to Spread White Supremacy
AmazonVSImmigrants
posted by spamandkimchi at 2:57 PM on July 14, 2019 [6 favorites]


I've always ended up de facto boycotting Prime Day anyway, not out of objection for Amazon's shitty policies, but because their deals have always been at best marginally better than usual, and only on total crap products I don't want anyway. 35% off of something I wouldn't even use if they sent it to me for free provides me no incentive to buy anything.
posted by tclark at 2:57 PM on July 14, 2019 [17 favorites]


It’s buried in the article, but the workers aren’t calling on consumers to boycott Amazon - in part because during strikes you WANT things and orders to be piling up to demonstrate the power of your work stoppage.
posted by corb at 5:54 PM on July 14 [+] [!]


Should we buy a stupid amount of $1 items instead? I'm pretty sure its too late to coordinate something like that, but imagine the hassle
posted by FirstMateKate at 2:59 PM on July 14, 2019 [10 favorites]


Don’t rail against amazon, rail against a federal government that refuses basic worker protections and employment standards. Rail against a minimum wage that punishes the poor, and fills the pockets of the rich. Not to mention a government that ties basic human rights like healthcare to the whims of employers.

Otherwise you’re just going to have to do it all over again in the next boom and bust cycle.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:12 PM on July 14, 2019 [55 favorites]


Thanks dawg but I'm gonna go ahead and do both.
posted by saladin at 3:18 PM on July 14, 2019 [97 favorites]


Don’t rail against amazon, rail against a federal government that refuses basic worker protections and employment standards. Rail against a minimum wage that punishes the poor, and fills the pockets of the rich. Not to mention a government that ties basic human rights like healthcare to the whims of employers.

Porque no los dos?
posted by eviemath at 3:19 PM on July 14, 2019 [28 favorites]


Ah, scooped!
posted by eviemath at 3:20 PM on July 14, 2019 [4 favorites]


Sure, both, just remember that one of them is responsible for the business and economic environment that makes the other inevitable.
posted by ericost at 3:30 PM on July 14, 2019 [3 favorites]


Don’t rail against amazon, rail against a federal government that refuses basic worker protections and employment standards. Rail against a minimum wage that punishes the poor, and fills the pockets of the rich. Not to mention a government that ties basic human rights like healthcare to the whims of employers.


I would feel more amenable to this sentiment were it not for the fact that companies (like Amazon, not only or specifically it) spend lots of money lobbying for poorer labor laws. They're part of the cause of declining enforcement of labor laws, not only an effect of it.
posted by thegears at 3:39 PM on July 14, 2019 [45 favorites]


I don't know if you should or not, but I haven't bought anything from them in years.
posted by bongo_x at 3:41 PM on July 14, 2019 [5 favorites]


Warehouses often have mandatory overtime at events like this, including earlier start times and extra days
posted by Jacen at 3:43 PM on July 14, 2019


But not higher rates of pay to reflect that overtime, right?
posted by Paul Slade at 4:05 PM on July 14, 2019


But not higher rates of pay to reflect that overtime, right?

As long as they are hourly (not salaried), then overtime means higher rates.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:13 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


I will continue to rail against Amazon. The law permits Amazon to treat its workers unethically and engage in other bad practices, sure, but it doesn’t force Amazon to do so. I hold the company accountable for its choices.
posted by sallybrown at 4:16 PM on July 14, 2019 [22 favorites]


Coinciding with the most recent Prime Day was the sprouting of numerous small blue signs in Whole Foods announcing special reductions on produce and other items for Prime members only. I was hoping they were only going to be up for a day or two, but they're still there.

Is Amazon moving towards offering discounts to Prime members only at Whole Foods (in order, obviously, to boost their Prime membership numbers)? If so, guess I'll just be buying those items elsewhere!
posted by tenderly at 4:31 PM on July 14, 2019


Is Amazon moving towards offering discounts to Prime members only at Whole Foods

Yes, although thus far the discounts are largely irrelevant (yay, I saved $0.48 on a $75 bill!). It's not merely done to goose Prime numbers, it’s also done because they can track individual purchasing across venues (what do you buy at WF vs. what you buy online, when, with what other products, etc.).
posted by aramaic at 4:36 PM on July 14, 2019 [7 favorites]


I'm very freaked out how Amazon has become infrastructure.

That “infrastructure” is how you are reading the words on this very website. Yes these ones right here. Is everyone going to also boycott MetaFilter (and Netflix, and practically every other online service you use) during that six hours?
posted by sideshow at 4:51 PM on July 14, 2019 [3 favorites]


That “infrastructure” is how you are reading the words on this very website. Yes these ones right here. Is everyone going to also boycott MetaFilter (and Netflix, and practically every other online service you use) during that six hours?

the fact that Amazon controls so much of the internet's infrastructure is part of the point.
posted by NBelarski at 4:55 PM on July 14, 2019 [9 favorites]


Amazon didn’t go to server mines and extract Elastic Compute Cloud instances out of the earth. They “control” so much of the internet’s infrastructure because they built it.
posted by sideshow at 5:03 PM on July 14, 2019 [3 favorites]


As long as they are hourly (not salaried), then overtime means higher rates.

When it's not unpaid overtime or isn't wage thefted out, yes.
posted by kafziel at 5:15 PM on July 14, 2019 [7 favorites]


Remember folks: it's not a "deal" if you didn't need it.
posted by monospace at 5:19 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Remember folks: it's not a "deal" if you didn't need it.

I’ve got a stuffed wolpertinger from an estate sale’s Sunday-afternoon “everything 50% off” phase that would strenuously disagree.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 5:26 PM on July 14, 2019 [12 favorites]


Amazon didn’t go to server mines and extract Elastic Compute Cloud instances out of the earth. They “control” so much of the internet’s infrastructure because they built it.

Uh, mines are also "built."

I'm not sure what your point is, here, but private ownership of critical infrastructure is a problem. If a single entity controlled 95% (or whatever) of freeway mileage in the U.S., and charged a fee per use or had the power to arbitrarily restrict movement, people would hopefully be losing their shit. But that's how much power Amazon has.

When private infrastructure becomes large enough and important enough to the lives of its citizens, a civilized country nationalizes it.
posted by klanawa at 5:50 PM on July 14, 2019 [15 favorites]


The question I've never seen answered is whether it's crossing the picket line if you live in a different country where the Amazon workers aren't striking. (Yet.)

Then again, it's not like it's ethical to buy from Amazon the other 363 days of the year.
posted by Merus at 6:01 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Amazon didn’t go to server mines and extract Elastic Compute Cloud instances out of the earth. They “control” so much of the internet’s infrastructure because they built it.

To borrow from a 2012 campaign speech: They didn't build that.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:51 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Yaaa, but I have a coupon...
posted by sammyo at 6:58 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Remember folks: it's not a "deal" if you didn't need it.

I’ve got a stuffed wolpertinger from an estate sale


monospace comment holds, I googled and everyone NEEDS a wolpertinger, mulling where to find (or make, there are some pretty big... no no no too urban might get caught... but oh what a lovely local scandal, <gurgling glee sounds>)
posted by sammyo at 7:05 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


I need to keep Prime to watch the Expanse, but I never buy anything from Amazon unless I really can’t get it locally.
posted by rikschell at 8:03 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Last year, Amazon workers gave plenty of notice for their strike on 'Prime day', and the response from various websites was illuminating. I didn't realize just how much of the discourse was owned by fiat by Amazon. Super disappointing was rockpapershotgun.com deleting hundreds of protesting comments on their Prime promotion article, and they weren't the only ones.
posted by BetaRayBiff at 8:22 PM on July 14, 2019 [7 favorites]


At WH picking up my 'coupon' (have exactly one regular item due to personal taste) I asked the clerk if she was going to strike on prime day, the reaction was hilarious.
posted by sammyo at 9:01 PM on July 14, 2019


I hear so many people take pride over saving a few bucks on Amazon (not on Prime day, but just generally) and I'm like, maybe buy less stuff? The pride they're expressing is kind of weirdly outsized is why I mention it. And whenever I do look at stuff these days, it isn't cheaper on Amazon.

I didn't cancel my Prime to make a statement, but I wasn't pleased with them and then also they were shitty. For some reason, I live the exact same but spend a lot less money.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:20 PM on July 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


I’ve got a stuffed wolpertinger from an estate sale’s Sunday-afternoon “everything 50% off” phase that would strenuously disagree.

Yeah, but was it an algorithmically-selected Amazon's Choice™ stuffed wolpertinger? Was it drop-shipped by a third-party seller from Hong Kong who bought it in a lot of 10,000 from Alibaba? Was it mis-filed under "children's books", and did it have 2000 five-star reviews somehow for a completely different product? You are really missing the Amazon experience by shopping at non-Amazon estate sales.

(coming soon: Amazon for Estate Sales)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:23 PM on July 14, 2019 [6 favorites]


I was practicing for the strike the other day by ordering something directly from the manufacturer on eBay. It said “economy shipping from outside the US” on the listing, but arrived the next day in an Amazon envelope.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 10:34 PM on July 14, 2019 [3 favorites]


I dropped my Prime membership about two months ago. I was not making any statement. I am not sure what statement it would make. I dropped it because I did not feel I was getting value for my $120/year. I do not use Prime video. I do not use any of their benefits. I got "free shipping" but it did not make up for the $120 year fee. It sort of incented me to buy to try to get value out of the membership.

Interestingly, I was drinking beers and hanging out with a bunch of friends about a month ago when the conversation turned to Amazon. It was an eclectic bunch of people having the discussion. My liberal friends hate AMZN because they exploit the workers. My conservative friends hate AMZN because Bezos and the WaPo are too liberal and fake media. To me, the interesting thing was, for all their hate, both sides still purchased stuff on AMZN because of price and convenience. Even more interesting was that every single one of these people could afford to honor their principles and pay a little extra for whatever stuff they were buying, but they still chose to throw their principles aside for a few more dollars.

We do not live in a vacuum. So many things are intertwined as to make it almost impossible to find a pure play to support or to protest. AMZN hires tens of thousands of workers yet many complain to be exploited. If the choice is binary, and it is not, between hiring tens of thousands of workers and underpaying them or overworking them or not hiring them at all, I would fall on the hiring side.

The choice is not that, but rather it is a function of dividing up sales revenue between workers and shareholders and to a lesser extent to taxing entities. As a person who owns shares in publicly traded companies, I appreciate that there is a happy (or is it happier) medium between shareholders and employees. While we are a capitalist economic system, I (still -- looking at you President Trump) have hope that we are a moral society too and will be willing to forgo profits to benefit our fellow community members. What AMZN/Bezos, etc have to recognize is that the more you pay your worker, the more they have to spend on your own goods and services and it is a much better long term play that the short-term exploitation of workers.

Paying your workers pays.
posted by AugustWest at 11:10 PM on July 14, 2019 [3 favorites]


When private infrastructure becomes large enough and important enough to the lives of its citizens, a civilized country nationalizes it.

Nationalize what? The data centers located in the US? Due to the nature on how AWS works, much of everything worthwhile would be seamlessly moved out of the country while the lawyers on each side are arguing outside the buildings.

And that’s if the seizures are sudden. If there is any sort of build up to nationalization, Amazon will just strongly encourage that their customers implement a DR (Disaster Recovery) setup that includes non-US regions, and on the day the Feds decide to step in, Amazon can flip a switch and in an instant AWS could no longer have a US presence.

In truth, if your infrastructure is heavily integrated with AWS (or any other PaaS) and you are doing your job, the Feds could seize everything in the US tomorrow and your customers should see little impact.
posted by sideshow at 11:32 PM on July 14, 2019 [2 favorites]


Amazon employee here. It's ... not the worst job I've had but it's not anywhere near the best. I've been looking for other work that would be full time, is not public facing (I have severe PTSD so no on dealing with the general public) and give me health care at least, but no luck so far.

The pay is better than equivalent low/no education requirement jobs, but they cap the hours in the sort center (where all the temp workers are), and work the fulfillment center people near to death. The people on the fulfillment side look like zombies on the best of days, and every time I walk by there's mandatory overtime posted on their schedule.

The management is shitty, but all management is shitty. They push for a better scan rate (how many packages per hour you can scan) sometimes, but sometimes they're happy with it, which is directly connected to who is working that day, how much they see the non-scan oriented work I do (rebuilding pallets for safety, moving things down the line, or wrapping pallets to get them out the door because the person who is supposed to do that is slow). It feels like a power play to simply say, "I'm MANAGEMENT" when they do focus on it, than an overt threat, but that's the problem - management is encouraged to have these power plays because it's a right to work state.

It is the most diverse place I've worked, but I notice my Muslim coworkers only take 1 4-5h shift ... and there's no prayer break for them during it. I enjoy the people I work with, and in that regard, it's a super positive experience even though it's not the most fun job ever. Let's be real though: it's moving boxes in a warehouse. If it's FUN for you, you should look at your life priorities. With that said, my coworkers are anywhere from zombies to people who are good spirited and happy to be working ... I notice a direct correlation beween that and societal advantage - the older white guys are zombies, the older black ladies are the most chipper people I've ever met.

I was followed one day for having to pee twice in a 4h shift by one of the process assistants. He's since ... mysteriously disappeared from the floor in the last couple weeks, and I'm glad to see him go. Stuff like bathroom use and how much time you spend away from scanning drinking water is paid attention to, which is super duper creeptastic. I was told by the same process assistant I couldn't rest during a break with my feet on a chair laying on the floor, even though my hip had spasmed so bad I almost said fuck it to the shift, no reason given just "You can't do that." I had done it the previous shift that he hadn't worked, with no comment made. I've since made an effort to be diligent about yoga before and after shifts to avoid that from coming up.

There is a high turnover in management (looks like they move them between buildings and shifts A LOT. I've had 2 managers in 2 months), and some in the associates but not as much as I expected, given what I read about the working conditions at other warehouses/all the horrible management choices ("Hey guys, there's voluntary time off available, but we're gonna flex the shift up an hour because reasons," has happened more than once). Some shifts are run better than others, and it directly relates to how the management communicates. One shift I work, the management is ultra shitty ... and they consisently don't meet the volume requirements. The other shift, management will occasionally hop on the speaker to tell us how we're doing, whether we're going to flex up/down/by how much, and thank us for our hard work. Everyone on that shift works waay harder, and it's generally a better team and a smoother shift experience.

This is a company that would strongly benefit from a union. I have not known how to begin organizing one, as I live in AZ (right to work state), am being trailed by the management and really need a job to keep my living situation stable. Management clearly is on a power trip because of the right to work thing, and the only way I could think of was to run for state rep to try to change that but ... I don't think I got politics in me as a profession. I wanna just work with systems and a static team to make things happen, you know?

I'll close with this: drive the retail side of AMZN into the ocean, any way you can. As an employee, I can tell you that if they stopped having a growing market share, the workers would begin to have more power. I encourage my family to shop elsewhere and argue that the convenience of amazon is convenient because they are exploitative to retailers on their platform and their workers. I do not know what to suggest about AWS as the comment above pointed out, a good PaaS means that the US could be without power for weeks/AMZN could be nationalized via executive order and ... it wouldn't disrupt shit on that front. Prime membership is a trap, cancel it if you haven't, and look at ordering stuff off sites you know where you'll be getting quality things from, instead of AMZN where you could get the wrong item shipped to you because the person at the fulfillment center wasn't paying attention (given that they were on their 50th hour working that week) or the retailer lied to you, or... just don't give them your business if you can avoid it.

I think one thing that would help on the AWS front is if we viewed that kind of a service as integral, like we view ISPs and are talking about municipal broadband - think nationalized web hosting services kinda deal. But that's some fully automated gay luxury space communism shit - we need to get lord commander marmalade out of office and push the center-right political party hard to the left, and focus on the levers of power and not sharing them with the fascists before we can really seriously expect nationalized web services that can compete with AMZN.

Hope I'm not fired for this.
/rant
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 2:40 AM on July 15, 2019 [74 favorites]


As long as they are hourly (not salaried), then overtime means higher rates.

No, it means a higher total at the same rates. You need provision in your contract for overtime to be time-and-a-half of whatever. Otherwise you're just working two more hours (for example) at your usual hourly rate.

(assuming you aren't just being made to clock off and work those extra hours for free).
posted by Dysk at 2:53 AM on July 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Is Amazon moving towards offering discounts to Prime members only at Whole Foods

Wait, how would that even work? Does Amazon send out physical Prime membership cards in the US, or would you have to type your password into a device at the till to prove you have an account, or show the cashier something in an Amazon app on your phone, or...?
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 3:01 AM on July 15, 2019


If you have the Amazon app it has a Whole Foods QR code.
posted by jzb at 3:05 AM on July 15, 2019


It's a bit beside the point given the overall shittiness of working conditions at Amazon, but mandatory overtime over 40 hours a week for non-exempt employees absolutely does mean time and a half and it does not have to be in your contract: https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime_pay.htm
posted by fancypants at 4:23 AM on July 15, 2019 [7 favorites]


There are so many ways to wiggle out of that though - decide that it's voluntary (but everyone better volunteer) or force the extra hours on your part-time employees so nobody goes over 40.
posted by Dysk at 5:26 AM on July 15, 2019 [2 favorites]


As stated in the DOL page that fancypants linked, overtime for non-exempt employees must be paid at the time-and-a-half rate or higher, regardless of whether the overtime is mandatory or voluntary.
posted by teraflop at 5:34 AM on July 15, 2019 [3 favorites]


we can't even get them to pay taxes so it's kind of hard to imagine the DOL giving a single tiny peanut shit about it.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:51 AM on July 15, 2019 [9 favorites]


Yes, there's a huge difference between what is legally mandated and what actually happens. The Walmart workers' lawsuit specifically mentions lack of pay for mandatory overtime. How long has that been in the courts?

It would be great if there were immediate legal consequences for employers violating workplace laws, but there ain't.
posted by allthinky at 6:07 AM on July 15, 2019 [5 favorites]


My periodic comment that I stopped shopping at Amazon last year and my life is not noticeably any worse.

You too can do it.
posted by Automocar at 6:44 AM on July 15, 2019 [3 favorites]


The thing that I think probably makes me the most insane about the whole fucking amazon situation is how it infects every aspect of your life such that all the things you try to do to Make Things A Little Better are generally worthless.

Say I decide to get some cotton mesh produce bags so I can use fewer plastic bags, what a good idea, right? Except. My personal choice to do that as an individual, is that outweighed by the personal human misery my ordering them from amazon creates? To the people making them so cheaply, who have no workplace protections? To the amazon warehouse workers whose lives are made incrementally worse with each thing I order? To my mailman, who 100% factually hates me personally for the 3 years I had to basically live off of amazon due to disability? (75% of the staff at my local post office quit during christmas 2018, because of the immense burden of delivering amazon packages. not just mine, obviously, but still.) And since I already barely go to the supermarket for produce (there is a fruit tent on my corner, I bring my own bag) the amount of plastic bags going unused from this choice I've made is negligible. And then for irony purposes I end up buying plastic bags for my garbage anyway. So all I've done is increase human misery, to what purpose? To feel better about myself and my choices, when my choices are in fact meaningless?

help im in a chidi spiral
posted by poffin boffin at 7:29 AM on July 15, 2019 [17 favorites]


Okay, I did stop in a local pet store yesterday and these stupid filters were $11.99 instead of the sub-$4 I'm used to getting them on Amazon. Grumble. Mumble. *kicks rock*

What is even the point of a little charcoal filter in a pet fountain? Can't I just wash it and put in new water? The charcoal is just endlessly filtering... the same water... yeah fuck it, I'm not buying new ones. Plus Deedee gets infinite sink or shower drinks whenever I walk anywhere near the bathroom.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:31 AM on July 15, 2019 [1 favorite]






I used to think that Amazon was angling to replace the economy.

Seems more like they're looking to become the middle layer between producers and consumers wherever possible.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:55 AM on July 15, 2019 [1 favorite]






Nationalize what?
That's an excellent question. The first step is asking it.
And that’s if the seizures are sudden. [etc.]
You're projecting a very particular worldview onto this scenario and creating essentially a false dilemma. There are more options than Stalinist asset seizures or laissez-faire.

My province nationalized the ferry, power production/distribution, medical and car insurance (etc.) industries and it's... fine. There were no jack-boots or truncheons involved. Don't let your ideological rigidity prevent you from thinking outside the box.
posted by klanawa at 4:20 PM on July 15, 2019 [3 favorites]


As I’ve said, if Amazon wants to take up most of our postal service and not pay any taxes then their retail and distribution service and become part of the postal service.

Hell their card service would tie nicely into s postal banking system too,
posted by The Whelk at 4:28 PM on July 15, 2019 [2 favorites]


Amazon has basically turned Canada Post into a client, and will probably destroy it completely once they transition to their own distribution. It's hard to imagine that that hasn't been part of their plan all along.
posted by klanawa at 4:35 PM on July 15, 2019




For those of you on the fence about cancelling your Amazon Prime: allow me to spread the gospel of the Target REDcard, which gives you two-day free shipping & 5% off on most Target stuff with no annual fee. I cancelled my Prime sometime earlier this year (February?) and have made occasional use of Target since for household staples, etc., for which I might have used Amazon before.

I figure Target is probably unethical too and not treating its workers particularly well, but at least it's different from Amazon. And I do feel pretty good about not paying Amazon $120/year and not contributing to its monopolistic ways.
posted by crazy with stars at 4:36 PM on July 16, 2019 [2 favorites]


My wife ordered some basic household stuff from Target like that, just to test it out, Ordered it in the evening, it was there in the morning from across the country. I'm not sure how that works. It was just a few cheap things.
posted by bongo_x at 7:56 PM on July 16, 2019


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