I’m Giving Up Amazon, and Why You Should Too
I’ve decided to quit Amazon.
I might be a little late to the party on this one (or maybe not, since Amazon is still one of the most profiting companies in the world), but I’ve decided it’s time to quit buying from Amazon.
I, like most people, used to love Amazon: one-stop shopping for absolutely everything at the cheapest prices from the comfort of your own home. The good things about Amazon are great!
…It’s the dark side of Amazon that isn’t. It’s the things we are sacrificing for those good things that scare me.
Why quit now?
I’ve known how awful of a company Amazon is for a few years now. If you’re interested to know why, you can probably just Google “Amazon” and “employee treatment” or “waste” or “pollution” and dive down those rabbit holes. I used to justify it (as we tend to justify all the bad things we do) by telling myself I don’t make that much money, it’s just too convenient NOT to use, or that it makes everything so easy (I’m saving so much time, so it’s worth it!). All the things you may or may not have told yourself at one point or another.
But I’ve decided it’s time to change. Why, you may ask. Why now?
I’ve been thinking hard about what it means to live by my own values and my own morals. When you examine your own lifestyle through the lens of your values and morals, it becomes (sometimes too painfully) clear what is wrong with your life. One of the tenents I want to live by is that I want to live while doing minimal harm to others. Zero is impossible: just by living, I will be polluting and living things will be harmed (even a vegan has to kill plants, right?). But I think it’s fair to want to minimize harm to others as much as possible.
What are you buying when you buy from Amazon.com?
So that brings us to Amazon.com. What are you buying when you buy something from Amazon? Well, most likely, you’re probably buying something at one of the cheapest prices in the world for that thing. I like cheap. I’m sure you probably do too. But how can Amazon afford to sell so many things so cheap?
Take a minute to have a think. What could they do to be able to offer things for cheaper than everyone else?
There are many potential reasons, but I’m going to stick to the ones that have caused me personally to give up Amazon. This is what you’re paying for when you buy from Amazon:
- Exploited Labor – Workers that aren’t able to go to the bathroom, much less get access to fair wages and good healthcare. They also have a history of opposing unions to prevent their workers from building power within the company.
- Dangerous Conditions – Studies have found that Amazon workers have double the injury rates as the average in the industry.
- Insane climate footprint – Amazon has the carbon footprint of the entire country of Denmark, and is continuing to grow.
- Pollution – A study found that Amazon’s pollution is disproportionately concentrated in communities of color. It’s one of the most polluting entities in the world, and they find ways to dump it into communities that have the least amount of power to do anything about it: disadvantaged and minority communities.
This list is just a start. There are so many more reasons to quit Amazon, but these are the biggest ones that mean something to me.
The Most Efficient Polluting In The World
Amazon has some of the best tech minds in the world, and they’ve built a system designed to abuse every legal loophole and externality it can to bring you the cheapest price. Polluting is free, so why pay to properly handle it? Minimum wage is legal, so why pay more? Minority communities don’t have the ability to legally fight us, so why not put factories there? Tearing down forests/taking resources in poor countries is cheaper, so why not do it? THAT’S what you’re buying when you shop at Amazon.
Enough is enough.
I’ve made excuses for them for long enough. Even if it hits my wallet harder, my money is going to go to companies that deserve to have it, and don’t abuse people, the law, and the environment. It’s time to stop making excuses. It’s time to start being a better human being. It’s time to stop shopping at Amazon.com.
2 thoughts on “I’m Giving Up Amazon, and Why You Should Too”
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“Zero is impossible: just by living, I will be polluting”: Many people say this idea, but anthropology doesn’t justify it. Humans lived for 300,000 years without polluting. Their environments were as healthy with them as without them. Life doesn’t require pollution. Our culture does for now, but doesn’t have to.
“Even if it hits my wallet harder”: I predict you will save money not shopping there. When I ask people what they buy there, it’s rarely essential. You may find yourself simply buying less, therefore spending less. I’m curious if your recent history there shows necessities or things you could do without. I borrow books, for example, from the library.
I suggest you may have left out two of the most direct and immediate items from your list of what you buy from Amazon that not shopping from them restores. Everyone’s values differ, but how about:
– Disconnection from your community and people behind your goods and services.
– Buying more things.
I guess it depends on what you refer to as “polluting!” If you consider CO2 to be a pollutant, and we breathe out CO2, you could be considered to be polluting. But it’s definitely splitting hairs. I agree that if you accept the pollution that we emit naturally just by living, then absolutely, we could live without polluting.
Haha I do like that way of thinking about it…By not shopping at Amazon, I probably will just end up buying less. There was actually a really good example of this just today! I was thinking about how I need a smartphone mount for my tripod to record videos with, but obviously didn’t want to buy a new one, much less on Amazon. I dug through my garage and found an old bike smartphone mount, strapped it to my tripod, and bam! Tripod smartphone mount. My experience today confirms your theory! haha
Hard agree on Amazon creating disconnection from community and people, as well as leading to buying more things. I almost feel like for most people, that requires an explanation that could be a blog post on it’s own! Thanks for commenting!