I often avoid using Amazon. I do use it, from time-to-time. Sometimes time, availability, and, honestly, cost pushes me toward them. Unlike Walmart and Home Depot, which I totally avoid, there isn't always a good alternative.

Capitalism is OK when there is a win-win situation created for all parties, and Amazon seems good at it.

I agree with the general consensus of everyone who's already responded. As someone who has a 36-inch inseam, I still remember the nightmare of trying to find pants long enough, and I use a number of supplements that aren't available locally at all. Add to that the convenience of sending things to friends and family and charities, it's no wonder it's got a loyal user base.

So I won't be boycotting Amazon. First, they're so large that it would be almost impossible to institute a boycott large enough that it would impact them, so why punish ourselves? But it would be much more effective to pressure politicians to change the laws that allow large corporations to get away with minimal taxes and abusive employee conditions. A lot of them get away with that. Amazon is simply one of the largest.

1. could tell myriad stories about how i tried like crazy to find something I needed locally (or for a price i wanted to pay) & Amazon came through for me
2. In the RV community, Amazon is Loved.....not only are they one of the few employers who will hire "transients" but many times they provide free RV parking on their grounds (24/7) while you are employed by them.
3. I have read how they require their employees to "keep moving", much as I would if I were your employer....try working in a cotton mill, where you have to keep up with the never-turned-off-since-1896 machinery, or being paid by-the-piece at a pants manufacturer, or being a waitress on Mother's Day, you lazy fucks.

I am addicted to Amazon and our consumer economy. Yes, I occasionally feel guilty about it but I seem to always follow the path of least resistance. I could find myself shopping for hours both online and in stores trying to find the correct lawn mower part but I know all I have to do is put in my part number and it will be immediately available on Amazon. I have subscriptions to several items that I use all the time because it is so wonderful never to have to run to town to buy those items when I run out.

I have tried to use other online retailers and have found the experience much less enjoyable or safe. Amazon's return and guarantees are rock solid while some other companies seem to do their best to make sure you don't get what you paid for.

I have a grandson that works for Amazon and this work experience has been good for him. It provided him funds and the discipline that he needed. He now has a life plan and timetable to do what he really wants to do. Next to July he hopes to enter a training system to be a firefighter. I think they're employee training and work system is very attractive to kids that grew up on the internet.

That said, I have been avoiding Walmart as much as possible for 20 years and they are still here. I have to confess that about three times a year, I go to their soda aisle and purchase as many 12 packs of peach clear something as they have in stock. At that time I also very determinely avoid buying anything else during the trip.

In other words, like almost anything else in our world, the ethical thing to do is consume less. Of course then, all the little robot workers would be without a job with no way to feed their children. That would be a cool way to accomplish population control.

Long rant and I did not get far into it. I live in a rural area so shopping options are limited. Amazon's jeff bezos is evil but the business model worked. If bezos walked his talk there would be less of an issue. Big box store Walmart killed off a lot of the small town business and it's owners are as evil as bezos.
There is a pattern here and it starts with who we elect to govern and the regulations we have(or don't) to try and level the playing field. So boycotting may soothe the conscience but does nothing to address unbridled Capitalism.

It's an important question. I think many many corporations and governments, including the US government, indulge in countless inethical practices. At least in theory there are measures citizens or consumers can take to rectify the situation such as regulatory institutions and consumer protection laws. I think a truly robust democracy is the way where government agencies and politicians are not beholden to private wealth. I am just dreaming maybe

Purchases sustain systems, whether it's capitalism or monopoly or evil business practices. If you can avoid giving your dollars to the worst ones, great. If not, maybe by being conscious of the pros and cons of doing business with them, you can steer a modified course - shop there only when there's no reasonable alternative.

To some extent, it's the system that's to blame; the company is playing by the same rules other large corporations play by - seeking tax incentives, etc. Systems are difficult to change, but they are created by people and sustained by people. It's worth paying attention to how we can contribute to incremental change and progress.

Companies do sometimes respond to bad PR. Boycotts may not dry up revenues as much as they scare a company into making adjustments to protect its image. Public pressure worked (temporarily at least) to cut corporate contributions to anti-democracy elected officials in Georgia and elsewhere.

I've been an Amazon shopper for 25 years. No complaints. And they keep getting better.
Lots of evil in this world, that is one thing Amazon will never have a monopoly on.

A book I started reading lately " The Privatization of Everything" spelled it out: We are no longer citizens. We are consumers

The high cost of low prices. Ultimately, the best answer is to reduce consumption. The convenience of Amazon, and other internet purchase options encourages over consumption, and leads people away from buying locally and supporting their local economies.

Never have used Amazon and never will after hearing the complaints, etc, I have heard from others who have used it and copped shit , etc, for complaining about screw-ups, etc, etc.

Boycot Amazon until they change their ways. I have never purchased anything from them.

Amazon is a reliable company with excellent customer service ,a super easy return policy ,great prices and unbelievably fast delivery service ,Amazon prime free delivery along with prime video .Many business could not exist if they could not sell on Amazon .I find products here that I can not find anywhere else and cheaper than most other places.

I find that there are many small businesses that sell through Amazon and I try to figure out who these people are and buy from them without going through Amazon.

When Walmart came to Wenatchee, WA it killed wonderful small specialty stores. One-by-one they closed. Gone were kitchen shops, elegant women's clothes, men's fine clothing, garden shops, art supplies and custom framers. Farewell little shop with fishing gear and lures. Goodbye, much loved bookstores.

Big box stores proliferated selling low quality crap. Nothing fits me. I'm a petite woman in increasingly obese America.

So I have a choice. I can order from Amazon. Or drive 150 miles over dangerous, steep, snowy and icy Cascade mountains to hit hideous gridlock and bumper-to-bumper slowdowns approaching and in Seattle.

Let's see. Shall I endanger, torture and exhaust myself driving 300 miles round trip over the mountains only to find no parking in Seattle? Or order online?

It's not a hard decision.

I'm trying to be done with as many of these corporations as I can.
It's not as easy as some might think, but it's worth it to me to try.

I'm not about to tell anyone else to do.

Amazon may be among the best examples of evil that we are compelled to subsidize. We could stop driving cars, and stop eating meat or using leather, and many other things. We live in a deeply, thoroughly corrupt culture, from religion to politics to capitalism. If we should manage to survive, we might find a few solutions to the rampant corruption. The corruption is so pervasive that, at this juncture, corruption could arguably be given priority over climate change, meaning simply that both problems are comparably existential.

In the specific case of Amazon, Bezos should be classified as a corrupt kleptocrat and his assets seized. In talks, he seems rational and even somewhat humanitarian, but his actions and policies say otherwise.

In my utopia, companies should not be able to attain more that 33% market share, and exceeding that, and/or individuals pocketing more than 10 M would be deemed criminally immoral. I favor an extra-judicial lottery to persuade people of that. I am very happy to see what is happening to Russia's kleptocrats, and a similar attitude should be levied against our own.

Put simply, kleptocracy is a threat to national security and species survival, and that provides all the justification needed to enact ultimate penalties. None of the wealthy are indispensable, and you can be sure that they don't have the scruples to protect us.

I could only read half of that. It's a total cop out, and I think he knows it and is just trying to ease his conscience with some mental gymnastics.