Blackwell's for books (if they're not available for free in the library). https://blackwells.co.uk
Blackwell's recently got a wishlist feature so I migrated all of my Amazon wishlist to them. That's the last tie I had to Amazon, I think.
Blackwell's generally match Amazon prices, by the way. Free shipping too, albeit a little slower. Not gone deep into their practices but they're a real bookshop (well, a small chain) run by real people so far as I know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell%27s
eBay for practically everything else.
Occasionally I wish I could watch a thing on Prime Video but then I tell myself to grow the fuck up and stare at some other shit on Netflix or YouTube.
Three paragons of virtue right there
Yeah, fair dos. Maybe we can quit them in time too. But Amazon. They need their ground salting. Don't give 'em anything.
I was just chewing this over in the back of my mind while doing other stuff. I still agree that YouTube, Netflix, and eBay are pretty bad and that their clutches should be escaped as well as those of Amazon. I read a book last year called
Lab Rats by Dan Lyons about the evil and shitness of Silicon Valley working cultures; he specifically discussed the culture of Netflix and how it is insanely manic and barely respecting of humanity. It sounded like something from
The Circle. It is not, however, as bad as Amazon with workers pissing in bottles and collapsing with fatigue and all the rest of it. Low bar, I know, but even choosing Netflix over Prime is... well, not good obviously, but certainly less evil. If people are genuinely struggling to kick their Amazon addiction, losing Prime in favour of Netflix is no bad first step I would think.
I don't know anything about the working culture or tax antics of eBay but let's imagine it is all terrible because it probably is. BUT the reason I use eBay is that it's a rational way to distribute second-hand goods. I buy everything second-hand where possible and also sell everything I don't need. It's just my zany way: an environmental thing (and a skinflint thing probably) rather than anything to do with tax or workers' rights. Second-hand shops and whatnot are fine for what they are but you're unlikely to find exactly what you're looking for. eBay solves that problem by matching buyers to sellers. So, while I do recognise the limits of eBay Corp's "goodness" in the world, it is a lot, lot, lot better than Amazon inasmuch as it actually does something useful rather than merely convenient.
Of course, we should try to stop using of all these platforms. Going out for a walk is better for you than watching drivel on TV and it doesn't feed the Capitalist machine at all, or degrade the natural world through massive energy use. But reducing your tolerance/furtherance of evil by going to Netflix and eBay is pretty good if you're not ready to be totally virtuous yet, you know?
