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Amazon

Started by bgmnts, April 03, 2021, 12:22:35 AM

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Mobbd

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.

Fuck Amazon! Seriously. Withdraw your funding. It's the least you can do.

And that Trenter, eh? What a miserable little div. Just remember that actually being Trenter is surely punishment enough.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Mobbd on April 05, 2021, 09:36:47 PM
And that Trenter, eh? What a miserable little div. Just remember that actually being Trenter is surely punishment enough.

Nice.  I'll just quote that so there is a record of it.

MrMrs


TrenterPercenter

evidently;

Seems a bit OTT for saying people should also push for unionising Amazon not just boycott it but there you go.

katzenjammer

Quote from: Mobbd on April 05, 2021, 09:36:47 PM

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

Midas

It can be very difficult to completely avoid Amazon because they have their fingers in so many pies across the web nowadays. In addition to monopolising e-books and having one of the most popular video streaming services, they've made over 100 acquisitions which notably include: Audible, The Book Depository, ComiXology, Goodreads, IMDb, Twitch, Whole Foods (and many, many more).

After hearing first-hand about their dehumanizing maltreatment of warehouse workers I always try to seek out an ethical alternative where possible but I often feel a shadow of futility falling over me. What is the point of buying my books elsewhere when Amazon has surpassed 100 million Prime subscribers worldwide? Boycotting Amazon often feels like pissing into the wind because so many people simply don't care about those in low-paid work.

"If it's so bad why don't they get a job elsewhere?"

Amazon's efforts to influence the world beyond cheap books with their interests in facial recognition, surveillance technologies and their multibillion-dollar cloud computing contract with the CIA trouble me the most because these technologies pose a devastating potential for societal control. Ultimately, I don't think the combined efforts of a few fringe activists boycotting Amazon is meaningful enough to affect them in any noticable way. I don't know what the solution is. Sorry for ending on such a sour note...

Sebastian Cobb

People wanting to avoid Prime Video could do what I did when Murdoch still owned NowTV, and just pirate stuff that they're offering as part of the subscription.

Myth: Piracy is wrong
Fact: Amazon is a big faceless corporation which makes it ok

Quote from: The Ombudsman on April 03, 2021, 11:32:20 PM
Doesn't AWS return more profit than Amazon?

AWS is an absolute juggernaut in terms of companies outsourcing their compute infrastructure to Amazon, especially internet startups so they are hard to avoid.  Jeff Bezos comes across as a bit of an arse in comparison to some of his peers, at least the like of Gates gives money away to good causes.

I think we need some kind of tax on internet deliveries in order to change consumer behaviour and level the playing field a bit for physical shops.  I don't see government taxing these massive multi-nationals any other way.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle on April 06, 2021, 04:09:53 PM
I think we need some kind of tax on internet deliveries in order to change consumer behaviour and level the playing field a bit for physical shops.  I don't see government taxing these massive multi-nationals any other way.

Maybe some kind of carbon tax and corporate responsibility to increase eco-travel; if you delivering door to door then you are increasing emissions (plus all the rest of the logistics)?

Consignia

Quote from: Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle on April 06, 2021, 04:09:53 PMJeff Bezos comes across as a bit of an arse in comparison to some of his peers

I mean, Bezos runs Amazon Prime Video at a loss so he could get in with beautiful young people of the TV producing scene and get his rocks off. Bond villians look tame compared to him.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: TrenterPercenter on April 06, 2021, 04:17:19 PM
Maybe some kind of carbon tax and corporate responsibility to increase eco-travel; if you delivering door to door then you are increasing emissions (plus all the rest of the logistics)?

I believe delivery is typically more environmentally friendly than going to shops for most people, unless they're buying lots of things in one shopping trip.




Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Consignia on April 06, 2021, 04:19:52 PM
I mean, Bezos runs Amazon Prime Video at a loss so he could get in with beautiful young people of the TV producing scene and get his rocks off. Bond villians look tame compared to him.

I think he personally kept The Expanse from being canned because he liked the books. Which lead me to think why billionaires haven't done stuff like that more, if I was a billionaire there would've been a fourth series of deadwood years ago.

Mobbd

Quote from: katzenjammer on April 06, 2021, 12:53:20 PM
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.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 06, 2021, 05:00:37 PM
I believe delivery is typically more environmentally friendly than going to shops for most people, unless they're buying lots of things in one shopping trip.

Good point.  Perhaps on an individual business thing though; if they are going to be responsible for all the companies that use them for profit they ca take responsibility for their emissions too.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Mobbd on April 06, 2021, 05:09:31 PM
Yeah, fair dos. Maybe we can quit them in time too. But Amazon. They need their ground salting. Don't give 'em anything.

Have you calmed down a bit now then.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: TrenterPercenter on April 06, 2021, 05:11:57 PM
Good point.  Perhaps on an individual business thing though; if they are going to be responsible for all the companies that use them for profit they ca take responsibility for their emissions too.

Is that not just a general freight/logistics tax?

From what I can tell shops are bad because of electricity and moving stock around (which may or may not get sold). You're still moving stuff from a warehouse to shops by the lorry (just like online logistics does within their hubs) but with the added last customer mile.

Online is bad due to excess packaging and returns, but I think some of those problems can be mitigated more (I think at least some of the people complaining about this probably haven't seen what a pallet of shop stock is wrapped in also).

Mobbd

This just popped up at the G:

QuoteLike millions of people around the world, I'm addicted to Amazon. It has been estimated that 59% of US households are members of Amazon Prime, the company's paid membership service.

etc

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/06/convenience-has-a-human-cost-so-i-am-quitting-amazon-prime

The Culture Bunker

I think the other people in my block have that addiction. There's only five other occupied flats at the moment, but the delivery people are here every day, often more than once and the paper/card recycling bin must be 75% postal packaging.

Norton Canes

Quote from: bgmnts on April 03, 2021, 12:22:35 AM
Is anyone here ever going to stop using Amazon?

Me, since this year

PlanktonSideburns

Yea  I think it's possible

People have reconings about stuff all the time

Sebastian Cobb

If the Mark Thomas Comedy Product was still going he could block their entrance with thousands of water bottles filled with piss or something.

flotemysost

Quote from: Midas on April 06, 2021, 02:37:30 PM
It can be very difficult to completely avoid Amazon because they have their fingers in so many pies across the web nowadays. In addition to monopolising e-books and having one of the most popular video streaming services, they've made over 100 acquisitions which notably include: Audible, The Book Depository, ComiXology, Goodreads, IMDb, Twitch, Whole Foods (and many, many more).

I deal with a few of these companies as well through my work, and I don't know if it's just Amazon's influence that makes it this way, but the "customer is king" ethos frequently makes it a right pain in the arse to get anything done. Adding "please fix this problem otherwise it might lead to CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS, dun dun dunnnn" to emails often helps.

Re: Amazon addiction/feelings of futility around Amazon boycotts; my flatmate last year had parcels arriving more or less daily - I mean, fair enough, she was on furlough and there was fuck all to do - but then she started saying we should order our shared groceries and household stuff through Prime as they do same-day delivery, and while I wanted to stick to my guns, I also would have felt like a bit of a twat if I were to haughtily decline her suggestion, seeing as I was earning a full salary and I know she also had quite bad anxiety about going to supermarkets (again, completely understandably).

It's not just that though, I just imagine if I said the words "I don't buy anything from Amazon" to most people I know I'd be met with gales of laughter, not because they're bad people, just because they probably wouldn't understand the point (and tbf given my job it would be a bit hypocritical).

I think one of the most 2020 things to happen to me last year was when my flatmate and I ordered home COVID tests from the NHS website and they arrived in Amazon packaging, I'd had no idea they had fingers in that pie too. National Jeff Service™ by 2022 I reckon.


Mobbd

Quote from: Mobbd on April 05, 2021, 09:36:47 PM
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.

Quote from: katzenjammer on April 06, 2021, 12:53:20 PM
Three paragons of virtue right there

Quote from: Mobbd on April 06, 2021, 05:09:31 PM
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?

TrenterPercenter

Is there a reason Mobbd why you registered in 2011 but didn't post anything until 2018?

I was just trying to get my head around why someone I've never spoken to on here starting calling me a div and being pretty abusive for no reason; it would make more sense if you were someones sock.

Mobbd

Quote from: TrenterPercenter on April 06, 2021, 09:47:39 PM
Is there a reason Mobbd why you registered in 2011 but didn't post anything until 2018?

I was just trying to get my head around why someone I've never spoken to on here starting calling me a div and being pretty abusive for no reason; it would make more sense if you were someones sock.

I am sorry I was horrible. You are not a div.

I am not certain as to what a sock is but I don't think I am one. I don't represent another user if that's what it is. I don't quite remember why I joined in 2011 without posting. I had probably considered getting on board as an alternative to social media. The same idea probably occurred to me in 2018 and I was still able to log in to my original account rather than making a new one.

TrenterPercenter

No probs just curious; thanks for the apology/reply.

Midas

Quote from: flotemysost on April 06, 2021, 09:05:36 PM
I just imagine if I said the words "I don't buy anything from Amazon" to most people I know I'd be met with gales of laughter, not because they're bad people, just because they probably wouldn't understand the point.

Yep, I've found out the hard way that it's tricky to communicate ideas about ethical buying to people without sounding like a self-righteous arse. When I try to justify making Eco-Friendly, Organic, Fairtrade, EarthPositive®, Free-range, Vegan purchases everyone around me is eye-rolling themselves into oblivion.

In theory, Amazon could comfortably re-structure their workplace so staff can work with dignity and respect but I don't think this is likely because the endgame for their warehouses is to get rid of most of their workers whilst introducing automation. A future of robot-fulfillment centers and drone delivery services is depressingly plausible. A mechanised, consumerist empire built upon the suffering of society's poorest.

katzenjammer

Graphical representation of Bezos's wealth.  Keep scrolling

https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/

MojoJojo

Quote from: Midas on April 06, 2021, 02:37:30 PM
It can be very difficult to completely avoid Amazon because they have their fingers in so many pies across the web nowadays. In addition to monopolising e-books and having one of the most popular video streaming services, they've made over 100 acquisitions which notably include: Audible, The Book Depository, ComiXology, Goodreads, IMDb, Twitch, Whole Foods (and many, many more).

Just to ram this home a bit more, Netflix and Disney Plus all run on AWS. I'd be surprised if any large streaming service didn't use amazon.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: MojoJojo on April 09, 2021, 03:07:55 PM
Just to ram this home a bit more, Netflix and Disney Plus all run on AWS. I'd be surprised if any large streaming service didn't use amazon.

And it's not only your own infrastructure, if you're using a third-party CDN to transcode or store your assets, or even some caching/scalability services they're probably using AWS in there somewhere.

To be honest my work were considering Azure for a while and I feared it'd close the door on using more interesting services, ones beyond basic virtual servers/containers/lambdas.