How Amazon Crushes Small Business
American Conservative,
by
Alexander Zubatov
Original Article
Posted By: GustoGrabber,
12/15/2021 7:15:18 AM
Much has been written over the past year about how Amazon treats its warehouse workers and other employees and its attempts to prevent their unionization. But the mistreatment of Amazon’s labor force is far from the only negative effect of having once-thriving mom-and-pop shops gobbled up by or placed at the mercy of a faceless e-commerce leviathan. Amazon’s ascent means that more and more Americans are losing their commercial autonomy, the right to dictate and introduce innovations into the terms of their own transactions and business relations, and, ultimately, their ability to control their financial—and, therefore, personal—destinies.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Toby Ten Bears 12/15/2021 7:34:28 AM (No. 1007545)
How is this not the very definition of a monopoly? I thought the Leftist/Fascists were against monopolies. Bezos must be the correct political stripe.
12 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
downnout 12/15/2021 7:46:36 AM (No. 1007562)
After reading this I feel like tossing out everything I ever purchased from that hideous company.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 12/15/2021 7:52:19 AM (No. 1007568)
Don't forget Walmart.
8 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 12/15/2021 7:53:20 AM (No. 1007570)
We have been seeing commercials that Amazon is now paying their employees $15+ an hour. My response: big whoop. Given Jeff Bezos's wealth, why wasn't he doing that all along? I have an answer but it draws in a larger circle of people and they are liberals.
From my Life Application Bible is this footnote from Psalm 22:30,31
"Unborn generations are depending on our faithfulness today. As we teach our children about the Lord, so they will teach their children and their children’s children. If we fail to tell our children about the Lord, we may well be breaking the chain of God’s influence in generations to come. We must view our children and all the young people we meet as God’s future leaders. If we are faithful in opportunities today, we may well be affecting the future."
Here is my answer: given that liberals are trying to take God out of society and believe in abortion to the degree that they do, a natural result of that is less people being influenced by God. When there is less influence by God, there is more influence by ungodly people. Jeff Bezos, along with his liberal friends, now think they have to educate people on everything.
There are signs in people yards now that say "Love is a universal thing" or something like that. That sign replaced the Vote for Joe Biden sign. I would like to say them, "no kidding, Sherlock" but as Christians we've known that all along. To wrap up this lengthy post, liberals now believe they have to educate EVERYONE after creating the damage by taking God out of society and believing abortion is an answer.
4 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
stablemoney 12/15/2021 7:54:16 AM (No. 1007575)
The government is crushing small business, not Amazon. And small business is crushing themselves. When they say they won't let people in their stores without masks and shots, they have a lot of people that won't come back to their stores. The shopping experience has been destroyed by the left. Frankly, I would rather order online than deal with it. I would also rather eat at home than eat through a filthy mask. Then, there is the thing about being confronted, instead of the former thanks for coming. If you want customers, I would suggest not confronting them.
20 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 12/15/2021 7:55:42 AM (No. 1007576)
Oops, I forgot my last thought. Jeff Bezos doesn't care about wiping out small business. When a business goal is money only, that becomes the main focus. It shows with how he has treated his employees.
6 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Saryden 12/15/2021 8:15:05 AM (No. 1007617)
Twice now I have ordered something -- small items -- and a 'free gift' (made in China) has come from Amazon. They were similar to, but not actually what I ordered. It is bothersome and I have about decided to stop online ordering. Are they trying to curry favor? It is not working.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
chance_232 12/15/2021 8:15:17 AM (No. 1007618)
I used to sell products on Amazon. Amazon made more profit off of my sales than I did. A couple of negative reviews and they shut down your account.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
udanja99 12/15/2021 8:57:14 AM (No. 1007680)
Before I retired last December and shut down my business, I used to order at least half of my supplies from Amazon. Then came the election and Amazon’s role in trying to shut down Parler among other atrocities. I canceled my Prime account and have not ordered anything since last December.
And I haven’t missed it at all. Having to search the internet for other sources takes time, but I’m retired so it’s no big deal. And having to go out and purchase something locally may be less convenient but it gets me out of the house and interacting, maskless, with people, which is a freedom I now have because I live in a very red state.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/15/2021 9:04:06 AM (No. 1007687)
Amazon certainly has its downside but you must admit it is a hugely successful business model and is far easier than driving to a mall, fighting traffic and parking and possibly getting mugged in the process,
The article is a bunch of psychobabble. He talks about unionization like it's a good thing and the type of people who work in Amazon's warehouses would love to slow down and get more and more benefits for a mindless job but unions do nobody any good except for union management. They also drive up costs for all concerned and give bundles of money to democrats.
You have a choice not to buy from Amazon or sell through Amazon. I publish books on their Kindle platform with ease, they handle all of the technology and I make enough to make it worthwhile. Standard book publishers today are woke, liberal, condescending and your chances of getting a book published are nil unless your name is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
Small businesses rarely stock all sizes or colors and in the past you just put up with it, traveled to another store or waited for them to order it. Today you sit down at your computer and you have exactly what you want in a matter of a couple of days, sooner if you want to pay the shipping cost.
I have only had one bad experience with Amazon and it still infuriates me. I bought a couple of gift cards as Christmas presents and they were shipped but stolen in a Pittsburgh Post Office, that's where the trail stopped. The status kept saying "Refund in Process" and it continues to say that two years later. No excuse for such incompetence. Lesson learned, do not buy from Amazon things that have a high theft potential.
8 people like this.
More and more I’m finding that Amazon is just selling cheap Chinese junk of poor quality that often doesn’t resemble the product advertised.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
justavoter 12/15/2021 10:02:20 AM (No. 1007789)
I have never bought anything from Amazon and have a goal of not buying anything as long as I live. I am going to put a clause in my will if anyone buys anything for my funeral from Amazon they will we null from my estate.
2 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
hershey 12/15/2021 10:31:54 AM (No. 1007824)
I have been using every opportunity to not buy from amazon...I use them to look stuff up, then search for the same thing from a different source...most times I'm successful...might have to pay a bit more, or shipping, but hey, so what...
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
dman 12/15/2021 10:32:46 AM (No. 1007826)
Appears AWS is acting up again .. Bannon's show live streaming fine on Rumble.
0 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 12/15/2021 10:44:56 AM (No. 1007843)
I make a real effort to NOT buy from Amazon, always seeking another source if Amazon comes up on an online search. IMO, Amazon is destructive to the country in multiple ways, and I try not to fund them. Occasionally, I can't find another source for an item, and do purchase from them, but only once a year or so.
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
MDConservative 12/15/2021 10:49:07 AM (No. 1007855)
Small business has its challenges, and they grew with the pandemic hysteria and the near-universal expansion of delivery services. One can go to Amazon, Walmart, or other large on-line purveyor and find two alluring things mom-and-pop cannot offer: very low prices (based on volume sales) and delivery that eliminates the inconvenience of actual shopping. Add in the COVIDS scare, and who woudn't like to have their stuff delivered by "heroes" at a low price and "free shipping"?
0 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
columba 12/15/2021 11:44:59 AM (No. 1007953)
Amazon continues to be an amoral force that pushes homosexuality toward our children. Do NOT buy ANYTHING from Amazon.
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
SALady 12/15/2021 12:06:29 PM (No. 1007989)
My husband is a retired electrical engineer. He supplements his retirement income by doing custom projects for people. Sadly, Amazon is often the only place to get the parts and supplies he needs and still make a profit. We live in a super high-tech center (Austin, TX), and there is really only one store that sells the really specific parts he needs. And they cost over twice what comparable parts cost on Amazon (as their prices skyrocketed in the past year -- FJB for that one). Plus it's about a 25-mile drive to the other side of town to shop there. Other on-line sellers are more in line with Amazon prices, but charge double what they did a year ago for shipping (FJB for that one). Since he is a Prime member, shipping is free on Amazon.
He would much rather shop locally. And would even be willing to pay a little more to do so (but not double or more). But between gas prices doubling here for that 50-mile round trip (FJB for that one), and the extremely higher prices for the parts (also FJB for that one), he is stuck with Amazon.
This is the reality of the FJB economy. FJB for that one!!!
0 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
franq 12/15/2021 2:03:54 PM (No. 1008119)
Mixed feelings. Just ordered a backup generator. Amazon saved me about a hundred bucks. Not worth it, you say? That's a hundred bucks I can spend on some other need. To me Amazon is like the federal government. Here to stay and not gonna change.
2 people like this.
Sorry to break the news, but mom & pop stores began disappearing from Main Street long before Amazon appeared on the scene. You may not like Amazon, but as a publicly-held company (like Disney or Coca Cola) the corporate responsibility is to make money for the shareholders - which it has done quite well.
2 people like this.
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