Let me start by saying that I do not hate Jeff Bezos; I don't know if I like him, either. I do know that he is an amazing entrepreneurial capitalist who turned an online bookstore into an online you-can-get-anything-and-everything store. And he became the wealthiest person on the planet Earth in the process (net worth of $215.14 Billion as of June 10, 2021). But this post is not about Mr. Bezos, it is about the Amazon Society, a term I just invented for the dominance of internet (not just Amazon) consumerism.
The pandemic of 2020-2021 (and running) was a paradigm shift in our culture, in which vast numbers of consumers came to rely on Amazon.com for a huge number and variety of things they needed. Amazon sales in the first quarter of 2021 were up 44% compared to Q1 in 2020, and profit of $8.1 billion for Q1 was 220% up from Q1 2020. The most profitable parts of Amazon’s retail business boomed. Revenue from merchants listing items on its website and using its warehouses was up 64 percent, to $23.7 billion. Its “other” business segment, which is largely its lucrative advertising business, increased 77 percent, to almost $7 billion. (NYTimes)
This increase in Amazon business made sense, as many retail businesses were closed, people sheltered in place, children were home all day (no school), and other pandemic actions and behaviors demanded a different type of consumerism. In many ways, maybe most ways, it was a good thing Amazon was there for us. A number of other "gig worker" companies saw a huge increase in business, also, including Instacart, Doordash, Uber Eats and many others.
So the pros of the Amazon Society during this pandemic are the many ways people have been able to get through this period with less difficulty than we otherwise might have had. The Amazon platform, and others like it, are easy to use, easy to manage, and for those who are computer-savvy, another step forward into the future. Amazon and others hired many new workers to meet the demands of the pandemic, also a good thing for people needing a job. And Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15/hour, and has lobbied the federal government to make it law (and is squeezing every drop of PR they can out of it). More buildings, more servers, more trucks, more robotic equipment, more everything related to the Amazon business model translated into more money and jobs in related industries. And retail sellers were able to survive the pandemic by selling on Amazon's platform and utilizing its warehousing and online tools. So what could be bad?
There are cons to the Amazon Society; two major negatives, in my opinion, are the social and environmental costs. In spite of the positives of the $15 minimum wage Amazon pays, the warehouse jobs are reportedly intense and exhausting work. Workers are in a surveillance environment where they and their actions are tracked to gain maximum productivity. The jobs are non-union (a recent union drive failed at one Amazon facility). Many other so-called "gig workers" operate as contractors or free agents, often for low financial reward and no benefits. Small, local retail businesses have had to use the Amazon selling platform and services, with a cut going to Amazon, in order to survive.
Local businesses need local customers. The trend to order everything online keeps us out of the businesses in our neighborhoods and towns. Powell's Books, a Portland, OR local business (with a large online presence, also) recently had a billboard that read something like: "If you shop at Powell's, Amazon will be fine."
As consumers, we rarely consider the environmental costs of the things we buy based on how we buy. I once ordered an item from Amazon because it was easy to find on their site, and the bonus of next-day delivery sealed the deal. It was not an item I needed the next day, and I didn't take the time to phone local stores to see if someone in my city, Portland, Oregon, had the item. It arrived from Amazon the next day, from Tennesee. When I noticed that it had been shipped overnight from Tennesee it caused me to pause and think about the environmental cost of my purchase. Was shipping by air a greater environmental impact than shipping by train and/or truck? Very likely yes. And what about the environmental costs of the giant Amazon warehouse and all the Amazon delivery trucks? (To be fair, Amazon has been increasing its use of alternative power sources, and I think I saw an article that they are starting to electrify their fleet.)
Is the Amazon Society where we want to be? Are there alternatives? How much control do we have as consumers? I ask myself these questions, so here are a few points I consider when buying:
- Prices on Amazon can be lower than elsewhere, but are we really paying the real costs (including societal and environmental costs)?
- Can I find the items I want locally?
- Same- or next day delivery is great, but do we really need everything that soon?
- Amazon could indicate on the website where an item will ship from when you order it, giving us more information for our buying decisions. If, for example, an item will ship to me from a local Amazon warehouse, that might make my buying decision different than if it ships overnight across the country.
- The U.S. Congress is considering several bills that would regulate and change the business practices of huge corporations such as Amazon, which have become monopolies. As voters, we can let our electeds know if we support these bills.
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