Amazon Boycott, Anyone?

[Tybee]

One thing I thought of to limit Amazon and I did for a couple of months and might go back to was to buy an Amazon gift card with cash, then limit myself to using that as a source of payment, so it kept impulse purchases way down, and kept the amount down, but if I needed something I could get it. We are really rural so lots of times that is the only way to find something like an appliance part or supplements, although I could buy those online from different vendors, too.

[frugal-one]

Outlier here …. don’t have Amazon account and only purchase things there a few times a year. Make sure have minimum amount so get free shipping.

[sweetana3]

We have Amazon Prime. TV Prime we could probably do without. Kindle Unlimited could not do without. Many authors I follow are only there. 3 of us in the family use it almost every day. Mom is not close so it is difficult to use the library for her.

Purchases: Just the cost of driving around or time spent trying to search out items on the internet would keep me on Amazon (as well as the free shipping). Our purchases tend to be fairly unusual like heated knee warmers, leak proof coffee mugs, specialty labels, etc.

Now with Joann going out of business, I can see myself using Amazon for more basic sewing supplies. I already do careful buying of rotary blades on Amazon. Hard to keep away from counterfeit so I only buy on card with English or Japanese print.

I have bought quantities of hot chocolate mixes and coffee pods when the price is equal or lower than grocery shop sale price. But that is the only "food" item I can remember.

So we have already limited our purchasing which is our best advice.

[early morning]

I don't have Prime but do buy from Amazon. I have their credit card and use their cash-back to pay for most of our items. I hate shopping in general. Much like sweetana3, I really appreciate the ability to purchase sesame oil, magazine and postcard sleeves, paper repair tape, specific low carb/gluten free pasta, and Harney's teas - all at the same time and place, instead of going to 5 separate stores and still not finding exactly what we need/want. The museum I volunteer at uses it for many items for gift shop resale, office, cleaning, and repair supplies, etc. and people can donate to us by purchasing/sending these items off our wish list, which is really convenient. I won't buy anything today, boycott or not, as I just don't need anything at the moment. As much as I believe in shopping local and supporting small businesses, which we do when we can, much of what we buy just can't be sourced locally.

[nswef]

I have been very sparingly using Amazon. I am doing the no spend/stay off media today. Except for this site and email. But 15 days without Amazon is easy for me so I am not really sacrificing any thing. But it may make an impact for the March 15 one. Our local banks keep getting bought out...Then there are the credit cards. Whew! I paid cash for lunch out yesterday but the credit card for gas. It's hard to change habits.

[iris lilies]

Today is “break up boxes day quote and take them to recycling. Ugh. Too much Amazon buying. well not exclusively Amazon, I’ve been getting a fair amount from Etsy lately too

[KayLR]

Now with Joann going out of business, I can see myself using Amazon for more basic sewing supplies. I already do careful buying of rotary blades on Amazon. Hard to keep away from counterfeit so I only buy on card with English or Japanese print.
.

For sewing tools & supplies (they have rotary cutters for instance, I just checked) I like to order from 123stitch dot com. They're out of TX and their service is top notch and really fast delivery.

[catherine]

I think about how Amazon is a pretty new business model, relatively speaking. I looked at my account, and I was able to scroll as far back as 1995. My first order was December 11, 2002--and I spent $102 on five books--I'm guessing they were Christmas presents.

So in 23 years (one-third of my life) it has become embedded in a way that I now find hard to relinquish. I like the ease and convenience, the data history, the range of items to purchase, and other reasons. I could give up the Prime benefits, and I would definitely not miss Prime video because it's not as good as it used to be. But, "a luxury once tasted becomes a necessity" and, alas, I've found that Amazon comes close to being a luxury-turned-necessity.

But I would love to cut the cord.

As far as shopping local, I'm lucky in that my needs have diminished over the past few years and my area, while rural, is very friendly to small business. I tried a "shop local" personal challenge at Christmas time and it wasn't that hard to simply not shop, and then when I shopped, visit one of the retailers here.

Point is--I did without Amazon for 50 years, and I'm sure I could do without it again.

[pinkytoe]

Today is “break up boxes day quote and take them to recycling

On our last visit to DD's, we noted one of the spare bathrooms was literally floor to ceiling amazon boxes waiting to be broken down. The only accessible space was around the toilet. They have deliveries at least 3x a week and I guess are too busy to deal with the boxes.

[Tybee]

When we got into my parents' house after they were taken to the hospital on an emergency basis, that was one of the things we noticed--they had stopped breaking down boxes and packaging and the stuff was everywhere. I think a lot of shopping behavior replaces human social behavior. I know we do more shopping than we used to do, for example. Getting older has a lot of loneliness built into it.