Cancelling Amazon

Milest0ne

I hope we can avoid buying Chlorine washed chickens and antibiotic filled beef. We should concentrate on UK and EU food regulations about place of origin and not where something is processed. I will continue to use local butchers and greengrocers. Flour for my bread maker is grown and milled in UK. I would be dubious about fruit from US as I have read that they are sprayed with chemicals
I am doing my best avoid US and Chinese goods. Difficult at times.

American beef and chickens are the least of the food chain problem.

One of the German chemical companies have been banned from selling their pesticides in the eu.
So now they are selling them all around the world. The damage they are doing to the environmental is incalculable.

The uk and the eu import a lot of food from Kenya. They are using theses poisons on our food. And btw, killing the bee population.

Too many countries to mention here but one that has jumped out is Japan. Lots of supermarkets stock Japanese rice. The rice crop is sprayed with these poisons. And, btw killing butterflies and dragonflies in the process.

How many of us still buy fruit and veggies from Spain. All collected by slave Labour in the polytunnels.

theecologist.org/2020/jan/30/bayer-and-neonicotinoids-japan#:~:text=In%20Japan%2C%20as%20in%20rice,by%20German%20chemical%20company%20Bayer.

I can't shop for myself, but went off Amazon yonks ago.
I was tired of Amazon trying to make me pay for Prime!

I find lots of things are cheaper on Ebay UK and often free delivery too. Things I can't ask a shopper to get for me, but I can choose there.
Books, wall thermometer, plant food, this week.

AuntieE

I rarely buy anything that is made in the US, but I shall manage to do without Heinz Baked Beans from now on.

My smartphone is not an American make, but the real problem is Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Office can be replaced by a European office program, but Google?

Do any of you know of a replacement for Google or Firefox, or Google Maps?

The official mapping authority in UK is Ordnance Survey. Far superior maps IMO. You can download maps onto your phone or tablet for when you are out and. about and design your own route for however you get about Thus speaks a mapaholic

Milest0ne

AuntieE

I rarely buy anything that is made in the US, but I shall manage to do without Heinz Baked Beans from now on.

My smartphone is not an American make, but the real problem is Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Office can be replaced by a European office program, but Google?

Do any of you know of a replacement for Google or Firefox, or Google Maps?

The official mapping authority in UK is Ordnance Survey. Far superior maps IMO. You can download maps onto your phone or tablet for when you are out and. about and design your own route for however you get about Thus speaks a mapaholic

Does Ordinance Survey supply realtime directions from A to B? That's what I need on any journey, up to the minute traffic conditions and route advice. When "Maps" advises me of a road closure ahead and suggests an alternative route I'm grateful!

Cossy, re: Costa: I have double checked and afraid you might be wrong about Costa. It’s British, one of the few British coffee
Outlets selling today. Apologies if I’m wrong.

Re Amazon, liv in a small seaside town, all useful shops shut, except for gift shops for tourists. Like many in my 80’s caring for my three lovely adults with DS. I no longer drive, daren’t take son on a bus due to seizures. I feel guilty using Amazon. My three love it especially as Mum pays! 🫢 Sorry I will have to continue using it!

JennyCee

Cossy, re: Costa: I have double checked and afraid you might be wrong about Costa. It’s British, one of the few British coffee
Outlets selling today. Apologies if I’m wrong.

Costa was British, it still has headquarters in Dunstable, but it is entirely owned by Coca Cola since 2019

I hate Yahoo too, Allira

NotSpaghetti

I hate Yahoo too, Allira

I thought it was just me! It's like bindweed, you think you've got rid of it and there it is again, taking over every time you go on the PC.

Yes. It's terrible.
Change and save all settings and it still pops back up a few weeks later.

I must ask my son about blocking it somehow....

Please use OnBuy. Www.onbuy.com. It is a British alternative to Amazon. Yes, it may take a day or two longer than Amazon but it’s worth it. I did have one OnBuy order fulfilled by Amazon for some reason but only one.
I’m a Canadian living in the UK and I am doing my very best to buy British, including British made clothes from Community Clothing, David Napier.
I haven’t yet dumped Facebook but I have downloaded BlueSky and hope that it turns out to be okay.

If we are making suggestions, I like Not On Amazon. It was set up by a hippy chap who was against both the domination of the market by Bezos and the way small businesses are charged by companies such as Amazon and Etsy.

It's basically a marketplace for handmade goods and sellers are not charged a percentage of their take. It is far fairer than Etsy, and they are careful not to allow mass-produced items for sale. I'm not sure exactly how it works financially, but it is very ethical and fair to the artisans. I have bought Christmas presents from them and some fabulous original art. Prices vary hugely, but you are not paying an extra percentage on every purchase to an American billionaire.

It will never replace Amazon as it tiny by comparison and deals in hand-made items, but it's well worth a look.

notonamazon.org