Moving Away From Amazon

Amazon are successful because they are extraordinarily good at what they do and a godsend to people with poor mobility living rurally. I use them and subscribe to Prime.
I do not think we can really know all the background aspects of any online shop we use, and that is the nature of the internet.
Individual shops and outlets of all sizes have found bigger markets via amazon and small businesses have been given the opportunity to thrive. Delivery drivers have jobs.
Swings and roundabouts as with everything in life.

My son has just been sacked as a delivery driver for Amazon after three weeks.

This is the reason I don't use them- they are a dreadful employer and hire and fire at will messing up people's lives all the time.

I told him not to take on the job but he didn't listen... but hey ho they are fast and cheap at getting people stuff to the doors.

That's what's needed sometimes.
If I can wait, then I use ebay, because its usually free delivery, but for fast delivery, Amazon is virtually always the cheapest and best option.

I use Amazon as shopping these days whether in our local town or on a retail park.. doesn’t give me choice… nor do assistants seem to have any product information. I find Amazon reliable and prices are good, returns if needed are efficiently dealt with.

Luckygirl3

Amazon are successful because they are extraordinarily good at what they do and a godsend to people with poor mobility living rurally. I use them and subscribe to Prime.
I do not think we can really know all the background aspects of any online shop we use, and that is the nature of the internet.
Individual shops and outlets of all sizes have found bigger markets via amazon and small businesses have been given the opportunity to thrive. Delivery drivers have jobs.
Swings and roundabouts as with everything in life.

This!

Luckygirl3

Amazon are successful because they are extraordinarily good at what they do and a godsend to people with poor mobility living rurally. I use them and subscribe to Prime.
I do not think we can really know all the background aspects of any online shop we use, and that is the nature of the internet.
Individual shops and outlets of all sizes have found bigger markets via amazon and small businesses have been given the opportunity to thrive. Delivery drivers have jobs.
Swings and roundabouts as with everything in life.

Well said.
I have no intention of cutting off my nose to spite my face.
Bezos may not be one of my favourite people but then most entrepreneurs are not in business simply to serve the public and become philanthropists either. I would like them to treat their workforce better if what we hear is true.

However, the whole concept is clever, well run, generally efficient and has helped many small British businesses survive, particularly during the lockdowns we had during the pandemic.

Yesterday we went to actual shops but one where we shopped is American owned.

Rockgran are you saying Amazon doesn’t take Pay-Pal! Because I frequently pay them using PayPal

If the shops actually stocked the items we would like to buy, then I would happily buy everything locally. How many times do you look online for an item to buy locally, and it is to purchase online only, or home delivery only. If I want something quickly, there are a few store chains who stock everything you can think of, but unfortunately the majority of products are made in China. Now that is something I would really want to avoid.

Luckygirl3

Amazon are successful because they are extraordinarily good at what they do and a godsend to people with poor mobility living rurally. I use them and subscribe to Prime.
I do not think we can really know all the background aspects of any online shop we use, and that is the nature of the internet.
Individual shops and outlets of all sizes have found bigger markets via amazon and small businesses have been given the opportunity to thrive. Delivery drivers have jobs.
Swings and roundabouts as with everything in life.

Amazon Prime is a godsend when living rurally.

I couldn't care less who Bezos is linked with, I shall carry on using Amazon.

Jane112, thank you for putting up this thread.
Amazon is proven to be an exploitative employer. It has also been instrumental in impoverishing our high streets. It should be paying far more taxes to fund the public services on which we all rely.

I have never used Amazon. If I need to order something online, I email or ring up the company concerned. It isn't so difficult or time-consuming, and there is something personal about the transaction.

WhatsApp I do use all the time and I would find it hard not to have that available.

Amazon employ 1000s if not 100s of 1000s of people in the UK. Plus they get supplies from other companies in the UK. By refusing g to use them yiu are putting people's jobs at risk in your own country.

I use Amazon frequently and I have a Kindle which bumps up the number of purchases. Sometime I go direct to the seller/manufacturer via Amazon. I do the majority of my shopping online and couldn't imagine life with the means.
I have a Facebook account which I use every day, posting photos, commenting and playing a word game. I use Instagram but far less frequently. I did have Twitter account: I used it for contacting businesses if I had a problem and posting pics from my Blipfoto account. However, when Twitter became X, my account was closed (By them not me) and I haven't bothered with it since.

I have always tried to avoid using Amazon as I don’t like the concept.
I have never used Facebook or Twitter (X- what a silly name) and have no intention of ever doing so.

MaggsMcG

Amazon employ 1000s if not 100s of 1000s of people in the UK. Plus they get supplies from other companies in the UK. By refusing g to use them yiu are putting people's jobs at risk in your own country.

Amazon employs 75,000 people directly and hundreds of thousands indirectly.

All their employees pay tax and NI, and no doubt the businesses who sell through Amazon also pay their dues.

Amazon pays VAT.

The Government of the day needs to crack down on the loopholes which prevent Amazon and the like paying the full amount of corporation tax.

I am trying to wean myself off Amazon too and am using British owned OnBuy to buy the things that I would buy from Amazon. OnBuy may not be as quick as Amazon but if I think ahead, I get goods when I need them. They are based in Bournemouth and London.
Now to extract myself from Audible and Kindle…

I have dropped X , Amazon Prime and Streaming music. I am already £20 per month better off but I need to use kindle so am stuck tbh.

Living in the Capital of Madrid, Spain, I have never used Amazon. We have over 2.000 retail shops and I do not see the need for online especially for anything needed to be tried on.

Amazon could be useful for books however, there are so many book shops in Madrid in both Spanish and also English bookshops ( Booksellers and Pasajes and Casa de Libro ) ..

I do not trust shopping online too much .. One must be extremely careful ..

I live pretty much out in the sticks in Germany and use Amazon a lot. If I'm buying from the UK they deal with the customs and I don't need to do anything. In contrast, I once ordered directly from a UK firm and it was a horrendous hassle, sitting in the local Customs Office for half an hour or more and having to pay the extra customs duty to the officers there, after waiting weeks for the delivery to actually arrjve and sending e-mails back and forth to the sellers.

However neither I nor any of my family use facebook, Twitter, Instagram or the like, and some of us are on WhatsApp but only because of various groups we need to be in.

It has also been instrumental in impoverishing our high streets.

It is the online shoppers, whether via Amazon or other sources who have impoverished our high streets.
We certainly need a way to make Amazon et al pay the correct taxes in the UK, but online shopping, credit cards users and ATM have all contributed to the death of high street facilities.

I need to order some things at the moment and the trouble is -they are all available on Amazon .
I've googled and looked around and I can't improve on the choice on Amazon .

I use Amazon a lot now, because popping out to the shops is a thing of the past. I boycotted lots of things when I was younger, to avoid putting money into the wrong pockets, but I'd have to think about how to edit Amazon out of my life at the moment. I applaud your decision!

It would never occur to me to use Amazon to buy stuff. It is an intermediary that offers nothing in return except a higher price to cover the comission the business involved has to pay them.

I prefer ebay or just googling direct, you can always check a company you do not recognise on Trustpilot.

I have only ever bought books from Amazon and stopped that years ago. I now buy books from Waterstones. However I always check every book on Amazon because it lets you look inside the book. When I have done that I buy from Waterstones, regardless of whether Amazon is cheaper.

It would never occur to me NOT to use Amazon to buy stuff!

DeeAitch56

Rockgran are you saying Amazon doesn’t take Pay-Pal! Because I frequently pay them using PayPal

You don’t have a PayPal payment option on Amazon but you can pay with a PayPal debit card or PayPal business debit Mastercard.