Boycotting Amazon when they pay Clarkson £800,000 per episode?

I won't be boycotting Amazon as, with DS1 and family in USA, I can actually send them decent birthday and Christmas presents through Amazon.com without the crippling postage costs I have been paying to the post office.

No concern for all those Amazon workers?

I don't think the Amazon workers are my concern. I worked for some shitty people in the past when I was trying to earn a bob or two when my kids were small. If I got treated like dirt, guess what? I left!!

Boycotting Amazon won't make a ha'porth of difference.

Same here Merlot- because I was working for extra money, not for the very basic (I did childminding at first- paid a pittance)- so I had that luxury, as you did.

Most people do not have the choice- they have to feed their family and if the only job there is is a'shitty one' as you say- or practically slave labour, you still have to take it or watch your family do without the basics.

I do wonder- at what stage does anything that does not concern us directly, becomes our concern or not our concern. As consumers we do have a responsibility for the effect of our commercial choices, no? Not at all? What about the effect on farming, meat and milk prices?

And you'd be amazed at the huge influence of massive boycotts - do you really think Starbucks would have decided to pay fairer tax had it not be for the huge slump in customers?

You have to pay to watch Clarkson. Amazon Prime does not come free.
So it's not just a question of boycotting Amazon; it's a question of paying to watch Clarkson.
£800,000 an episode. How many members is that?

www.ethicalconsumer.org/boycotts/boycottamazon.aspx

It does make a difference.

If I boycotted all companies with unethical business practises I would probably be living in a shed and wearing hand spun clothing made from wool gathered on the hedges. Checking up on the background of every supplier wouldn't leave time to do the hand spinning and weaving. The governments of all countries should be making sure that taxes are paid and workers are treated properly.

Good point rubysong. I've seen working conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh - made me shudder. The women there were glad of the jobs and proud of the quality of them. When I see "made in Bangladesh" on a label I really have to pause for thought.

Pressed post by accident. Re Buying goods made by low paid workers: do I not buy them and risk the workers eg in Bangladesh or Amazon employees losing their jobs? Its a tough one. Just off to collect more fleece from the hedgerows -lots of spinning to do before winter!

Another long-term Amazon boycotter here for so many reasons, like they don't pay their taxes, they treat their workers terribly, they've put many many other shops out of business.
I shop locally for almost everything, in a very small town. I support our independent book and music shops and the lovely shop run by volunteers to help restore a beautiful 16th century merchant' house. Groceries from Waitrose (basics, not luxury foods) because they run on ethical principles and I bank with Nationwide, not a filthy crooked bunch like HSBC.
Almost all of my clothes comes from charity shops so I don't need to spin but I do pick wild foods in season. Mushrooms daily at the moment.

This could be called the Boycott Amazon And List Your Manifold Virtues Here thread.

thatbags Naughty naughty!

And damned with it, I have no doubt, J10

The money looks obscene, but Amazon can afford it and Clarkson is a very professional presenter, albeit probably not someone with whom I would want to spend an evening in the pub.

He also writes very well. His review of a Saab in the ST (yes I know it's a Murdoch paper) retold brilliantly the Cameron Diaz/Tom Cruise appearance on Top Gear, and he also wrote in the same rag a very sensible and sensitive piece about refugees/asylum seekers/migrants trying to cross from Libya to Italy by boat, concluding that they had to be let in.

Given the undoubted international success of Top Gear, Amazon must have reckoned he's worth the money.

Another long term Amazon boycotter here, too! Perhaps we should all get together It hasn't inconvenienced me at all.

I would be very surprised if Clarkson pays much of that £800,000 per episode in tax to the UK.

thatbags, I am personally very glad some people care about others, thanks.

Grumpa, Amazon can afford him indeed- as they do not pay fair tax and treat their workers like dirt. Call it what you want- I'll just call it 'wrong or immoral'.

Oh piss off with your self-righteousness, gj! You know bugger all about how much I care for others. Damn cheek!

If that gets deleted, just know that it was worth it. My 'attitude' about boycotting Amazon is the same as that of several other posters: a company's failure to pay taxes is the government's fault, not mine, and I don't believe I can do anything about that. Some posters disagree with that and think they can do something about it, even with a Tory government. That's fine. They can go ahead and boycott. What they are not justified in doing is implying that they are better than anyone else.

Me, I'm too cynical to think a Tory government will try to force taxes out of reluctant companies that, nevertheless, provide jobs. I'm also too cynical to think a Labour or LibDem government would do it either. They've had plenty of opportunity between them and done nothing.

Ah, but remember that if you don't say at every opportunity that you care about others, thatbags, then it clearly stands to reason (?) that you don't give a tuppeny damn!

Your wish is my command bags- but surely if you write things like

I don't think the Amazon workers are my concern.

it's not surprising you give the impression you don't care, no. Truly?!

I won't be boycotting Amazon. I agree all Companies should be paying the correct taxes and treating their staff in a fair and considerate way. To extend a point made by grandMattie regarding Waterstones; I have to strongly disagree with this. A family member who worked for Waterstones for over 10 years with glowing reviews and a personal well-established customer base who repeatedly sought her advice on specialist books etc was forced out of her job in March this year following extreme bullying by her manager and an area supervisor. The glowing reviews ended when she supported a colleague who she felt was being treated unfairly and suddenly she was the "worst bookseller in the cluster", ie Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and further afield. This is not a carping exercise. In the last 9 months or so 5 loyal employees of graduate status have been in one way or another forced to leave their jobs at Waterstones. These were dedicated and hardworking staff members with many years service. They didn't feel comfortable working in an environment where they were told to hard sell trashy books to unsuspecting customers who had already purchased the books they really wanted. Each sale was noted and 'encouragement' was given to sell, sell, sell. Waterstones is no longer a totally British Company - one of the main entrepreneurs is a Russian oligarc, Mr. Mamut, a close supporter of Mr. Putin! The staff are paid more or less the minimum wage and are treated like idiots. I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened so close to home.

bags didn't make that comment, granjura

I did!

Thank you, elegran (who knows me about 99% better than you do, gj).

In which case, I apologise-however the comment still stands. And yes, as we do not know each other personally (I've met 2 people only who are on GN)- comments and perceptions can only be made on what is written. And perhaps get wrong, of course. To me, it seemed that 'employees poor conditions are not my problem' (words to that effect) sounded like 'I don't care'. I am trying to see it any other way- but ...

If we go only by what people post on here, no-one knows anything at all about anyone else. We create our own persona, and what we miss out could be the most important part.

For all we know to the contrary, granjura could live in Australia and break every law and civilised custom she can find, durhamjen could be a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite and spend her spare time terrorising asylum seekers, and soontobe could be a professor of Islamic studies, and part of a wirches coven in her spare time.

And I could be the Queen of Sheba - but who knows?

Judging people by what they don't say about themselves is blind man's buff.