The Google tells me that today is Amazon Prime Day, when Deep Discounts can be found on the e-commerce titan’s website. Being a believer in the sort of mom and pop stores that anchor my neighborhood, I haven’t purchased anything from Amazon in years (though I have to confess that I would use it to buy something I could not obtain otherwise, should such an occasion arise).
Workers in a Minnesota Amazon distribution center walked off the job, seeking better working conditions. It’s a gutsy move in this New Gilded Era, an era of poor worker protections. When all you have to lose is a dangerous, unpleasant, low-paying job, you have nothing to lose. It’s been over two years since I’ve ordered something from the Bezos Borg, I think I can wait a good long time before buying those out-of-print books I had my eye on.
Being a fan of classic ‘Star Trek’, I was impressed by the concept of The Prime Directive. If I have a Prime Directive, it’s the classic ‘do no harm’. My Prime Directive directs me to avoid Prime Day. I support local businesses, and the job I end up saving just might be my own.
If you're looking for good prices on books, check out:
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Or Powell's.com. They're not local, either, but they're awesome when you need/have to buy a book that isn't available locally, and they're at least as easy to use as Amazon. Powell's is also a blue, and an inclusive company, which doesn't hurt, and they're always interested in ways they can help community efforts, even in places like my little town, where my kid's 5th grade promotion budget got cut 4 months before the ceremony, and we needed to buy 40 dictionaries with not enough money. I found acceptable dictionaries at Powell's at a great price. When they saw the order, they contacted me about the purpose of 42 dictionaries; I explained briefly, and they paid the shipping charge as a contribution to the class. That was extra cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice, folks. I went to the brick-and-mortar Powell's back in 1993 and had a nice talk about Beverly Cleary with one of the staff.
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