Scorecard
- [x] Facebook: deleted 2014
- [x] Twitter: deleted 2019
- [] Amazon: actively trying to extricate myself
- [] Google: dreaming of breaking up
Motivation
Jeff Bezos has way too much money, and I am tired of giving it to him
Jeff Bezos has $200 billion. The human brain boggles at such a number, so here's a picture of it.
No one human being deserves this much money (I don't care how fast your shipping is). It is just plain wrong. It is unhealthy to society. I'm also personally offended by what Bezos chooses to do with his money: a fat lot of nothing. A toy space company (Blue Origin). When Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation exist as counterfactuals, Bezos should really be ashamed. There's no reason he could possibly need so much money and I am going to do my small part in not giving him any more of it.
Also, the way Amazon is run: the way the warehouse workers are exploited, the way its corporate workforce is exploited. All while Bezos keeps getting richer? No, thank you.
Putting the brakes on consumerism
Amazon fought to patent the one-click buy button because, above all else, they want to make you CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME. This mindless consumerism is destroying the planet (all that cardboard!). I don't need all this stuff.
The anti-$AMZN lifestyle: How to do it
Toilet paper, etc.
For big box essentials, Target and Walmart have the same app game, the same super-fast delivery game, and the same prices. These three behemoths are fighting, and consumers are benefiting. Yay, markets? So for all those "oh shit, we're out of TP" moments, it's very easy to switch. Bonus: Target and Walmart also exist in the real world, so you can physically go to the store if you really, really need that thing today. (It's called 1-Day Shipping, only you drive. Bonus: no cardboard boxes!)
Books
Ebooks and audiobooks
This is where you save a lot of money by not-Amazoning.
If you're in the US: first, get a library card at your local library. If you're not in the US, you can probably still get a US library card for either free or a moderate yearly fee (e.g. $50/year for a New York Public Library card).
Second, connect the Libby app to any and all libraries you can get a card with. This will be your library portal and your audiobook app.
Third, get the Library Extension browser extension. It'll tell you when a book you're looking at on Amazon or Goodreads is at your library.
Fourth, you'll notice that many popular ebooks and audiobooks are checked out. Put these on hold, until you've maxed out your holds on all your cards. Then, and this is the 🔥pro tip🔥: "pause" all your holds for the max length possible (6 months). You'll still move ahead in the line. Once you're ready to actually borrow the audiobook/ebook, unpause your hold. You can probably find something to borrow while you wait for the really good stuff.
If you simply must pay for your audiobooks, Libro.fm competes with Amazon on prices ($15/month memberships) and their credits roll over (unlike Audible's).
Physical books
This is where you might spend more or, if you're creative, much less.
I advocate buying used books when at all possible. For this, you can see if local used bookstores near you have an online presence. I have a local used bookstore with an incredible catalog and decent online presence. There are also some thrift marketplaces like Mercari (for everything) or Biblio (for books). If you live in a hippie area, you may also have a Little Free Library near you.
If you want to buy a new book as a gift or splurge, then Bookshop.org is my go-to: you pay more than Amazon, but that money goes to a local independent bookseller of your choice.
Super rare physical books
Sometimes there is a magical book that you simply must have and it looks like Amazon is the only place that has it. I recently ran into this with Figuring Fibers, by Carolyn Yackel and sarah-marie belcastro. This is a pretty niche book (math + knitting!) and I didn't see it in my usual places. I was about to resort to Amazon when, thanks to a little bit of Googling, I found that the American Mathematical Society was selling it - and for cheaper than Amazon! I can report that the AMS also shipped it super duper fast.
Basically, trying to avoid Amazon actually exposes you to this whole giant, thriving, diverse ecosystem of other markets - which are often cooler, cheaper, and more interesting! Who knew the AMS sold books! And so on.
Prime Video
Again, there's tons of movies to watch through your library (Kanopy) and via Google's massive movie archive on YouTube.
A great resource
- Amazon alternatives A great, curated list of alternatives. I used this as my main jumping off point.