I'm seeing this sentiment online more frequently nowadays, and I feel like I'm out of the loop. Amazon usually has cheaper books than other booksellers in my country. I also read primarily on my Kindle Paperwhite and listen to audiobooks on Audible, so I've always thought of them as a net positive in the book ecosystem.
But clearly, a lot of people feel strongly about going Amazon-free and don’t like them. So I'm wondering: what am I missing here? If you’re someone who feels this way, I’d really appreciate it if you could share why.
Thanks!
by LunaAtKaguya
15 Comments
Because they are becoming a monopoly and Bezos does not need any more money.
You forgot the /s.
If you are seeing that sentiment a lot, they usually detail why.
Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos and has incredibly bad business practices, including being highly involved in the current economic and political situation in the US.
As a collector of expensive hardcovers, they often do not ship their products with adequate protection.
Lots of bent corners.
Because Bezos is evil and fuck Amazon
Well, a) because Amazon is evil, and b) most recently because Jeff Bezos is a supporter of Trump, and is also evil. I abandoned Amazon as well, mostly hurt me because Audible is just the best service for audiobooks imo.
Look up “amazon labor violations” and “monopoly” and also Jeff Bezos, the founder, has been associated with some unpopular people, not to mention his business model, despite him “not being CEO” is extremely predatory and monopolizing. Look up “Washington Post” and Bezos. Heartbreaking.
I buy books at thrift stores but I mostly use my local library. I refuse to give my hard earned money to a billionaire.
I’d imagine partly because of the DRM in which they enshittify their audiobooks, which you have no ownership interest in.
Jeff Bezos, oligarch, destroyer of the Washington Post, and supporter of the current US president, is a reason that many people are turning from Amazon for all things
There are lots of very current reasons why people refuse to buy from large US companies at the moment, and Donald Trump is either the cause or the result of all of them.
That, or they know someone who has worked for Amazon, and believe workers should need to wear urinary catheters to meet production quotas.
Billionaires shouldn’t exist. And Bezos is appeasing a fascist dismantling of the US bureaucracy that’s our only slight protection against companies abusing consumers and employees.
Cheap books are great, but I’m not selling my kid’s future to save $5.
Amazon is notorious for putting independent bookstores out of business because they can’t compete on scale with a giant conglomerate. They’re awful to their workers, authors that self-publish on their platforms make a pittance but feel they have nowhere else to turn to because Amazon has sucked all the air out of the room. They buy up competitors, they’re too big to fail, they’re awful for the environment, the economy, even involved in how political structures are made up.
If you’re interested in learning more, I just read *How to Resist Amazon and Why* by Danny Caine, it was enlightening and infuriating.
What are some of the various ways Amazon uses to reduce the amount the authors get?
Some Americans are mad at Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s owner, for cozying up to Trump, going to his inauguration and making his newspaper The Washington Post more pro-Trump.
Also people want to send their money to independent booksellers so the book marketplace is not a monopoly by Amazon.