Instead of another no kings how about a boycott Amazon day. Asking people to stop using Amazon all together is unrealistic but one day could happen and would have an impact.
it's not unrealistic to do it -- it's unrealistic to make that a mass ask -- 7 million people are not going to do this -- a one day boycott will have a more noticeable effect
It doesn't have to be a "mass ask" -- was that even suggested? A one-day boycott could, however, have long-term effects if it gets customers to consider extending their personal boycott two or three or four days, and to look into alternatives for whatever they usually buy from Amazon. The advance PR for a boycott could focus on this.
The long-term challenge is to get more politically aware USians thinking seriously about where we spend our dollars. After all, we have many more of them to spend than we do votes, and we don't have to wait till an election day to think about how to use them.
It's not hard. End Prime membership. End Subscribe and Save. Look for the same items from other retailers. Amazon's hook is that we have been trained to go there...the one stop shop for everything. And they don't have the lowest prices. Give it up and look around.
Robert Hart is right that a consistent prolonged boycott of using Amazon's retail and Prime video services is straightforward and can be done by millions of us. With the exception of people in areas where retail options are severely limited, most can stop using Amazon Prime and third-party retail completely for months and be no worse off. Our household has done it since January, and the only thing I'm missing is a pile of cardboard and Reacher episodes.
Robert Starr is correct that AWS is ubiquitous and impossible to use much of the internet without interacting with it. We can do what we can to try and target known web services using it we can sustainably do without, but it will be impossible to completely remove the prospect of running into AWS.
Millions of us that can, should still boycott Amazon Prime, video and retail on a prolonged basis. Just because we can't eradicate their revenue stream completely, doesn't mean we shouldn't attack the ones we can and for months. These companies are betting we love low prices and convenience over democracy. Let's prove them wrong.
I've boycotted Amazon from the get-go, ever since they pretty much stole the name of the feminist bookstore in Minneapolis (which later closed, in 2012). It's not hard, even though I live in a small-town area. It does piss me off, though, to see all those Amazon Prime boxes on the shelves at the P.O. in my liberal town.
If only more of us would pay closer attention to economic power. It's been at war with democracy forever, and from Reagan onward it's been coming ever closer to taking democracy down.
I applaud you. I also live in a small town (pop. 600) and I "boycott" Amazon for weeks at a time, but when I actually need something (like a plumbing part, or a kitchen appliance) I have to travel 100 miles one way to find same said item at a store that is not just another Amazon (like Lowe's or Walmart). I don't know how you do it.
That really doesn't hurt Bezos much, but it would make it more difficult for working and middle class people who shop at Amazon as well as people who work there and at UPS. Visible actions of resistance are usually more effective than economic boycotts. However it is done, linking tax cheats with effects on the rest of us is important. For instance deducting the full cost of one corporate jet, about $50 million, (give or take several million) will be paid for by witholding SNAP vouchers for about 350,000 children in Arizona (or pick your state) One plane deduction=350,000 hungry kids.
To boycott Amazon (as well as other major companies) is something I’ve thought of but the mobilization would require one or more major organizations to get behind it. I’d vote for Black Friday through the weekend. That would be noticeable! & require a lot of self-control
Danielle. We have been trying reforms like yours since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Teddy Roosevelt was a reformer. Franklin Roosevelt was a reformer. Reformist policies clearly do not work. We need radical change.
I did it too! Haven't looked back, unsubscribed to WaPo too after the Harris endorsement and the Anna Tinejas fiascos, a little harder but still doable. Look what's happening to Target, our dislike of these companies has caused Target greatly,
I’m done with Amazon Prime, removed my auto renewal, will expire next month (Nov). I don’t need what they’re selling. Feels great! I’ve done this with others and lived to tell about it. :) We need to continue with No Kings, sends a message of pro-democracy support.
Actually, not using Amazon at all is pretty easy for some of us. Since most of what they hawk is unnecessary stuff, and buying local is so much more rewarding, I think it's just a matter of rethinking one's priorities...
The optics of this are made that much worse by the government shutdown. These companies have their priorities, and the average person is clearly not high on the list.
Paul Krugman wrote today that SNAP has a $5 billion emergency fund specifically for shutdowns and other emergencies, and that Trump ORDERED THEM NOT TO USE IT. Likely in violation of the law. If this is accurate, then the MSM needs to be all over this story.
I have had Apple computers and watches for many years! I almost puked when I saw Tim Cook hand the Orange Monster in the Oval Office a GOLD INGOT as a bribe!!!
Absolutely right! Tim Cook should be fired. Apple is huge and financially invincible with armies of lawyers, global supply chains, so why kowtow to Trump? He can't hurt them. They would be in court in 10 seconds if he applied a massive tariff on iPhones, and they would win.
American government is based not on majority rule. It is based on money rule. Citizens united equated money with free speech, but the money is used to suppress free speech by drowning it in a sea of lies and distortions.
Yep, and this has been true since the founding. What was the Civil War mostly about, after all? Money (economic power) has crashed the economy multiple times since then. Each time government has to step in to save the country, for instance during the Progressive Era and especially with the New Deal (and let's not forget 2007–2008), but the corporations and über-wealthy never stop fighting back. From Reagan onward they've been pretty much running the show, and in the 21st century they've stacked the Supreme Court in their favor.
Slave states (the rich states of the cotton south) were allowed to count three fifths of the slaves for representation in the house, but since slaves could not vote for president the Electoral College was the mechanism used to preserve that privilege in the presidential election. So The rich oligarchs were privileged from day one. Equality under the law is kryptonite to the super wealthy.
Amazon, like most big corporations in America, is incorporated in Delaware. In 2024 about half a million people voted in the state of Delaware. So if you can convince the people of Delaware to change the corporate laws, you can have a huge effect on Amazon. If Amazon does not like the changes it can incorporate in another state like Nevada or Wyoming which have friendly corporate laws, but all of the states that corporations like to incorporate in are small states that they have been able to influence. If you want to change Amazon change corporate law, that is a state thing not a federal thing.
I switched to Ecosia several months ago, it works great as far as I’m concerned. And they plant trees the more it gets used so there is an environmental benefit as well.
I don't pay for Google or click on any of their ads. These days I've been using DuckDuckGo almost exclusively. More to the point, I've avoided buying from Amazon for more than 25 years. It really isn't all that hard. Since I'm an editor, though, I do visit their website often to verify bibliographic info on books. It comes in handy that way.
As mention in another comment, if you don't click on Google adverts or click on "Sponsored results" Google doesn't get revenue. It's a small way to fight back.
Shame on all those companies for selling out to the most corrupt president ever. They may have picked the wrong side of history supporting the most corrupt politician in our history.
The felon Trump is clearly going "senile," the old term for dementia/Alzheimer's. The fixation on 2020, his redecorating and demolishing the WH to look like Mar A Lago--his comfort zone, his crazy ramblings, his fading memory are all signs. And the MRI? That is not routine, and everybody knows it. The bruise on his hand is from some intravenous therapy. If you've had any kind of surgery or test that sedates you, you know this.
And foreign leaders are treating him like a senile old man. Agreeing with him, promising to nominate him for the Peace Prize in face to face meetings...they are humoring him like it was their senile uncle.
And the mainstream media is failing once again. Biden has one bad debate night and he's unfit to serve. That drum was beating for a month in 2024. Today, regarding Trump's obvious health issues....crickets from them. They should be screaming about the 25th Amendment. But, no.
Birds of a feather casually pluck the common good rawly naked, in unison as if extravagant flock behavior and bird brained pecking will enoble their fowl manure. Fowl/foul, peckers in suits seem to have the day, no amount of gold gilding will assuage the ouroboros.
It's been nearly five years since the 2020 presidential election ....
Trump has attempted to brainwash the country to believe there was mass fraud in any election he . lost and he organized and encouraged mass rioters to storm the Capitol building to threaten lawmakers. And yet these corporations bow to him and his ridiculous ballroom. How is this even a discussion? Quit Amazon, boycott other corporations. Do it singularly, or join a larger movement. Write a letter to all of the CEOs at these companies, a mass mailing to the boards of these corporations. You can do something, even if it is not seven million marchers strong. One person can make a difference. Even if that difference is within you. Take another deep breath.
We have main stream media sane-washing and and anti-education / anti-DEI campaigns. Add social media (baloney since the get-go)...what a surprise! Americans with zero short term history memory.
The surprise is that it works! The repetition drowns out everything else and the indoctrination takes hold until you believe Hunter Biden should be in jail over Burisma, but nothing done by the twumpz even bears scrutiny.
Damn right. The same files that had them salivating about the Clintons and the Bidens and whomever else for literally years now lay completely forgotten to the general public since CK's untimely and convenient demise.
Amazon is laying off people as is Target.... boycotting does work but unfortunately, peoples' job loss & income because of tariffs doesn't help the bottom line either for these oligarchs...
Judd. If we were to ask those companies why they changed their minds; I am certain they would say: "There is no good to come from resisting Trump. Because he will be in power for the next four years whether we like him or not." Pragmatism is the best course of action for the winners in our capitalist system. Whether WE like it or not. It is time to radically change our economic system.
Instead of another no kings how about a boycott Amazon day. Asking people to stop using Amazon all together is unrealistic but one day could happen and would have an impact.
It is not unrealistic to stop using Amazon. I have done it 100% and know others who have.
it's not unrealistic to do it -- it's unrealistic to make that a mass ask -- 7 million people are not going to do this -- a one day boycott will have a more noticeable effect
It doesn't have to be a "mass ask" -- was that even suggested? A one-day boycott could, however, have long-term effects if it gets customers to consider extending their personal boycott two or three or four days, and to look into alternatives for whatever they usually buy from Amazon. The advance PR for a boycott could focus on this.
The long-term challenge is to get more politically aware USians thinking seriously about where we spend our dollars. After all, we have many more of them to spend than we do votes, and we don't have to wait till an election day to think about how to use them.
It's not hard. End Prime membership. End Subscribe and Save. Look for the same items from other retailers. Amazon's hook is that we have been trained to go there...the one stop shop for everything. And they don't have the lowest prices. Give it up and look around.
I strongly suspect Substack is hosted on AWS...
If you use the Internet at all, it's impossible to avoid Amazon. That being said, I avoid buying things of Amazon directly.
Robert is correct. Both of you.
Robert Hart is right that a consistent prolonged boycott of using Amazon's retail and Prime video services is straightforward and can be done by millions of us. With the exception of people in areas where retail options are severely limited, most can stop using Amazon Prime and third-party retail completely for months and be no worse off. Our household has done it since January, and the only thing I'm missing is a pile of cardboard and Reacher episodes.
Robert Starr is correct that AWS is ubiquitous and impossible to use much of the internet without interacting with it. We can do what we can to try and target known web services using it we can sustainably do without, but it will be impossible to completely remove the prospect of running into AWS.
Millions of us that can, should still boycott Amazon Prime, video and retail on a prolonged basis. Just because we can't eradicate their revenue stream completely, doesn't mean we shouldn't attack the ones we can and for months. These companies are betting we love low prices and convenience over democracy. Let's prove them wrong.
I've boycotted Amazon from the get-go, ever since they pretty much stole the name of the feminist bookstore in Minneapolis (which later closed, in 2012). It's not hard, even though I live in a small-town area. It does piss me off, though, to see all those Amazon Prime boxes on the shelves at the P.O. in my liberal town.
If only more of us would pay closer attention to economic power. It's been at war with democracy forever, and from Reagan onward it's been coming ever closer to taking democracy down.
I applaud you. I also live in a small town (pop. 600) and I "boycott" Amazon for weeks at a time, but when I actually need something (like a plumbing part, or a kitchen appliance) I have to travel 100 miles one way to find same said item at a store that is not just another Amazon (like Lowe's or Walmart). I don't know how you do it.
That really doesn't hurt Bezos much, but it would make it more difficult for working and middle class people who shop at Amazon as well as people who work there and at UPS. Visible actions of resistance are usually more effective than economic boycotts. However it is done, linking tax cheats with effects on the rest of us is important. For instance deducting the full cost of one corporate jet, about $50 million, (give or take several million) will be paid for by witholding SNAP vouchers for about 350,000 children in Arizona (or pick your state) One plane deduction=350,000 hungry kids.
How about both?
good idea -- just think that the Jimmy Kimmel action REALLY got their attention
There is one already planned for Black Friday. There is also a call for a mass economic blackout Nov. 25-Dec 2.
Great -- had not heard -- so needs more publicity!
To boycott Amazon (as well as other major companies) is something I’ve thought of but the mobilization would require one or more major organizations to get behind it. I’d vote for Black Friday through the weekend. That would be noticeable! & require a lot of self-control
Danielle. We have been trying reforms like yours since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Teddy Roosevelt was a reformer. Franklin Roosevelt was a reformer. Reformist policies clearly do not work. We need radical change.
I did it too! Haven't looked back, unsubscribed to WaPo too after the Harris endorsement and the Anna Tinejas fiascos, a little harder but still doable. Look what's happening to Target, our dislike of these companies has caused Target greatly,
I’m done with Amazon Prime, removed my auto renewal, will expire next month (Nov). I don’t need what they’re selling. Feels great! I’ve done this with others and lived to tell about it. :) We need to continue with No Kings, sends a message of pro-democracy support.
Actually, not using Amazon at all is pretty easy for some of us. Since most of what they hawk is unnecessary stuff, and buying local is so much more rewarding, I think it's just a matter of rethinking one's priorities...
The optics of this are made that much worse by the government shutdown. These companies have their priorities, and the average person is clearly not high on the list.
Paul Krugman wrote today that SNAP has a $5 billion emergency fund specifically for shutdowns and other emergencies, and that Trump ORDERED THEM NOT TO USE IT. Likely in violation of the law. If this is accurate, then the MSM needs to be all over this story.
I'm sure the Post will get right on it, after the next Hunter Biden story in the queue. The Times, after the next Hillary email. 🤷🏼♀️
I have had Apple computers and watches for many years! I almost puked when I saw Tim Cook hand the Orange Monster in the Oval Office a GOLD INGOT as a bribe!!!
Shame on Apple and Tim Cook!!!
Absolutely right! Tim Cook should be fired. Apple is huge and financially invincible with armies of lawyers, global supply chains, so why kowtow to Trump? He can't hurt them. They would be in court in 10 seconds if he applied a massive tariff on iPhones, and they would win.
American government is based not on majority rule. It is based on money rule. Citizens united equated money with free speech, but the money is used to suppress free speech by drowning it in a sea of lies and distortions.
Yep, and this has been true since the founding. What was the Civil War mostly about, after all? Money (economic power) has crashed the economy multiple times since then. Each time government has to step in to save the country, for instance during the Progressive Era and especially with the New Deal (and let's not forget 2007–2008), but the corporations and über-wealthy never stop fighting back. From Reagan onward they've been pretty much running the show, and in the 21st century they've stacked the Supreme Court in their favor.
Slave states (the rich states of the cotton south) were allowed to count three fifths of the slaves for representation in the house, but since slaves could not vote for president the Electoral College was the mechanism used to preserve that privilege in the presidential election. So The rich oligarchs were privileged from day one. Equality under the law is kryptonite to the super wealthy.
Thank you for calling out these companies. It's tough to take action when we don't know who they are.
How does one not use Google in this day and age? Boycotts seem temporary. Would negative advertising work? It’s hard to hurt these powerhouses.
Amazon, like most big corporations in America, is incorporated in Delaware. In 2024 about half a million people voted in the state of Delaware. So if you can convince the people of Delaware to change the corporate laws, you can have a huge effect on Amazon. If Amazon does not like the changes it can incorporate in another state like Nevada or Wyoming which have friendly corporate laws, but all of the states that corporations like to incorporate in are small states that they have been able to influence. If you want to change Amazon change corporate law, that is a state thing not a federal thing.
I switched to Ecosia several months ago, it works great as far as I’m concerned. And they plant trees the more it gets used so there is an environmental benefit as well.
Thanks for that information. I’d never heard of them.
I don't pay for Google or click on any of their ads. These days I've been using DuckDuckGo almost exclusively. More to the point, I've avoided buying from Amazon for more than 25 years. It really isn't all that hard. Since I'm an editor, though, I do visit their website often to verify bibliographic info on books. It comes in handy that way.
DuckDuckGo is what I use now instead of Goggle
As mention in another comment, if you don't click on Google adverts or click on "Sponsored results" Google doesn't get revenue. It's a small way to fight back.
We need to make corporations feel the pain. Let's start working on the one-day boycott of all the major sponsors NOW!
Shame on all those companies for selling out to the most corrupt president ever. They may have picked the wrong side of history supporting the most corrupt politician in our history.
Spines for sale.
To the highest bidder, no less!
The felon Trump is clearly going "senile," the old term for dementia/Alzheimer's. The fixation on 2020, his redecorating and demolishing the WH to look like Mar A Lago--his comfort zone, his crazy ramblings, his fading memory are all signs. And the MRI? That is not routine, and everybody knows it. The bruise on his hand is from some intravenous therapy. If you've had any kind of surgery or test that sedates you, you know this.
And foreign leaders are treating him like a senile old man. Agreeing with him, promising to nominate him for the Peace Prize in face to face meetings...they are humoring him like it was their senile uncle.
And the mainstream media is failing once again. Biden has one bad debate night and he's unfit to serve. That drum was beating for a month in 2024. Today, regarding Trump's obvious health issues....crickets from them. They should be screaming about the 25th Amendment. But, no.
If it’s not too hard, shop locally. It’s a good practice for your own communities. Every little bit helps.
Birds of a feather casually pluck the common good rawly naked, in unison as if extravagant flock behavior and bird brained pecking will enoble their fowl manure. Fowl/foul, peckers in suits seem to have the day, no amount of gold gilding will assuage the ouroboros.
It's been nearly five years since the 2020 presidential election ....
Trump has attempted to brainwash the country to believe there was mass fraud in any election he . lost and he organized and encouraged mass rioters to storm the Capitol building to threaten lawmakers. And yet these corporations bow to him and his ridiculous ballroom. How is this even a discussion? Quit Amazon, boycott other corporations. Do it singularly, or join a larger movement. Write a letter to all of the CEOs at these companies, a mass mailing to the boards of these corporations. You can do something, even if it is not seven million marchers strong. One person can make a difference. Even if that difference is within you. Take another deep breath.
Agreed! One person CAN make a difference "even if that difference is within you."
True words Katy.
We have main stream media sane-washing and and anti-education / anti-DEI campaigns. Add social media (baloney since the get-go)...what a surprise! Americans with zero short term history memory.
The surprise is that it works! The repetition drowns out everything else and the indoctrination takes hold until you believe Hunter Biden should be in jail over Burisma, but nothing done by the twumpz even bears scrutiny.
And what happened to the Epstein files?
Damn right. The same files that had them salivating about the Clintons and the Bidens and whomever else for literally years now lay completely forgotten to the general public since CK's untimely and convenient demise.
Well, he WAS "just asking questions."😁
Amazon is laying off people as is Target.... boycotting does work but unfortunately, peoples' job loss & income because of tariffs doesn't help the bottom line either for these oligarchs...
Judd. If we were to ask those companies why they changed their minds; I am certain they would say: "There is no good to come from resisting Trump. Because he will be in power for the next four years whether we like him or not." Pragmatism is the best course of action for the winners in our capitalist system. Whether WE like it or not. It is time to radically change our economic system.