I avoid Target because they bailed on trans people. I should get rid of Amazon, now that I think about it.
I jumped off Amazon and am now using Target. Target tried, but took so much backlash they took a step back.
We cancelled Amazon Prime, and I won’t buy on their platform anymore. I bought something off Ebay, and sure enough it came from Amazon anyway. I guess they either dropped shipped or they fulfill their orders. I’ve bought a few things straight from the company and the price was the same. Shipping took a little longer, but I’ll gladly wait if means not supporting these companies that grovel to dictators.
Buying direct also gives those companies a higher profit margin; meaning they have the opportunity to expand, or better pay their employees (whether or not they do, is a seperate matter).
I bought something off Ebay, and sure enough it came from Amazon anyway. I guess they either dropped shipped or they fulfill their orders.
Argh, this drives me crazy! I went to ebay and was willing to pay more to avoid Amazon, but the stuff comes from Amazon anyway. I’m pretty sure this is just 3rd-party sellers drop-shipping stuff. I don’t believe ebay sells anything themselves.
Anyway, I finally figured out that anything being sold new on ebay with only stock photos for a higher price than amazon has a very high likelihood of being cross-shipped from amazon and the seller is pocketing the difference (minus ebay fees?). Either look for non-stock photos, prices less than 5-10% higher than Amazon, or ideally both to avoid this.
A couple of times that I fell for this I made it a point to return the products for a refund. I didn’t give the sellers a negative review because I figured that it’s just some poor slob trying to eek out a living, but I came close.
Kudos for supporting trans people and you should absolutely get rid of Amazon who’s responsible for union busting and dangerous labor practices that have resulted in the death of their employees.
When it’s the people you love, you sorta get angry that someone’s trying to hurt them. Go figure.
I finally got a different credit card to use outside of my Amazon Prime card because all that did was encourage me to have a prime subscription and buy shit on amazon…so “I’m doing my part” I guess.
I also canceled Prime and wrote something that would crack up whomever read it (presuming anyone actually reads those things).
Care to share? I’m pretty sure most of us like to laugh.
I didn’t save it but it asked when I’d consider resubscribing and I answered something like when Bezos changes his whole worldview, stopped cozying up to fascists, made his newspaper a nonprofit, and stopped forcing his employees to pee in bottles…so never.
My wife and I have been boycotting Target which is a really a bummer because we were going to use target to boycott Amazon. We were doing really well about not buying from either until we needed clothing quickly. So we ended up doing Amazon because we could get it fast and knew what they had. I guess you have to just make a choice and nothing is going to be perfect.
Its so hard to avoid because most stores don’t have any inventory. So you can go to a store to grab your clothes and they are all sold out so you just buy them online after wasting your time. This is especially true for basic items.
It’s not fast, but you could try Ebay if a Goodwill isn’t stocked enough for you
I used to use eBay a lot when I was younger. I haven’t used it in a while though. Not a bad idea
Doesn’t Elon Musk still benefit directly from Ebay?
Nope. No ownership in Ebay nor PayPal.
“Since then, Elon Musk has had no part in PayPal’s ownership. However, he does still hold a sizeable amount of stock in the company. He has sold off a large portion of it over the years, but as of 2021 he still owns over $10 billion of PayPal stock.”
https://www.ceoinfluencers.com/is-paypal-still-owned-by-elon-musk/
Not sure, but this thread is speedrunning why there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism.
I’ve been having good luck with Mercari. It’s an online flea market where individuals sell their stuff. It helps that I dress boring and know my size in a few specific brands/items.
I guess you have to just make a choice and nothing is going to be perfect.
No ethical consumption under capitalism. Just do what you can.
Yes indeed.
I watched The Good Place. I learned important lessons
Dumples figured it out? Dumples? This is a real low point. Yeah, this one hurts.
Dumped Amazon in November for Costco or local retailers. We are saving literally hundreds a month for slightly less convenience. Wish we had done it years ago. Highly recommended.
Yeah, Costco is great. One of the few places I don’t feel bad shopping at here in a red state.
Yep. Dropped amazon for their support of the orange waste of space
Goods Unite Us is a free app that tells you which political party companies donate to
This app still has Sears in it. No way is it properly maintained.
I tried this out by searching for Amazon, and if this website was all you knew, you’d come away thinking it was a rather left leaning company, with a donation distribution of 68% Democrat and 32% Republican. That may or may not be true, but it ignores all of the hostile working conditions and anti-union behavior they are responsible for.
Just saying, don’t rely solely on this app for evaluating companies.
Not to mention Bezos lining up for the Broligarchy
I prefer the no thanks app
Please if you have the opportunity to start buying from small businesses. It may be a bit more inconvenient and probably a bit more expensive but it is a great way to help out your neighbor.
Additionally the money you spend locally usually stays local and not go to a CEO or Chairman of the board that really doesn’t need another vacation home in Italy or Aspen.
I struggle with this narrative, because it’s just not that simple. This is pretty much just something that small business owners like to say to guilt people into buying their stuff. Small businesses still need to compete on price and quality.
Large retailers still employ local people, and your pension fund probably owns shares in them, or you can buy shares directly yourself.
Some small local retailers have very shady employment practices. I don’t think employees are necessarily paid or treated better in small businesses. Some might be great, others are terrible.
Having said that, buying locally produced seasonal food directly from growers makes a lot of sense. Fresher, more nutritious, fewer food miles, less middle men.
Basically, local Butcher baker and green grocer.
i wish i had the luxury of choice. being in a small town, away from everything. i can choose walmart, dollar store (bad choice, period. prices are high on stuff you actually want or need), or a local (pay our exorbitant prices because we aren’t walmart) grocery. everything else is an hour or two away.
I mean, even in the cities you’re lucky to have a choice of three different corporate grocery stores that underpay their workers to choose from. Costco is alright but, from a non-member perspective, I don’t think it’s practical to make that your only source of groceries.
if i was in a city, it would probably be costco, aldi, and co-ops/farmers markets for everything.
You can order stuff online, including groceries. Dry and canned goods are available online from a lot of retailers. Meal kits are surprisingly economical if you rotate through them like streaming channels, and use a promo code.
The other options in small towns/wannabe cities are “boutique” shops where Karen charges $120 for a plain white t-shirt with a hole in it.
I went to a small town recently and this was it.
The small “boutique” shop absolutely has a Karen-looking gal who was selling things from Temu but with her sticker on it.
Real sad state.
Even worse is when you try to “support local” and discover that, sure, the local hardware store sponsors the town’s little league team, but the owner also reposts racist memes on his personal social media page. You can’t win.
pretty much how it is here, too. both hardware stores owned by maga nuts.
Honestly, I don’t want to buy anything at all anymore because I don’t know which of the lot voted for Trump
I cancelled everything. Amazon, Walmart, Netflix, ect… I have a costco account and I shop local when I can. Learn to sew and fix your clothes. Maintain an older car instead of buying new. Vote with your wallet. The only power we have is our money.
There is another power we have, but it requires organization. Voting with your feet. Walkouts, strikes.
Seeing a nationwide general strike is extremely unlikely, but my god it would be magical to see.
I’m degoogled, deappled, no more amazon. There’s a website and boycott app to tell you which companies to dump and also buy nothing days.
This has been good for me overall because I looked into ethical consumerism and feel a lot better about how I spend. I used to do this stuff years back but I’d gotten lazy.
What are these apps and websites? Really struggling to dump Amazon…
Not alternatives, but the apps I use to see what companies own what and who they donated money to are GoodsUniteUs and Buycott. As far as getting rid of Amazon, depending on where you live and what you’re looking for, you might be able to find the store or product on amazon and then go to their website if it isn’t some dropship scheme or finding a local place that has an alternative, hard to beat that same day shipping, but might be viable.
How much faster we could’ve change the world if we only were as smart as these Americans and stopped shopping at certain stores.
What a revolutionary act that will destroy fascism in no time!Besides, Americans will do this for a week and then feel it is too much effort.
Or when they get a good deal on a vat of Coke.partner and I have been gradually modifying our consumption habits to favor what we see as more ethical models such as pro-labor entities & environmentally-minded ones
Me too. But mostly because I’m poor and can only afford food and rent. For now.
That’s a very large amount. I’m impressed.
There are a lot of fake options in this country. Most of stores probably have mostly same things.
Dumping shopping would be the real statement.
I’m a huge advocate of using “ugly but serviceable” stuff. That said, my-day-to-day shoes are wearing to the point that I can tell what the ants had for lunch. Not sure I can get away with making my own leather moccasins.
It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing approach though. No one is going to blame you for buying day to day shoes.
But I like, need food, almost every day
That’s the most powerful, non-violent action we can take. The oligarchs and CEOs are falling in line because they think it’s the best move for their bottom line. Show them they’re wrong.
