177. Breaking up with Amazon...gently

Welcome to Progressive Pockets! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja. This is a show that is about taking back the power in our wallets. Let’s resist the lie that only billionaires get to shape our communities. Our money has power too.

And today’s episode is about breaking up with Amazon. Sigh. How has amazon disappointed us? Let me count the ways.

There are a handful of reasons, maybe 5 or 6 reasons why I usually hear people rethink their relationship with Amazon.

Some people avoid shopping on Amazon because the very concept of paying a prime membership pisses them off LOL. And you know what, I kind of get it. I know that it is framed as paying for shipping, but paying to shop at a place is sort of wild when you really think about it. It’s not enough for me to stop shopping somewhere, for example, I have had a costco membership in the past. It annoys me that I pay to enter a store to shop, so I can see how for some people it is just enough to make them not want to shop from Amazon at all. That’s the first reason I hear people talk about.

A second reason why I hear people say they avoid Amazon is because they end up spending too much. Shopping on Amazon is so seamless between the app and storing your payment information and your shipping address, you can buy some things in less than five minutes.

Now the other four or five reasons that I hear people mention for breaking up with Amazon have to do with the effect Amazon has on our communities.

The environmental problems. Oh my goodness, Amazon uses a lot of packaging, like boxes and plastic, which creates a lot of waste. And they have made progress on this, but it is still so much packaging. I feel this way about those meal kits too. But with Amazon there’s also the environmental impact of delivering soooo many packages every day. The pollution from trucks and airplanes bothers some people and that’s why they avoid shopping on Amazon.

There’s also the Treatment of Workers. Amazon has been criticized for how it treats its workers. There has been news coverage of really crazy working conditions, and workers don’t have enough breaks or support. There has been a lot of coverage of the battle with workers trying to form unions to protect their rights. That’s leaving a bad taste in some people’s mouths.

Some people don’t shop at Amazon because of the impact Amazon has had on small businesses. They want to support local stores instead, brick and mortar shops instead. Maybe you’ve heard about some of the really aggressive tactics that Amazon has taken to intentionally bankrupt their competitors. You can look up the story of diapers dot com for example, which absolutely wasn’t a brick and mortar mom and pop, but it was a smaller business and is at least an education on the type of tactics that Amazon was willing to engage in when they want to dominate an industry. Basically, they identified diapers dot com as a threat, so they tried to buy it but when diapers dot com said no, Amazon engaged in some really aggressive activities until they put diapers dot com out of business. So some people don’t like that sort of thing they want there to be small businesses they can shop from too. Like today, I wanted to meet with a friend, we didn’t go to a big chain of cafes, although I do believe there may be a time and place for that, today we wanted a cozy local feeling with the cafe owner in a nearby neighborhood that we’ve gotten to know a little bit and have really watched her launch her business and grow it little by little. And some people feel that way with shopping at Amazon, that yes there may be a time and place, but they also want to make sure it isn’t the only place to shop, and so they are intentional in thinking about that. And anyway, shopping at local stores helps keep money in the community and supports local workers and families.

And the final thing that I think turns some people off of Amazon is that they don’t pay their taxes, they avoid their fair share of taxes. They use legal loopholes that they don’t have to take, and as a result, we have less money for our schools and hospitals, our roads, our postal system, all of those services that keep our communities running. 

This is a lot of reasons to break up with a company, and yet, it can be tough! I’ve heard from some listeners who are pretty black and white, they can quit companies cold turkey and never look back. And I’ve heard from listeners who just aren’t that way, they are looking for more of a grey area approach, or at least some baby steps.

So let’s talk about what a baby step might look like in terms of breaking up with Amazon.

Specifically, I think as consumers, we can start how Amazon started. The very first thing they sold were….books! Books are a great place to start because there is literally no product difference if you buy a copy of a book from one bookstore versus another. And there usually isn’t much of a price difference either. So I think books are a great place to start.

For me, that baby step has been buying books on a website called Bookshop dot org. I am speaking as a consumer of that business, not in any kind of paid capacity, they do not sponsor me or pay me for ads or anything. I just really believe in this business and I’m sharing it with you because I’m excited about it and have had good experiences with it.

And you know, I’m calling it a baby step because for you and I, as consumers it really does feel like a baby step, but just so we are all clear, Amazon sells about 60% of books in America, so it may feel like a baby step for us but it actually could have a pretty big impact.

Bookshop dot org is about 5 years old, it started out as an alternative to Amazon, and they have thousands of independent bookstores that work with them. So you can support a specific local bookstore if you want, or you don’t even have to, you can just type in the name of the book you want, order it with just a few clicks and the prices are generally the same as Amazon, even when you factor in Amazon, or it might be a very small amount more. And shipping is fast. It’s so easy. I can’t think of a book I’ve tried to buy that they didn’t have. And in the short 5 years since this company has existed, they have already raised over 30 million dollars for independent bookstores. 

They are a certified B corp which means it has signed legally binding documents about fulfilling their mission and not just being drive by their financial earnings. Their mission is to support independent bookstores. They are a carbon neutral company and committed to operating sustainably.

Now, I am not sponsored by Bookshop, but Progressive Pockets does have a bookshelf on this website, and that’s where you can always find the books I talk about on Progressive Pockets. That makes it easy for you to quickly buy the books that you heard about here and want to read while shopping from a company with some solid values. And the show will earn a small percentage of sales, which will hopefully go to buying some recording gear and other things needed for the production of the show. So I will leave the link in the shownotes or you can just google three words “progressive pockets bookshop” and the first result you get should be the bookshelf with all the books you’ve heard about here, Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva, The Financial Activist Playbook, Activate Your Money, The Social Justice Investor, Winners Take All. I mean there are just so many books that are so good and you can pick them up there.

And that’s a baby step to consider if you’re flirting with the idea of maybe breaking up with Amazon or at least creating more options for yourself, you know. Amazon can be seductive in that way. Before you know it you’re buying all of your household items on there and the delivery guy is at your house every day LOL.

So to recap, here’s what we covered today:
We talked about all of the reasons that people have broken up with Amazon, including preferring to support local businesses, not liking the way they treat their employees or the environment. The way that they don’t pay their fair share of taxes bothers people, and for some people just the expense bothers them- the expense of the membership and the expense from all of the impulse shopping that can happen with Amazon.
The second thing we talked about is a baby step that you might want to consider, a baby step that I have enjoyed, which is buying your books from Bookshop dot org. It’s an awesome company that is all about supporting independent bookstores. They are a carbon neutral company and you know, I forgot to mention earlier that they launched ebooks in 2025, so you can buy ebooks from them and then read them either on their browser or on iphone and Android apps. I will say that my Kindle is one of my top 3 digital devices that I use so for that, you may try the baby step of getting your digital books from the library instead of buying them on Amazon. But I have a feeing we are really close to having a more widely used ebook reader that has nothing to do with Amazon. I just feel like it is a matter of time.

If you have more time today, here’s another episode to check out, that’s episode 166 which was a book review of Jasmine Rashid’s book The Financial Activist Playbook. 

For those of you receiving the newsletter, you’ll get some additional info and links today to make it easy for you to take your first baby step into easing up on your relationship with Amazon. Or if you’ve already taken bigger steps, I’d love to hear about it, email me anytime at progressive pockets at gmail dot com.

Do you know anyone else with a toxic relationship with Amazon or another big company that just doesn’t quite line up with your values? Send them this episode, you might be the one who introduces them to their new favorite podcast.

Let’s end with a quote, this one comes from Anna Lappe who is a food activist. She says:
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want."

Let’s talk again soon!