Over the past decade I must have bought at least 500 books
from Amazon – my nomadic existence made this highly convenient. I could have
the books delivered in places which had no real English bookshops (such as Tashkent,
Baku or Bishkek) where I was working – or pick them up later in Bucharest or my
mountain house in Transylvania. My old neighbours in the village have been very
good at ensuring that the post office (and UPS) delivered them securely.
It’s actually
been too convenient a service – for which, of course, I have paid a reasonable
amount (delivery costs on my Amazon packages amount now to 50% of the face
value of the books.
At least one independent book publisher in the UK has joined the campaign and a website gives info of various other actions being taken by companies.
But my recent visits to the fabulous Anthony Frost English
bookshop in Bucharest have now persuaded me to try to kick the habit. The
statistic which their manager Vlad gave me – of 2000 independent booksellers left in the UK compared with France’s 5,000 – is a powerful one. Unlike
Britain, tax legislation in France (and Germany?) helps independent booksellers. And nothing beats the chats about books in such a bookshop - and the customised recommendations!
Amazon is a robber baron whose tactics are detailed in a very long entry in Wikipedia - driving out competition by extensive loss-leading; tax-avoidance; bullying of
suppliers; slave-labour conditions in their huge warehouses.
Their failure to pay corporate taxes has attracted wide
criticism for some time and seems to have led to political consensus for action
amongst European leaders. The Seattle Times had a recent four-part expose
The company's hardball efforts to fend off collecting sales taxes — a key advantage over brick-and-mortar stores — has ignited a backlash in several states (of the USA). In the publishing world, smaller companies have begun to publicly criticize Amazon's bullying tactics. In some of its warehouses around the country, Amazon is drawing fire for harsh conditions endured by workers. And the company contributes to charities a tiny fraction of what other big corporations give.
To this list I would add the charge of false pricing – the initial
price which attracts you does not include VAT or delivery charges (outside the
UK)
I’m therefore glad to see that a boycott-Amazon campaign started recently - with one reader giving a useful rundown on why he has chosen to stop using Amazon and use alternatives and Ethical Consumer offering the facility of us mailing Amazon to inform them of our reasons.
What is amazing is how global investors have allowed the
bubble in Amazon stocks to continue. These times could soon end - but in the meantime the damage has probably been done.
No comments:
Post a Comment