Imagine a world where you could shop online for something you need and have it delivered to you just a few hours after clicking the purchase button.
You select from thousands of different products to choose from in this world.
Companies specifically tailor these products towards what you might like based on your browsing history. It almost sounds too good to be true, right?
The catch is that this speedy and easy way to shop has made one man the wealthiest person in the world but has brought suffering to over a million people in the name of his business.
Would you continue to shop with that business?
Despite knowing its downsides, millions of people choose to continue shopping with Amazon every day.
Amazon has quickly become the world’s most popular e-commerce platform. Over 300 million people use Amazon regularly, while 142.5 million have a subscription to Amazon Prime.
Jeffery Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is the wealthiest person on Earth with a net worth of $167.7 billion. When the richest man in the world is underpaying his employees and supporting unfair working conditions, there is an evident lack of morals.
Using Amazon and buying their products supports this unethical way of doing business.
Amazon has a history of unfair pay for its workers.
The New York Times wrote an investigative piece a few years ago about Amazon slighting their workers with paychecks far below what they were supposed to be.
People use Amazon because it is incredibly convenient.
Not to mention that many of the items and products listed there are much cheaper than what you would see anywhere else, which appeals to a big audience.
It feels impossible not to shop on Amazon when purchasing things like textbooks as a student.
The only other alternative for textbooks is the University Bookstore, which usually lists books for about three times the price you can find on Amazon. The choice for a struggling college student is obvious.
Amazon also offers Prime Student to college students for only $6.49 a month, which is another enticing temptation to feed into the consumerism in our society.
A subscription to a shopping website will undoubtedly fuel unneeded purchases, especially when the products shown to you are advertisements that cater to your niche interests.
Human beings love convenience. We don’t like to wait, for we are not a patient species. We live in a society flooded by capitalism and consumerism, valuing quantity over quality.
We need to remember that when we shop with small businesses we are supporting someone’s dream while helping pay for fair wages and quality goods.
When we shop on Amazon, we are perpetuating the suffering and maltreatment of its employees and making the most selfish man on the planet even richer than he already is.
