20 Yrs. Of "Creative Destruction": Fuck Amazon

Image via. Note Jim Treacher comment at bottom. What th'?

I continue to be astounded when iNternet entities alleged to be left of Attila the Hun link to Amazon (even if only for book info) let alone take a slice of the money for stuff ordered through links to the corporate giant. Money talks, liberals listen.

So is it a monopoly, a near-monopoly, a monopsony (in which there is only one buyer), or something similar? However you slice it, Amazon is far too big and unregulated.

There’s more of course: its inability to consistently make money even while driving local stores under, its experimenting with drone delivery, its announcing itself as a great deal for self-published authors but then changing the terms of its payment, its awful customer service.

But the key here is that Amazon, for all its convenience, has been a destructive bully, and without more resistance from people who care, it will continue to pillage. Twenty years from now, what will we have left?

What we have now:

I am counting the days to Amazon Prime Day on July 15, when the online shopping giant marks its twentieth anniversary (where did the time go?) with a global, one-day shopping event. The company promises there will be more deals on Prime Day than you’d usually find on Black Friday—but it has otherwise been pretty mum on specifics. But because I’m a single-minded sales sleuth, I did manage to pry a leak out of one of my deep-cover sources on the inside. I’ll tell you all about that in a minute.

First, though, there is one little catch: As the name implies, you have to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of these Prime Day deals.

That’s not that much of a catch, really. I’ve been a Prime member since the early days. It has transformed the way I buy everything from kitchen staples to shoes. Other people I know spend their weekends shopping around for household necessities. I don’t. I don’t even keep shopping lists. I just order what I need from Amazon when I think about it, and—thanks to my Prime membership—it’s at my door almost before I’d have had time to go shopping. Best part? I always find a bargain. And, despite the speed of delivery, I never pay for shipping.

That Amazon Prime also comes with unlimited streaming of movies, TV shows, music and books as well as unlimited secure photo storage with Prime Photos is—for me—just gravy.

In short, I think Amazon Prime is well worth it, even when it’s not Prime Day. But I have it from my very reliable source that Prime Day is going to have some amazing bargains. The deals will start at midnight, with new ones posting as often as every ten minutes. There will be thousands of Lightning Deals, and seven Deals of the Day. And they will all come with that fast, free shipping.

According to my inside source—who absolutely refused to divulge any more details than this—these sweet deals will include these two tempting tech bargains:

A quality, name-brand 32-inch Smart HDTV for under $200

Chromebook laptops for only $199

I know where I’ll be on the 15th: Right here, pretending to work with my credit card handy. Just like you.

I bet Amazon's wage-slaves packing plastic crap can't "pretend to work". Or get credit cards. And what are the odds that once Amazon develops an algorithm to place orders the self-described consumer drone above will be replaced? W/o people like that maybe things will be better in 20 yrs.