4 ms·

Of the big five, Amazon was by far the easiest to give up. Unless you're super embedded in the Alexa ecosystem, you're giving up... what, the bottom-of-the-barr

Of the big five, Amazon was by far the easiest to give up. Unless you're super embedded in the Alexa ecosystem, you're giving up... what, the bottom-of-the-barrel streaming services and some minor convenience/savings when it comes to online shopping? All but the most specialized products on Amazon can be found elsewhere. You'll pay a few extra dollars for shipping and it might take a couple extra days to arrive. That's about it. As a silver lining, you'll probably get to use a slightly-less-terrible web interface. And frankly, if you're habitually making full use of Prime, you may want to re-evaluate your shopping habits anyway. I understand why Google and Apple and Microsoft are able to get away with what they do. It's hard to ditch one and practically impossible to ditch all three. But Amazon? I just don't get it at all.

amomaxia 6y ago
I would disagree here. You’d have to give up their subsidiaries as well: Whole Foods, Twitch, IMDb, ring, Audible, and even AWS. As well as several online large scale shops (many even based through Shopify) use Amazon’s delivery network for faster shipping. Google and MSFT provide cloud services also but AWS for sure has a large grasp on the market. Whole Foods is fairly unique; you can give it up but I doubt most people will. Audible and Kindle definitely are at the top of the pack for what they do, and Twitch is unrivaled. In Hollywood IMDb is the fairly standard. Ring can be replaced with Nest but you’re just going from one large company to another. Giving up just amazon’s retail platform is part of it but it’s just a piece of a larger conglomerate. Out of the bunch you described I’d actually argue Apple is the simplest to give up since it’s a select few high end technology pieces, rather than several large footholds in several niches.
- brundolf 6y ago
  I did forget about AWS, which IMO is the one Amazon product that's arguably essential under certain circumstances. But those are usually in the context of an employer, and I generally draw a line between work-use and personal-use. For example, I use no Google products personally but I do have to use them at work. As far as subsidiaries, that's more nuanced, though I do avoid Whole Foods and don't find myself using the others very often. If you're in Texas, Central Market is a perfect alternative to Whole Foods. I have Arlo cameras instead of Ring, which is owned by Netgear (not that home cameras are exactly essential). You're right that IMDB and Twitch don't have great alternatives, though you can get a lot out of both of those without spending any money. I didn't realize they let other companies use their shipping network, which is a more complicated case. Still, even just foregoing the name-brand services sends a signal. And anyway, most of their really egregious practices are around their warehouses (and in turn, the core Amazon retail site).
spaceisballer 6y ago
I completely agree, but even easier for me to give them up because I don’t have access to any of the “perks” in my area. So I’m paying full price for my membership but I don’t have most of the services.
fl0wenol 6y ago
Easiest call I made. I was barely using Prime, and there are plenty of other places to buy stuff online.
9387367 6y ago
> As a silver lining, you'll probably get to use a slightly-less-terrible web interface. I can’t find anything on that god-awful website, and it must be by design, I guess they want me to give up and buy whatever is in front of me, but I refuse, it’s just too easy to open another tab and find whatever Amazon is trying to flog, cheaper elsewhere and at least here in the UK, next day delivery is becoming standard.
- goldenkey 6y ago
  If you sort price low to high you literally lose like 30-75% of the results. And you can't choose "Sold by Amazon" until you choose a category. Their search is prehistorically bad. Oh, and I worked for AWS back 2015ish. Employees get treated like dirt. Terrible middle managers get promoted through backstabbing. Tea bag amenities and wooden door desks ('cuz nostalgia - screw posture!) Having to fight to get any ergonomics. Offices without windows. Gross place. Fk Amazon with a passion.

amomaxia 6y ago

I would disagree here. You’d have to give up their subsidiaries as well: Whole Foods, Twitch, IMDb, ring, Audible, and even AWS. As well as several online large scale shops (many even based through Shopify) use Amazon’s delivery network for faster shipping. Google and MSFT provide cloud services also but AWS for sure has a large grasp on the market. Whole Foods is fairly unique; you can give it up but I doubt most people will. Audible and Kindle definitely are at the top of the pack for what they do, and Twitch is unrivaled. In Hollywood IMDb is the fairly standard. Ring can be replaced with Nest but you’re just going from one large company to another. Giving up just amazon’s retail platform is part of it but it’s just a piece of a larger conglomerate. Out of the bunch you described I’d actually argue Apple is the simplest to give up since it’s a select few high end technology pieces, rather than several large footholds in several niches.

brundolf 6y ago
I did forget about AWS, which IMO is the one Amazon product that's arguably essential under certain circumstances. But those are usually in the context of an employer, and I generally draw a line between work-use and personal-use. For example, I use no Google products personally but I do have to use them at work. As far as subsidiaries, that's more nuanced, though I do avoid Whole Foods and don't find myself using the others very often. If you're in Texas, Central Market is a perfect alternative to Whole Foods. I have Arlo cameras instead of Ring, which is owned by Netgear (not that home cameras are exactly essential). You're right that IMDB and Twitch don't have great alternatives, though you can get a lot out of both of those without spending any money. I didn't realize they let other companies use their shipping network, which is a more complicated case. Still, even just foregoing the name-brand services sends a signal. And anyway, most of their really egregious practices are around their warehouses (and in turn, the core Amazon retail site).

spaceisballer 6y ago

I completely agree, but even easier for me to give them up because I don’t have access to any of the “perks” in my area. So I’m paying full price for my membership but I don’t have most of the services.

fl0wenol 6y ago

Easiest call I made. I was barely using Prime, and there are plenty of other places to buy stuff online.

9387367 6y ago

> As a silver lining, you'll probably get to use a slightly-less-terrible web interface. I can’t find anything on that god-awful website, and it must be by design, I guess they want me to give up and buy whatever is in front of me, but I refuse, it’s just too easy to open another tab and find whatever Amazon is trying to flog, cheaper elsewhere and at least here in the UK, next day delivery is becoming standard.

goldenkey 6y ago
If you sort price low to high you literally lose like 30-75% of the results. And you can't choose "Sold by Amazon" until you choose a category. Their search is prehistorically bad. Oh, and I worked for AWS back 2015ish. Employees get treated like dirt. Terrible middle managers get promoted through backstabbing. Tea bag amenities and wooden door desks ('cuz nostalgia - screw posture!) Having to fight to get any ergonomics. Offices without windows. Gross place. Fk Amazon with a passion.