I’ve been an Amazon customer for about 25 years, first from the M/E then in various European countries and Oz. I have always found the service excellent.
For example I’m in Dublin currently tweaking the heating and lighting in an apartment. I want to automate the whole place, so after some research I decided to pilot some gear, Tado rad valves, TP-Link smart plugs and light switches. I could have started searching for local suppliers and if I found the stuff at a reasonable price driven through dreadful traffic to one or more stores to get the gear. Or perhaps they would have mailed it to me, but who knows how quickly.
Instead, being lazy I opened my Amazon UK A/C, found exactly what I wanted, one at 26% discount and one, despite being in £, considerable cheaper than Amazon FR. So I pressed click. My Prime account is in France, but no delivery charges for me from the UK either (? - think it might be a post (no pun intended) Brexit thing) and they handle all VAT/import duty issues which had negligible price impact (and no effect at below a certain threshold, about €50 I think).
All the stuff is being delivered hassle free today, to my doorstep. So that’s me sorted.
Now for the guilt. I’m the first to complain about high streets turning into wastelands inhabited by pound shops, charity shops, betting shops a Boots and a Wetherspoons. Where are all the retailers gone? Well to out of town malls I thought, but I wonder how many have gone down the Swanee courtesy of Uncle Jeff. I’m the first to complain about the gig economy and the exploitation of workers but I’m supporting one of the major offenders. Likewise, in my own tiny, tiny way I’m supporting corporate tax avoidance and the immoral (IMO) concentration of personal wealth. I’m sure there are other downsides but that’s enough to be going on with.
Apart from excellent customer service, excellent product choice, exceedingly swift delivery and easy returns, what has Amazon ever done for us? And can we ever wean ourselves off it
Interestingly, bricks and mortar bookshops, Bezos’ first target, seem to be holding their own
Meanwhile……. I wsh them the best.