Are We All at Amazon's Mercy?

(There is a less polite way of phrasing the title, but I opted for something less juvenile.)

Can we live without Amazon? 

Well, of course we can. Amazon isn't necessary for survival - at least not yet. Even so, it seems every day my fear grows that more of our lives are being outsourced to Amazon. It is beginning to feel as if it is by design.

I am trying my hardest not to use Amazon if I don't have to. I try to find independent alternatives. I almost never buy Amazon clothing unless it's some novelty item for a costume or something similar that's hard to find elsewhere. I use the Bookshop.com and its associated app for my e-reading. For hard copies I use the library and the used bookstore down the street. For everyday necessities like toiletries and household goods. I buy from as many DTC brands as possible. I buy the bulk of my groceries at the farmers' market.

In the old world, this seemed easy. It was possible. It wasn't stressful. 

Now we have tariffs, rising energy costs that affect shipping, supply chain issues, and a postal system that is being dismantled bit by bit. It's no longer guaranteed that you can order anything online and have it delivered to you in a timely fashion. 

For example, my recent vacation was centered on hiking and needed mostly casual outdoor clothing. However, we always went out to nice places to eat in the evening, so I thought it would be fitting to take a simple, packable dress with me. The dress would need to to be heavy enough for chilly Maine evenings, be simple enough to not look too dressed up, but also could be accessorized to look office appropriate once vacation was over. It also needed to be packable. I found the perfect dress on the Boden website. I ordered it two weeks before the trip. That should have been more than enough time to have it for vacation.

Three days after I received the order confirmation I still had no shipping confirmation. This seemed odd to me since Boden was always reliable with shipping in the past. Did Boden make a mistake when the website said the dress was still available? Was there a glitch in the notification system and the order was making its way to me? I emailed customer service to check. A polite customer service agent said the dress had not been shipped because of a "issue in the warehouse". I explained I wanted the dress by a certain date. The agent couldn't guarantee that. I asked if I could upgrade my shipping so it would be faster once it was shipped. I couldn't do that either. All I could do was wait and hope. I picked another packable dress from my closet for my trip (one that I felt was both too lightweight and too dressy for the occasion) as a backup. I received confirmation of delivery of the new dress while I was at the airport the morning we left.

The dress wasn't the only item of new clothing I was hoping to buy this season. I wanted to do a wardrobe upgrade or two, but I don't always have time to comb through stores and websites to find clothes I like in my size (it's hard to find cute clothes in Size Troll) so I decided to see if ShortStory Box could find me a few nice pieces. I ordered a box at the end of September and was immediately informed the box would arrive the first week of October. Three days later the order status said they were waiting for the items and would ship as soon as they arrived. It took two weeks before I received the order. 

I made some other clothing orders recently that I am still waiting for, including a pair of dance shoes I would like to have for my upcoming performance. I am still waiting for a basic sweater I ordered from Gap two weeks ago. I like to think these items are from reputable vendors.

On the other hand, when I order something from Amazon, I receive it within a day or two. 

Is this what the world has come to? Nothing is reliable anymore. Nobody can count on a delivery of any kind - unless it's from Amazon.

I understand the state of the world right now. Tariffs are making consumer goods more expensive. The post office is being systematically destroyed. The war in Iran is driving up the costs of fuel. All these factors will contribute to low inventories, high costs, and slow supply chains.

Yet Amazon seems exempt from this. How is it Amazon is immune from empty warehouses and high fuel costs?

Let’s go back to Inauguration Day. I didn’t watch of course. I don’t have the stomach for that. I did see some of the news coverage. There were elements of that day that couldn’t go unnoticed. For example, who had front row seats to watch the crowning of our newly-elected king? Could it be Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon?

Is this how it works now? The US government is disrupting life on earth. There are wars that disrupt supply chains, because that war made it impossible to move the fuel that powers those supply chains. This is on top consumer goods being even more unaffordable because importers must pay insane tariffs. 

But Jeff Bezos is wealthy enough to eat the costs of those tariffs. He’s wealthy enough to absorb transportation costs. He can keep his warehouses stocked and his delivery trucks fueled.

He is also wealthy enough to buy a government that will let him do whatever he wants. He will not have to obey antitrust laws. He can override any zoning or environmental regulations that will stop him from building more warehouses. He can bypass labor laws so his workforce remains overworked and underpaid. Then at the end of the day, he is rewarded with all kinds of tax breaks.

It didn’t take much, did it? All Bezos had to do was drop a few million into a super PAC and then stoke the fragile ego of an insane narcissist by making him think he is part of the same billionaire club. A shady real estate developer with a thirst for celebrity is never going to be in the same class as someone who owns a service millions of Americans rely on daily. Unfortunately he is too stupid to realize that and Bezos can flatter him into doing his bidding.

The CEO of Amazon bought off the government and bought the ability to be the only supplier available in times of scarcity. It’s true I, like many Americans, should cut my consumption down so the need for Amazon would be lessened. After all, I can get books from the library or the used bookstore. I probably own way too much of all other kinds of stuff as well. However, Amazon sells more essential items such as food, household goods, and toiletries. How long will it be before fuel costs and supply chain issues affect local farmers so the farmers’ market is no longer an option? How long can the bricks-and-mortar supermarkets hold out? How long will the small businesses and DTC brands I prefer to use stay in business?  (Everlane recently sold out to SHEIN. Who is next?) How much longer will the Post Office be reliable?

I know now if I don’t want to buy from Amazon and can’t buy something locally, I will have to wait to receive it. I need  plan for that when I shop. I am old enough to remember the days when I would order clothes and specialty beauty items from catalogs and mail the order form with a paper check. It would take at least a week for the vendor to receive and process the order and for the check to clear. I accepted that. I need to go back to accepting that. I can no longer assume I will receive anything I order quickly so I have to allow more time.

Maybe it’s inevitable. Maybe we all will be at Amazon’s mercy one day. Maybe it will eventually become the only American company we can purchase consumer goods from. I will resist it for as long as I can. Sure it will occasionally be an only option for some goods, but I am not going to let it be my default option.

Now excuse me while I go make a trip down the street to the little used bookstore for something to read.