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On this Cyber Monday, let's pledge to buy from local businesses that support our communities. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Skip Cyber Monday--Support a Real Local Business
The online shopping day is just another ploy by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to siphon sales from real stores
Nov 22, 2018
"Cyber Monday" is coming up--get out there and buy stuff!
You don't actually have to "get out there" anywhere, for this gimmicky shop-shop-shop day lures us to consume without leaving home, or even getting out of bed. Concocted by Amazon, the online marketing monopolist, Cyber Monday is a knock-off of Black Friday--just another ploy by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to siphon sales from real stores.
Seems innocent enough, but behind Amazon's online convenience and discounted prices is a predatory business model based on exploitation of workers, bullying of suppliers, dodging of taxes, and use of crude anti-competitive force against America's Main Street businesses.
A clue into Amazon's ethics came when Bezos instructed his staff to get ever-cheaper prices from small-business suppliers by stalking them "the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle."
John Crandall, who owns Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, is one who's under attack. He offers fair prices, provides good jobs, pays rent and taxes, and lives in and supports the community.
But he's noticed that more and more shoppers come in to try out bikes and get advice, yet not buy anything. Instead, their smartphones scan the barcode of the bike they want, then they go online to purchase it from Amazon--cheaper than Crandall's wholesale price.
You see, the cheetah is a multibillion-dollar-a-year beast that can sell that bike at a loss, then make up the loss on sales of the thousands of other products it peddles.
This amounts to corporate murder of small business. It's illegal, but Amazon is doing it every day in practically every community.
So, on this Cyber Monday, let's pledge to buy from local businesses that support our communities. For information, go to American Independent Business Alliance: www.amiba.net.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
"Cyber Monday" is coming up--get out there and buy stuff!
You don't actually have to "get out there" anywhere, for this gimmicky shop-shop-shop day lures us to consume without leaving home, or even getting out of bed. Concocted by Amazon, the online marketing monopolist, Cyber Monday is a knock-off of Black Friday--just another ploy by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to siphon sales from real stores.
Seems innocent enough, but behind Amazon's online convenience and discounted prices is a predatory business model based on exploitation of workers, bullying of suppliers, dodging of taxes, and use of crude anti-competitive force against America's Main Street businesses.
A clue into Amazon's ethics came when Bezos instructed his staff to get ever-cheaper prices from small-business suppliers by stalking them "the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle."
John Crandall, who owns Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, is one who's under attack. He offers fair prices, provides good jobs, pays rent and taxes, and lives in and supports the community.
But he's noticed that more and more shoppers come in to try out bikes and get advice, yet not buy anything. Instead, their smartphones scan the barcode of the bike they want, then they go online to purchase it from Amazon--cheaper than Crandall's wholesale price.
You see, the cheetah is a multibillion-dollar-a-year beast that can sell that bike at a loss, then make up the loss on sales of the thousands of other products it peddles.
This amounts to corporate murder of small business. It's illegal, but Amazon is doing it every day in practically every community.
So, on this Cyber Monday, let's pledge to buy from local businesses that support our communities. For information, go to American Independent Business Alliance: www.amiba.net.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
"Cyber Monday" is coming up--get out there and buy stuff!
You don't actually have to "get out there" anywhere, for this gimmicky shop-shop-shop day lures us to consume without leaving home, or even getting out of bed. Concocted by Amazon, the online marketing monopolist, Cyber Monday is a knock-off of Black Friday--just another ploy by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to siphon sales from real stores.
Seems innocent enough, but behind Amazon's online convenience and discounted prices is a predatory business model based on exploitation of workers, bullying of suppliers, dodging of taxes, and use of crude anti-competitive force against America's Main Street businesses.
A clue into Amazon's ethics came when Bezos instructed his staff to get ever-cheaper prices from small-business suppliers by stalking them "the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle."
John Crandall, who owns Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, is one who's under attack. He offers fair prices, provides good jobs, pays rent and taxes, and lives in and supports the community.
But he's noticed that more and more shoppers come in to try out bikes and get advice, yet not buy anything. Instead, their smartphones scan the barcode of the bike they want, then they go online to purchase it from Amazon--cheaper than Crandall's wholesale price.
You see, the cheetah is a multibillion-dollar-a-year beast that can sell that bike at a loss, then make up the loss on sales of the thousands of other products it peddles.
This amounts to corporate murder of small business. It's illegal, but Amazon is doing it every day in practically every community.
So, on this Cyber Monday, let's pledge to buy from local businesses that support our communities. For information, go to American Independent Business Alliance: www.amiba.net.
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