A-Z Challenge ; A is for Amazon Mental Moment.

Amazon – 

We have all bought at least one item through Amazon I will wager, and at the very least have heard of them.  It seems the wonder company of the century.  but is it really?

Today’s Mental Moment…

Is part of the A – Z April Challenge and is about Amazon, the company.

In 1994, Jeff Bezos started an online bookstore which today is the largest online retailer in the world.

There is no doubt Amazon has earned the respect and awe of millions but there should also be a measure of caution kept always at the foreground with Amazon and places like it.

Bezos started Amazon out od his garage and went online in 1995 with an innovative and odd business plan that had investors hesitant to invest in the company until he showed a tidy profit margin after 5 years proving his business plan, which did not plan on profits for the first 4 to 5 years, worked.

The company name, derived from Bezos looking through the dictionary in the A section wanting to have a company name that would show up first in listings. He settled on the Amazon hoping like the river itself, it would soon be the largest in the world.

Image representing Amazon as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

And so it has become, and while Amazon has done great things for the retail and online world, a company of this magnitude, steadily taking over smaller companies, the latest being Goodreads, is not really to be ignored in the damage it could cause, nor in the fact that is swallowing the little guys, the ones who are all about the American dream of working and providing a service or goods of quality value to the American and worldwide public.

Consider This;

In its ascent to being number one, Amazon has gone from offering books to music to now, everything you can thing of, A-Z and is making a killing in profits, while still offering the lowest prices and best deals, allowing normal people to become Amazon sellers or affiliates and share in the profits and taking the publishing world by storm with the launch of the Kindle (more on that later this month).   What is the cost?

All of a sudden anyone can publish their writing to the largest bookstore in the world and offer as e-books and print, books by days gone by standards would never have gotten the first look from the traditional publishing houses and made the title of author not nearly as prestigious as it used to be and matter of fact, should never lose its luster.

The machine rumbling along is similar to how Hitler almost took over the world, convincing the people he had the best plan and the best philosophy and getting normal, morally sound people to do not so morally acceptable things.

No I am not saying Amazon and Hitler are all that relatable but as the company grows and continues to consume the little guy, acceptable standards of printed material, ones anyone who thinks they can will publish and try to sell are on a market with no quality control.  People  lulled into the ease of their one-click and Whispersync buying, are reluctant to buy elsewhere if it involves thinking about how their electronic product will get to their e-reader.

The ones really losing out in this wave of easy publishing and buying are the authors themselves.  Amazon cares only about the Indie authors and little guys and makes their services so easy for them to use,  solely for their own profit.  They lure in the would be author then bend them over the barrel, all while smiling to their face telling them they are doing a good thing.

There is no doubt Amazon has made products, once so hard to find and many who have found things from their childhood, from toys to food to books to clothes, thought long gone, available easily and with just one click. They have also found a way to make shipping prices, through deals with the states themselves and the postal carriers nominal, especially in comparison to the little guys ability to do so.

Can this growth be sustained without something bursting the bubble?  What happens if it does burst?  Will we all be so complacent and lazy by the time it does we won’t know what to do without Amazon?

Bezos wanted his company to be the largest in the world and offer every product from A-Z and so it has and does, but what will be the cost to society for buying into the bullshit they shovel to cover the bodies of the little guys, the Indie authors and the ones who see what is really going on?

Just saying.  I buy things on Amazon, mostly because if I want something in particular and online, I have no choice anymore.  It doesn’t mean I have to like it, or support it.  The recent acquisition of GoodReads has excitement brewing in most camps, this one is disgusted and disheartened by what the ones cheering them on don’t see.

Something to think about.

To Your Mental State, whatever it may be.

butterfliespurpleflit

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14 thoughts on “A-Z Challenge ; A is for Amazon Mental Moment.”

  1. Hi Lizzie! 🙂

    Yes, Amazon has grown into a pretty much world wide business.

    I buy from them often and get some good deals, but also some dreadful pieces of hardware.

    I had to send back my portable CD player/DAB radio after the laser died and got a replacement in short order despite them fouling up and sending me to print off the wrong return address label!

    To their credit they refunded me the postage! 🙂

    I must admit I feel confidence in Amazon, but I don’t buy JUST from them, only the items they offer which I find cheaper than from other sources, knowing that they are totally reliable.

    That is the wonder of the wibbly wobbly web! 🙂

    Love and hugs!

    Prenin.

    1. Yes I buy from them too and it makes sense on a level of looking for the best price and shipping costs.. but that is how they completely fool us – as a consumer it is amazing but as an author – and even the ones who are sellers trying to get a share of the profits… there is a darker side the consumer doesn’t see. I wish the feeling I have could be put into words easily.. i have lots of mental images that are “like” how I feel but i don;t know what the feeling is…just.. something being really off.

  2. I too am disheartened and disgusted by the loss of Goodreads. I see it as an eternal skewing. The only way will be the Amazon way. Many establishments do not require you to have an ISBN for your book/program/music as long as you have an ASIN. Disgusting. We have regulatory agencies to provide consistency. It is deviant to circumvent that because a retailer thinks they should be the only regulation. Bezos monster profit margins are based on B&M structured pricing at digital cost without the service. It makes be berzerk.

    Rant more later. xxx

    1. I have been bummed at the reactions and the acceptance of Amazon and Goodreads – I always considered Goodreads the better place for authors – thought maybe they were getting to the point of showing Amazon a thing or two – instead they will be absorbed into the machine… its like watching a movie you have seen before – wanting to yell out no don’t look behind you run! but knowing it will not change the outcome… it makes me tired.. and I just started this game… ♥

  3. Nice post for the Challenge – something insightful and original!
    I shop a lot on Amazon too, because their sheer size does give them price point power (I shop so much that my savings on shipping this year alone have covered the cost of Prime membership) As an aspiring-but-not-yet-published author, I am aware of the heavy-handed tactics used on indie’s, and wary of making any deals with them; I may gut it out in the traditional publishing world. Thanks for the word of warning to others who may not have done their homework!

    1. Sometimes it is hard to write something like this for me – I have to really decide if it makes me a hypocrite because i do shop there and I write reviews and have an account – but I am a published author and I do not sell my books there… and really I see how others do but mostly because they don’t know the whole picture – I am not even sure I do. This has barely scratched the surface but it seemed important to say. Good luck with your endeavors and check out the book page (Month of Mental Moments) above – the publishing company my book is through, is a breath of fresh air and truly on the side of the authors – not the establishment.. http://redmundpro.com Just offering so you can take at look if you are interested. thanks for stopping in and commenting
      🙂

    1. well yea.. that’s how come no one really cares what is under the surface – I agree it is easy and i thought it was amazing and great and the best thing since ..i dunno what. From a consumer standpoint – you get what you want and for a great price and life goes on. No one really wants to or stops to think about how they can do what they do.. including me yes.. but if it sounds too good to be true.. well yea… Good to see you and I replenished the chocolate stash …just saying 😉

    1. thank you – I wasn’t sure if I said enough but there is a point had I gone further…well I would have put too much detail..there is enough for people to find what they need to know on their own but not so much as to set me off into ridiculously high word count land..and knock me all wonky with ranting – a good balance I think.. 1 down …

  6. I don’t really buy from Amazon except once when I couldn’t find the book I wanted for my (not Kindle) ereader…and had to go through a bit of a complex process to do so…It was a book a friend wrote.

    You’re right though..it’s sad when ‘little businesses’ get swallowed up by the ‘big’ conglomerate. It’s the same for the little convenience stores when a major co. decides to put one of theirs, a block away, or the little clothing store when the you-know-what stores decide to build a ‘super store’ in the same area.

    What price…’progress’ ??? Diane.

    1. Exactly my point and its disconcerting to be able to see it yet feel like I cant stop it. I never really got on a soapbox or made a lot of noise about it…im already tired knowing from past experience ..not many are listening or want to see the forest…or give a monkeys behind if they are not being hurt I dont know if the feeling is …I dont know what it is ..I can’t find the word I want .the whole business and the feeling itself is rather unsettling to me at the moment ..like I ate bad fish or something.. :-\

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