Izzy Rivera

Staff Writer

irivera1@umassd.edu

Everyone you have come to know and love has more than likely purchased at least one item off of the all encompassing website called amazon. This website has become the world’s largest online marketplace, live-streaming platform with Twitch, and AI assistant provider measured by revenue and market capitalization. Amazon is currently the largest Internet company by revenue in the world. Almost every day you can drive by people’s houses and see that familiar colored cardboard box with amazon’s logo and colored tape wrapped around it sitting on their porches, waiting to be taken inside.

This company was of course already huge before COVID, but now it is colossal, and is also becoming a problem. Consumerism is at an all time high since ordering whatever your fingertips can type into the search bar is readily available, especially with amazon prime, you can have an item you wanted shipped and delivered and have it by the next evening. Yes of course this has it’s pros, but the cons here need to be acknowledged to get the full picture. Companies we have all grown up with such as Sears or JC Penney are going bankrupt and closing their stores of course for numerous reasons, but one of them is the ease of online shopping. You no longer have to even leave your bed in order to buy clothes, food, and furniture, all in one order and one place, creating an unfair competition to these companies with physical stores.

A common phenomena on the Internet is that people will order stuff on amazon just for the sake of online shopping, not needing what they need and quickly forgetting they even purchased it to begin with, becoming surprised when they open the package. I have personally fallen into this trap and need to get out of it, simply because we need to support more local, small businesses and stop giving money to this titan called amazon.This also takes a toll on our planet, at Least cardboard boxes are recyclable. However, all the packaging that comes with online ordering is a waste, the plastic bags and zip ties all continue to add to pollution issues.

Not to mention this one company having a worldwide reach and continuously gaining so much more by the second, while workers have said they are being treated unjustly, not earning enough for the laborious hours they work. They have also taken from small artists, publishers, and other small businesses that cannot legally take action and sold their products on their website for cheaper, none of this revenue going to the actual creators of said product. Everything has a pretty and ugly side, and amazon is no exception to this rule. Continuing to shop on amazon for things in a pinch is perfectly fine, but think about what small local businesses are around that you can support. During COVID these people especially need your business, and you will be a face remembered as well as a valued customer that will be an asset to the businesses success.