End of An Era: Amazon, Me And You Are Through…
I have a confession to make – my name is Karen Scott, and I worry constantly about giant corporations with too much power.
So much so that when I learned back in 2003 or 2004 that Tesco was taking £1 of every £8 spent in the high streets, I started shopping at Asda and Morrison’s. I still do the odd shop at Tesco, but not as exclusively as I used to.
When Princess Diana was killed back in 1997, I stopped purchasing tabloid newspapers. Why? Because I’d been very uncomfortable about some of the methods that were used to gain information about public figures, prior to her death, but when I learned about the part the paps played in her death, I decided that I couldn’t in all consciousness endorse people who would stop at nothing to get a story.
Of course I don’t mind reading the odd tabloid paper, but it’s been years since I actually purchased one, and I intend to keep it like that for as long as possible.
My latest worry is over the fact that Google pretty much owns the internet, and that nobody else seems to think that this is a problem.
Hasn’t anybody noticed how great they are at acquiring start-up companies that have great innovative products? Blogger anybody? Youtube? Keyhole Inc? Has anybody taken any notice of their partnerships lately? Microsoft? AOL? Nokia?
Google currently have nearly 54% of the marketshare, in terms of search engine usage, which I think quite frankly, is very scary. And you guys know how I feel about Google Earth.
The problem is, they do what they do well. They’re innovative, and they continue to evolve and develop, whilst their competition are left scratching their heads. All very positive things as far as their shareholders are concerned, but I can’t help but worry, about the power they yield over Average Janes like myself.
When I attempt to conduct searches on anything other than Google, the results are poor, so I end up going back to Google. When I want to have a look at some footage that I missed on the T.V, I automatically search on Youtube, knowing that it’s going to be there. My main email account is with Gmail for God’s sake. This kind of dependency makes me nervous.
Amazon Fail wasn’t a surprise to me, given how much power Team Bezos has globally. Who was it that said ‘Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely’?
The latest shenanigans by Amazon has convinced me that parting company with them is something that I have to do. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but this latest debacle really was the last straw for me.
I’m going to cancel my Amazon account, and buy my books from The Book Depository and other online retailers that have a better regard for their customers.
I can’t justify continuing to support a company with such blatant disregard for its customers. I just can’t.
My little action wont make a blind bit of difference to Amazon or their profits, but in cutting ties with them, I feel like I’m taking back some of the control that I’d lost during my nine-year relationship with them.
So on Saturday, I will be removing the KKB shop links on here, and from here on in, we’ll be linking to other online retailers, rather than Amazon.
I’m not saying that this will be forever, because one never knows what will happen in the future, but certainly as of this weekend, for the forseeable, KKB will be an Amazon.com-free zone.
I feel better already.
Posted by Karen Scott · 
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