If you use the internet in any capacity, you probably know who Amazon is. The online marketplace has quickly become one of the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world. And one of their favorite marketing tactics of late has been Amazon Prime Day. But as enticing as a day of discounts may be, there are far more reasons to actively avoid the “holiday.”
What Is Amazon Prime and Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon hosts a premium service known as Amazon Prime. For a recurring subscription fee, customers are given a variety of online benifits. The most common perk is the addition of free 2-day shipping for select items, but it also includes access to Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Music, and so on.
Amazon Prime Day is the companies attempt at creating their own holiday. For two days, they will discount a wide variety of items for sale under the promotional idea of it being a special event. This year, Amazon Prime Day lands on July 15 and 16, 2019.
Why This is a Bad Thing.
I could go on about why this is bad and should be avoided, but all of these points can be boiled down to three major ideas: it’s bad for the economy, it’s bad for society, and it’s bad for you.
- It’s bad for the economy: Amazon is a superpower at this point. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has an approximate worth of $165.4 billion. If he was his own country, he would be ranked the 56th wealthiest country in the world, outranking Hungary, Kuwait, Morocco, and about 130 other countries. It doesn’t take a professional economist to tell you that one man hoarding this much money is bad for economic growth.
- It’s bad for society: Amazon has developed a reputation over the last decade for treating their employees poorly. employees around the world are actually on strike RIGHT NOW because of the way the company has been treating them. People are seeing 12+ hour shifts daily, which are reprimanded if they don’t process as many as 300 orders in that time. If they were to work non-stop, they’d have to process 2.4 orders every minute for the entire 12 hours. People have been fired for taking bathroom breaks. This kind of abuse isn’t worth the $34k a year the employees are making. But Amazon has grown so large that it’s hard for the middle and lower class to avoid working there. For many, it’s their only option.
- It’s bad for you: Both of the previous points spell a bad sign for the fate of our country. But if you don’t care about them, there’s still this problem. Amazon Prime Day is used to promote the sale of underperforming goods. If the Amazon warehouses are filling up with a certain brand or product, they’ll be given discounts on this day. If you get caught up in the excitement and buy these products, you might just find yourself with a poorly made or underwhelming thing you didn’t need. Assuming it doesn’t break down after a month, that is.
We already have overcommercialized holidays like Valentines Day and Christmas, do we really need to start celebrating one that literally is about buying goods from a mega-corporation?