Amazon is a money-making volcano which hardly pays any taxes and puts smaller businesses to the sword at five-minute intervals. It is a useful symbol for lefties who want to berate capitalism. Its internal economy probably exceeds that of Poland. The name may well be on most people's lips at least weekly, possibly daily. Yet it remains oddly anonymous. I for one have never heard anyone say: I love Amazon.
Amazon got the way it is through logistical efficiency, a subject I was paid to understand. I can confirm: Amazon is efficient. Sure it makes mistakes but so does Poland. So does - whisper it not in Gath! - the USA.
But still you'd type Amazon as heartless.
Cast your mind back to childhood fables. The words "a magic wand" arose and you wanted one, didn't you? Hold that thought for a moment.
We are living in times which disprove John Donne's most famous line of poetry: all men are islands. We phone our closest, email them, text them, Skype them but they remain unapproachable. Sometimes we feel the urge to do more. Send them a gift, not lavish but well-chosen. Most of all we want to do it now, while the urge still burns. We need that magic wand, and Amazon supplies it. The pop-up says: Buy it. One click, it's done.
VR magically caused John Carey's A Simple History of Poetry to drop into my lap. Brother Sir Hugh did the same with Staying Alive - Real Poems for Unreal Times (even more generous given I'd savaged his first sonnet). Deborah Orr’s Motherwell arrived for VR from daughter Occasional Speeder. There've been others and we’re ashamed of our forgetfulness.
Hateful Amazon. But so efficient.
Amazon is certainly a fine convenience in this day and age. I also understand the complaints people have about it. It has helped usher in the end of a lot of small businesses. Yes, Hateful Amazon, but so efficient.
ReplyDeleteI believe Amazon should pay Royalties to the American people, ALL of us, for the privilege it's been afforded. In much the same way that the Oil Companies have to pay Royalties to Alaskan Citizens for their presence there. Of coarse I have a Love-Hate Relationship with many things... Gentrification being one ... Hateful Yes, but so Efficient... and so we'll never stop it as a Collective I mean. Whether I choose to order from Amazon or not, they will still exist.
ReplyDeleterobin andrea/Bohemian: Thanks, you both confirm my feelings. All three of us are willing to shelve our day-to-day morality for the sake of meeting our needs speedily.
ReplyDeleteBut I wanted to take this act of compromise a little further. That one-click "Buy it" is genuinely seductive, almost like a drug. Close to magic. There are times when I'm tempted to do it just for the sake of doing it. Sure we can all buy things: drive to the shops, find parking, sift through what's available, proffer our credit card. But that's yesterday's old-fashioned palava. Life in the twenty-first century allows us this magician's prerogative. I'm not saying it's good any more than I'd say heroin was good. But perhaps it explains why we indulge ourselves, closing our eyes to wider issues.
" logistical efficiency" sums it up, RR. I despise it, yet use it frequently for its convenience. For instance, yesterday I wanted a new sound bar for our TV, checked what was available on the Amazon sales site, found just what I wanted, paid for it by "one click" and it will be delivered to my door today.
ReplyDeleteSometimes one needs to hold one's nose!
Avus: Holding one's nose. As with the German generals who felt that Adolf wasn't quite their thing but looked like a good bet for increasing their chances of promotion in Poland.
ReplyDeleteSince I'm similarly guilty I have to say one has to pinch pretty tightly to keep out the stench of hypocrisy
There's a new boogie man in town, Now Wal-Mart can get some rest.
ReplyDelete