I wanted to get printer photo paper for my printer, a Canon. I went to Walmart, They had nothing. Went to Target, they had one pack of photo paper and it was crazy expensive, so I went to micro center. That one was just as expensive. So finally I went back to Amazon, which I was trying to avoid, and saw the price 25 to 40% lower than anywhere I had been. Literally everything that I was looking for, I could find within seconds. Not even Best buy has even close to the amount of inventory or variety, even when you’re shopping online…
Therefore, I think Amazon has a literal monopoly in the tech industry right now, you’re literally forced to buy from them, because unless you have the money and financial fortitude to protest with your wallet, you’re going to be buying from them. There’s no other choice. They have so aggressively and dominantly taken over the supply chain market that no other tech company can currently compete with them in any aspect at all. You will be paying 40 to 50% more on everything by cutting out Amazon, and no one has the money for that anymore unless you’re upper middle class or above
I got beat up on here for stating that Amazon delivery was greener for the exact reasons you said. Plus, some of my Amazon comes via USPS, which is driving by my house every day.
Reliable and fast delivery services also means less space devoted to parking lots and can generally be a really good way to transition communities away from car centric infrastructure. People just hate because cynicism is way easier than thinking critically.
I wish they actually committed to that and had drop boxes. It really bothers me how much packaging is used everywhere in every business when it can be avoided.