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I checked the text; you are correct; it's rather embarassing. I find it hard to believe that I have just ignored this every time I've been on the Amazon website, something I do several times each day.
To address your other point, the breadth of my own reading is directly related to Amazon's policies and to their marketing programs. Simply put, I wouldn't know that many books even exist if Amazon didn't carry them; I find them in the "Recommended for you" section. That one feature alone has provided me with an extraordinary amount of reading delight.
There's another Amazon policy that I find a wonder: Amazon actually shows marketplace sellers' prices when these are less than Amazon prices. I just ordered a book that Amazon had priced at $21.73 that I could have had within forty-eight hours with free shipping since I have Prime. However, the web page informed me that new copies were availble for $6.73. I checked and found two copies at that price; both of the sellers had 99% satisfaction rates. I chose the closer seller in hopes that it might arrrive a bit sooner since it's not a Prime shipment. My total with shipping was $10.72, less than half of Amazon's already discounted price. After I placed my order I received an invitation to read the first part for free on my Kindle Paperwhite.
Shall we discuss reviews? Over the years I've made hundreds if not thousands of decisions based on these. I may buy a book because of negative reviews, having learned how to decipher these long before the advent of Amazon. Imagine going into a local bookstore and encountering a clerk who tells you that a book stinks. An Amazon product review may. They have employees who actually read for pleasure.
Amazon has extended their product line to include all sorts of things besides books. All sorts of interesting comestibles and other delights now appear on my front porch.
One of my strongest interests is reading older technical works since I love the history of technology. Before Amazon and epecially before Kindle finding these books was strictly catch-as-catch-can. It's very different today. A few months ago I purchased a Kindle book dealing with the manufacture of pyrotechnic devices. Since the work is over a century old it's full of obsolete names, but I didn't need to continually refer to reference books. The link in my Kindle to a dictionary and to Wikipedia served me well for 90% of my needs.
Amazon has changed the life of the bibliophile; the new life is an unmitigated improvement. If the internet is the informtion superhighway Amazon is the proper vehicle, a vehicle that combines the best features of a Ferrari and a heavy truck but with no compromise.
Totally agree,great post!
The synopsis and reviews especially,and also love their forums,especially since they stopped author's 'self-promotion' which now Goodreads needs to do!
See, that's another example of Amazon paying their employees well. I know in IT world, Amazon is one of the most sought after employers due to their higher than most salary and better benefits. Everytime a candidate tells me they're interviewing with Amazon my heart sinks because there's a good chance I will lose the person to Amazon, yet again. I had several fresh graduate Computer Science kids who turned me down flat because Amazon was offering them 70K - 75K.
IT pays well, most are grumbling about the 10.50 to 12.50 per hour for unskilled labor picking and packing orders.
You presumably already know some of the reasons:
- Amazon doesn't treat his employees particularly well
- Amazon drives independent booksellers out of business
- Amazon undermines the tax base in your town
- Amazon eliminates the pleasant social connections of physical bookstores
- Amazon keeps tabs on you
etc.
However, here's something new: Amazon is trying control what you read by trying to steer you to/away from particular books and publishers, which strikes me as contemptible.
Amazon’s secret campaign to discourage customers from buying books by Hachette, one of the big New York publishers, burst into the open on Friday...
Among Amazon’s tactics against Hachette, some of which it has been employing for months, are charging more for its books and suggesting that readers might enjoy instead a book from another author. If customers for some reason persist and buy a Hachette book anyway, Amazon is saying it will take weeks to deliver it.
So how many people that do business with your company inquire/complain as to how they treat their employees? This is their employees problem. If you don't like how you are treated find another job. If you think you have a say-so in their employment practices, don't shop Amazon. Amazon drives independent booksellers out of business? Were you yelling about computers putting typewriter companies out of business? Netflix killing independent DVD stores? So Amazon is trying to steer you to other books and publishers? You mean to tell me when you go into brick and mortar stores, no one steers you to other products?
Say, doesn't Jeff Bezos (Amazon) own The Washington Post? And now the NY Times is whining about Amazon?
Here's why I shop at Amazon (posted previously):
1. there is no top shelf I can't reach or bottom shelf I can't read or get up from.
2. I can go shopping or browse in my underwear.
3. it's open 24/7 - I can visit at 2:00A.
4. you can learn about and buy more oddball books. Bookstores can only stock the books for which they have room.
5. you can buy them in different formats (hardcover, audio, paperback, kindle, large print, etc.) and they are all in the same place unlike in a bookstore where you have to guess the other formats and then locate them.
6. if I buy 6 books at a time, with Amazon, I'm not lugging all of that weight of my books, around.
7. no one is coughing or sneezing on me on some checkout line.
8. I don't have to park in Outer Slobovia (especially at Christmas time) and lug 6 books to the car and/or through some mall.
9. I can pick up non-book items in the same place, at the same time instead of driving from one store to another.
10. I can sit at my desk (starting at midnight) for hours and browse books on Amazon, read reviews from regular people, read summaries and then get good suggestions: "If you liked that, you'll probably like this" and "people who read that, also purchased this."
11. At Amazon, I have a pretty good idea if a paperback version is imminent.
Perhaps it doesn't make sense to you because you pay the difference at a later time. If you look at your taxes holistically, you'll see that you will pay the same amount via use tax.
In your case (in Ohio), you'll save 5.75% upfront in sales tax since Amazon does not collect sales tax for Ohio deliveries. However, you have to pay that same amount in use tax later on. Thus there really is no savings.
Perhaps it doesn't make sense to you because you pay the difference at a later time. If you look at your taxes holistically, you'll see that you will pay the same amount via use tax.
In your case (in Ohio), you'll save 5.75% upfront in sales tax since Amazon does not collect sales tax for Ohio deliveries. However, you have to pay that same amount in use tax later on. Thus there really is no savings.
Never heard of a 'use tax' in my life and to my knowledge have NEVER paid it in my life, either!
ALL the portals do this: "Amazon is trying control what you read by trying to steer you to/away from particular books and publishers" just some are particularly egregious about it. There is one office supply site that is particularly bad.
I do have an issue with how amazon prices reflect the lowest price other than theirs on the web. they use an algorithm to figure their low pricing. So if you have a product that should normally go for like $20, and some goof buys a brand new one at a garage sale a and lists it on his amazon store for $5, guess what amazon is going be selling your product for? $5 Kind of weird concept, not many people understand it. Many big brands now are starting to not want to sell to a distributor if they are going to offer the items on amazon.
Never heard of a 'use tax' in my life and to my knowledge have NEVER paid it in my life, either!
You might want to let your accountant know. Tax evasion is a serious crime. You can still pay your back-taxes. Amazon makes it easy to get years worth of order history to assist you in this.
""If the seller is not located in Ohio and does not have substantial nexus with Ohio, the seller cannot be required to collect and remit Ohio use tax. However, the purchaser will still owe Ohio use tax on the purchase of goods or services, unless the purchaser has a statutory basis for claiming exception or exemption.""
Are you originally from Delaware or Oregon and new to Ohio? I can't imagine you didn't know your own tax laws. Delaware and Oregon are the only two states that do not have use tax on online purchases.
Amazon's campaign against Hachette is far from secret.
It's also very good for both the authors and the readers. What Hachette did was illegal. The law was designed to protect Americans. Please do research before having an opinion.
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