this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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[–] letsgo2themall@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I cancelled everything. Amazon, Walmart, Netflix, ect... I have a costco account and I shop local when I can. Learn to sew and fix your clothes. Maintain an older car instead of buying new. Vote with your wallet. The only power we have is our money.

So... no power, is what your saying.

[–] Banana@sh.itjust.works 2 points 21 hours ago

There is another power we have, but it requires organization. Voting with your feet. Walkouts, strikes.

Seeing a nationwide general strike is extremely unlikely, but my god it would be magical to see.

[–] GaMEChld@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

Yeah! Also WHAT FUCKING MONEY DO YOU THINK THEY CAN SPEND?

[–] Hikermick@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Goods Unite Us is a free app that tells you which political party companies donate to

[–] blipcast@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I tried this out by searching for Amazon, and if this website was all you knew, you'd come away thinking it was a rather left leaning company, with a donation distribution of 68% Democrat and 32% Republican. That may or may not be true, but it ignores all of the hostile working conditions and anti-union behavior they are responsible for.

Just saying, don't rely solely on this app for evaluating companies.

https://www.goodsuniteus.com/brands/#/brand/amazon

Not to mention Bezos lining up for the Broligarchy

[–] joenforcer@midwest.social 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

This app still has Sears in it. No way is it properly maintained.

[–] Hikermick@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Sears is still in business though i doubt it's campaign donations amount to much

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[–] gingersaffronapricat@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

I prefer the no thanks app

[–] GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Please if you have the opportunity to start buying from small businesses. It may be a bit more inconvenient and probably a bit more expensive but it is a great way to help out your neighbor.

Additionally the money you spend locally usually stays local and not go to a CEO or Chairman of the board that really doesn't need another vacation home in Italy or Aspen.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago

I don't know about your area, but my local small businesses are disproportionately right-wing. Target's trying to appease the government from fucking them with a red hot poker by quieting down DEI, The body shop near it has trump signs all over their building.

Hell, even local minority-owned shops aren't a sure bet.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I struggle with this narrative, because it's just not that simple. This is pretty much just something that small business owners like to say to guilt people into buying their stuff. Small businesses still need to compete on price and quality.

Large retailers still employ local people, and your pension fund probably owns shares in them, or you can buy shares directly yourself.

Some small local retailers have very shady employment practices. I don't think employees are necessarily paid or treated better in small businesses. Some might be great, others are terrible.

Having said that, buying locally produced seasonal food directly from growers makes a lot of sense. Fresher, more nutritious, fewer food miles, less middle men.

Basically, local Butcher baker and green grocer.

[–] GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

It really is that simple. Sure the big box stores hire local but the money doesn't stay local if there are no smaller shops. Their paychecks go to other large corporations that have their big box stores in the area. So no money actually helps the businesses but instead just enriches a small group of people that really don't give a shit about the people of the town.

This isn't a guilt trip to get you to buy local, this is the truth. It's been happening since the 80's starting with Walmart.

Small business can't compete on price but a good business will compete and win on quality. It means that their products will be more expensive and I get that some people will not be able to afford it. But for those people that have the means its a win-win for the business and the consumer.

Some small businesses have shady employment practices, so do large corporations and every sized business in between. This isn't a good argument not to try to buy more locally, but it is a good argument for better labor laws.

Basically, local Butcher baker and green grocer.

So local butcher's, bakers and green grocers somehow get a pass on possibly having shady employment practices?

Aren't you advocating then that people are taking from the pension plans of large grocery stores by buying local ?

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[–] bayesianbandit@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

Your logic only makes sense if you completely ignore we're in the middle of a class war...

[–] NotLemming@lemm.ee 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm degoogled, deappled, no more amazon. There's a website and boycott app to tell you which companies to dump and also buy nothing days.

This has been good for me overall because I looked into ethical consumerism and feel a lot better about how I spend. I used to do this stuff years back but I'd gotten lazy.

[–] fetter@lemm.ee 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What are these apps and websites? Really struggling to dump Amazon…

[–] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Ebay and buying direct is working for me. Their streaming service is shit so thatvwas an easy one for me

[–] Manalith@midwest.social 7 points 1 day ago

Not alternatives, but the apps I use to see what companies own what and who they donated money to are GoodsUniteUs and Buycott. As far as getting rid of Amazon, depending on where you live and what you're looking for, you might be able to find the store or product on amazon and then go to their website if it isn't some dropship scheme or finding a local place that has an alternative, hard to beat that same day shipping, but might be viable.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 37 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I avoid Target because they bailed on trans people. I should get rid of Amazon, now that I think about it.

[–] Ramblingman@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

We cancelled Amazon Prime, and I won't buy on their platform anymore. I bought something off Ebay, and sure enough it came from Amazon anyway. I guess they either dropped shipped or they fulfill their orders. I've bought a few things straight from the company and the price was the same. Shipping took a little longer, but I'll gladly wait if means not supporting these companies that grovel to dictators.

[–] turtle@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

I bought something off Ebay, and sure enough it came from Amazon anyway. I guess they either dropped shipped or they fulfill their orders.

Argh, this drives me crazy! I went to ebay and was willing to pay more to avoid Amazon, but the stuff comes from Amazon anyway. I'm pretty sure this is just 3rd-party sellers drop-shipping stuff. I don't believe ebay sells anything themselves.

Anyway, I finally figured out that anything being sold new on ebay with only stock photos for a higher price than amazon has a very high likelihood of being cross-shipped from amazon and the seller is pocketing the difference (minus ebay fees?). Either look for non-stock photos, prices less than 5-10% higher than Amazon, or ideally both to avoid this.

A couple of times that I fell for this I made it a point to return the products for a refund. I didn't give the sellers a negative review because I figured that it's just some poor slob trying to eek out a living, but I came close.

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I finally got a different credit card to use outside of my Amazon Prime card because all that did was encourage me to have a prime subscription and buy shit on amazon...so "I'm doing my part" I guess.

I also canceled Prime and wrote something that would crack up whomever read it (presuming anyone actually reads those things).

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[–] ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Dumped Amazon in November for Costco or local retailers. We are saving literally hundreds a month for slightly less convenience. Wish we had done it years ago. Highly recommended.

[–] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Yeah, Costco is great. One of the few places I don't feel bad shopping at here in a red state.

[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I put the distilled and brewed booze(alcohol), from the red states, back on the shelf. Yeah, I read the labels or find out where stuff is produced.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Ideally also don't take vacations in red states.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 4 points 1 day ago

You may want to consider any lvmh brands. Which is hard, but doable.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 36 points 2 days ago

Yep. Dropped amazon for their support of the orange waste of space

[–] starshipHighwayman69@lemmy.ml 139 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The things that matter in this country have been reduced in choice, there are two political parties, there are a handful insurance companies, there are six or seven information centers.. but if you want a bagel there are 23 flavors. Because you have the illusion of choice!

George Carlin

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well I mean, it's usually one company making 23 bagel flavors. Look at toothpaste. There's Colgate and then 15 Colgate variants. But if we go higher, the parent company owns 2-5 toothpaste beands, and those toothpaste brands have multiple variants.

And then we go even higher, and those parent companies are actually owned by the same group of people.

I mean if we want to get real about it, do we really want that fake choice either?

[–] starshipHighwayman69@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah that's the "illusion" .

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[–] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Honestly, I don't want to buy anything at all anymore because I don't know which of the lot voted for Trump

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 57 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Soon enough Leon is gonna start suing people for not buying his cars, for political reasons or otherwise

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[–] AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 26 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I think that everyone who is in a position to stop driving should do so, and everyone else should reduce as much as possible. There could be a no-drive Sunday (assuming that's the day the least amount of people have to drive to work). Electric cars are still unaffordable for most of us, but everyone buying bikes in a short span of time could send a message.

Trump can't "drill baby drill" if demand plummets.

[–] MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

China has insanely good and affordable EVs, US is so backwards

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[–] BillWigly@kbin.earth 14 points 1 day ago

partner and I have been gradually modifying our consumption habits to favor what we see as more ethical models such as pro-labor entities & environmentally-minded ones

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago

That's a very large amount. I'm impressed.

[–] dumples@midwest.social 24 points 2 days ago (11 children)

My wife and I have been boycotting Target which is a really a bummer because we were going to use target to boycott Amazon. We were doing really well about not buying from either until we needed clothing quickly. So we ended up doing Amazon because we could get it fast and knew what they had. I guess you have to just make a choice and nothing is going to be perfect.

Its so hard to avoid because most stores don't have any inventory. So you can go to a store to grab your clothes and they are all sold out so you just buy them online after wasting your time. This is especially true for basic items.

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[–] DogPeePoo@lemm.ee 65 points 2 days ago

Tesla swasticar sales 📉🔥

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 76 points 2 days ago (6 children)

i wish i had the luxury of choice. being in a small town, away from everything. i can choose walmart, dollar store (bad choice, period. prices are high on stuff you actually want or need), or a local (pay our exorbitant prices because we aren't walmart) grocery. everything else is an hour or two away.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Even worse is when you try to "support local" and discover that, sure, the local hardware store sponsors the town's little league team, but the owner also reposts racist memes on his personal social media page. You can't win.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago

pretty much how it is here, too. both hardware stores owned by maga nuts.

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