So I wanted a copy of the board game Carcassonne as it’s a game I’ve played with friends before and loved. For things like this I (like many others) would gravitate towards Amazon.
But after some research I found that my local board game cafe sells copies of the game cheaper than anywhere online. Yesterday I popped by, grabbed a copy and had a nice chat with the owner about the game and their favourite expansions. This was a significantly better experience than buying the game online from a soulless corporation, and my money has gone to an great local company rather than a billionaire. Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?
Similarly I was looking out for a black denim jacket in my size. Instead of going to a big clothing retailer I checked out some charity shops, and I found exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the price with the money going towards charity.
Going forward I’m going to avoid Amazon and any big American companies wherever possible. Hopefully others will do the same :)
+1 to that.
It’s so much more pleasant (well, when the shop owner know what they’re doing). I’ve almost completely quit using Amazon and only shop online for what I can find a local alternative.
Including for books btw, at least here in France, the law has made it so that new books must be sold at the same price everywhere (including Amazon) and since the experience is so much more pleasant in my local bookshops I see no reason to give my money to Amazon ;)