<story><title>PopSockets CEO calls out Amazon&apos;s tactics before House committee</title><url>https://mashable.com/article/amazon-bullying-tactics-popsockets-hearing/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>birdyrooster</author><text>As a wrinkle to this conversation, Amazons product and treatment of customers&amp;#x2F;vendors causes even more harm to the environment. People buy more things that they are unsatisfied with than ever before. There are more returns than ever before. There are likely millions more frivolous purchases and many thousands of tons of cardboard and non-recyclable plastics generated each year thanks to Amazon Prime.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>blakesterz</author><text>&amp;quot;treatment of customers&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I know I&amp;#x27;m an N of 1 but speaking purely as a customer Amazon has been nothing but awesome. And I know that&amp;#x27;s probably seen by many as maybe selfish and wrong, and I get that argument totally. But I can the stuff I want* pretty darn fast and pretty darn cheap and if it&amp;#x27;s not what I want it&amp;#x27;s easy to send back. I understand that might be short sighted with all the drawbacks, but I still keep ordering. The pluses outweigh the minuses. Am I being selfish?&lt;p&gt;* Not the stuff I need, but the stuff I want. I think that&amp;#x27;s an important point.I guess I go to Wegmans for the stuff I need.</text></comment>
<story><title>PopSockets CEO calls out Amazon&apos;s tactics before House committee</title><url>https://mashable.com/article/amazon-bullying-tactics-popsockets-hearing/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>birdyrooster</author><text>As a wrinkle to this conversation, Amazons product and treatment of customers&amp;#x2F;vendors causes even more harm to the environment. People buy more things that they are unsatisfied with than ever before. There are more returns than ever before. There are likely millions more frivolous purchases and many thousands of tons of cardboard and non-recyclable plastics generated each year thanks to Amazon Prime.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gdulli</author><text>They&amp;#x27;ve done everything possible to engineer impulse buying into e-commerce. At a high level, conflating excess with &amp;quot;convenience&amp;quot; is not a good thing for the environment, or for anyone but them.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t have Prime or use one-click and for me making an online order still involves the mindset of asking myself, do I really need this?&lt;p&gt;Avoiding Amazon also saved me money on my last purchase because I picked something up for $4.80 from Michaels on the way home from work when Amazon&amp;#x27;s price was $8.50.</text></comment>