Why is Amazon less Evil than Walmart?

[monster]

Discuss.

Or go off at a tangent.

[Rhianne]

Not just Amazon but ALL South American rivers are nicer than food stores.

[monster]

Walmart is not primarily a food store. Amazon is my daughter's middle name.

[SamIam]

Amazons could beat the shit out of any Greek army. Plus, their books are better and cheaper than Wally's.

[Sundae]

Amazon is keeping the Post Office afloat.

[Kaliayev]

Amazon actually has stuff I want to buy.

[Glinda]

Because when you shop at Amazon, you never ever encounter



or



or



or



or

[footfootfoot]

I'm hoping that last guy just rode his bike in the rain.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by monster

Walmart is not primarily a food store. Amazon is my daughter's middle name.

Therefore, if your daughter weighs the same as a book then she's made of food?

[monster]

Which company has put more local/mom-and-pop stores out of business?

[monster]

Originally Posted by Glinda

Because when you shop at Amazon, you never ever encounter

you can shop walmart online and get pretty much the same stuff as on Amazon. If you try hard enough

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by monster

Which company has put more local/mom-and-pop stores out of business?

That's a single facet or metric for establishing evil. I know that Walmart literally comes into a town and directly starts fucking around with the local mojo. (don't want to type this all out one handed.)
Amazon may divert sales from brick and mortar stores, but they don't usually have a non tax paying physical presence consuming local resources and putting a burden on the community infra structure.

On the other hand, as one of or the largest consumers of energy in the US, they were responsible for a dramatic reduction in packaging. Their motivation was "why are we spending 50 million bucks a year to transport excess packaging?" They told mfgrs to use less packaging (30% less) or they'd be dropped.

Great green move, just not for the crunchy granola motives.

I think in any of these cases it's really hard to make a black and white case.

[Nirvana]

Have you seen the people of WalMart above? They need virtual glasses at the door for us so that thru them, we all look like Barbie and Ken.

[monster]

Amazon killed Borders .....sorta

[Aliantha]

I really don't like shopping for books online. (yes I know you get more than books from amazon) I really loved the big Borders in the city here, but I guess they're closing their doors now, and I think that's a shame. I just get such a calm pleasure out of browsing through book stores. Pretty much any one, but there are some real corkers out there. There's this book shop a few streets away from the main shopping district in the city, and it's full of rare and awesome second hand books. Some are cheap, others are locked behind glass. Before Max came along, we used to go there sometimes as a family and spend hours just looking at the books and picking out a few to take home.

Online shopping is not something a family can do together, and it's just not the same anyway.

eta: I don't know if amazon or walmart are evil. Certainly they both serve a need in our current lifestyle, and it'll be a long time yet before consumerism changes enough to get rid of either.