How to Boycott and Stick to Your Principles Part 1

I’ve been attempting to Boycott Amazon for many years now. I think the trick to a successful boycott is simply: do the best you can. If you can only afford to buy the cheapest thing from Amazon, do it and don’t feel guilty. Your circumstances are your own and no one can judge you, not even God.

I maintain a 90–10 rule in an attempt to boycott Amazon. 90% of the time I buy from alternatives. Sure, some of them are also crappy, like Walmart. You cannot fight every battle at once though, or you will go insane or fall into apathy. I specifically choose Amazon as a company to boycott, so an unscrupulous alternative like Walmart is still not-Amazon. The other 10% of the time, I need something with Amazon’s speed advantage, or the product simply cannot be found anywhere on the internet. Google is your friend here. I try to buy from Target, Best Buy, Etsy, Kobo, Bookshop, Macy’s, local produce from CSAs (community supported agriculture), etc.

Amazon also offers TV. I try not to watch it, except when a show is an Amazon exclusive, and even then I do not watch much TV in general. I’ve not yet watched the 5th season of the Expanse because I went and bought the books from Bookshop.org and read them all. I feel satisfied with having read the books and feel no need to support Amazon TV.

For smart home products, I use Google and Apple.

Amazon is difficult to avoid. Many websites run on AWS, and it is simply impossible to block all of those and still use the internet. The benefits of using most websites outweighs the cost of supporting AWS.

Amazon has subsidiaries like Whole Foods and Zappos. I still buy from both of those because they were originally independent companies that Amazon bought, and Zappos in particular had a laudable culture, rip Tony Hsieh.

I often talk about not buying from Amazon and some of my friends have learned to give me Christmas presents not from Amazon. There is at least one subreddit dedicated to helping buy products from anywhere but Amazon.

Just remember, don’t beat yourself up if you have to get something from Amazon. It’s a snail’s race to victory, i.e. Amazon’s demise, not a hare’s sprint. It’s okay to forgive yourself. We don’t all need to be martyrs of guilt.

Trying to do good is enough.

P.S. I forgot to write why you ought to boycott Amazon. I’m not here to tell you that. You can decide on your own which companies you want to support and which you want to avoid.