Why I deleted my Amazon account

According to the stoics, the path to happiness is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one’s mind to understand the world and to do one’s part in nature’s plan, and by working and treating others fairly and justly. Without arguing about the merits of stoicism, there’s one thing for sure: the stoics would not be a fan of Amazon.

The convenience from Amazon’s quick delivery of cheap goods may come with a consumerist dopamine rush but does this instant satisfaction of one’s desires come without any additional costs? My path towards minimalism, which shares some tenants of stoicism, helped me come to understand that accumulating things created a distraction from what is most important to human beings beyond only the essential material goods (food, housing, healthcare, knowledge) - and that is connection with other humans. My renewed focus on quality social connection helped me realize the enormous toll that a company like Amazon has on society.

Whether it’s firing and smearing any employee who attempts to perform their right to form a union or blow the whistle on unsafe work conditions, or forcing cities to compete against each other to see which sucker can provide the quarter-trillion dollar company the biggest tax break, it’s clear Amazon cares nothing about fairness or justice. As someone who is privileged to be in the economic position they’re in, it is my moral responsibility to help those who are not as lucky. Shopping on Amazon actively works against these values.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am much more vocal about socio-economic issues than what the stoics would suggest to be, but the philosophy does provide a common sense framework on how humans can interpret the world that surrounds them. In the long history of the humans species, the immense availability of goods we see today has only been a recent phenomenon, much like capitalism itself, and far predates the original stoics. However, they would have predicted that this easy access to cheap stuff from a monopolistic enterprise to the disadvantage of others would not make us any happier. They would not be surprised that opioid-use, suicides and mental illness has increased at the same time as the rise of Amazon. (Though neoliberalism is arguably the root cause of the socio-economic inequality that breeds this human suffering, Amazon would not exist as it does without it.)

So, in my pursuit of contentment and contribution and understanding the world, I have decided that helping Jeff Bezos add to his grossly-unethical amount of plunder by exploiting his workers and dealing the death blow to small businesses, is not worth the convenience of being able to get Cheesy finger covers shipped to my door within 24 hours. In order for our society to heal from the pain that neoliberal capitalism is causing and that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating, one could heed the wise advice of the stoics, and not send another penny to Amazon, the epitome of greed, impulsiveness and injustice.