I read the other day that the founder of Amazon, divorcee Jeff Bezos, is having a mansion built that has only 26 bathrooms. It will also have 11 bedrooms and two elevators. When the Defense Department recently awarded Microsoft a multi-billion dollar contract, Bill Gates surpassed Bezos as the world’s richest man. Thus, Bezos currently ranks #2. His wealth alone is not sufficient for me to become nauseous, but the process by which he continues to increase his wealth greatly disturbs me.
If you are concerned about global warming and live in a city, pay attention to all the vans that drive about to deliver Amazon packages. Enterprise Rental Car and subcontractors rent their vans to make individual deliveries to residences on behalf of Amazon. Amazon has now deployed its own fleet of delivery trucks too. Think of all that increased exhaust, reliance on oil, and congestion.
At an accelerating rate, we are destroying an array of natural habitats. All those cardboard boxes delivered to your doorstep represent losses for us humans, the watershed via soil erosion, and animal habitats. I searched Amazon’s website to see if the company touted massive tree planting initiatives, but the only item I could find was “AmazonSmiles.” This entity relies on consumer contributions (!?) that “could plant 1.2 million trees across the world through the Plant a Billion Trees campaign.” “Could” does not mean it has happened and note AS is not reliant on corporate money, according to Amazon’s own website.
The worker bees within Amazon’s “fulfillment centers” are not Amazon employees. They are contract workers who technically are independent from the company. This evil scheme totally screws employees yet Amazon is not the only company to deploy this tactic. The security guards roaming the Federal government building in which I work are not employees of the Federal government. The drivers of FedEx trucks that deliver ground packages are not FedEx employees. All of these employees are independent contractors that allow the company to avoid incurring costs such as 401K contributions, health insurance coverage, union membership, sick leave, etc. Disgusting.
When McDonald’s resisted pending rules regarding increased regulation to guard against Mad Cow disease, there was a public backlash. Americans responded by avoiding McDonald’s and it saw its sales decline and subsequently acquiesced to the regulations meant to keep people safe. My point is that I can invoke some moral principles against Amazon, but that is not enough. If the public expects different behavior from corporations, then more must be done. This can be as simple as not buying a Big Mac or not ordering another package from Amazon. My opinion is that Amazon surpassed WalMart years ago as the worst corporation in America (excluding defense contractors, of course), and I will continue my streak in 2020 of never having purchased a single item from Amazon.
