WTF-Beta

@pique yes, exactly.

We are getting set up for some really bad things to start happening, with no recourse, no repercussions

They haven’t missed anything

Nope, they haven’t. They’re after total destruction.

@pique said in Economic blackout:

These boycotts are hard for people who live in remote areas.

Yep. We’re not even remote, but it’s a hassle because we don’t have a lot of in-person shopping options if we don’t want to do a two-hour round trip drive. We don’t have a JCPenny or Macys in town, no Costco as I’ve mentioned… So although we have grocery options beyond Walmart, we don’t have a lot of options for household goods…

I don't get the sense in boycotting for a day or a week or a month. Why not just never buy anything from any of these companies ever again?

Yea, this is what I’ve been thinking. One thing I am wondering is how much I’ll spend on shipping if I completely stop buying anything from Amazon and end up buying things from other online sites….

Guess I’m about to find out….

@pique it’s good for Musk, Trump, Vance, and a handful of other greedy *ssoles, and exactly no one else.

Thanks @wtg !!

@wtg said in Economic blackout:

If you don't find a Costco membership works for you, they will refund your membership fee, no questions asked.

This is good, because we live far away enough from it that we would have to find we can use the online shopping option enough. Like, the gas card isn't going to do anything for us, nor the hot food options.

Hey what about Aldi? Are they ok? They weren't on @Rontuner 's list...

When spring break gets here (two weeks away!) we're gonna make a pilgrimage to the "big city" and go to Costco (and the bigger Japanese grocery store).

Target and Amazon can suck it.

@Jodi said in Canada is not the United States:

What on earth do statements like that accomplish

Nothing. Exactly nothing.

_<

@Mik said in Canada is not the United States:

They are not amused.

Indeed!!

This whole thing is so awful, it makes us as a country look bad, it doesn't help anything and is going to actively hurt us all.

This is a bad nightmare that we can't wake up from.

@Steve-Miller What am I missing?

A friend posted "Well. America is over" on FB this morning and I was wondering what triggered that, specifically....

This is what happens when you elect an idiot.

@Mary-Anna said in Color? Pattern? France? Piano? Your house is here!:

I think of the old rule to get dressed and then remove one piece of jewelry. So I tried to picture this house decorated the same way, but less...and it was still awful.

@Mary-Anna said in Color? Pattern? France? Piano? Your house is here!:

it calls my attention to the five acres of green grass. (Minus the footprint of that gargantuan house, so maybe just one, but still.) How expensive and irresponsible is it to maintain that much grass in the desert?

Yep, I noticed that too! Not good, not good at all!

OMG!!! My eyes, my eyes ️️

I would imagine that AWS has fewer associated costs, the main costs are the tech infrastructure and the people managing the tech. Which is surely a much smaller number of people involved than sales, since product sales, require distribution logistics and people etc...

I have the impression that AWS was fully embedded as a major internet service provider before anyone even noticed.

I wonder if AWS does medical, like those "mychart" systems that hospitals and clinics use....

@wtg said in Economic blackout:

AWS is their profit maker.

Ahh... yikes, this is a good illustration of the difference bw profit and revenue, I guess.

And it explains a lot, bc when I saw that pie chart, I was very surprised.

@Rontuner thanks Ron!

AWS is Amazon Web Services, which I'm pretty sure is the tech backbone for many, many university systems. I was surprised it's only <16%. Interesting.

But of course it's the online stores and third-party sellers at 65% that make up the biggest chunk.

What this chart doesn't show is that, probably the biggest reason for those sales numbers is because of those subscriptions, along with the purchase bundles non-subscribers do to get free shipping.

So without the subscriptions, people will shop elsewhere.

@Rontuner thanks, I'll look into that.

My Amazon prime expires in April I think, so we'll keep it until then (unless I get a prorated refund?)

I already pay for prime, so taking that expenditure elsewhere makes sense. As much as I hate Walmart, I was thinking that I would prefer joining Walmart's program over staying with Amazon.

But Costco, yes, that would be much better.

@Steve-Miller

But are a lot of things I can’t get anywhere else.

Maybe I don’t need them.

Yes, this is how my thinking is going....

Oh dear... I'm going to have to brace myself to read this one....
Thanks for the link, @wtg !

@Rontuner

Thanks!

Although I think Amazon’s donation to Trump’s inauguration find sort voids things…