Amazon Customer 1998-2024

There are a lot of things you’re not supposed to do when you’re angry. But I’ve done some pretty great things out of anger:

I’m writing this page a month after yet another instance of that last point. This time it’s Amazon.

Quitting Amazon is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. You know, you might be doing some bad things when you’ve managed to get a huge Wikipedia page of just your problems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon

As an avid reader and lover of books, one of my biggest concerns is that Amazon will eventually destroy book publishing (and the ability for authors to make a living) completely.

Bezos’s actions in late 2024 (update: and now 2025) were the final spark I needed to light that fire and actually go through with it.

Here’s confirmation that I have closed my 26-year-old Amazon account.

That’s more than a quarter of a century and a staggering number of purchases.

Later, I realized I needed to close my AWS account separately:

What’s so revealing about ending a service I’ve used for so long is how subtly intertwined it had become with my life.

One big, obvious one is that I published a print picture book, Mr. Tree Goes Down on Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) program. I’m still need to re-publish that on a different print-on-demand service.

And speaking of Kindles, I have used at least four different models going back nearly to the very first. I don’t know how many books I purchased. As soon as you log out of your Amazon account on a Kindle, you can’t use it. (Side note: A known "bug" in the Kindle also occasionally deletes all of your "side-loaded" books not purchased in the Kindle store.)

I bought the cheapest Kobo to replace the Kindle Paperwhite and I’m several months into it with no problems. I was using Calibre to manage my ebooks anyway.

There are also the less obvious side-effects like the fact that friends and relatives have been buying birthday and Christmas gifts for me from my Amazon wishlist for years. And also Amazon gift cards (I think there are other ways to cash those in, but buying on Amazon is obviously the easiest).

Then there’s the simple fact that we’ve gotten used to Prime shipping. But you know what? If you’re not paying for shipping, that cost is always baked in somewhere anyway. Or you’re simply getting ripped off with a cheaper product or knock-off! Shipping takes energy and the labor of people and it’s okay to pay for it.

Some folks would see all of these barriers and say it’s not worth it. But it must be the stubborn contrarian in me, I take it as a challenge: "Okay, you think you’re indispensable? I need air, water, food, shelter, and the ability to provide for my family. Those things are indispensable. Until you can cut those off, I don’t need you."

[f you’re not in a position where you can give up Amazon, don’t feel bad! For example, some people depend on Amazon for accessibility reasons. No one customer caused all of this.

But I can do this and convenience be damned, I will.

There are way better options for buying a lot of things online anyway. Obviously this is somewhat regional:

Online shopping from smaller stores is actually pretty fun. I’ve got a bunch of small vendors I’ve purchased from directly for years for specialized hobbies and collections, so those aren’t even affected by dropping Amazon.

I’m trying to "buy local" as much as possible. But between Amazon, Walmart, dollar stores, and the other big entities, the options are slim for some categories of purchase. This part is sad. I feel like I was dreaming for decades and when I opened my eyes, the things I hadn’t paid attention to were gone.

Anyway, that’s me doing my little part. Ask your doctor if dropping Amazon is right for you.