Why does Amazon.com bother me so much?

I hate Amazon.com. There, I said it. I absolutely abhor them. I want some extraordinary conspiracy to surface that will annihilate any confidence the general public has with Amazon thereby killing their business and causing their $185 stock price to plummet. Is that mean? It has gotten to the point that during discussions with family or friends and someone mentions ordering (or receiving) books via Amazon: everyone else immediately turns to me and makes the "uh-oh, don't get mean...." face. That same circumstance happened when a friend received a Borders gift card from another friend in my presence last month, but I had to shoot down any guilt trips or perceived aversion to Borders. I have moved on from my anti-Borders stance. It is a bricks and mortar business, struggling to compete against online behemoths. Besides, no use kicking a dog when it's down.

So why do I feel so strongly?

For one, it's my job. At 15 years and counting, I could argue it's my life. I sell books, now both paper and e-versions through a "bricks and mortar" bookstore. Every time I see or hear about a purchase being made through Amazon, I feel as if one grain of sand has been removed from the hourglass of my career. It's terrifying. I would love to tell you that bookstores will live forever, but they won't. At least not in the quantity or variety that we have now. Why? Because I walk the customer to the book, put it in their hand, and then an hour later have to pick it off the coffee table and put it back on the shelf. Instead of paying $24.95 plus 7.125% sales tax, the customers have gone home to buy it for $17.50 and no sales tax. I would love to sell you the book for $17.50, but I can't: I have rent and utilities and a staff to pay.

Then we have eReaders. Why pay $17.50 when you can pay $9.99? I have no problem with the technology. I just have a problem with Amazon. They have cannibalized the book and ebook industry in order to keep control. In addition to the threat their pricing structure has on the publishers, they are knowingly taking a loss to lock you in. Almost any other company allows you to buy or borrow books from other sources to put on your eReader, but not the Kindle.
I had a former coworker who when presented with the question of whether or not Amazon's Kindle was a better eReader than the Barnes & Noble Nook: he would respond "Well, we're a bookstore. Amazon is a website that sells washing machines." On any given day, we have someone in my store who refers to the overall gadget of an eReader as a Kindle. To which I say that the Kindle is to eReaders as Kleenex is to tissue paper: and Puffs is by far the better brand.

I just read an article about Amazon and a warehouse they have in Texas. Apparently they have threatened to close that warehouse and lay off it's 169 employees if the state comptroller demands that they pay $269 million in back sales tax. See, Amazon doesn't collect sales tax from it's customers because it is not required, seeing as how they do not have a physical store presence in that state. Of course you the purchaser are actually supposed to then pay the sales tax yourself, but as we all can guess: no one ever does. The Texas comptroller is trying to make the warehouse qualify as a "nexus" or presence in the state. Amazon would rather shut it's doors and move out than lose it's unfair advantage over every brick and mortar business in the state. $1400 television for $1516 including sales tax at your local electronics store that employs your neighbor's college kid? Or $1400 and free shipping from Amazon? I get it. We all want to save money, but sales tax is that necessary evil we need to keep teachers and civil workers and state parks providing for us. I'm sure you'll get that $116 tax check in the mail to your state right away.

I was discussing the book industry with my brother the other night, and I asked him if he was ever shopping for books online, if he could check BN.com before anybody else. I fully realize sometimes there are some rare or out of print books Amazon.com can get that we can't, so I would hope it would be the last resource. My brother then said that he unequivocally does not buy books online. Ever. He doesn't have discretionary funds, just like a large percentage of Americans, but he went on to explain that he just spent almost $100 at his local Phoenix Barnes & Noble the week before. This, from someone who can scan that book's barcode on his phone and see just where and for how much you can get it from an online retailer, and he paid list price. I know he realizes how personally I take someone's book purchasing, so maybe that's why he won't shop online. Even if that's not the reason, it was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard.

Speaking of rare and out of print ordering.... Amazon does this through an affiliate program. Your local small bookshop has an agreement to post their books on Amazon.com who then takes care of all the financial and operational details. Amazon has decided to drop any of those affiliates who want the sales tax collected at the point of sale. That small bookshop probably has a storefront, thereby requiring sales tax. Barnes & Noble posted an open letter earlier this week welcoming those affiliates to our website if they were dropped by Amazon. So we'll see where the advantage in finding those hard to find books will end up.

I learned from my father at an early age how to harbor an all-consuming grudge against some corporation or brand. For him: Kraft, any non Anheuser Busch brand beer (micro-brews okay), and then there was that time that Marshall Fields decided to contract the Frango Mint making to a chocolate company, instead of continuing production in the basement of the State Street location. We weren't allowed to even step foot in a Marshall Fields for years. I am now an adult and am creating grudges of my own. Walmart: Congratulations! You made the cut. Dave Eggers: probably seems odd that an author made the list, but ask me sometime and I'll tell you the story. Kraft Foods: not sure why, but I inherited this one. Green Bay Packers: only natural for a Chicago girl living in Minnesota. The biggest one of all: Amazon.com. It's something that those around me may not understand, but I certainly hope they can respect.


Update: I had debated not ever posting this entry. I started the bulk of it almost three weeks ago, and it sat unfinished. Today Borders filed for bankruptcy. They are closing close to a third of their stores and restructuring their business to free up capital to stay alive. This does not bode well for the book industry at all. Reading the articles I am infinitely annoyed at the author's statements or reader's comments that Barnes & Noble is going to follow the same path. Or even worse, those that think they're the same company. Borders had some serious business missteps over the past decade which is why they are Chapter 11 and Barnes & Noble is not. Regardless, that is not the point. There will soon be over 150 neighborhoods that are losing a bookstore, countless number of book loving nerds like myself that are losing their jobs, and that many more people that will be looking to the internet to keep their book buying convenient without a local store. It is a sad day indeed.