They don't sell what I value

An update on using Amazon less in 2025

Hi friend,

At the start of this year, I shared my plans to not use Amazon as much in 2025. It wasn’t necessarily meant to be a political statement (started thinking about it right before that became a big part of the convo). It also wasn’t meant to be a total boycott (though I understand why some people are doing that). Like most of the challenges I give myself, it came on the backend of noticing a behaviour or trend I didn’t like and simply wanting to make a change.

What I noticed was that I had gone from being someone who rarely used Amazon before immigrating to the UK (and had never had a Prime membership), to using it to buy most things here from 2022-2024. As a newcomer who moved to the middle of nowhere and didn’t always have access to a vehicle, I understand why I made this choice. But you can also choose to change a habit anytime, and that’s what I decided to do this year.

I shared my plan in January, along with one update in March, and then I didn’t write about it again (until now)—because there wasn’t much to say. Some habits are harder to change than others, but a challenge that asks me to shop less/differently is not exactly a challenge for me anymore. I said I wasn’t going to use it as much this year, and that I would learn more about where I could buy things within the UK, and that’s exactly what I did.

Of course, that also means I did use it a little bit (which I said I would). I bought a few specific things that I couldn’t figure out how to get more locally (like a very long lock for the old gate at The Lighthouse! I tried!). And a couple Christmas presents for the preteen. I also bought two things because they were less than half the price they would’ve been in-store, and some months you just don’t have the money to pay full price. (Also: why are windshield wipers SO expensive? This doesn’t make sense to me.)

But the challenge created enough friction throughout the year that it did change how I feel about using Amazon going forward. I still don’t want to use it very much. Not just because of what it is or who owns it or how it all works, though that’s part of it and other people have written better posts about why you might be considering boycotting it too.

I don’t want to use it much because… it’s also just a really crappy option now!?

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Amazon used to feel like a company you could buy brand name items from at discounted prices. I’m not saying that was a good thing, but that was the shopping experience it provided. It almost felt like a kind of Walmart, or discounted department store. You could buy what you wanted at a lower price, and trust in the quality of what was going to arrive at your door.

That doesn’t feel true anymore.