Amazon and Jeff Bezos

[PunkRockVegan]

I recently cancelled my Amazon prime account because I'm concerned whether or not they are an ethical company. Besides the issues of tax avoidance, warehouse abuses, and exploitation of workers, it bothers me that Jeff Bezos makes an astronomical amount of money and barely gives any to charity.

Anyone else have concerns buying from Amazon? If not, how do you justify supporting them?

[Jebus]

I definitely have concerns. I am not happy about all the excessive packaging, but also, as you mentioned, Bezos sucks when it comes to charity.

[Red]

I have respect for Jeff Bezos in terms of his passion for science and technology, but I definitely think he should be giving more. I think the money he does give he carefully considers how the money is spent (which is to say, spending the money based on what works best and not guessing what will work), but it's kind of disappointing how relatively little he gives. He hasn't even signed that pledge to give half his wealth to charity.

I don't really subscribe to the idea that billionaires give money just to make themselves look better, since not only is that cynical, and it's not right to assume people's motives, but I'm sure they care about helping the world. I suppose it's as that old adage goes, the more money you have, the more you want.

These super billionaires could give 99% of their wealth away and still live a higher quality of life than almost all of the worlds population, I honestly don't really understand it. Not saying they should give that much, since then they won't be able to give away any more once they give it all, but it's just saying, give a bit more.

And about taxes, yeah, those loopholes should be shut, but I should mention that I think private charity is sometimes better than social programs since private charities tend to be careful with how they spend their money (as I said before), whereas social programs consist of a lot of throwing money at things and hope they work. That isn't to say I'm against social programs, mind you.

[Jamie in Chile]

Bezos has said he will give $10 billion to fight climate change, so that's a start.

I buy KIndle books because I am not going to get many of the books I want here in Chile, Kindles are better for the environment given the volume I read, I like Kindle and the KIndles were gifted to me anyway.

[brimstoneSalad]

I recently cancelled my Amazon prime account because I'm concerned whether or not they are an ethical company.

The more important question is whether the alternative is better, since you would otherwise be shopping somewhere else.

When it comes to animal products, that answer is a resounding yes, the alternative (whether beans or veggie burgers) is much much better. When it comes to online shopping that's less clear. Is it really better to get in a car and drive to Walmart or something?
Shopping somewhere like Amazon also gives you more options for product selection, which can help you choose better more sustainable products.

Besides the issues of tax avoidance, warehouse abuses, and exploitation of workers, it bothers me that Jeff Bezos makes an astronomical amount of money and barely gives any to charity.

Rich people are generally not very good people, if they were then they wouldn't be quite so rich. However, consider this:

1. The character of Bezos isn't necessarily relevant to whether you should shop on Amazon or not, since it's the other material consequences that matter.
2. Bezos probably isn't any worse person than average, most people hoard and squander wealth. Real charity is an outlier.

There are cases where choosing an alternative can make sense, like going to a major chain like Lowes to buy your lightbulbs (or whatever you buy at home improvement stores) instead of Home Depot, since Lowes' CEO supports progressive causes and Home Depot's CEO donates to Trump. One making a profit instead of the other has real material consequence, and they're also substantially similar in other ways.

If you could demonstrate a site substantially similar to Amazon where the CEO is donating more money or doing it for better causes then there might be a case there.