The Amazon tax • Hacker News Board

Re: The Amazon tax

#291

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

vinnymac wrote: post #260

colinrand wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Somehow nobody noticed. I disagree, many many people noticed and we were irked by it, but it's extremely impractical to fight against it.

As someone who notices a lot of things, I was talking recently with someone who notices almost nothing. When I spoke about my desire to seek out the truth, they simply replied, "I just want to live a happy life." There’s a perception that those who seek knowledge and truth are somehow less happy. Ignorance, and the willingness to take the path of least resistance, can be seen as an advantage for those who would rathe…

There's nothing wrong with being a curious or attentive person who likes to notice things.

What I often see, especially in the social media era, is people who are selectively curious and like to notice negative things. So they'll share lots of articles with titles like "The Amazon Tax", which I agree was interesting and informative, but they're not at all interested in e.g. "How Amazon Is Bringing Fast Delivery to Rural America" (https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/how-amazon-is-bringin...). That's more of a problem, and I think it's what drives the idea that truth-seekers are less happy.

Re: The Amazon tax

#292

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

Jach wrote: post #236

abixb wrote: post #29

I've slowly shifted all my consumer purchases from Amazon to local shops and other online platforms, including Etsy. I'm now seriously contemplating deleting my Amazon account of 15 years in one whole swoop. The quality degradation is painfully apparent, and the value add of Amazon in my life has been steadily declining for a while. I've also had terrible experiences with AWS, but that's a different story. Amazon's o…

I live in Bellevue so by supporting Amazon I'm supporting a local business. It's hard to imagine replacing most of the things I get from the site with someplace else. (Though it'd be nice to have a Micro Center.) I've even started getting more grocery products as Safeway/QFC/Fred Meyer up their prices, and the Redmond Fred Meyer closed which had the best produce. Etsy is mainly useful to me for the occasional copyrig…

[deleted]

Re: The Amazon tax

#293

Post by Defletter » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

vinnymac wrote: post #260

colinrand wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Somehow nobody noticed. I disagree, many many people noticed and we were irked by it, but it's extremely impractical to fight against it.

As someone who notices a lot of things, I was talking recently with someone who notices almost nothing. When I spoke about my desire to seek out the truth, they simply replied, "I just want to live a happy life." There’s a perception that those who seek knowledge and truth are somehow less happy. Ignorance, and the willingness to take the path of least resistance, can be seen as an advantage for those who would rathe…

Except that this holds true for everything. For example, I only just today found out about this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8yo7_Inikg&t=1157s, ie, Oracle's apparent complicity in genocide. Now that I know this, I now have to rethink things: what am I using that depends on Oracle that I need to migrate away from? This wasn't something I was concerned about just 24 hours ago. This is not to say it's not a valid concern: we should divest from companies and organisations complicit in genocide, but this is demonstrably a case where I have given myself more work, more worry, from gaining knowledge.

Re: The Amazon tax

#294

Post by nikole9696 » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #274

nikole9696 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's truly awful if you're looking for something specific. I tend to find things by finding something I don't want then clicking through 16 pages of "related to this item" ad nauseum. I find myself more often using ChatGPT to find things now because their search is sooo bad. Like, if I want petite clothes, I do not want clothes that are not petite, folks. Why is this hard?

I’m surprised that anyone would love Amazon so much that they resort to using third-party search so they can continue buying from Amazon. Rather than just shopping elsewhere! There are many product categories where I know that shopping on Amazon will be a miserable experience riddled with crap goods and useless search, so I go elsewhere. Never even occurred to me to use an LLM to make up for Amazon’s own deliberate d…

Eh, for me it's not about love, it's about no other retailers carrying what I want, at a price point I'll pay, with an easy return policy and easy checkout. I'm willing to put up with a lot of crap to find that, apparently.

To be clear, when I do use LLM for search, I don't limit it to one site.

Re: The Amazon tax

#295

Post by cobbzilla » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

Jach wrote: post #236

abixb wrote: post #29

I've slowly shifted all my consumer purchases from Amazon to local shops and other online platforms, including Etsy. I'm now seriously contemplating deleting my Amazon account of 15 years in one whole swoop. The quality degradation is painfully apparent, and the value add of Amazon in my life has been steadily declining for a while. I've also had terrible experiences with AWS, but that's a different story. Amazon's o…

I live in Bellevue so by supporting Amazon I'm supporting a local business. It's hard to imagine replacing most of the things I get from the site with someplace else. (Though it'd be nice to have a Micro Center.) I've even started getting more grocery products as Safeway/QFC/Fred Meyer up their prices, and the Redmond Fred Meyer closed which had the best produce. Etsy is mainly useful to me for the occasional copyrig…

I wonder if people who live in DC think the same about their federal tax dollars, it’s roughly the same flavor of “local”

Re: The Amazon tax

#296

Post by neutronicus » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #274

nikole9696 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's truly awful if you're looking for something specific. I tend to find things by finding something I don't want then clicking through 16 pages of "related to this item" ad nauseum. I find myself more often using ChatGPT to find things now because their search is sooo bad. Like, if I want petite clothes, I do not want clothes that are not petite, folks. Why is this hard?

I’m surprised that anyone would love Amazon so much that they resort to using third-party search so they can continue buying from Amazon. Rather than just shopping elsewhere! There are many product categories where I know that shopping on Amazon will be a miserable experience riddled with crap goods and useless search, so I go elsewhere. Never even occurred to me to use an LLM to make up for Amazon’s own deliberate d…

Amazon's logistics are a cut above, both in terms of turnaround time and their drivers actually knowing how to deliver to my house.

Re: The Amazon tax

#297

Post by skeeter2020 » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC

penguin_booze wrote: post #286

The income tax in UK has this quirk: once you fall near the top tax bracket, you retrospectively lose all tax-free allowances you could have availed, had you not fallen in the top tax bracket. Likewise, once corporations blow past a revenue cap, they shouldn't be eligible for lower rate of corporate tax. If the US is any cautionary tale (it always is), it's a moral imperative not to let corporations get too big. Lett…

it's very attractive to try and build a progressive tax system that swings too far the other way too. Economically some sort of tax free base and a flat rate is the best but politically it's way better to attack here and carve out these exemptions... the biggest winner is tax prep software.

Re: The Amazon tax

#298

Post by manarth » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

vinnymac wrote: post #260

colinrand wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Somehow nobody noticed. I disagree, many many people noticed and we were irked by it, but it's extremely impractical to fight against it.

As someone who notices a lot of things, I was talking recently with someone who notices almost nothing. When I spoke about my desire to seek out the truth, they simply replied, "I just want to live a happy life." There’s a perception that those who seek knowledge and truth are somehow less happy. Ignorance, and the willingness to take the path of least resistance, can be seen as an advantage for those who would rathe…

Enjoy your steak, Mr Reagan.

Re: The Amazon tax

#299

Post by jameshart » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #118

I'm having trouble understanding how this differs from traditional ads - even pre-Internet...? Didn't manufacturers pay to get premium shelf space in a store?

In the author’s specific case of books, publishers always paid ‘coop marketing’ dollars to booksellers to get ‘face out’ placement on shelves, ‘end cap’ positioning where copies of the book would be positioned on the aisle-facing shelves used to entice people into browsing a section of the store, as well as more for table placements and window features. And that’s on top of just having to discount the price deep enough to get the seller to buy in stock of the book in the first place, as well as further eating margin reductions to induce sellers to offer discounts.

All these same incentives are at work in supermarket aisles and big box stores, shaping which products you see and are offered at what price. You think if you walk into Best Buy and ask them to show you laptops, the one they push you to look at is going to be the ‘best’ on offer? Or is it perhaps the one which is set up with the best sales staff commission this month?

Distribution channels have never been neutral champions of the consumer.

Re: The Amazon tax

#300

Post by timnetworks » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 4:50 PM UTC

The real amazon tax is getting people to think shipping fees are part of the item, and causing one $5 cable+shipping to be $10. Three $5 cables and shipping is $30. tbh if amazon went up in smoke like wildberries I would not even flinch.