Who Pays the Price for Amazon's Free Shipping?

Amazon promises low prices and free shipping, but who is really paying the price for these deals that seem too good to be true?

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[giap]

Buy local! We support our local independently owned grocers, restaurants, hardware store, pet supply store, coffee shop, movie theater/playhouse, and farmer's markets. My household rarely buys non-essential basic goods; but, when we want to buy a household or personal accessory item, I try to seek out a local artisan, usually at a farmer's market. For example, over the past decade, I've only purchased jewelry items from local artists. My wood cutting board and fermentation crock were made by local artisans as well.

[lynnemurray]

I try to buy locally as much as possible. However, much of what I buy from Amazon isn't available locally. It is also a waste of time and money to drive all over the place looking for what I want. I do try to ask myself if what I am ordering is something I really need or just think I want.

[lynkissa]

I live in the western suburbs of Chicago and one local business I like to support is the Planter’s Palette Garden Center, in Winfield. They have a beautiful selection of plants and great gardening supplies. The staff are friendly and really know a lot about the business’ garden offerings. I also like to support I Have a Bean cafe, in Wheaton. They make a point to offer jobs to workers who have previously been incarcerated and desperately need economic opportunities to get back into society.

[anneshirleyduncan]

Sadly, buying local isn't always an option. Wal-Mart has ran a lot of the mom and pop stores out of business.

[MyLittleCora]

It's hard, but try to buy only what you need (and second hand if you can find it). It seems like there are a lot of local businesses here in Germany, we try and support shopping at these stores (with the help of our translate phone app) and look for quality items that will last. Great video, I didn't know just how much cardboard was being generated by us all, often for things we don't even really need.

[garyshafer]

I sell music for a living and Amazon forbids me and any other new music sellers to sell on their platform. If I somehow manage to offer a lower price than they do let's say on Ebay which I do sometimes, their computer algorithms will find it and lower theirs so I no longer have the low price . They work with a company that has a monopoly on music sales in the USA. Old sellers who had music 10 years ago are still permitted to sell on there but nobody else can.. These guys give great prices on music by squeezing the record labels. A record label only makes about $1.00 - 1.50 on a new cd sold by Amazon. Pretty hard to fairly compensate bands that way huh? When we allowed Amazon's supplier to handle our products they listed them at 50 cents to one dollar over wholesale then hit us with micro fees they subtracted from our payouts. They did nothing but devalue our product and take away retail sales from our own site.

[DjSharperimage]

It true. I used to work at Amazon and they treat their workers like shit. I was there for a year, and I have litteraly seen hundreds of people getting hired and fired after just working there for 2 or 3 months. Use eBay instead...

[m-leebaker]

1. Buy less stuff - think - do I really need it, what is it costing the planet. Think how you can become part of the restorer species not the consumer species. For gifts - donate to Treesisters, Wildlife orgs etc and gift back to nature. 2. Support the real Amazon - the life supporting rainforest that is being deforested at an alarming rate right now.

[sherylsmithflower]

I buy soap from local vendors who make it themselves. Easily found for me at nearby farmer's markets, plant sales, fairs. Lovely soap, no shipping!

[thebrinksf]

The reason why we don't support the small businesses is convenience. That's not going to change. We need to come up with a better solution. Competition comes to mind. Not with brick and mortar or small businesses but another Amazon type company all online that has everything we want to buy and will ship it to us but operating in a more ethical way. Ebay, doesn't have everything we want like Amazon, but I suppose its a distant second and the best we have for now.

[jn]

It still doesn't make sense. Even Wish doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense that the things you can get delivered to you are so inexpensive compared to a physical store especially when they're coming from overseas. Those products still are manufactured so someone is making a profit of those items yet on Amazon they're still inexpensive.

[sharonannholt]

I try to buy gifts from museums and historic sites, or directly from artists. Every dollar spent that way helps the maker, the museum, and the community, besides being a great gift. That's the best way I know to boost use my buying power for good.

[angiechu]

Instead of using Amazon, we use Taobao and JingDong in HongKong and China. I used to enjoy buying things at Taobao. When I released I have spent so much time shopped around the apps, buying a lot things I don't actually need and seeing so many bubble bags and carton boxes for packing; I uninstalled the apps last year and keep my life simple by buying less.

[julietteblount]

I feel trapped by Amazon's convenience but hate the culture of this company and others like it. This video was helpful in putting things into perspective and I will pause to think of alternatives before I order. Thank you

[paradrake]

This put a damper on my "go to" for shopping. Thank you for uncovering the deeper story!

[AM-swde]

SO good to hear! I have been staying away for awhile realizing I didn't NEED anything really from A-Z.... I can make it happen for ME when I open up my eyes to SEE. BA BAmmm.. Let's keep the small businesses IN business! <3

[naomitremblay]

Amazon must also be paying for urban free shipping because they overcharge on the shipping to "remote" addresses. They were going to charge me over $200 for shipping on items weighing about 10lbs. in total. I had them ship it to a friend for free and she sent it to me for $65 without changing a thing. I suspect that they are not redirecting the overcharge to the third party business who paid for the shipping in the first place, as you stated. Amazon is taking advantage of remote dwellers to boost their profits. Since then, I have quit buying from Amazon although I do use the marketplace and pay much more reasonable shipping directly from the third parties. There are also other businesses who will ship to remote communities for free or for reasonable amounts. It is just a matter of doing some research.

[jk-edpi]

good short video that finally answers the actual question

[GreeniacBus]

Melaleuca is a USA consumer manufacturing company that I've shopped from for over 12 years. They manufacture the products in Idaho Falls, Idaho and ship directly to the consumer. They have done this for over 33 years and they pass the savings on to us!

[EllenOrleans]

McGuckin Hardware in Boulder Colorado. Also, Resource Central, which sells used and donated construction and landscaping materials for low prices.