So I wanted a copy of the board game Carcassonne as it’s a game I’ve played with friends before and loved. For things like this I (like many others) would gravitate towards Amazon.
But after some research I found that my local board game cafe sells copies of the game cheaper than anywhere online. Yesterday I popped by, grabbed a copy and had a nice chat with the owner about the game and their favourite expansions. This was a significantly better experience than buying the game online from a soulless corporation, and my money has gone to an great local company rather than a billionaire. Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?
Similarly I was looking out for a black denim jacket in my size. Instead of going to a big clothing retailer I checked out some charity shops, and I found exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the price with the money going towards charity.
Going forward I’m going to avoid Amazon and any big American companies wherever possible. Hopefully others will do the same :)
You’re figuring this out now ? The local thing, I meant
In the past I’m sure it used to be the case that generally Amazon was the cheapest option for things like books and games. And quite rapidly they came to control more areas of the retail market. For a lot of people I know, Amazon represents the most affordable and convenient option in their minds when shopping for ANY product. But whilst this may be true in certain cases, it’s actually not for many others. I think there’s some psychology going on which prevents people from wanting to shop elsewhere, or realising that products could be cheaper if they did so. The convenience of fast shipping, the dopamine hit of ordering something and the associated anticipation, and the supposed ‘great deals’ of the big sales. It blinds people to the fact that local is often cheaper and better.