Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from February 7, 2022 Favoriting

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Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. In our shift to a digital future, we need alternatives to Big Tech. Homepage: techtonic.fm

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Favoriting February 7, 2022: Alec MacGillis, author, "Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America"

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Today: Alec MacGillis, author, "Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America"

Links:

Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America, by Alec MacGillis (hardcover on Indiebound)... or get the just-released paperback, Fulfillment: America in the Shadow of Amazon (paperback on Indiebound).

• @AlecMacGillis (Twitter)

The true cost of Amazon’s low prices (by Sara Morrison, Vox, Jan 13, 2022): “Sarah Miller, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly advocacy group, [says]: ‘Amazon leverages its power in one space to take over a new space, which is core to their business practice. They have the ability to combine the competitive advantages of different aspects of their business to take over new sectors of the economy.’”

Amazon vs. N.Y.’s small businesses: The little guys need a 21st century antitrust act (Natasha Amott op-ed in N.Y. Daily News, Jan 31, 2022): “When monopolies like Amazon are allowed to dominate single marketplaces so fully, small businesses see the effect in what they can afford to pay their staff; in what rents they can afford to pay to property owners; and in how they fight to stay a part of the American middle class.”

‘Warehouses in their backyards’: when Amazon expands, these communities pay the price: (Guardian, Dec 9, 2021): “People of color and low-income residents are disproportionately affected by Amazon’s warehouses, a Consumer Reports investigation found.” (This piece includes the chart showing Amazon warehouse growth, included on the playlist.)

An Ocean Away, I Found Some Common Sense on Mask Wearing (by Alec MacGillis, guest essay in the NYT, Oct 12, 2021): “The overall effect [of less polarization in German media] is of an environment set at a lower temperature, far closer to normalcy, where the public space is not forever on the verge of flaring into a divisive battleground of signaling, judgments and resistance.”

Alec MacGillis on Honestly with Bari Weiss, Part 1, and Part 2 of the conversation.

How I Quit Prime and Survived (by Shira Ovide, NYT, Jan 13, 2022). "Amazon said it was raising the annual price of its Prime shipping club to $139, from $119" (NYT, Feb 3, 2022). See also Mark Hurst's Good Reports: How to cancel your Amazon Prime membership.

Amazon Breaks Record for One-Day Gain in Market Cap (WSJ, Feb 5, 2022): "Shares surged 14% Friday, their biggest one-day jump in almost seven years. The added $191 billion to Amazon’s market value, eclipsing the record Apple set just last week when it added $181 billion after posting quarterly results that shattered previous records."

Lawmakers Press Amazon on Sales of Chemical Used in Suicides (NYT, Feb 4, 2022). As Vice's Maxwell Strachan put it:



• Bezos has come a long way since his Taco Bell commercial (yes, really) in 2001.

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Artist Track Comments Images Approx. start time
  Alec MacGillis discusses his book "Fulfillment: America in the Shadow of Amazon."
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting  
Favoriting
 
  Mark's intro    
Favoriting
 
  Interview with Alec MacGillis    
Favoriting
0:04:25 (Pop-up)
  Mark's comments    
Favoriting
0:39:22 (Pop-up)
Mark Pritchard  One Way Mirror   Favoriting https://markpritchard.bandcamp.com/track/one-way-mirror 
Favoriting
0:54:48 (Pop-up)


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Listener comments!

Avatar Swag For Life Member 5:59pm
ultradamno:

Mark! Techlickers!
  6:00pm
yippie:

i read that smart bathtubs were just invented, so i was wondering what happens if someone jumps into a smart bathtub while holding a smart toaster?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:00pm
Handy Haversack:

Mark and the Techyon Drives!

Gotta chop the fragrants and feed the monsters, but I am listening!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:00pm
Webhamster Henry:

[ ] click here if you think you are not a robot.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
Will the Sound Guy:

Hi Mark and all!!!
Avatar 6:01pm
HyperDose:

What a fitting episode, my shoes just got delivered. These dogs are quite relieved!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
Yes:

I am jamming
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Hi, Mark. The Pretenders should put out a revised version of their song and call it "Back on the Supply Chain Gang."
Avatar 6:02pm
Dutch:

@handy - marathon.... when, what, how....?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
listener james from westwood:

Evening, Mark and all!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
DjLorraine:

Hi there
Avatar 6:03pm
Niall:

Was that a good conversation? Ha!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Webhamster Henry:

Fun activity: Try to get off Amazon Prime!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark & techupsetters!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
tim from washington:

Hi Mark! Hello Techtonicas! I'm looking looking forward to the discussion for sure.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Has Bezos announced the name of his mighty yacht that requires bridges to come down? Any good suggestions?
  6:04pm
Glistener MW:

great re-title of the paperback version! I’ve been looking forward to this interview
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
ultradamno:

I saw China had a Uyghur person co-light the Olympic torch...so that's all fixed.
  6:05pm
yippie:

housing works on crosby st is my alternative to amazon
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
tim from washington:

No prime here!
Avatar 6:06pm
_Ike_:

@ultradamno, LOL that's dark
Avatar 🤖 6:07pm
Analog Nights:

No Prime no spotify no loss
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Glistener MW:

A good first step towards cancelling your Amazon Prime account -- realizing you have one at all! I had signed up for Twitch Prime a couple of years ago for the benefits there but had no idea it was essentially an Amazon Prime account, and listed as such while logged in to Amazon. I cancelled it just recently
  6:08pm
Alex from BK:

If Amazon is the "only option" buy a used version instead.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Art:

Amuzon Prime entails a heightened addiction to consumer convenience in a way that directly enriches the richest person in the world. Abandon Amuzon!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

ooh ooh! I'm psyched about this interview, and about reading the book.
Also, no Amazon here! The only time in the last ?? years anything has come to me from Amazon was when I had no choice: a recent set of government-supplied COVID home tests came via the dreaded A. Ugh.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
sbw:

Hello from L.A.!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
tim from washington:

Winner take all cities. That's a brilliant description.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
melinda:

hi everyone
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
Art:

Buy books from local bookstores, directly from the publisher, or Powells.com (which has both used and new books).
Avatar 6:09pm
HyperDose:

@wendy Did you plant a tree to offset the delivery truck emissions?
Avatar 6:09pm
Matt_E:

WFMU.org is hosted by Amazon Web Services...

isitonaws.com...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
Mark Hurst:

Hi everyone, thanks for joining this evening!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
tim from washington:

Hey Wendy and melinda!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
Webhamster Henry:

It's easy to get around Amazon book problem, but it's the weird parts and materials that are put out by people who have no other retail presence that's a problem.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Hi Tim from Washington!
  6:11pm
Aye-Aye:

Would this be a good time draw the attention of UK listeners to this list dedicated to Techtonic we made on our bookshop . org page? uk.bookshop.org...
Avatar 6:12pm
_Ike_:

Yeah, Baltimore is a lovely place and deserves better.
  6:13pm
Sam:

Like Newark. Surrounded by incredible wealth on all sides, but what a mess that place is.
  6:13pm
yippie:

even the irvington border?
  6:14pm
Jackie G:

....and East Orange?
Avatar 6:14pm
HyperDose:

The Maplewood police station is literally on the edge of Springfield Ave...to keep the "riff raff" out. Very happy to not live there anymore.
Avatar 🤖 6:16pm
Analog Nights:

Amazon's high employee churn, paired with the unionization efforts in Alabama and Staten....there could be a labor change of power in that company.
  6:16pm
Sam:

Yeah Irvington and east orange are part of the Newark poverty zone that abruptly ends when you get to south orange and maplewood.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
tim from washington:

Amazon is so goddamn huge, why do they need to cover anything up? Nothing's going to happen to them no matter what terrible things happen within their company.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Very nice, Aye-Aye. I see you have a page with a section "Amazon Books" and they are about the actual Amazon in South America.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
Mark Hurst:

@Aye Aye nice!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
ultradamno:

I cold got a postcard inviting me to apply at a new Amazon warehouse in Indpls a couple of weeks ago.
  6:17pm
Sam:

Yeah amazon could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and get away Scot free.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Ciggy:

Hi Mark, In re: Uyghur genocide, concentration camps & rehabilitation centers for children for the Xinjang province, there was an interesting segment reported by Isobel Yeung in the current episode of HBO'S Real Sports. She went into abandoned neighborhoods dressed as a tourist. She attempted interviews where local police intervened. She found "schools" where no parents could pick up their children. The parents were in concentration camps. She recorded the children at the schools being re-educated - by reciting pro communist slogans and loyalty oaths. Also, Isobel featured the surveillance of the Uyghur people by forcing the people to read into a voice recorder which can identify anyone who may say something against the government. The company software is manufactured by IFLYTEK (blacklisted by the USA). Then the segment turned to the greed of the international Olympic committee and turning a blind eye to this oppression. Lastly, an interview of a Uyghur woman who made it to the USA but tells of the horrors of her people, including torture and for her, sterilization.
Avatar 🤖 6:20pm
Analog Nights:

Mark get Chris Smalls on the show he is an inspiration in the Amazon labor movement.
Avatar 6:20pm
HyperDose:

Careful ultradamno, could be like that Doctor Who episode. Kerblam Industries/Amazon, not much difference.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
Webhamster Henry:

Amazon is building a new warehouse in East Fishkill.
  6:23pm
?:

Would love to learn how these NDAs survive open government laws.
  6:23pm
Sam:

This is what all companies do. Johnson & Johnson keeps threatening to relocate - they’ve got New Brunswick, NI by the balls.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
dale:

i started my IRA back in the late 80s with fidelity magellan. their top stock holdings today are amazon, apple, microsoft, meta. and google. guess i'm feeding the lions and i never even knew it.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Will the Sound Guy:

They already have built a massive one in Montgomery, NY
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

I remember about 20 years ago, a co-worker and his step-son had developed a special item for construction workers. They wanted to sell it on Amazon, but Amazon demanded they sell it to nobody else, including our local, beloved hardware store. And my co-worker's percentage on each sale was pathetic. This was long before I learned about Amazon's shitty labor practices, but even then, something smelled bad to me, and it wasn't the limburger we were selling at the cheese counter.
  6:24pm
yippie:

amazon also wastes tons of water in their data centers
  6:25pm
Sam:

I miss when Blockbuster was the evil chain company everyone hated.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
Glistener MW:

Wendy, thanks for sharing that! A friend of the family had a similar experience. (I love your cheese segments, BTW!!! <3 )
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

@WHH - Just across the Hudson in Montgomery, there is another warehouse that opened recently.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Baja Joe:

I'm listening... in the future...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Thanks, Glistener MW. :-)
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
tim from washington:

I'd be interested in a conversation about how to change attitudes about Big Tech. I know many conscientious people who are perfectly comfortable amazon, spotify, facebook, surveillance tech gadgets.
Avatar 6:28pm
Carmichael:

I remember when the Sears catalog was big tech.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:28pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

My state's library system (I live in VT) has Alec's book. I just put it on hold, so I should have it by the end of the week. Yay!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Webhamster Henry:

I kind of imagine the factory in Metropolis when thinking of Amazon warehouses, but they are actually worse.
  6:29pm
ledzeppelinsucks:

I remember when people spoke and wrote without saying actually and literally over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Mark Hurst:

@Ciggy thanks for the pointer - I'd be interested in seeing that Real Sports segment.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

p.s. I've gotten my local library to order more than a few books I've learned about on Techtonic. It's always a good feeling when my interlibrary loan request turns into an addition to their collection.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Rosey is Listening on 91.1 MHz:

Definitely interested in these subjects, especially after I grew sceptical of private outsourcing and the general demise of main streets, especially because I focus a lot on transportation and walkable, safe, thriving communities.

One thing I was thinking about when you guys touched upon the tax stuff was how these big-box stores, warehouses, etc. sometimes may do things like offer to build some of the infrastructure like the roads and parking lots or otherwise cut some deal where it would be "free," but the town eventually gets stuck with all of the maintenance costs when it comes time for that, and then those big companies also tend to try renegotiating once it comes time to start paying property taxes.

These places can especially be damaging because they drive tremendous sprawl and inefficient land use. It costs quite a lot of money to keep supporting all of the roads, water, electricity, etc. that goes out to serve these places, and all of that parking takes up so much valuable land and eventually needs to be maintained. Also leads to terrible rain drainage and flooding.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
tim from washington:

Same here, Wendy! I've had a few Techtonic related requests turn in to purchases.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Ignore Function:

Just reserved this book on the Libby(library) app. Thanks for this program.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Mark Hurst:

@Wendy glad to hear it! "Fulfillment" is well worth reading.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
coelacanth∅:

ebay and etsy are just as bad now
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
Mark Hurst:

@Ignore / @Tim nice to hear
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
Mark Hurst:

@coel did you hear about etsy launching their crypto-coin nonsense?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Glistener MW:

Likewise, Wendy! and hey, everyone, support your local libraries and check out their offerings if you haven't been in awhile -- there's so many great nationwide digital resources available now with one's library card (one of my favorites being access to a massive chunk of the Criterion Collection's film catalog)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
LCBD:

Wendy, I had no idea that Amazon was involved in the government issued tests! 🤬
I recently bought something on eBay and it came from Amazon. I was mad!!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
coelacanth∅:

hi Mark -i have not. i'm depressed enough already!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Mark Hurst:

@Rosey - exactly. Certainly Amazon is not alone in this scheme, but the sheer scale & size of the company make it singularly dangerous.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Webhamster Henry:

@Glistener Yes! I am a big fan of Kanopy! also the actual Criterion Channel.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Mark Hurst:

@coel probably don't search "etsy crypto", then :/
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

@Glistener MW: RIGHT ON! And yes, the Criterion Collection is one of my favorite movie sources, and my library has some good ones...and I can get others via the state library system and ILL.
  6:34pm
Sam:

I’ve always hated buying stuff online. It always felt unsatisfying. I tried to buy a few things on Amazon back in the day but I couldn’t get past paying for shipping on something I could buy in a store, it was just something I couldn’t swallow. I don’t know why people use Amazon and put up with that unsatisfying lifestyle.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
dale:

will the sound guy - biggest structure since paul senior built a house there.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

@LCBD: That might've just been the Vermont test distro. I can't remember, honestly. I ordered the tests when I was sick with COVID so I was a little compromised. haha.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Ciggy:

Dale ~ Peter Lynch would be proud.
  6:35pm
Aye-Aye:

Thanks Mark and Ken From Hyde Park - glad you liked the books about the Amazon list!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
Fuzzy:

I use the Libby app on my iPad to read books available from my public library's network -- great app! Just started reading "How To Do Nothing -- Resisting The Attention Economy" by Jenny ODell -- -- I don't recall if she has been interviewed or mentioned on Techtonic.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
tim from washington:

Well said, Sam. That's a big factor of why I rarely make on-line purchases. Allso, for me (a luddite stuck in the 20th century) it's a pain in the ass. It's much easy for me to pick up a new pad of sketching paper for my kids (for example) the next time I'm out and about rather than spending the time on-line and getting it delivered the net day.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
Mark Hurst:

Jenny Odell on June 10, 2019: www.wfmu.org...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

@Fuzzy: Thanks for the reminder about the ODell book. I've been meaning to read it and keep forgetting. Opening a new tab for my library page now...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
Fuzzy:

@Mark: nice! Thanks for the link -- will give it a listen!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
coelacanth∅:

right - while biden enacts legislation to destroy the lives of millions of "poor" people?
yeah, we can trust him...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:40pm
jerSeyBoy:

AMZ make my life so easy though I move my finger and get a buncha junk I don’t need on my porch the next day.
  6:41pm
Listener Robert:

A great deal of whats being said on this show can be countered by one realization: that we don't live to work, rather we work to provide goods and services we want. If everyone could stop working and have all their needs satisfied by robots or manna from heaven, that would be progress. Every step we make toward that goal is also progress.
  6:41pm
Rekman:

Rek4812. I wonder if Amazon is selling this book? Or their own version of it?
  6:41pm
riceandbeansandsoysauce:

Supply chain issues kept the shelves bare at brick and mortar shops. Despite multiple attempts back to shops to buy local, I had no choice but to buy certain essentials at Amazon because it was the only way to get what I needed.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
tim from washington:

@Rrekman - Haha! Yeah, amazon's is called "Fulfilling: Winning and Winning in America".
  6:43pm
Listener Robert:

If businesses could ACCURATELY read my mind to give me what I want, that'd make life easier too.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Bezos can name his yacht You Fulfill Me. ⛵ 🌉
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Handy Haversack:

What's depressing to me is how *long* this has been Amazon's playbook, how long we have known about it, and how little has been done -- how little notice is even taken of the warnings. When did Mac Maclellan's Mother Jones piece come out? 2012? 2014? Amazon keeps on getting away with it because we won't stop them, and it's just s freaking depressing.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

I think it was in Jacobin's print magazine where I saw this joke:
Why did Jeff Bezos get divorced?
Because he learned marriage was a union.

Har har!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
Feldy:

Wal-Mart did this to small towns. When a new store opened, the manager got a bonus for every local business that closed down. Sick.
  6:47pm
Listener Robert:

Feldy, those businesses closing down freed up their capital and employees for more efficient work.
  6:48pm
ledzeppelinsucks:

The new casino and call center.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
Fuzzy:

Capitalism.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

I'm glad Feldy brought Wal-mart into this conversation. So many aspects of this past hour are echoes of what many of us were saying 25 years ago about Wal-mart coming to town. It fucking sucks.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
StringOFperils:

Peak-capitalism.Totally successful. The ideal met. But it's like cancer. What to do?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
Fuzzy:

Nate K. would suggest: Burn It Down!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
melinda:

@Handy so true
  6:49pm
Listener Robert:

Wendy, that's what people were saying 75 years ago about the coming of supermarkets.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
Webhamster Henry:

The question is: will Amazon also bering down Wal-Mart?
  6:50pm
ledzeppelinsuckS:

DUI, assault, theft and other property crimes are high near casinos and call centers. Probably near Amazon, too.
  6:50pm
Sam:

It’s why you need a diverse economy. You should never have towns so desperate for jobs that they’ll put up with this extortion. New York has the luxury of telling Bezos to shove it because they’ve got plenty of other thriving industries.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
coelacanth∅:

assault amazon. abolish amazon.
obliterate amazon.
atom-bomb amazon.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
cosmic matrix:

i hate what amazon is doing to small business but their dang website is so smooth! is ebay at all an alternative, mark?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
Fuzzy:

It would be easier to avoid Amazon if people would stop getting me Amazon gift cards for birthdays and Xma$.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
listener 126464:

'...it's free with Prime'
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
cosmic matrix:

not that i ever use them, obviously.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
melinda:

the only draw of Prime for me has been streaming an occasional movie, then I cancel
Avatar 🤖 6:52pm
Analog Nights:

Target online is a good alternative. They are slightly less evil?
  6:52pm
mipchew:

Everyone should know that Amazon employs 'dark ui' that makes it very difficult to cancel your account.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:52pm
Rosey is Listening on 91.1 MHz:

Oh yeah, I was also going to mention that Bass Pro Shops is notorious for basically shaking down towns. I've been meaning to look into the history of the one in Atlantic City, which is also surrounded by a huge parking lot, smack in the middle of a city and in an area that should continue to be developed further around the nearby transit and tourism.

The people in Atlantic City have suffered for decades as it is, and the casinos certainly haven't fulfilled their promises. I can't imagine the damage Bass Pro Shops will probably do in the long run.

Most of the shoppers are probably people driving in from out of town, on very-cheap or free highways, parking for free or very cheap, and then immediately leaving. No real infusion into the local economy, and the city gives up an enormous amount for that "privilege" too.

I do what you recommend too, Mark. I don't have Prime and don't use Amazon unless I have to. Sometimes it's the only place to find something important, which is frustrating because I'd be willing to go out to an actual store to get it instead.
  6:52pm
GC in Baltimore:

I just canceled prime. Amazing number of steps to get it done! Still not sure if I really got it canceled or if there was yet another button I needed to push!
  6:52pm
ledzeppelinsucks:

Factory slaughter, casino, profit prison, call center or Amazon for your dying town.
  6:53pm
mipchew:

@GC in Baltimore that's the dark ui- it is intentionally hard to cancel
  6:53pm
Listener Robert:

The big problem is towns. Why should a municipality act as a feudal lord, with the ability to keep out selected businesses or people?
  6:54pm
mipchew:

I thought I cancelled my prime account years ago, but it turns out that I didn't complete the steps and I was getting charged for years for not even using their vile service.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Rosey is Listening on 91.1 MHz:

Towns are filled with people who are ultimately doing these things to themselves. Nobody actually forced Amazon to come to any of these towns.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
StringOFperils:

Goes well beyond the Nation. It's a big bad world.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
neil quarantino:

I just visited my LOCAL mom & pop hardware store for something and told the person there how glad I am that they’re in my town.
  6:54pm
Sam:

Just have standards. Life is short. You should never have to do humiliating things like shop online and pretend to add items to a fake “cart.” It’s weird and unnatural and you don’t have to do it.
  6:54pm
Jackie G:

Yeah, go to the store in your community....if there are any. Yeah, so many empty storefronts beacause of Amazon and Wal-Mart. Sad.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Rosey is Listening on 91.1 MHz:

Well, I guess it's more complicated in this case when elected politicians do embarrassingly dumb crap in secret.
  6:55pm
okland:

11 years into my boycott now. Yay!
  6:55pm
mipchew:

I lived about 5 minutes from a fulfillment warehouse in Scarborough, Canada and the roads leading to the warehouse didn't have public transit, streetlights or sidewalks. People had to walk on a high traffic roadway and it was harrowing to watch. F*** Amazon.
  6:56pm
Sam:

If you stop paying for Prime they will find a way to cancel it for you.
  6:56pm
Erin in TO:

I've been meaning to cancel my Prime membership anyway. Just did it, thanks for the reminder Mark
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Another excellent show, Mark! Thanks so much for doing this work. It's a mitzvah.
Avatar 🤖 6:56pm
Analog Nights:

Even if going to store is a little more and less convenient it ties you to people and your community which is a good deal.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Glistener MW:

Thanks to everyone tonight for such awesomely well-thought, proactive, discussion-based comments, which are such a stark contrast to the (admittedly, still interesting) dumpster-fire that was the Young/Rogan show last week. I love you all, fellow WFMU regulars. <3 Thank you for supporting independent businesses in your local communities whenever possible!
  6:56pm
dan k:

thank you for continuing to drive these points home, Mark Hurst! go outta my way to almost never buy from evil bezos
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
cosmic matrix:

thanks mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Fuzzy:

Avoid Amazon -- Embrace Ebay?
  6:56pm
Listener Robert:

Rosey, why should they have the power to do those things at all, let alone in secret? They shouldn't have that discretion to exercise even openly.
  6:56pm
Jim:

Just cancelled, had to promise to work in an Amazon warehouse for a month (2 months and they would have given me a discount), but it's done! Just keep hitting "cancel"
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
tim from washington:

Thanks, Mark! I appreciate your show greatly.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Bas NL:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
cosmic matrix:

haha yes fuzzy. idk
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
StringOFperils:

Thank you, Mark. Don't be a number.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Thanks, Mark. Folks can send $139 a year to save the Amazon rainforest.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
chresti:

I will obey! thanks Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Glistener MW:

(by that, I mean the comments board were a wildfire last week, not Ken's interesting show itself. ^_^ )
  6:57pm
Jackie G:

Most of the stores downtown are food stores: bakeries, coffee shops, bagel stores. To feed the already fat Americans.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Ignore Function:

I wanna read the new book about Foxcon in Mount Pleasant, WI.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Fuzzy:

Thank you, Mark!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Webhamster Henry:

Also: Buy from Bandcamp!
  6:57pm
ledzeppelinsucks:

Tyson destroys communities.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
tim from washington:

Convert your $139 a year to WFMU!!!!!!!!
Avatar 6:57pm
HyperDose:

This was a feisty one!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Mark Hurst:

Thanks, everyone!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
coelacanth∅:

i haven't shopped with scamazon in years.
...somehow, i'm still alaive, and have whatever it is that i might've bought through it.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Glistener MW:

amen, Henry! Artists get more (near-total) revenue through Bandcamp sales than any other online service
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Mark Hurst:

I think we're up to three Prime cancellations during the show! Great to see!!
  6:58pm
bleubombersune:

Mark much info to absorb. Thamks
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Webhamster Henry:

That Foxconn story is insane: there's lots on This American Life.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
coelacanth∅:

(alive)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Glistener MW:

"You got academic research in my pan-flutes and windchimes!"
"YOU got pan-flutes and windchimes in my academic research!!"

Together... THEY FIGHT CRIME!!!
  6:59pm
Praise be!:

We at the cult of WFMU only accept Station Manager Ken as our Lord & Savior.

All hail KEN!

And his messenger Mark Hurst


Blessed be thy name
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
melinda:

@Glistener haha
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
coelacanth∅:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
tim from washington:

Mark - You should make a special $139 Avoid Amazon pledge as part of your Marathon shows.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
chresti:

I get nicotine gum from azom
Avatar 6:59pm
slugluv1313:

i am so happy (& proud!) that i never ever had a prime membership :)
amazing show, Mark -- thanks so much!
  7:00pm
Praise be!:

Love that joke Wendy

Unions.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
Mark Hurst:

@Tim that's a great idea - good tie-in with the upcoming marathon!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
Mark Hurst:

Thanks, everyone, for the good discussion tonight - have a good week
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:01pm
coelacanth∅:

yeah sorry Mark i can't cancel scamazon prime
as i've never had it.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:03pm
Bas NL:

Get your Techtonic Prime™ today! Only 139 WFMUcoins!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:57pm
Handy Haversack:

Thanks, Mark! Got caught up with the cooking, but we listened and nodded grimly the whole time.
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