Amazon.com undoubtedly offers convenience. Good prices. Useful services. In one sense it’s a boon for the consumer.

What’s the price that’s actually paid though, in the longer term?

The working practices actually at Amazon. Insidious gathering of purchasing and browsing habits. Undermining of third party sellers. Actively harmful competitive activity. Thin margin trading across almost the entire platform. Tax evasion and value extraction from state and national coffers.

There’s a long list and some points might be contested, but I hope most folks would agree there’s harmful practice at a number of levels. Even if only about tax evasion I’ve heard a lot of outrage directed at Amazon. They company is amoral, at best. And yet, after the outrage, people keep buying from them because it’s cheap and easy.

Collectively, we’re sleepwalking to a future we don’t like the look of.