Breaking up with Amazon Prime

Today would have been my Amazon Prime anniversary, but I decided a few weeks ago--before news of Jeff and MacKenzie's divorce--that I'd pull the plug on this romance.

The truth is, I've long been ambivalent about the company that has transformed the way Americans shop, not to mention the metro region I've called home for the past five years. Yet over the past few years, life circumstances and Amazon's crazy convenience led me to use it more than I would have liked. It was time to say goodbye.

Of course, I had some prep work to do. My most important task was downloading a few hundred of the thousands of digital photos I'd stored on Amazon. I also spent the last few days revisiting several dozen episodes of Mozart in the Jungle, easily my favorite TV series of the past 20 years. This is as close as I've ever come to a binge.

I'm completely immune to Alexa's charms. I prefer Spotify and TuneIn for streaming music and podcasts. I don't even order enough stuff from Amazon to make Prime's free shipping worthwhile. It turns out the one thing I ordered more than once last year--filters for my cold-brew coffee system--I could actually get direct from the manufacturer for less than half the cost I'd paid on Amazon, and with cheap shipping, too. I'll also try to remember that there's really no such thing as free shipping, not in monetary terms nor in ecological impact. If I can buy something at a local store and take a walk, too, that's the best use of my time and money.

Amazon started a quarter-century ago as a cool way to order books. It's more expensive to buy at my local indie store, but I want to support my neighbors. I've also discovered another wonderful online source for used books: Better World Books, which is serious about promoting global literacy and curbing its environmental impact. (Honestly, though, I mostly borrow books these days, either from my wonderful local libraries or the Little Free Library boxes that dot Seattle and many other towns.)

I'm sure I'll continue to use Amazon off and on, but I'm also guessing that my savings will go beyond the $119 annual Prime fee as I return to being more thoughtful and intentional about what I buy and where I buy it.