Robert Reich: 'While Amazon adds 5,000 warehouse jobs it destroys 50,000 retail jobs.'

[SoCalDem]

28. I use them as well, because I like finding EXACTLY what I am looking for

and being able to compare prices from a variety of places...and having items delivered to me. I also sometimes get the urge to shop at 4AM.

Modernity has just changed commerce forever.

I also DO support local merchants whenever I can, and never shop at big boxes, and we avoid chain restaurants 99.999% of the time.

Before online shopping, I wasted so much time just looking for things (and usually not finding them)..or if I did, it was the wrong size/color etc.

Except for a small number of places, most cities have pretty much been "converted" to four types of "shopping" :

1....malls where every store is a clone of every other store in every nearby (and far away) mall
2....big boxes...(see #1)
3....99cent stores with Chinese junk & off-brand/nearly expired stuff
4...expensive stand-alone boutiques with low choice & high prices

This did not happen overnight, but it has happened, and unless we choose to pay more, drive more, settle for less than what we like or want, this how we now shop.

My recent shopping for my granddaughter is a prime example.
We live in CA, and she lives in WA.

With Amazon & ebay, I have sent a HUGE amount of stuff for her ..

organic/unbleached Egyptian cotton diapers from Vermont
diapers from Kansas, Iowa, Georgia
cute new outfits from all over the US (via ebay)
even a precious stuffed doll from the UK

In the last few weeks I have pretty much set them up for her clothing & diapering needs for the foreseeable future, and have done it from my home office in the wee hours of the night.

When she was born, I sent them a gorgeous birch dresser/changing table..ordered from Georgia & sent directly to them..sight unseen by me..