Where do you shop for everyday products? Walmart, Costco, perhaps even Target. Consumers have a range of options to choose from for everyday supplies. Yet, when it comes to where people choose to buy, the majority turn to the computer. Why? The answer is simple: the people live in “Amazonland.” 

Amazon, the trillion-dollar company, is rapidly growing every single day. As a multinational technology company, Amazon manages to sell more than 353 million products and owner Jeff Bezos is not going to stop advancing his technology anytime soon. The mass monopoly is the benevolent master in the economic ballgame, thriving off consumer buyers to climb to world domination. While buying out competitors, Amazon simultaneously and successfully creates copycat products that are originally made by third-party sellers, all while destroying the earth by demolishing unused products and improperly disposing of cardboard boxes all over the planet. Many people are simply unaware of the catastrophic effects Amazon has over the world or even here in Clinton. There is a global takeover occurring right before our eyes, yet nobody is willing to stop it. 

Data on how Morgan students view Amazon is concerning: 11% of students bought an item up to 3-4 times a week; 20% bought weekly; while 50% of students ordered monthly. These results represent a much larger issue at hand: Amazon has a serious grip on the younger population and these numbers demonstrate its power over high school students. Students have also recognized that they see Amazon trucks several times a week, sometimes multiple times in their neighborhood. With Amazon trucks increasing carbon emissions in our atmosphere, the packaging is another concern. Amazon boxes come in a variety of sizes and are made of cardboard and plastic. While Amazon claims to have increased their recycled materials, they are still a top corporation contributing to the detriment of climate change. 

Being the world’s largest online retailer, Bezos sits on his throne of 187.3 billion U.S. dollars and continues to hold the “God’s eye view” over the world. “Imagining a Future Where Amazon Runs the World,”  by Katie Wilson from the news source Crosscut, reveals Amazon’s true intentions. Amazon intends to utilize its resources, workforce, and technical powers to expand endlessly to reproduce the beneficial processes and functions of competitive markets, ultimately threatening us all and creating a new society, which I like to call Amazonland; the utopian society in which everything revolves around the online infrastructure. While this is scary, we know how to stop Bezos. 

In the 2021 New York Times article “Forget Amazon. The Best Gifts Are Closer Than You Think,” Margaret Renkl discusses the devastating supply-chain shift during the holiday season this past year while also posing a solution. Local shops are on the verge of shutdown after having to use their savings to reimburse for losses in income due to online retailers crushing competitors and gaining all the economic power. This disruption is currently giving us a taste of what it is like to be under Amazon’s corrupt rule over the worldwide market, and the taste is not good. 

The solution? Shop from small businesses before Amazon completely tears apart the already fragile logistics system. Find quirky and unique shops to browse and explore. Check out Cindy Steven’s Fine Art on main street or nearby Christo Jewelers. Ultimately stop at the local tourist shops here in town because, at the end of the day, the third-party sellers will thank you. Especially with the holiday season coming forth, it is important to use your money elsewhere because your money matters. While Amazon is ambitious, so are we. Let’s not only save the economy, the environment, and our future, but also destroy Bezos’ big dreams of Amazonland.