How Amazon Pulled Off the Biggest Bait-And-Switch In Bookstore History

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I have some complicated feelings about Amazon.

While I think Amazon is a wholly unethical, heartless, immoral company for the way it treats its employees and preys upon small businesses and I personally choose to spend my dollars elsewhere, I realize that having that choice is a point of privilege. For some folks who don’t have extra dollars to choose the ethical spending option, those cheap prices matter. And for folks living in book deserts with underfunded library systems, Amazon may be the only way they can get books. I never want to judge people for doing what they have to do to read and survive.

That being said, being pissed at Amazon is different than being pissed at the people who shop there. I only judge people who shop there when they do have other choices and can afford to make other choices. I don’t want to blame people who are forced to participate in a flawed system––but I do blame the system.

Caveats out of the way, just when I thought I couldn’t despise Amazon more, their actions in the wake of coronavirus earned them a new level of disgust from me.

A quick history of Amazon. The company started out as an online bookstore because indie bookstores, at the time, weren’t really selling online. The goal was to build Amazon up as a bookstore, then later when their customer base was large enough, expand into other products. Their plan worked––many indie bookstores closed, Amazon expanded into other products, then started selling books at cost or at a loss because they never really cared about selling books. It was just an opportunistic ploy to break into being a one-stop-shop.

So Amazon has built their empire on the backs of readers. Readers were their first and most ardent supporters and in return they’ve done everything they can do destroy reader culture and community.

This was never so evident than after the coronavirus. When a lot of people are at home, laid off, bored, and wanting to read more. So people did what they’ve been doing for years: order books off Amazon.

Except this time, instead of that nice 2-day shipping Amazon customers are accustomed to, they saw ship times for a month out. Why? Because Amazon said that due to the coronavirus, they were only going to ship out “essentials,” of which books do not count.

So Amazon, in a series of calculated moves, had a direct hand in closing hundreds of indie bookstores, then on a whim decided to stop shipping books to readers, leaving them in a lurch. They pulled the biggest bait-and-switch in bookstore history and they did it at a time when many libraries are closed.

Indie bookstores would never do that. They exist to get books into the hands of readers and they’re still doing so now. I’ve seen indie bookstores really step up during the coronavirus––offering online shopping options where they weren’t before, offering curbside pickup, hand-delivering books to local customers, and offering tons of discounts. Amazon isn’t doing any of that.

At this point, book nerds begging people to support indie bookstores feels like beating a dead horse. But seriously. If you were supporting Amazon before and you can afford to do literally anything else, please do.

If you’re not sure if there’s an indie bookstore in your area, some of my favorites (that ship all over!) are Bookspace Columbus (use code MUTUALAID for free shipping on order $15 or more), Two Dollar Radio Headquarters, The Book Loft, and Prologue Bookshop. I’ve got my own vintage bookstore on Etsy, which includes a number of rare books and first editions, and am having a 30% off all books sale right now because I want to support folks who are stuck at home and out of sorts.

I’m fortunate to live in a city with half a dozen fantastic indie bookstores and I want them all to come out on the other side of the coronavirus thriving. I hope, if you can, you’ll support your local indies as they’re trying to do the same.