this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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I don't really go out of my way. It's more like an ingrained habit.
Most notably, I've never bought a single thing from Amazon. I don't even have an account with them. That's not an ethical decision though - it sort of works out that way, but really it's just a gut-level reaction. The whole idea just repulses me - just looking at a page from their site is somehow gross and creepy.
By the same token, there's a long list of businesses I've either never gone to or at least haven't in the last twenty or so years - Walmart, McDonalds, Starbucks, Taco Bell, Olive Garden, Kroger, Subway, Jack in the Box, etc., etc. Basically, if they're big enough to run national level advertising, they are eliminated from my consideration. And again, it's not really a conscious choice - they just gross me out. It's like the instant I set foot in a place like that, I can feel it corroding my soul.
So when I'm looking for somewhere to shop or eat or whatever, just like anyone else does, there are specific places I don't consider at all. And all major corporations are on that list.
So what's left over - what I choose from - is local or regional, not because I go out of my way to choose them, but just because they're the only ones I'm willing to choose in the first place
And the sort of surprising thing, even to me sometimes, is that I'm by no means starved for choices. There's a world of alternatives out there.
That's really impressive you've never bought a thing from Amazon. I also avoid chains, but I do buy from Amazon because I get free gift cards I spend there, but I don't give them my own money, and just use it to pad my wardrobe or buy birthday gifts. But I haven't been in a fast food chain or a Walmart in years. I am always amazed when I drive by a chain restaurant and it's full of people, like why would you want to eat that when there's a world of great food out there?
I can sort of understand people who can't bring themselves to avoid Amazon - again, for me it's really just a gut-level aversion that happens to coincide with an ethical stance. If I didn't have that gut-level aversion, there's a good chance I wouldn't be able to resist either.
But yeah - the chain restaurant/coffee shop thing just makes no sense to me at all, no matter how I look at it. There are regional and local versions of pretty much anything one might want, and they're pretty much universally both better and cheaper.