[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Sliver

It's not Amazon and Walmart destroying local businesses; it's us/consumers.

I have a B&M store. People will stand at my counter with Amazon up on their phone shoving an Amazon price under my nose with a "gotcha, you rip-off artist!" attitude. And I'm like, yeah, they're cheaper, but I'm here right now open for you to get that thing you need right now. I have to pay rent, overhead, I had to put up the cash to stock this item you now want that is here ready for you, etc. If you buy from me, I'll take that money and go out for dinner with my family at the restaurant your cousin owns in Calgary, or pay my share of municipal taxes that fund the fire department that'll put out your house fire. They don't care. People want the cheapest thing and DGAF about the bigger picture. I'm guilty of it, too, but I have landed on its all of our fault. I think people should own the guilt and not let themselves off the hook by blaming Amazon or Walmart.

That's true, I'm guilty of it too. Amazon has made a lot of things more accessible to the consumer at the expense of local businesses.