I have been a member of Amazon Prime for many years now. I probably got sucked into it with a discounted student membership during grad school, I don't even remember. As a parent who works outside the home, I find it SOOO convenient. I would probably feel the same way if I was a stay-at-home parent - who wants to drag their toddler to a bunch of different stores in search of household items, childrens' products, books, etc.?
I just bought a bunch of items in the last few days:
- Natives shoes for M
- A pair of Crocs for myself (decided I need to stop wearing flip flops while cooking after almost dropping a knife on my foot the other day - and I don't like wearing slippers)
- A baby-proofing doodad for M's room
- An organic pillow and pillowcase for M
- DIAPERS!
- Toddler silverware
- and probably a couple of other items I'm forgetting
All this took about 30 minutes, but would have taken many hours and discomfort to accomplish in brick-and-mortar stores. Worse, it seems like stores just don't carry many of the items I need, plus the Toys R Us near us closed a couple of years ago, and Target's kids' items section is more limited.
But...I feel guilty. I think about the carbon emissions, of course. And stories like this heartbreaking one.
Here are a few things I try to do, with mixed success:
- Avoid buying things we don't need
- Plan ahead and choose the "No rush" shipping at checkout. Maybe that's a little bit better?
- Contemplating cancelling my Prime membership. I considered not renewing it a few months ago, but ended up caving. I don't remember why exactly.
Ultimately, I assuage my guilt by saying that I'll stop this practice when I'm done having young kids. Oh, and that everybody else is doing it, so what difference do I make?
I don't believe I can stop using Amazon without completely rethinking and modifying my life. And that's just sad.
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