I can say without irony that I actually do love shopping. Online shopping not quite as much, but if my wife and I had been set free in a Fry's Electronics circa 2007 we'd have gone completely feral. That never happened (thankfully) for the main reason that my spouse and I hadn't yet met — that wouldn't happen for another decade or so. But the vision of us, running amok in a UFO-themed electronics superstore that sold everything from stationery to surround-sound audio systems could only have ended one way. Woof.
In the last few years, we have had some very memorable moments at in-person craft maker-markets such as Cons (DesignerCon, IYKYK), market fairs, and the like, although those days seem somewhat behind us now. At some point, online shopping became the default setting, especially during Covid, replacing even grocery shopping as the main shopping activity. Interestingly, that's one thing that didn't stick that probably should have, but I digress.
One of the main contributors to Fry's and many other large-to-small businesses no longer being with us is the rise of Amazon. I should be thankful to them for saving us from Fry's still being around, but as you probably know, Amazon has become an entity that raises more questions than answers - or at least it should. Once a trail-blazing online book store, Amazon has become both literally and figuratively omnipresent. Now, because this is an introductory blog post and not a Reddit rant, I'm going to take a quick swing at what I think is now obvious to everyone. My fellow shoppers, world citizens, consumers of the U.S., we do have a choice. We can shop with businesses that are run mostly by humans, or we can shop with businesses that are mostly run by robots (and yes, I'm lumping AI in here too). Am I oversimplifying or being reductive here? Absolutely. The point is, mostly robot businesses value robots (at least that's where they're putting their money), and PEOPLE by comparison are mostly just sweaty ATM machines or unfortunate necessities that will soon be…improved upon.
Does using a robot or AI make a company evil? Absolutely not. How about treating employees like they're infinitely replaceable? Or customers like they're too dumb to figure out how to jump through the hoops required to get in touch with an actual company representative? Or manipulating item prices using an algorithm? That's a yes to all three, and that list could go on and on. Are those the kinds of companies I want to support with the supreme power of my dollar? Consider that only your voting ballot is more valued by the powers that be.
So we do have a choice, and admittedly not always an easy one. Elsewhere.shop is an effort to help in deciding who and where your coveted dollars go. The choice, for now at least, is uniquely yours.
Thanks for visiting,
Ross @ Elsewhere.shop