Living as we do on an island and knowing that we can’t get everything we need here, the June 3 Sounder had an excellent suggestion from Rick Hughes. He suggests ordering online instead of shopping on the mainland, as we will still get a percentage of the sales tax from your online order. The Sounder follows up with a statement that ordering from Amazon is better than shopping on the mainland.

While ordering online is good, ordering from Amazon is not. Contrary to the image of Amazon as a progressive, high-tech company, Amazon is actually one of the worst employers around. They locate in high unemployment areas so they can hire desperate workers to work in extremely oppressive conditions, and hardly anyone ever lasts long enough to qualify for the promised benefits. I have read numerous articles about this, and I even interviewed a former employee for more than an hour. As soon as I get a chance, I will be writing an in-depth article about Amazon’s employment practices.

There is a reason Amazon is cheaper than everyone else: It is because they treat their workers poorly and try to undercut the price of every other company. Please don’t feed the monopolistic goal of Amazon. Buy online, but don’t buy from Amazon.

David Turnoy

Orcas Island