The Amazon Addiction
Logically I knew that we had shopped more online since the pandemic hit, but until I sat down and went through the orders on our Amazon account, I had no idea just how much our spending on that platform had increased. It was mind boggling! Here’s a little breakdown of the yearly orders we’ve made on Amazon since 2016.
Amazon Orders
2016- 3 orders = 7 items
2017- 5 orders = 7 items
2018- 6 orders = 11 items
2019- 9 orders = 19 items
2020- 89 orders = 148 items
2021- 78 orders = 128 items
2022- 91 orders = 110 items
It’s quite obvious that the pandemic was the catalyst to our Amazon shopping addiction, but what exactly is it that keeps us going back for more, even in 2022, when shopping in store has gotten back to normal in most areas?
Well, for a bit of context, in 2020 I saw that 41 of the items purchased were books, of which 95% were ebooks. In 2021 I saw that 72 of the items purchased were books or notebooks and 90% of them were ebooks. And lastly in 2022, 32 of the items were again books. In comparison, I had bought zero books on Amazon in 2016, 2018, and 2019. And in 2017 I only purchased 2 books via Amazon. So, I can conclude that my book purchasing and reading certainly increased during the pandemic, which also lines up with the data I keep concerning the books I read each year.
But in the last three years, there were certainly many more physical items purchased than any previous time, and that was concerning to us. We especially didn’t like the thought of continuing to give our support to a company whose practices have been under scrutiny for some time now. So, we’ve made a shift.
As of Jan 9th, we have discontinued our Amazon Prime subscription, which I believe will go a long way to discouraging shopping on the platform. Because who wants to wait a week or two for a package to show up? And really, without Prime delivery, that’s what you get. I have also switched to purchasing eBooks on iBooks, which works well with our Apple ecosystem. And it doesn’t hurt that it is saving us $11.49 CAD a month in subscription fees.
So many subscription fees!
Anyway… how about you? Are you addicted to online shopping? Have you grown accustomed to the convenience it offers? Are you in need of a break from Amazon?Let me know in the comments below.
Until next time… be loving, be kind, be better!
So much for Amazon Now! To be honest I don’t know if we’ll really miss it. The only real convenience being the quick delivery. Being a little more patient and intentional with our online shopping is probably the best way to look at it.
We aren't getting rid of it yet, because we actually do A LOT of our shopping online. But I competely emphasize with those who decide to break the habit. One move I really want to make this year is focusing on buying more eco-friendly items from more responsible companies.