If this takes you five minutes to read, Amazon will have made $4.5 million by the time you’ve finished.
The list of reasons to spend less with Amazon keeps growing: Union busting, an untransparent carbon footprint, and a lion’s share of the world’s commerce, to begin with. Just the amount of money the formerly humble online book retailer spends on federal lobbying — a cute $19.9 million in 2023 — is enough to raise eyebrows.
As giant corporations seem to provide every answer to Americans’ needs, the list of reasons to spend more with local and independent retailers also keeps growing. For all the ease of fast delivery, the simpler machinations of local economies can’t be beat. When you spend local, that money is more likely to stay local.
So if you want to keep that money in the City of Trees, here are a few places you might start.
Buy or Lend Books Locally
Books may no longer be Amazon’s largest revenue source, but the company still makes billions on books annually across audio, print, and ebook forms.
As an audiobook fiend, cutting Amazon’s Audible was a tough bet until I was introduced to Libby, which lends audiobooks and ebooks through local libraries. Plus, it’s free with your library card!
And should you need a reminder, pay a visit to one of Boise’s locally owned bookstores:
- Rediscovered Books
- The Lit Room
- Once and Future Books
- Bargain Books
- Bent Corner Bookstore
Utilize Gift Cards
Let’s bring back intentional gift card giving.
You can still give someone a gift card that lets them choose what they want, however. One of my favorite hidden gems to gift Boiseans are the Downtown Boise Association’s gift cards, which can be used at dozens (hundreds? You count them.) of restaurants, galleries, stores, and hotels in downtown Boise.
Spending less on needs like food also frees up room elsewhere in your budget to be spent at a local establishment instead of places like Amazon. For example, restaurants are incredibly expensive right now, but getting gift cards to restaurants is a great way to support local eateries and provide a budgetary relief and fun experience for whoever you’re gifting the card to.
Employers, take a note from City Cast Boise: One of the perks of working here is that we get a Toast gift card each month that we use at local restaurants (including faves like Amano and The Wylder). Other food services like Uber Eats, Doordash, and Grubhub do the same. And to go a step further, who would say no to a WinCo gift card?
Go Back to the Source
This never has been and never will be a personal finance newsletter, but starting at your personal budget is the most effective way to cut spending. Cutting your monthly Amazon budget and using that money to enjoy something local is a good way to begin reprogramming the expectation that any item is just a couple clicks away.
Another way to reprogram our expectations is to develop mending or repair skills, or relying on others who already have those skills. Mending clothes or repairing items will conserve waste, save you money, and build community!
