Re: (TV) Amazon.com

["Michael Olcsvary" <olcsvary@icehouse.net>]

Living as I do in the heart of Amazon country - Seattle - I can tell you
that (a) the first thing I was told upon moving here was to never, ever,
under any circumstances, work for Amazon.  Why for?  Because founder Bezos
(or whatever his name is) still tells his employees that the company is
still in "Day 1" of operations, that they're all working together to build
something new and important, and by the way, it'd really help the company
out if they did a little unpaid overtime.  Or a lot. "Sacrifice for the
company" is the name of the game.  The unionization effort is due to the
employees being sick of this and is referred to as "Day 2".  As far as my
dealings with Amazon, the only time I've bought anything from them was when
I ordered John Rogan's "Timeless Flight" from Amazon.UK (you can relax,
Ray - nothing weird happened to my credit card).  Got the book via standard
shipping in three days, no less - and I would've bought it locally if it was
available.  Otherwise I go out of my way to buy from independent retailers
(which means quite a hike to the Elliot Bay Bookstore when there's a B.
Dalton's just down the road, but damn, I've got my principles).
    As for the threat they pose to the mom and pop shops - I for one would
rather get it myself (shipping charges eat up all the price advantages
anyway).  While they may have beat MTC on the Beefheart material, chances
are they'll sell out of it faster - and then Michael can charge whatever he
likes (insert evil laughter here).
    Of course, when I worked in a comic shop the owner felt the same way
about the 3rd printing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1.  I understand he
later wallpapered his house with them.

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