I for one welcome our mechanical box packaging overlords.

A new study entitled The “Amazon Tax”: Empirical Evidence from Amazon and Main Street Retailers comes from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, released in April 2014.

The researchers looked at consumer behavior in five states (California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia). They compared spending patterns before and after the states required permanent collection of taxes on Amazon purchases between 2012 and 2013.

The data comprised daily transactions for 2,807,476 households from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2013, and included both banking (i.e., checking, savings, and debit card) and credit card transactions. Researchers observed the date, amount, and description of each transaction. Among the findings:

• Amazon sales fell by 9.5 percent following introduction of mandatory sales tax across all states in the value of products (net of sales tax).
• The total dollar amount spent by consumers on Amazon, including taxes, decreased by 2.8% in the wake of a law’s implementation.
• Avoiding sales tax was especially important for large purchases. When sales tax laws were in place, people decreased their spending by 15.5% on purchases larger than $150, and by 23.8% on purchases equal to or larger than $300.
• With sales tax collected, people moved away from from Amazon to competing retailers, both brick-and-mortar and online. There was a 19.8% increase in purchases at the online operations of competing retailers. There was a 2.0% increase in local brick-and-mortar expenditures at these retailers.
• For purchases over $300, there was a 23.7% increase in purchases at other online retailers and a 6.5% increase in purchases at local brick-and-mortar retailers. Amazon Marketplace merchants, who are generally not subject to the Amazon Tax, experienced a 60.5% sales growth on large (over $300) items.

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2422403

no one mentioned amazon drones?

Would it be better if they could develop robotic "pickers" so that the warehouses didn't employ anyone?

Raw milk isn't highly restricted in America due to banks, exploitation, technology the CIA, the NSA, nor the Illuminati... it's restricted due to higher bacteria content

Sadly, it is not. Thing is, if you just personally check real raw milk and after this compare to supermarket one you will start suspect that you lost some things in life :-)

So to return - I still fail to see how a voluntary employment situation can be equated with slavery.

Huge number of books written centuries ago talk about it. People just have no much other options, and owners of such businesses use or even organize such situations.

Amazon not only treat their staff badly, it is also treat staff of good shops badly as it make huge price pressure forcing owners to make "optimizations".

@thorn

What ? Are you like an amazon stock owner ? Did you even watch the first 5 minutes of the bbc program ? No one works at jobs like that because they're on an amazon career path. They do it because they have no other options. That or live in their car and go to food kitchens. Was indentured servitude a form of slavery ? Was tenant farming a form of slavery ? The plantation owners have changed but it's the same ole game.

And you were the one who made the comparison with picking crops in the georgia sun. And do you really believe that their new laws against selling raw milk are to protect the consumer , when the consumer can boil raw milk at a higher temperature and therefore protect themselves even better ? What about new laws outlawing the collection of rainwater ? Will rainwater make you sick ? This is about the establishment of a totalitarian society. Boiling frogs one degree at a time.

Places like Amazon, Facebook, Google are at the forefront of the loss of personal freedom, which is why nsa uses them to such effectiveness. I haven't heard of the nsa signing up B&H, have you ?

Do you buy lettuce?

...and what does that mean ? I don't buy lettuce harvested by slave labor. That's the problem with americans and europeans. They are so separated from their personal needs, including food production and the means thereof that their reliance has become co-dependent with exploitation. Luckily I live where the milk I drink came out of the cows tit this very morning. In the USA, selling raw milk is almost prohibited. Sadly as I pointed out in my first post, our technological needs are entirely co-dependent on slave labor. Just look at Apple and Foxcon. B&H is probably the most honest technological dealers on the planet. And everyone knows why they close on saturdays. And Bezos , among other tech billionaires , is one of the darkest, with ties to the cia and nsa.

Allmost all the workers at B&H live in Kiryas Joel, the poorest town in America.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/12/14/six-waltons-have-more-wealth-than-the-bottom-30-of-americans/

@thorn....really ? Do your research ! Just google "amazon slave" ...then read some of the articles ! Of course...you can be a propagandist for the banksters if you want, but don't try peddling that crap to me !

Personally....I buy all my stuff from b&h. Usually cheaper and guaranteed service. Amazon is crap. I pity those poor people whose lives are so screwed that working there....or a thousand other sweat shops, is their only option. As well, I feel for poor lettuce pickers, usually illegal immigrants and victims to far greater abuse from a fascist government.

In Germany there is no minimum wage, so I guess whatever Amazon can push (or pull) for...

And coming to "willingness" to work under those conditions: Would anyone work there willingly? Any career chances?

I often feel like I work on a modern day plantation. Ultimately though those workers aren't forced to be there. Anyone know how much they make?

Not bad posts about Amazon

• http://nplusonemag.com/the-everything-warehouse
• http://nplusonemag.com/what-seems-to-be-the-problem-here

Ok, didn't know that but yeah, if they can do it in Germany, why wouldn't they do it anywhere else :)