The Evils of Amazon

Some of the wee kids in our family are already old enough at 4, 5 and 6 to know what they want for Christmas. This is a two-edged sword: all is well if you can get what they want. So for one it was a princess doll that turns into a mermaid. For another it was a race track with miniature cars. Both of these were in stock in the shops so that was easy. The third wanted the Operation game with the Minions on the front of the box. ToysRus - sold out. Tesco Direct, Asda Direct, Argos - the same. A Google search revealed this was obviously the game every kid in the UK wanted Santa to bring. For various reasons, I'd left it quite late to shop for it. The only place it was available was Amazon.

I try not to do business with Amazon. I saw bits of the recent TV documentary about their employment practices and it was pretty horrifying. But before that I'd seen and heard some horror stories about their zero hours contracts, low wages, sending people home in the middle of a shift because they didn't need them - sometimes in the middle of the night.

I'd also noticed a trend in Amazon, now that it has cornered so much of the book market especially the Kindle market, to set prices that are starting a to look like they've been plucked out of the air. So a newly released book by a popular writer - say Lee Child - could be priced at £15.99 for hardback, £16.99 for paperback and the same for the Kindle version. I'm not paying those prices. I order my books from my local library or, if it's a book I want my own copy of, I buy it in a chain store. In kids's books, luckily, there are other online options and I use them. Foreign language DVDs have also shot up in price on Amazon - anything up to £22 a time.

I was in a tight corner here, so close to Christmas and I was going to have to bite the bullet. So how much was the Minions Operation game? From other suppliers: £22.99. from Amazon first time I looked, £32.99. When I went back in to the site next day, it was £35.99. Boy was I mad - but I didn't really have a choice.

It's made me even more determined to avoid buying from Amazon.