CSN calls for Amazon boycott
Following Amazon’s plan to close up shop in Quebec, the CSN is calling for a boycott and preparing a legal challenge.
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dhomas 04:32 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
I cancelled my Prime membership shortly after they announced the closure of their Quebec-based operations. I also encourage my friends to do the same. It’s a hard habit to break, though.
Some alternatives to consider:
Electronics: Best Buy has done same-day delivery for me during the Christmas period
Small electronic accessories, cheap home goods: Shopper+ (aka Prime cables, 123ink,etc.) has decent quality USB & other cables, small home goods (I bought a cart for my wife’s Cricut that was cheaper than from Amazon)
I try to avoid Temu (their app is invasive and their marketing is extremely annoying/misleading), though I do sometimes do AliExpress to get the same things Amazon offers while eliminating the middle man (Amazon) at the expense of extra shipping time.
Check flyers (on apps like Flipp) and go to physical stores.
I’d love to hear other options, too.
As for the legal actions, I don’t think Amazon cares. They’ve accomplished their goal. Any Amazon employee who even thinks of the word “union” in the future will be shot down with two words: “Remember Quebec”. It’s a small cost to pay to ensure their union-business future.
roberto 08:39 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Those amazon supply chains are being replaced by subcontractors (like intelcom). I`d encourage those employees to unionize.
MarcG 09:13 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
For books, I always check https://www.abebooks.com. Often the cheapest copy will be from the UK and the shipping can take a long time, but if you’re not in a rush who cares, and when the book shows up it’s like a surprise. Also had good experience with https://www.awesomebooks.com.
dwgs 10:14 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Shout out to Encore Books in NDG if you want to go local. https://www.encorebooks.ca/shop
walkerp 10:28 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
I’d also add Argo books to the list. They’ll take your order and you can either pick it up at their pleasant store downtown or they’ll deliver it to you.
Kate 10:30 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
I never got Prime, but I’m struggling with the idea of getting rid of Amazon. For trivia like socks and LED bulbs and so on, you can’t beat the prices and the convenience. I could spend a day trudging through malls looking for items that I get delivered with one click of the mouse. And yes, I buy things at the local hardware store rather than Amazon when I can but they don’t always have them!
I wanted to get some grow lights for plants brought in after summer. Buying them from any Canadian hardware chain would’ve cost me at least 2X what I paid on Amazon. Maybe more.
Is Canadian Tire still Canadian?
As for books – I mostly acquire ebooks. I don’t buy or want physical books any more, with few exceptions. But where do we get new ebooks these days?
PatrickC 10:31 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
@MarcG, Amazon owns abebooks… though I agree you can find good deals there.
MarcG 10:37 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Of course they do…
Meezly 10:46 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Yes, sadly Abebooks is owned by Amazon, but specialized booksellers are thriving on that site and I’ve found some great hard to find books that would’ve been difficult otherwise.
You can also use the Amazon site to find third party vendors, then order from those vendors directly instead of via Amazon.
Daisy 11:05 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
I buy new ebooks via the Kobo store (another option would be leslibraires.ca, not sure how it is for non-French books) and secondhand print books from Biblio.com.
I used to like Book Depository but Amazon bought it and then later shut it down.
jeather 11:17 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
I’ve been happy with Prime Cables too. I still use Indigo for physical books — there are some I want, some I gift and, I will be honest: they almost always deliver a book a week or even two before release date and for some books I am impatient enough with a preorder. (Mysteriously I just ordered some books for a birthday gift and one shipped from Tennessee.)
Kobo is fine for ebooks except for the subset that are only available in Amazon. Many small presses sell their own ebooks, as well as self-pubbed authors.
Kate 11:48 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Agree on Prime Cables. Before Covid, they had an arrangement where you could pick up parcels from them at any Chinese‑owned shop in the metro system. This was great when I was commuting through Lionel‑Groulx at the time. Anyone know if this is still a thing?
Although they will deliver normally too. And cables I bought from them years ago are still fine.
Joey 11:51 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Indigo is problematic for other reasons, which we won’t get into here given the blog’s policy of keeping the temperature in check on certain topics. D&Q has an online storefront, but I can’t recall if they deliver. You can get a lot of English titles at Renaud Bray and Archambault too.
@Kate don’t sleep on the ebook selection at the Banq and Montreal libraries (plus the handful of US public libraries that non-residents can fairly easily join). I can’t imagine an author makes considerably more money from an amazon sale than an library ebook rental, but I am happy to be corrected!
Joey 11:55 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Do authors get royalties from secondhand book sales?
Blork 12:21 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Y’all should know that Goodreads is also an Amazon property.
Personally, I only buy books at Amazon if they are hard to find elsewhere, which is pretty rare but not unheard of. But like Kate, it’s hard to avoid Amazon for other practical things like cables and whatnot. Not only do they tend to be less expensive on Amazon, but the ability to comparison shop is fantastic.
Regarding delivery, Amazon does have many “drop off” points, and you can choose to have the package delivered to the drop off point of your choosing. They were promoting this fairly heavily about a year ago, as a way to avoid problems with package thieves. I haven’t tried it, but am considering it.
Blork 12:23 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
@Joey, no.
Blork 12:56 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Trying to track such things for non-digital assets would be near impossible and would crush the used book and used record industries. Many of the authors and publishers are long gone, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the complications involved.
jeather 13:37 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Small bookstores are pretty bad at getting backlist titles in, though.
I’m not sure how to comparison shop for, eg, cables on Amazon. Is INIU or etguuds or CLEEFUN or Rvxoziy better?
Kate 14:08 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
jeather, I know! I was bringing some plants in for winter and shopping for lighting stuff on Amazon. Brand names like Noibad, Toweboory, Qtittu, Garpsen and Wiaxulay came up, all apparently selling LED equipment from the same Shenzhen factories. It was hard to choose, but I eventually got some plain clamp‑on fixtures and full‑spectrum bulbs, and it’s great. My office looks like a conservatory now.
walkerp 14:20 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
For most major commercial stuff, like electronics, socks, etc. You can usually do your searching at Amazon (which does give them revenue via ad impressions but not much and you can have a blocker) and then look for the same thing at other big box stores in Canada (Target, Staples, Best Buy, Canadian Tire). It’s not ideal but I don’t accept the oh Amazon is just too easy and cheap I have no other choice decision.
jeather 14:32 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Target?
walkerp 16:48 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
Tarjhay?
jeather 17:01 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
It left Canada a decade ago. Now, I’m not against a time machine to 2015 so if you have one, please share it.
EmilyG 21:40 on 2025-02-05 Permalink
I’ve heard good things about https://bookshop.org/ , though I haven’t tried it myself yet.
JP 10:33 on 2025-02-06 Permalink
For in-person, I’ve also enjoyed checking out Pulp books, https://pulpbooks.ca/, and Clio, https://store.librairieclio.ca/, though they don’t necessarily always have books in stock and might be out of the way for some.