Quote:
Originally Posted by Skip Wyona
I would like Amazon even better however if Amazon did not have unfair advantages in what is supposed to be a free market. Can there be no doubt that Amazon gets a free ride to the detriment of brick and mortar stores? Should not buyers have to pay sales tax for example as they must for most other purchases?
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First, in what sense is Amazon's advantage "unfair?" Brick-and-mortar bookstores have no legal barrier to adopting Amazon's business model.
Second, what do you mean by "free ride" to the detriment of brick and mortar stores? Surely Amazon owns or rents vast warehouses, data centers, shipping centers, office blocks, etc.; and surely those other bookstores can shut down their storefronts and, again, adopt Amazon's model.
I agree that Amazon has chosen a different model than those electing to operate brick and mortar bookstores; however, there are advantages to either model. I enjoy shopping at Amazon, I enjoy shopping at the paperback exchange down the street,
and I still enjoy shopping at Barnes and Noble.
Third, just because Amazon is not required to figure and collect taxes for people from certain states does not mean those people are not required to pay the taxes, nor is Amazon thereby enjoying an unfair advantage. If people elect not to report those purchases and not to pay those taxes, that is on them and not on Amazon. Amazon is literally one of tens of thousands of corporations legally not collecting sales taxes from out-of-state customers--including brick and mortar bookstores shipping orders to customers in other states. This is nothing new, and merchants have been operating under this system for many many years, going back to our great-grandparents' purchases from the Sears and Roebuck catalog.