RIP Amazon Smiles

Is it time to boycott Amazon yet?

What happened to AmazonSmiles and Alexa? Unfortunately, in Amazon’s newest layoff, many of
Alexa’s supporting team, probably the funniest engineers on the internet, were let go. And Amazon
Smiles got obliterated in February 2023. So, if you thought Amazon was trying to fake being
compassionate, you were right. The AmazonSmiles program allowed their prime members to donate
0.5% or half a percent to a charity the prime member selected. That might sound like a small amount,
but it greatly impacted many charities. I guess Jeff’s new girlfriend is more expensive than he initially
thought she would be. So let the charities and funny engineers eat cake. Maybe 2023 is the year to give
up that Prime membership. Want more reasons? The free delivery for over $35 in purchases is now free if you spend $150. Plus The Wall Street Journal reported Whole Foods is putting pressure on suppliers to lower food prices.

Alexa is no Apple.

Amazon also avoids taxes big time. Billion-dollar companies are good at this, but Amazon excels at not
paying taxes. It has lots of loss-making subsidies, such as Luxenberg.
Amazon is notorious for treating their workers like they never need a bathroom break. (Jeff must have
gotten this tip from hospitals that routinely skip bathroom breaks for nurses.)
Were you lucky enough to Find a nice niche to make a living? Well, Amazon will be there to grab that
niche! No small business is safe. And there is no way to fight a monopoly like Amazon. It is now
coming to a university near you.

Alexa is going the way Amazon Smiles went.

Mother Earth wants us to boycott Amazon by giving up Amazon Prime. All the boxes, all the gas for their
delivery non-electric trucks, all warehouses destroying neighborhoods. Amazon is the poster company
for destroying the environment single-handedly.
And poor Alexa. My friends use Alexa all the time for music and the alarm clock feature. But Alexa never
really came into her own. Sure, she made it to a few courtrooms, solving a few crimes, but Alexa just
never integrated herself into our lives the way Amazon hoped she would. Alexa is no Apple. And Jeff
probably hoped Alexa would follow us morning until night, collecting all sorts of advertising information
about us that he could make even more money on through targeted advertising from Amazon.
Everyone needs even more targeted advertising in 2023.

Mother Earth just might want us to boycott Amazon by giving up Amazon Prime.

And poor Alexa. My friends use Alexa all the time for music and the alarm clock feature. But Alexa never
really came into her own. Sure, she made it to a few courtrooms, solving a few crimes, but Alexa just
never integrated herself into our lives the way Amazon hoped she would. Alexa is no Apple. And Jeff
probably hoped Alexa would follow us morning until night, collecting all sorts of advertising information
about us that he could make even more money on through targeted advertising from Amazon.
Everyone needs even more targeted advertising in 2023.

NPR did a great show on how Alexa nailed farts. It wasn’t in their typical highbrow formula, so the show
has been taken down, but it was a classic. But try it yourself. To hear Alexa, describe farts is as if Alexa
was a foodie talking about the five-star restaurant that opened in her urban food desert. It is hilarious,
and Alexa knows farts better than any 8-year-old boy I know. It is too bad Amazon laid off those
engineers from the Alexa project. Amazon had the funniest engineers. I guess those lovely, funny
engineers were a fatality to the new cost-cutting for the new girlfriend, too.