O’Reilly programming chair and tech writer Allison Randal is fed up with Amazon.com‘s attempt to crush print-on-demand competitors by forcing authors and publishers to participate in its Booksurge program if they want to sell their POD books on the site. That’s why she’s no longer buying from the site:
“I realize my spending is a tiny drop in the bucket of Amazon’s total revenue, but it’s a decision I feel good about, the same way I feel good about using low-energy lightbulbs, reusing plastic bags, and buying a car with environmentally friendly fuel economy and emissions ratings. One of the fundamental principles of capitalism is that when one source of goods and services isn’t meeting your needs, you switch to another. The power to decide which businesses succeed and which fail lies in the collective hands of millions of individual consumers.”
Do you feel strongly enough about the Booksurge controversy to take similar steps? Is there another aspect of the bookselling industry that would compel you to stop buying things from Amazon? Or are you already spurning the site and giving independent booksellers your business? Tell us in the comments section!