Amazon: Yuk
As you’ll recall, I blogged on Kite Runner a while ago. As usual, when it came to finding a graphic to use for the post, I started with Amazon — because when they don’t use the “search inside” feature, their pictures are the largest and best quality. (The Kite Runner image wound up coming from elsewhere, FYI.)
Unfortunately, that also means that I get a ton of trash emails from Amazon. Why?
We track items that you may be interested in for price reductions so that you don’t have to. These additional savings on top of our everyday low price may only be available for a limited time, so act now to take advantage of this alert. Prices can go back up at any time and may never be this low again.
Here’s what they “encouraged” me to purchase today:
Yuk isn’t nearly strong enough. I’m glad I haven’t eaten yet.
There’s a dividing line between people who think that Amazon’s tactics are perfectly legit and those who think it’s invasive. I’m among the latter — especially since Amazon’s been rumored to want to include more personal info from third-party sources to create “super-profiles” of their shoppers, “protected” by privacy rules the company sets — rules not dissimilar to those at AOL, for instance.
I’d like to state for the record that I never purchase from Amazon. I use their web system for my own advantages — tracking bestsellers, looking at covers, researching titles sent to me, etc. — and then never buy from them. Heheh. Take that, Amazon!
Now if I could just come up with a similar way to take advantage of Wal-Mart.…
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Posted by Giles, Wednesday, August 16, 2006, at 10:32 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book sellers | Business | Ethics | Personal | Technology
