Thoughts on Holiday Shopping & Jeff Bezos

It’s that time of the year when holiday shopping begins. Here are a few of my thoughts when it comes to shopping.

Jeff Bezos doesn’t need any more of your money. And it’s not just him, all of those big companies and CEO’s don’t need your money either.

Don’t get me wrong, they want your money, all of it. But they don’t need it. They have more money than they can spend in a lifetime. And when they do spend it, they aren’t going to spend it on things that might help you. They’re just going to buy yachts, more homes, another jet, or they’re just going to sit on that money and not spend it. Because they don’t need to.

Yes, it’s easy to log on to the internet and hit Amazon, or Target, or Best Buy, or some other big companies site and buy stuff for family and friends. You sit in front of the computer and get all of your shopping out of the way.

And they’ll thank you when they open it up and then move on to the next package. They might be happy for a few moments but they’ll forget about it in a few days (or hours). In a few months on the news we’ll hear about how the holiday shopping season was successful/profitable for all of these companies and our economy, or not.

And right after the holidays we’re hit with sales on all of the stuff that didn’t sell.

And then stores gear up for Valentines day, or whatever comes next, and we’ll be bombarded with more ads and sales. Every holiday becomes an exercise in spending money on things we don’t need.

You know who needs your money? Small businesses. Local businesses. Independent businesses. And Artists of all types.

In our house when it comes to the Christmas holidays we have rules when it comes to gift giving. You cannot exceed $25 per person. The gift has to be used, and it has to be something that when the person it’s intended for opens it up, they go “WOW!”.

You want to give them something they want to hang on to and can use. You want to show them that when it came to their gift you put a lot of thought into it. You went out and found something different, just for them.

The only exception to this is if you give an experience. Memberships, event tickets, massage appointments, something different, and personal. And with all of the shit that surrounds the holidays anymore, a massage to relieve stress is a great gift.

I have received some very cool things from my daughter and son-in-law and I know they’ve received things they still have/use from me. And the money we spend has all gone to local people. Artists, craftspeople, second hand shop owners, local organizations, and small independent businesses.

Small businesses spend money locally. They buy supplies locally, hire local people, and often support neighborhood groups. They keep the money in the community as much as possible.

I understand sometimes you have to shop at larger stores for things your family needs, like clothing. Growing up I received lots of socks and underwear at Christmas time. But please look around and see if/where you can obtain these things from local stores. They have websites too.

I don’t buy coffee from Starbucks when I can buy it from the small coffee shop down the street. I know the owners of the small shops down the street. I see them struggling to stay open.

When I shop at local businesses I don’t take the little punch cards they hand out. You know the buy ten and get a free drink. I prefer paying for all eleven drinks because those businesses are probably struggling like the rest of us.

How do I know this? Because I’m an Independent Filmmaker and an Independent Author. And I struggle too.

Money is tight for a lot of us and we need to be careful how much we spend and where. Let’s keep our money working locally and keep small neighborhood businesses in our neighborhoods and cities.

Trust me, Bezos isn’t going to miss your money he’s too busy feeding his ego and pretending to go up into space.

Happy holidays everyone.

As long as you’re here www.angryfilmmaker.com take a few minutes and check out my site. You might find something there that you’d like to purchase. Whether you purchase something or not, I appreciate you just checking out my site.