Glad they tax the pensioners to make up for the shortfall

[SIRandyraven]

So Amazon sells cheap books, DVD and other goods.
High Street shops who pay tax and rates and employ people can't compete and go bust.
Amazon who have a fraction of staff then pay little or no tax ...

http://www.dailymail....c-tax-UK-profits.html

Check the profit apple made from uk sales and the tax they paid ...
Bloody clever accountants these company must have ....
Glad I picked up apple shares a few years back.

[joggerjayne]

Hands up all those people who, out of principle, do NOT buy from Amazon.

Hands up anyone who finds books on Amazon, prints off the details, and takes the details to their local bookshop to order the book.

Hands up anyone who does the same with DVDs, and CDs, and their local music shop.

Hands up anyone who refuses to own a Kindle because of the damage that Amazon is doing to the book industry, the music indistry, and the tax paying Economy.

Hands up anyone who only ever buys anything from Amazon as an absolute last resort when every shop in town have said it's no longer available.

Err ...

... just me?

My arm is getting tired from waving it in the air !!!

[chi-chi66]

Neither do I JJ...armwave together.....I prefer to buy from shops in the town, who can also order if not in stock.

[factor-fiction]

Labour would never have allowed these firms to get away with paying so little tax.

[joggerjayne]

Yay, chi chi.

I've bought a few "out of print" books from Amazon, and some "only used copies available", and one book that could not be sold through UK book shops (Agatha Christie's Three Blind Mice) ...

But I won't buy anything from Amazon if it can be supplied by a shop here or in London.

[factor-fiction]

...but, hold on, this relates to 2010 when the tax regime was Labour's

[DTCwordfan]

Factor, that's the funniest thing I have read today on here.

So why did they allow it then........

[DTCwordfan]

Beat me to the draw, that comment was even funnier......

[joggerjayne]

"Labour would never have allowed these firms to get away with paying so little tax"

I know that's a tongue in cheek post, F30 ... Amazon having gone from "fledgeling business" to "mega company, wiping out the book and record industry" under the last Labour administration.

[tamborine]

My son drives HGVs that deliver goods from Currys/Argos/Mothercare to Amazon. All these shops will match Amazon proved prices, to make sales. Ofcourse profits are lost as are jobs.

[237SJ]

I never, ever buy books. I get them from my local library. I asked when they will do an ebooks service but they said they couldn`t see it happening anytime soon due to licensing restrictions on the books. I hope Amazon doesn`t hasten the end of libraries as well.

[ChuckFickens]

You can't blame any government, it's a consumer laziness/convenience led business, even with equal taxation and the same prices across the board being able to order by a few clicks while sitting on your sofa is going to win against driving into town and all the associated costs/problems.

[joggerjayne]

Amazon's "empleyee free" business model means prices and profits are based miniscule margins.

The real price?

In this decade, people can buy stuff cheaply from their armchair.

In the next decade, there will be no choice. Our high streets will be ghost towns. Our work force will be unemployed. We will buy, read listen to and consume just what Amazon dictates.

1984 !

[mike11111]

Sorry, but as a pensioner I still don't see where I fit in here. Am I missing something?

[joggerjayne]

Why do people want to buy stuff sitting on a computer?

I love going into town.

I love wandering round the book shop, and the CD shop.

Would these weird people be happiest if we all shut ourselves in our houses for ever.

We buy books online.

We order food online.

We buy clothes online.

We never, ever leave our front room.

We are turning ourselves into prisoners.

In a hundred years time, we will be born with no legs, and one arm, because we won't need to move any more.

I am a dalek. I am a dalek. Do not disturb me.

Knock knock .... my meals on wheels (sorry "Tesco Direct") has arrived.

Aaaaaaagggghhhhh .... close the curtains ... I can see the Sun !

[dzug2]

<<We will buy, read listen to and consume just what Amazon dictates.
>>

You won't - coz you'll be unemployed on zero benefits and won't be able to afford it.

[vulcan]

It's also to do with service as well, three weeks before Christmas I ordered a book with my local bookshop, a present for a friend. Four days before Christmas I went to collect it, it hadn't arrived, on line to Amazon, it arrived Christmas eve and £3 cheaper.

[EvianBaby]

I buy almost everything I can from amazon. This post makes me feel like I should be ashamed by that. I'm not though.

It would be nice if I could pop into town to browse the music shop. Oh, of course there isn't one. Even HMV closed. Yep, that sucks but the world is moving on and I'm not about to waste petrol driving into town to pay much more for something that I can get discounted online and delivered to my house in a few days for free. It's not 1960.

[joggerjayne]

It's not 1960, Evian.

But by the time Amazon have wiped out the high streets, it will be 1930 ... the Great Depression.

Or was that 1920.

Well, you know ... whenever it was.

[dotty.]

I work in a high street bookstore and if we didn't sell cigarettes and chocolate it would be tough going. but we diversify and it pays, I have learned in the last 3 years to trace and order any book in print that the store does not sell. price matching with any other supplier is a part of the business and it works. but any modern retailer is doing exactly the same, and remember, if the internet plug gets pulled, there's always the high street.

[joggerjayne]

Well, I love the high street.

Wandering round the shops is such a pleasure, I could never imagine wanting to do it online.

But then, the age of interaction is drawing to a close.

We don't go to the shops ... we buy online.

We don't meet up with our friends ... we facebook them.

We don't play games with other people ... we play them online.

Before long, we will be able to go through our whole lives without seeing another human being face to face.

For some people (eg, the Board of Amazon) this will be paradise.

For some of us, it will be a living hell.