Amazon’s monopoly over book distribution and reach into other industries dramatically changed the way we shop. Yet what hasn’t changed throughout American history is the willingness of consumers to disregard worker exploitation if it means they can have stuff as cheap and fast as possible. It would seem Amazon provided the perfect vehicle for the wage/price race to the bottom.

Unlike the traditional retailer, Amazon’s exploitation of the working class takes place far out of sight of the average consumer. Efforts to unionize this online retailing behemoth have been squashed in the past, and it would seem that the company that rakes in record profits while exploiting loopholes to avoid paying taxes would continue a trajectory of only gaining more power.

Yet if there is something good to be said about the fallout of the COVID pandemic that accelerated worldwide faster than an Amazon Prime delivery, it is that the ugly injustices inflicted on the working class could no longer be so easily hidden