In talking to people about the disastrous impacts of buying consumers goods from Amazon rather than supporting local retailers, I do not believe the vast majority of people have any idea of how catastrophic the long term impact of their shopping habits might be.
We need to buy local whenever possible and especially, we need to support our downtown retailers.
Here’s why I refrain from buying from Amazon-
Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon is one of the richest men in the world. Not only did he not pay any taxes, whatsoever, last year, but through all kinds of tax loop holes he managed to receive $ 129 million dollars back from the US government.
So that means, this rich and powerful billionaire did not pay a single solitary cent to build, maintain, or repair the transportation system which he so desperately counts on to further increase his wealth!
As well, he has a reputation for treating his employees with contempt, by paying them poverty - triggering wages with a minimum of benefits, while forcing them to endure miserable working conditions - his safety record in his monstrous warehouse is abominable. (The industry average rate is 4 accidents per 100 full time employees while Amazon is an astounding 9.5 in 2018!)

Now that Jeff Bezos has ruthlessly acquired control of the supply chain, other transportation companies such as Fed Ex has to compete with Amazon. Many trucking companies, unable to compete with this behemoth, have been forced into bankruptcies.
Every time you order online from companies like Amazon, you are making it more and more difficult for local retailers to stay afloat. Not only do local retailers provide residents with much needed goods and services, but they are a critical tax base for the City.
If retailers, unable to compete, close down at an alarming numbers, you will be left with a ghost town and property taxes will increase exponentially. When cities no longer have a commercial tax base, they will decrease their services or start charging more taxes for residents to make up for their lost commercial tax base. Once local business close down forever, then the online retailers, like Amazon will charge whatever the market will bear - if there is no longer a local option, the sky will be the limit!
As well, the significant, but unnecessary increase in huge transport trucks on the road spewing pollutants into the environment, increases green house gases, clogs up traffic, and damages roads. The more green house gases pouring onto our atmosphere the faster will be the rate of global overheating.
Then to add insult to injury, I just learned that 50 million packages are stolen every single year!
Just think of the extra, unnecessary cost to the ecological health of our environment and the health and well being of all of us, when all those packages have to be replaced - more trucks on the road, more traffic congestion, more road damage, more accidents, more traffic deaths, more life-threatening exhausts and the list goes on and on.

So, in a nutshell when you buy locally - everyone wins, including Mother Earth!

Gwen Petreman
Children’s Author, Illustrator, Presenter, Educator

With winter parking rules starting up alot of people are at a loss especially those living in multi room rental housing and growing families (parents have a car each and same with their young adult spawn). With only parking for two cars in a driveway and 4 bedrooms for rent (or 3+ car owners) it makes it difficult in the winter to work with parking since there is no street parking. We should have local lots with free parking in residential areas to help out. These lots would also be beneficial in summer months to keep cars off the side of the road and for guest parking alike. There's to many parking tickets going around putting a unwanted/undeserved Purdon on hard working citizens of Barrie. Let's make Barrie great again!