Amazon robs the sellers. You pay for it

Google robs the writers. Meta robs the readers. Amazon is different: we actually love it. One click, and tomorrow the box is at your door. Cheap, fast, easy. So nobody asks who pays for all that.

The numbers are fresh and ugly. Amazon now takes 35.1% of what sellers earn, and it raised that through warehouse and delivery fees while the commission itself stayed frozen. Count the ads sellers are pushed to buy, and it's 50 to 60% of every sale. Over a decade, Amazon's cut has roughly tripled.

The workers.

Amazon's robotics team put it in writing: avoid hiring more than 600,000 Americans by 2033, while sales double. Robots save about 30 cents on every item packed and delivered.

The best part.

Staff were told to stop saying "automation" and "AI." Say "advanced technology." Say "cobots." And the plan included parades and Toys for Tots, so the town keeps smiling.

Office workers aren't safe either. 14,000 cut in October, 16,000 more in January.

Now you know who pays for all that: the worker who never gets hired, the seller who gives up a third of every sale, and you, every time you click "Buy Now."