An Amazon junket has produced the following at the AFR:
I arrived in the US over the weekend. And as usual, the immigration officer asked what business brought me to the country.
When I told him I was a journalist attending an Amazon Web Services conference in Las Vegas, our conversation immediately turned to its retail parent Amazon and Black Friday.
In a dominant performance even by Amazon’s standards, the online retailer nabbed almost 50 per cent of all sales on Black Friday – the “shopping holiday” that immediately follows Thanksgiving and marks the start of the Christmas retail season.
…The airport official then told me how Black Friday used to be an absolute mad scramble at the shops – similar to our Boxing Day sales – but now everyone conveniently purchases their bargains online. Shopping on the computer is now an ingrained part of American culture.
“You just wait until all your shopping malls disappear though,” he said.
…As I rode a taxi from the airport into the city, I noticed there was none of the usual San Francisco traffic – it was the smoothest ride in I’d ever experienced.
The cab driver said that it was because Black Friday was an unofficial holiday. Many employers will give the day off to allow a four-day weekend off for Thanksgiving, while other Americans would simply call in sick anyway.
“People used to be everywhere on the streets [on Black Friday] but now everyone shops online,” the driver said.
The journalist travelled to the US courtesy of Amazon Web Services.
Now they can read Amazon propaganda conveniently too!
What value does this paid-for crap add for readers?
