Why paying for shipping is an effective form of economic resistance

I couldn’t tell you what my very first purchase from Amazon was—although I know it was a book and that I purchased it on my 7-pound laptop using a dial-up modem that took several minutes to connect me to Al Gore’s internet. I’m certain I was delighted to receive my purchase about a week later, even though I was paying for shipping.

Not only does this memory prove that I have officially reached my “back-in-my-day!” old codger years, but it also shows how quickly consumer expectations can shift. In less than 30 years, online shopping has gone from an occasional novelty that required some consumer effort (waiting on that modem connection was not for the faint of heart) to a rapid process so seamless that even next-day delivery can feel a bit slow.

Much of Amazon’s success lies in its promise of fast shipping all across the country (and world). The online marketplace can deliver on that promise because of its massive delivery infrastructure, the logistics of which are truly mind-bending to contemplate. But Amazon would not have become the dominant shopping method if not for one simple thing: free shipping.

The expectation of free shipping has helped solidify Jeff Bezos as one of the richest men in the world (with his own marital-aid shaped rocket, which seems to be standard issue for modern oligarchs). Unfortunately, that means free shipping has cost us a lot more than we could have ever imagined.

Here’s why I’ve decided to pay for shipping moving forward–and would encourage you to do the same.

‘Free’ scrambles our brains

In his 2008 bestselling book Predictably Irrational, behavioral psychologist Dan Ariely breaks down how Amazon’s sales increased when it began offering free shipping for purchases over $30. After instituting this policy in the early 2000s, Amazon customers would willingly spend more money to buy an additional item they didn’t necessarily want or need—just to save themselves $4 in shipping costs.

This is not a rational reaction, and yet most (if not every single one) of us has blithely spent more money on two items, one of which we didn’t really want, to avoid paying for shipping.

What’s more, when Amazon in France originally rolled out a similar shipping offer for purchases over a certain amount, there was no sales increase. That’s because the French division of Amazon offered shipping for one franc rather than free shipping if you spent more than the purchase minimum. Since one franc was equal to about 20 cents, you’d think that French online shoppers would also jump at the chance to reduce their shipping costs—but pricing the shipping at one franc allowed consumers to recognize the true cost of adding an unwanted item to their shopping carts. Yet once Amazon in France switched to free shipping to match the rest of the company, sales increased dramatically.

Prime suspicion

Amazon is certainly not the only company to offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount–and there are definitely times when that kind of shipping deal is good for the customer. But the introduction of the Amazon Prime membership in 2005 altered the calculation. For an annual fee of $139, Amazon customers get unlimited, free one-day shipping—with some same-day delivery available.

If free shipping over a dollar threshold is a brain-scrambler, Prime membership makes it nigh impossible to recognize how much you’re really paying.

Think of it this way: More than 200 million people across the globe pay Amazon $139 annually for the privilege of buying stuff more conveniently from Amazon. That’s $27.8 billion we pay to Bezos’s company—so that we can pay more money to the company when we need books, diapers, clothes, or anything else our little hearts desire.

The true cost of free shipping

It may seem that I’m just ragging on a successful business vision that truly does save most consumers money. If you’re going to buy things online, you probably would spend more than $139 per year in shipping fees, so why not take advantage of Prime membership?

But money is not the only cost worth considering. By making free shipping an expectation, Amazon has also cost us the following:

• Workers’ rights: One of the ways to cut costs to offer free shipping is to underpay and overwork the workers who make it happen. Fast, free shipping comes with a serious cost to the warehouse workers and delivery drivers tasked with fulfilling that promise.
• Resourcefulness: When something is cheap and convenient, we tend to ignore other solutions. For example, when I realized my kid had outgrown his swim trunks the day before summer camp, I ordered several new swimsuits from Amazon—even though his older brother probably had something that would fit him.
• Small businesses: Any small or independent business can’t afford to offer free shipping.
• Patience: American consumers have been taught to expect immediate gratification in a world where you can order something while sitting on the toilet and receive it within a few hours.
• Quality: Good things come to those who wait, but mediocre stuff can arrive on your doorstep via next-day delivery.
• Connection: Commerce used to require interaction with other people. I dislike talking to strangers as much as the next misanthrope, but reducing our need to connect with others can also reduce our ability to do so.
• The environment: If it’s cheap, easy, and quick to buy something, then it’s also easy to discard it–not to mention the environmental impact of shipping the item to you.

The subversive politics of paying for shipping

Many Americans have been troubled by the rise of oligarchs (to put it mildly) and have been working on divesting from them. That’s an admirable goal that can be difficult to pull off. But simply committing to paying for shipping will offer many of the same benefits.

Specifically, recognizing that shipping is part of the cost of online purchases helps to level the e-tailer playing field. Amazon can afford to give their shipping away for free since the company is raking in your Prime membership dollars and knows that you’ll buy everything from their handy-dandy storefront and app. Small businesses that don’t sell everything under the sun can’t possibly compete. You can support small businesses by including the cost of shipping in your purchase expectations.

Paying for shipping also forces you to think about your purchases in a way that one-click overnight free shipping does not. If you’re not willing to pay the $4 required to ship a purchase to your home, do you really want or need that purchase?

Additionally, when we look at shipping as a line item that can be cut, the loss of that money will most likely affect the workers responsible for delivering products to you. Deciding that you will pay for shipping helps to protect their jobs and rights and lowers their likelihood of injury.

Finally, paying for shipping is a way to reject the culture of constant consumerism on which oligarchs have built their empires. We don’t need to always buy-buy-buy to have a robust economy or a satisfying life–and that is much easier to remember when we’re paying for shipping.

Free shipping isn’t free

We’re living through the consequences of cheap and convenient online shopping. We can take back our agency with one little change—paying for the cost of shipping.