So I wanted a copy of the board game Carcassonne as it's a game I've played with friends before and loved. For things like this I (like many others) would gravitate towards Amazon.

But after some research I found that my local board game cafe sells copies of the game cheaper than anywhere online. Yesterday I popped by, grabbed a copy and had a nice chat with the owner about the game and their favourite expansions. This was a significantly better experience than buying the game online from a soulless corporation, and my money has gone to an great local company rather than a billionaire. Why did we give up the joy of shopping locally and in-person for convenience?

Similarly I was looking out for a black denim jacket in my size. Instead of going to a big clothing retailer I checked out some charity shops, and I found exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the price with the money going towards charity.

Going forward I'm going to avoid Amazon and any big American companies wherever possible. Hopefully others will do the same :)