In November 2020, Amazon opened a new distribution facility at the former Rolling Acres mall site in Akron. This is not the first former shopping mall in Northeast Ohio to turn into an Amazon facility. Randall Park mall in North Randall and Euclid Square mall in Euclid have also undergone this transition.

Amazon’s acquisition of these shopping malls in Northeast Ohio is part of a bigger trend across the country. The former shopping malls are strategically important for Amazon as they are located near large population centers, thus giving Amazon the potential to fulfill the promise of its “Prime one-day delivery”.

Amazon receives millions of dollars in grants and tax abatement for converting these dead shopping malls – that Amazon put out of business – into job creating warehouses. Amazon was awarded $7.8 million over 10 years for the North Randall facility, $3.9 million over ten years for Euclid’s and 7.1 million for the one in Akron. On top of this, Amazon received $8.5 million in grants from JobsOhio. Furthermore, Amazon received a 15-year, 75% local property tax abatement in North Randall and 100% tax abatement in Euclid for the same amount of time.

Elected officials in Northeast Ohio are giving tax subsidies to the tech-giant for creating jobs it has helped to destroy. A 2018 report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that tax incentive to Amazon is an unneeded giveaway. “When Amazon opens a new fulfillment center,” the report said, “the host county gains roughly 30% more warehousing and storage jobs but no new net jobs overall, as the jobs created in warehousing and storage are likely offset by job losses in other industries.” After all, Amazon is not adding new jobs to the economy, but swapping the retail jobs. The cost of every job offered by Amazon is a job lost somewhere else and Amazon plays a key role in destroying those jobs.

Amazon’s empire and monopoly is not limited to the retail sector. It is rapidly expanding to other sectors such as groceries, pharmacy, publishing, web services, home services, and even delivery services for restaurant-prepared meals.

It would not have been a big deal if Amazon could employ the same number of people that once worked in other businesses such as malls and local small businesses, but that is not the case. According to a MarketWatch report “Amazon needs about half as many workers to sell $100 worth of merchandise as Macy’s does.” That is one of the prime secrets behind Amazon’s successes.

Amazon is also rapidly moving towards automating human jobs and replacing them with robots. Today, Amazon is a leader in the robotics race and it has more than 200,000 mobile robots working inside its warehouses.

However, Amazon claims, and people believe, that it is helping small businesses thrive by providing them a platform to sell on Amazon.com. However, Amazon is using its algorithms and sales data against small business.

Ask small business owners and they will tell you that Amazon is the biggest threat to their businesses. Small businesses that use Amazon’s platform to sell their products explain complain that Amazon is using the sales data to cherry-pick best-seller products and start offering the same product themselves at a price that small businesses can’t beat.

Multiple examples exist for Amazon’s unethical business practices. Most recently, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is fining Amazon for stealing almost $62 million of delivery drivers’ tips. In recent years, New York Times, Newsweek, Slate and Time magazine have reported several stories on disturbing working conditions at Amazon warehouses. In 2019, A Columbus worker at an Amazon warehouse had a heart attack and did not receive medical attention for 20 minutes. British workers did not have time for bathroom breaks and had to urinate in bottles. Moreover, Amazon is abusing the free market system and “avoiding responsibilities for the human cost” of their free shipping.

A company with nearly two trillion capital that is, stealing tips from its delivery partners does not deserve millions of dollars in tax credit from local and state governments. But, instead of making Amazon pay more taxes, the state local governments are offering them tax incentives that could have been used for uplifting small business that have been suffering from Amazon’s monopolistic and unethical business practices.