Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Problem:I’ve covered Amazon for the past few years, but now something feels different. Sure, there are still the infinite roundups of Amazon’s best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals — which won’t be going anywhere as long as publishers are able to monetize them. 
  
 But what I haven’t seen as much prior to this year are media companies and people — largely New Yorkers who work for media companies and can afford to shop at the city’s many stores — encouraging people to cancel their subscriptions and openly discouraging readers from shopping at Amazon. There was this Ringer piece on how to wean yourself off by using other online retailers, and a story from the tech site Gizmodo, which previously called Prime “the best deal in tech,” calling for a Prime Day boycott. 
  
 They come during a time when the number of Prime subscribers has been growing steadily for years. As of this spring, there are more than 100 million of them worldwide, with one analyst predicting that number will more than double to 275 million in the next decade. A Prime membership, which now costs $119 a year and offers free two- and same-day shipping and access to Amazon’s streaming services, also means that on average, shoppers will spend $300 more per year than the average Amazon customer, which makes it Amazon’s key driver of retail business. 
  
 A massive exodus of Amazon Prime subscribers is still far from our present reality. Yet there are some voices trying to turn the tide. in part due to a slew of negative press, condemnations from politicians, and very public worker strikes. 
  
 This isn’t anything new, of course. People have been aware of Amazon’s controversies for decades, from its monopolistic practices to tax avoidance, poor treatment of both white- and blue-collar workers, union-busting, environmental damage, and most recently, the year-long publicity stunt of HQ2, a bad-faith ploy to extract private data from US cities that ended with Amazon plopping its supposedly economy-boosting offices into the two most established markets on the East Coast. 
  
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 / づ — yohuna (@Y0HUNA) November 19, 2018 
  
 And right now, journalists and writers — a small segment of the population, sure, but many of whom have sizable spheres of influence online — are much more willing to vocalize anti-Amazon sentiments. On Thanksgiving, Jia Tolentino of the New Yorker tweeted that she had canceled her Prime subscription during a week when many on Twitter encouraged their followers to do the same. 
  
 Tolentino tells me that even though she felt her own Amazon patronage was inexcusable ever since Mac McClelland’s 2012 piece about going undercover as a warehouse worker, the final straw was the 10-figure tax breaks the city of New York promised to Amazon for HQ2. “I had directly contributed to this situation and I felt like shit,” she says. 
  
 Another writer, Julia, who asked me not to use her last name because she works for a production company that could conduct business with Amazon Studios in the future, says she canceled her subscription after seeing the film Sorry to Bother You, which offers a stark critique of capitalism. 
  
 “I had Amazon Prime for about a year, and during that time, I watched my whole approach to consumption change,” she says. “A stack of boxes started to accumulate next to my recycling bin, and I was sort of horrified to realize how greedy I’d become. We’ve all become so accustomed to getting whatever we want, whenever we want, at little to no cost. But when anything is that cheap, there’s always someone paying for it.” 
  
 A good day to cancel your Prime account, New Yorkers (and everyone). I know you can do it. I believe in you. You, unlike so many people in the country, can literally walk down the block and get a roll of toilet paper if you want. And I heard Homecoming is bad. — Emily Yoshida (@emilyyoshida) November 13, 2018 
  
 The efforts of those who speak out against Amazon seem to be influencing others as well, even if it’s contained within the echo chamber of Twitter. Podcaster Kyle Amato says he finally cut the cord when Marian Bull, a writer and ceramist, offered a free handmade cup to anyone who canceled their Prime membership last week. “I was being a hypocrite if I just kept using Prime while speaking out against Amazon proper,” he says. 
  
 “The backlash has actually grown slower than I would’ve thought, given that Amazon’s labor abuses have been well-documented for a long time,” says Tolentino. “The worker strikes have done a lot. But Amazon succeeds in large part because the entire labor economy is overheating and everyone’s safety nets are disappearing: people are so busy, people have less and less money to spare outside rent and health care, and so it’s easy to just close your eyes and cut corners by getting that free shipping when you can.” 
  
 I know for a lot of people not using Amazon is really difficult and a lot of these issues are a matter of collective action and not like, ordering bulk lightbulbs elsewhere, but boy I'd love it if more people would find Amazon alternatives — Jaya Saxena (@jayasax) November 21, 2018 
  
 And for many, that free shipping and convenience is a lifesaver. In a recent Twitter thread, social work student Carey Kirijo explained their complicated feelings about the wave of people publicly canceling their Prime subscriptions, noting that for those with disabilities or mental health issues, as well as those who live in rural areas, the decision is much more fraught. 
  
 Kirijo explained that their disabling mental illness sometimes prevents them from leaving the house for long periods of time, and social anxiety means that tight aisles and bright lights have the potential to trigger panic attacks, which makes online shopping a huge help. 
  
 “I really, really love online retail as a tool,” Kirijo says, “But I think that with the lack of regulation, especially massive corporations like Amazon, there are opportunities for retailers to take advantage of workers and the system as a whole. Amazon workers should be allowed to unionize, and other steps should be taken to protect working conditions. We need to be having this conversation about Amazon, and I’m happy we’re having it, on the understanding that Amazon probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” 
  
 And there is the other question: Even if lost subscribers becomes a major problem for Amazon, it won’t undo the damages its success has wrought on the world. A New York Times investigation earlier this fall explained that in a rush to compete against Amazon, other retailers like Verizon have exploited warehouse workers, too many of whom have fainted or even experienced miscarriages while on the job due to grueling conditions. 
  
 What, then, could Amazon do to fix these problems? “If Amazon warehouse workers were unionized, and if the Postal Service union were able to successfully advocate for better conditions for the delivery drivers who are overwhelmed with Amazon packages, that’d be good,” Tolentino offers. 
  
 “I think we’ll have to sacrifice a lot of conveniences to allow for humane conditions at Amazon,” Amato adds. “It’s such a beast at this point. It either needs to be broken up or nationalized, and I’m not sure where to start. I can only fight with my wallet.” 
  
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 There are more than 100 million paid subscriptions to Amazon Prime, the inordinately convenient service that provides fast shipping, good deals, and prestige television to consumers. The majority of U.S. households (51 percent) have an account. Increasingly, people are wising up to both the company’s serious threat as a monopoly and its willingness to seek domination at the expense of the health of its blue-collar workers. Citing these atrocities, some people have vocally canceled their accounts and encouraged others to do the same. 
  
 A rising number of people willing to revolt against Amazon is a good thing—consumers using their collective power to show that they care about labor and market consolidation is a compelling way to agitate for change. But it’s also worth thinking about why canceling an Amazon subscription might be hard, if not impossible, for many people. It’s simply not a step that everyone can take, and that’s not just because people are unwilling to forgo convenience. It’s easy to forget, because everyone has to do it and it’s often pleasurable, but shopping is labor. In a country with lacking social services for parents, and a pay structure that undervalues certain kinds of labor, Prime has stepped in to fill a gap. For parents, creatives, teachers stretching to make ends meet, or disabled or elderly folks who have trouble leaving the house, it can serve as a Band-Aid, helping them save money and time. 
  
 In a country with lacking social services for parents, and a pay structure that undervalues certain kinds of labor, Prime has stepped in to fill a gap. 
  
 I talked to a number of a people who are Prime users and feel unable to cancel their accounts. The most consistent theme was that Amazon saved them time and money that they couldn’t spare. Kevin Davies, who lives in New Jersey, says he and his wife find Prime useful in part because the service sends giant boxes of diapers to their second-floor condo unit at a 20 percent discount. “We are working parents (fortunately I work from home, so there’s no day care cost) trying to pay our bills and sock a little away for emergencies and retirement (and now college),” Davies explained in an email, enumerating the long list of ways that Prime helps his family save money. 
  
 He questions whether skipping Prime and bringing his business elsewhere would be helpful in the bigger picture. He was an assistant manager of a Walmart for two years, and “they treat everyone like garbage,” he said. 
  
 Shannon, a mom of two who lives in the Northeast, felt similarly. “We considered canceling our subscription; however, with a baby due in January and a 5- and 3-year-old at home I just cannot part with the convenience. Convenience in the dead of winter, I may add.” She’s a homemaker, and her husband travels a lot for work. 
  
 A librarian in Miami named Nneka noted that “Saving money is really critical,” in a DM on Twitter. “Amazon helps with that. Also allows me to treat myself.” 
  
 NYC-based DJ Erzen Krivca also noted needing to pinch pennies: “I saw a celebrity on Twitter say ‘if you live in NYC you can go across the street and get your own toilet paper.’ That’s true BUT I also have to [pay] an exorbitant amount for rent!!,” he wrote in an email. 
  
 Small-business owners rely on Prime to make ends meet, too. “Do I want to get on the road and ride bumper to bumper to get to the store for a few items, such as stationery and a couple of boxes of Lipton tea?” a director of marketing at a small PR firm told CNBC. “I find that I have less stress throughout the day, thanks to shopping online.” This description speaks to the reality that shopping is labor, and doing it eats up time and money that could be spent elsewhere. Via Prime, Amazon has decided to foot the bill of a cost that we don’t think of until suddenly it has evaporated from our lives. And once you’ve gotten used to it, it’s a hard deal to undo. 
  
 Of course, Prime is ultimately a terrible way to help struggling people struggle less—it saves people a small amount of time and money … at the expense of other people. What we need, change-wise, is policy actions that both take on Amazon and support the people who currently rely on it. This reality might help explain why I haven’t been able to decide what to do with my own Amazon account. With so many subscriptions, canceling mine feels akin to recycling to save the planet—larger action is much more critical to change than making sure a handful of plastic bottles don’t end up in a landfill. At the same time, even if the boycott doesn’t swell to be big enough to affect Amazon’s bottom line, it can still influence the company’s future—small actions, if broadcast to a social network and in turn, to politicians, can help spur that change. And in that way, those unable to entirely give up their Prime accounts can still participate with the account-cancelers in the movement to denounce Amazon, by being vocal about what aspects of the company they find unsavory and cutting back in smaller ways (say, by refusing to use Prime Now’s same-day delivery), even if they continue to use the service as a whole. |||||
Solution:
In a piece at Slate, Shannon Palus takes note of two things about Amazon: A staggering 100 million people or so have Prime subscriptions, and yet more people seem to be canceling their subscriptions in protest. The reason for the latter, as spelled out in Vox, is an apparent rising concern over labor issues and Amazon's monopolistic ways. But while Palus applauds those making a statement by ditching Prime, she's not about to cast judgment on those who won't. "It’s simply not a step that everyone can take, and that’s not just because people are unwilling to forgo convenience," she writes. "It’s easy to forget, because everyone has to do it and it’s often pleasurable, but shopping is labor." Prime, especially for those struggling to make ends meet, can be "a Band-Aid, helping them save money and time," writes Palus. She talks to several people who explain why they don't feel they can give it up, including a young couple who have giant boxes of diapers delivered to their second-floor condo at a discount of 20%. She suggests that people like this who still want to support the Amazon protests can cut back in smaller ways, like not taking part in additional services such as same-day delivery. And they can also be vocal about their concerns. "Small actions, if broadcast to a social network and in turn, to politicians, can help spur that change." Read the full piece.