Business This is one Amazon customer that Jeff Bezos is ‘happy to lose’ - Jeff Bezos receives a nice email


This is one Amazon customer that Jeff Bezos is ‘happy to lose’
Published: June 8, 2020 at 2:22 p.m. ET
By
Nicole Lyn Pesce
Amazon’s CEO responded to hate mail on Instagram over the weekend
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Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos supports Black Lives Matter.



This is a prime example of someone whose business is not welcome on Amazon.
CEO Jeff Bezos revealed in an Instagram FB, +0.27% post on Sunday that he’s been getting “sickening but not surprising” emails since his last post, when he responded to a customer that complained about the “Black Lives Matter” banner on top of Amazon’s AMZN, +1.65% e-commerce site. The customer countered that “All Lives Matter,” and Bezos responded that Black Lives Matter “doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter.” He added that he supports the movement, and he’s not going to change his stance.

Indeed, Amazon recently pledged to donate $10 million to organizations such as the NAACP and the National Urban League.

Well, Bezos shared another email he received recently, from someone named “Dave,” and Dave didn’t pull any punches in disagreeing with him.

“You are a perfect a— hole,” the unsatisfied customer told Bezos in an obscenity-laced email that used the N-word not once, but twice. “I canceled my order, and I know for a fact I won’t be the only one,” Dave wrote. “My business relationship with you is over.”

Bezos shared a screenshot of the email, with Dave’s last name and the N-word blacked out, explaining that, “This sort of hate shouldn’t be allowed to hide in the shadows. It’s important to make it visible This is just one example of the problem.
And then came the kicker:
“And, Dave, you’re the kind of customer I’m happy to lose.”
Bezos’ burn has been “liked” more than 200,000 times since he shared it, with high-profile commentators such as entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk, record executive Scooter Brian, and model/activist Amber Rose supporting his stance and offering to double or triple their own Amazon orders.
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There have been a number of sickening but not surprising responses in my inbox since my last post. This sort of hate shouldn’t be allowed to hide in the shadows. It’s important to make it visible. This is just one example of the problem.

And, Dave, you’re the kind of customer I’m happy to lose.

Bezos is certainly not the only business leader supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and condemning the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other black men and women killed by police officers, or in cases where law enforcement dragged its heels in investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators.

Tesla TSLA, +7.25% CEO Elon Musk recently called for #JusticeForGeorge on Twitter TWTR, +5.07%. Alphabet’s GOOG, +0.57% YouTube has pledged to donate $1 million “in support of efforts to address social injustice,” and Uber UBER, -0.34% is donating $1 million to the Equal Justice Initiative, while Tim Cook recently wrote to Apple AAPL, +0.59% employees that now is not the time for “standing on the sidelines."
But activists warn that these corporations need to follow through with their pledges to fight injustices, such as by taking action to diversify their workforces, raising wages and offering more comprehensive benefits.

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Última edición:
Fake email or not, Bezos is playing that dangerous game a lot of companies have been playing in recent years: telling paying customers to fuck off.

It's fine to "fire your worst customers" in most businesses, but you do it quietly, without a public repudiation or any kind of grandstanding. You get rid of problem customers because they're costing you money or harming other business.

This trend of straight up telling people "if you don't like our politics we don't need your business" is very risky. You're (presumably) in business to sell products or services. Chasing away potential buyers is stupid -- it reduces your available customer pool, which can directly reduce your revenue and sales numbers. That's stupid. Incredibly stupid.

It's not a theoretical risk, either. Video game companies have famously done this and then wondered shortly after why their latest release didn't sell very well. "Gee Bob, maybe it's because you called your potential buyers ignorant hicks and told them fuck off."

It's like big business has gotten complacent.

Don't blame them, they're certainly in the position to be, or are at least gearing up to be.
 
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