Editorial
By Christa Valdez
I started a small business and founded a nonprofit in New Mexico, one of the poorest states in America.
The goal of my resource-based business, and the highest charter of the nonprofit I founded, is to put locals to work in meaningful, gainful employment. Oftentimes, these people are on the brink of homelessness; many are veterans; some have bounced back after incarceration and/or substance use issues.
We—myself, my associates and the people we serve—count on this mission. That is why our organizations, ¡Viva New Mexico! and the New Mexico Spotlight Foundation, exist: to provide support and hope.
Though I’d rather patronize other local businesses, I had to turn to Jeff Bezos’ creation, Amazon, because I lacked funding to single-source locally.
Albuquerque, New Mexico’s own Jeff Bezos—Mrs. Lauren Bezos is also a hometown girl—“serves” the world while enriching himself at a staggering pace, as the fourth-richest man in the world.
While that may be admirable to some, it pains those of us on the front lines who are trying to provide a helping hand to the disenfranchised and abandoned. Most of these folks are consummate professionals in their field; the rest are passionate about learning and leveling up—all while giving back to their communities.
After putting over $100,000 of my own (borrowed) money into getting my business and our community nonprofit up and running, having been shuttered since pandemic fallout, I’ve had to utilize Amazon’s speed and prices to equip and rebuild. Spending tens of thousands of dollars with a company that is widely known to employ unfair labor practices, paying low wages and providing few benefits to their employees, is the antithesis of our work, here on the ground.
After pouring tens of thousands of my own dollars into Amazon, to turn around and serve my community, I find myself overbilled, unfairly treated, and now feeling robbed.
In one particular effort to equip our studio with cameras, we first ordered two. We’ll need several more. I ordered our third, then a fourth to replace the most recently ordered one, because it had an overheating issue.
I had to clear that return with the lovely people working with us as one of Amazon’s overseas call center associates. I find most associates really do their best to help. The women, in particular, are very kind, understanding, and helpful. But there’s only so much they can do even for a very friendly American businesswoman who shows them courtesy and patience, simply because I know we’re exactly the same; we’re all just trying to do our jobs.
Presently, I am struggling to understand why the company—nay, the multi-billion-dollar corporation—doesn’t have the manpower to identify which camera I’d ostensibly sent back to them to fulfill the refund they promised, over and over, in writing.
Amazon, the enormous conglomerate I purchased from, was of zero assistance to this small business owner and nonprofit founder in providing the refund they repeatedly assured and guaranteed they would provide.
Instead, they let their “third-party” seller take back the expensive piece of equipment and charge us a “re-stocking fee” equal to the purchase price. That leaves us with still just three cameras, and out the full price of a fourth camera that we’ll never receive.
This is just one purchase and one experience. Imagine how many others multiply across millions of small business owners, keeping the ultra-rich busy accumulating the world’s wealth while the rest of us fall further and further behind.
