I must admit as I sit here writing that I’m heartbroken over officially being kicked out of Amazon.com’s affiliate program today. Governor Jerry Brown, in his infinite wisdom, has declared war, not only on Amazon.com but on mom and pop businesses as a whole.

I’d like to know where Gov. Brown got his economics degree? What kind of sense does it make to reduce the sales tax in California with the stroke of one pen, only to cripple online sales by attacking one of the largest generators of income in the nation. Amazon is a success because it works the way it does and it benefits everyone.

Let me explain – I can see you are skeptical, that’s understandable.

This is how I use Amazon and why actions like this will dramatically slow online sales, causing more clogged highways, more smog and taking us further from a “green” society. Isn’t that what you liberals are always talking about: seeking a friendlier, cleaner planet earth?

I promote Amazon products on my websites; products, books and resources, which I believe my readers will find interesting and useful, or products that I personally endorse. My readers respond by purchasing items from Amazon, Amazon makes it easy by providing free shipping options, which many customers depend on.

The cost of shipping can greatly increase the cost of buying online, making items more expensive to purchase online, rather than purchasing the item locally. This may appear to the casual observer that local stores would stand to benefit from the advantages online stores appear to have but that simply isn’t so.

Amazon sends me a credit each month for my 4-7% earnings from referrals, it’s not a lot but it adds up. I make anywhere from $40.00 to $250.00 each month. It’s not a great deal of money but it helps. This past year I used those earnings to reward my son for working hard — he bought items such as Sonic archive comics and posters that aren’t available locally, so they would have to be purchased online anyway.

All of our family is out of state, they reside in Michigan, Ohio, Arkansas and Arizona — as I mentioned before, shipping costs can really add up. I’ve sent care packages to my mother in Michigan, where the postage ran between $35-50; often the shipping was more than the item I wanted to send! My mother needs a new computer and I would love to send her one but the shipping charges can kill a good deal.

I used my Amazon earnings to send her Mother’s Day gift (free shipping) this year. We had a ball spending our Amazon earnings at Christmas time, we used every penny to send gifts to my niece and her 4 children in Arizona. The best part was that I could sit at the comfort of my own desk, in my pajamas and order everything.

No need to open the garage door (electricity), start my ‘Beca (carbon) and drive to various stores searching for just the right gift. If we truly care about the environment, we need to start living green by driving less, working from home, shopping from home, walking more and reducing our needs in general. We have to start looking at our lives and the way we live.

• We believe in buying local.
• We combine our shopping trips.
• We have cut our electric consumption by buying energy efficient appliances.
• We take short showers.
• We have cut our gas usage; some months spending as little as $60.
• We buy online often.

Amazon Kindle

Amazon has done a lot over the years to reduce packaging, cut waste — even the Kindle helps. The Kindle allows users to take their favorite book with them anywhere, no need to waste paper (and ink) printing off long documents, professionals can carry all their files in the palm of their  hand.

I am not an environmentalist. However, I do believe in being a good steward: Taking care of family, sharing my knowledge, my ideas and enjoying this awesome planet where I have the pleasure to live. Please think before enacting laws that are environmentally and fiscally unfriendly.

California won’t get any additional tax revenue from our family by forcing us to buy local. This just means my family won’t be getting any more gifts. I can’t afford to deliver them in person, and I refuse to pay exhorbitant shipping charges. We will continue to order items online that we require for our business but we won’t be purchasing anything extra. We will hold our money in the bank until Amazon sues the pants off California for unfair business practices.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Amazon for the many years they have been a part of our lives and for helping me to make my families lives a little easier. My family in Michigan were hit hard during this recession. The groceries, shoes and clothing we were able to send through Amazon were a huge blessing to them.

This law is wrong and should be repealed. Worse still, this is going to have exactly the opposite effect intended. The $317 million revenue that the state of California anticipates just went up in smoke when Amazon decided not to play ball — but it also just cost Californians over $200 million in lost revenue. This is going to be a huge incentive for these people who were subsisting from online revenue streams to depend on the government for their daily bread.

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