'Local' stores were/are often ridiculously overpriced, had a very limited range, and it's not like we're talking about independent stores either. Many of those were killed by the unfair practices of large corporate chains who would sell at a loss. Before amazon killed chain mall businesses, the mall killed independent businesses on the high street.
Packages are delivered to me personally. If I'm not there, they don't deliver and are forced to try another time.
No need for a PO box, as small independent stores and grocery stores often have a side hussle as a pick-up point. You go to pick-up your parcel and buy something in their store or do your groceries.
Amazon prime is entirely unnecessary. You simply have to wait a bit longer.
You can find independent sellers on amazon, then if their product is good, you buy from them directly next time around.
Thanks to amazon, ebay, etc. it's become far easier to buy second hand products. In the past you'd have to go to a second hand market, garage sales or visit twenty vintage/antique stores to find what you needed.
Amazon is evil though. So, yeah.
But there are perfectly rational reasons to use amazon.
A lonely guy playing a creepy hentai game gets some sexual gratification from his time spent interacting with a piece of software and is at least somewhat self-aware. He knows it's just software, even if he 'married' his bodypillow.
Meanwhile there are increasing numbers of people unaware they're regularly interacting with bots online, not realising one of the reasons social media is making them sadder is because they've atttempting to fulfill their need for social interaction with a facsimile thereof.
It's not unlike Idiocracy, where they give the plants Brawndo instead of water, then wonder why the plants are dying. Vast swathes of the world are feeding their social needs with social media brawndo.
Several contractors with a stake in the carrier debate contribute to my think tank, including Huntington Ingalls Industries HII —the only company in the world that manufactures large-deck, nuclear-powered carriers.
This is why the EU is sometimes called a regulatory super power. Because the market is so large and important, the rest of the world often adopts EU regulations. Whether it's GDPR or environmental standards, it's cheaper to make one EU compliant version of your product or part than different versions for different markets.
Not any other kind of super power though, we're far too busy squabbling amongst ourselves. Some still haven't learnt the lessons of the last two world wars.
To paraphrase Angus Young: "I'm tired of people saying that we put out 11 albums that are exactly the same. We've put out 12 albums that are exactly the same."
Although I think that was a while. I think they've released a few more versions of their first album since then.
Bit of a tangent, but it's the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who, so BBC Sounds has loads of the audioplays available to listen. Those should be available to listen, even in Australia. They invariably star the original actors, I just listened to one which stars David Tennant and Tom Baker.