Amazon and Tariffs

A missed chance to put customers first

As product people, we like to talk a lot about putting the user first. It is a mantra in product management, UX, etc. Unfortunately, putting this mantra into practice can be very difficult.

Case in point—Amazon and the Trump tariffs.

Amazon was apparently considering displaying the cost of tariffs next to products. This idea makes sense. When you shop online, you see the cost of the item along with any applicable taxes. Tariffs are just additional taxes, so displaying them besides the sales tax would make sense.

From a business perspective, it also makes sense to help customers understand why the dish soap they bought last month was $20 and now is $40. Even if it is part of the cost of the item (since a reseller already paid the tax), showing why the price increased is the right thing for customers.

Unfortunately, Trump and the Whitehouse didn't want that to happen. Despite being in charge of the tariffs and preaching how good tariffs are, they apparently don't want people to see the cost tariffs are adding to most goods we purchase. This is for obvious political reasons, as the push back would be swift as we all see how much more things cost because of Trump’s tariffs. But it isn’t good for the end user—those of us buying the stuff.

Amazon had the chance to do the right thing within its product and cowered in the end. They backtracked from the idea, claiming it wasn’t every going to happen on the Amazon.com site, and wasn’t ever approved for any of their other sites.

Doing the Right Thing

From a product perspective, this isn't an unusual scenario, even though the people involved (like the President of the US) are unusual.

Product managers and UX designers often get pressured to do many things that are better for the company (or in this case with Amazon, the Trump regime) at the expense of our customers or users.