(NOTE: Many people buy and sell online at Amazon. Recently, I can be counted in those numbers myself. The allegations in this posting are real world.)


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Main Cast Of Characters (for all my Cody Schroder books and stories):

Cody Jaxon Schroder - Mix of curiosity, mischief-maker, and a tad of altar boy thrown in for good measure. Ward of Sheriff Brock Daniels and Beth Sorenson. Born in Palo Pinto. Now relocated to the small West Texas town of Astatula.

Brock Daniels - Long-time sheriff of Astatula and Cody's guardian.

Beth Sorenson - Fiance of Sheriff Brock Daniels. Brought Cody to Astatula from Palo Pinto.


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Sheriff Daniels glanced up from his thorough, detailed, perusal of the Astatula Gazette newspaper. The look flashed quick and short. He sipped a small mouthful of hot coffee from the cup Beth placed on the table in front of him. As the steam rose, he exclaimed, "Well, I'll be derned!"

Beth sat on the comfortable divan. Once owned by her now deceased grandmother, the family heirloom Chesterfield was a three-seater with top-grain, buffalo tan leather. She remembered Cody outside playing football with Matt and other neighborhood boys. Their games were always noisy, boisterous affairs. Or so, the participants professed.

She retrieved her knitting needles and stated, "Cody likes his clothes to be shades of blue. I couldn't bring myself to manufacture this in banana yellow. I hope he'll appreciate the sweater I'm making him for the coming winter. The way he keeps growing, he's going to need a new one." She looked at the sheriff and questioned, "What will you be derned about?"

The sheriff replied, "Cody just ordered that new game player from Amazon. He got a good deal on the price."

Beth told him, "I'm not following what you're saying, Brock."

Not one to hesitate answering questions, the sheriff replied, "Apparently, the FTC has filed an antitrust suit against Amazon for using an algorithm to jack up prices on rival sites, as the Wall Street Journal first uncovered, and, a, Amazon destroyed some internal communications they weren't supposed to delete."

"Smells like a monopoly to me," Beth commented. "Clue me in on the details, Cowboy."

"The lawsuit alleges Amazon executives intentionally deleted these suspicious communications by using the Signal app which makes messages disappear. These actions covered more than two years of such communications from June of 2019 clean through to about the early part of 2022, even though the FTC told Amazon not to destroy them," the sheriff informed her.

Curious, Beth laid her needles down on her lap. She wondered, "What did Amazon have to say about these messages?"

Sheriff Daniels took a bite out of his aromatic cinnamon bagel full of plump raisins. He preferred the savory flavors of the versatile snack. Sarcastic, as was his nature, he answered her question, "Of course, Amazon called the FTC's assertions about their deleted communications both baseless and irresponsible, according to some dude named Tim Doyle, who's supposed to be an Amazon spokesman."

"Some companies under investigation for activities they should not be involved with always have explanations for their unscrupulous business practices," Beth said. She picked up her needles and returned to her task at hand.

"Ol' Doyle's excuses included Amazon voluntarily disclosed employee Signal use to the FTC. He stressed Amazon, in his word, painstakingly collected Signal conversations from its employees' phones. And, what's more, Doyle stated Amazon even allowed FTC staffers to inspect those communications even when they did not apply to the FTC's investigation," the sheriff responded. He scoffed as though he thought Doyle's remarks contemptuous. "If I had one small dollar for every time a company made such statements we'd be retired in Tahati, or some other exotic climate."

"Knit one. Purl one. That's how to make the cuff," Beth counted out loud so the sheriff heard her. She asked, "When did this FTC investigation of Amazon begin?"

"In September of 2023," Sheriff Daniels explained, "Seventeen states, and the FTC, sued Amazon and alleged the company abused its position in the e-commerce marketplace to inflate prices on its platform. Oh, and a, off it too. Amazon has also been accused by the FTC of overcharging sellers and suffocating competitors."

"Sounds to me like another situation of a large corporation violating federal and state antitrust statutes to produce bigger bucks," Beth said.

"The article I'm reading here says the FTC's suit is the most aggressive move to tame Amazon's market power the government has undertaken to date. Don't know if I should allow Cody to order anything more from Amazon or not?" Sheriff Daniels contemplated.

The sheriff's hesitation captured Beth's attention. She proposed, "Why not?"

"Says here this algorithm Amazon codenamed "Project Nessie" has been used by them to select products to allow the company to best predict where it can raise prices and have other sites do the same. To make matters worse, allegedly Amazon kept those elevated prices in place and generated more than a billion dollars in excess profits from using "Nessie," the sheriff told her. "So, as I see it, are Amazon's deals really all that good or are they just another means to turn a quick extra buck or two?"

Beth wondered, "Does the article you're reading tell how many times Amazon has used this "Nessie" algorithm of theirs?"

"According to the FTC, Amazon deployed "Nessie" at least eight times they know of between 2015 and 2019. Interestingly enough, this Doyle character claimed "Nessie" was, as he called her, "an old pricing algorithm grossly mischaracterized by the FTC." Doyle further insinuated "Nessie was used by Amazon to stop price matching that kept prices of goods so low they were not sustainable." I do not know about all that," the sheriff responded.

"Smells like hog manure to me," Beth quipped.

"Here's a little tidbit about good ole Jeffrey Preston Bezos," Sheriff Daniels began.

Eager to learn something unusual, Beth asked, "Amazon's ex-CEO in the flesh himself?"

"None other." The sheriff smiled. "This report I'm telling you about says Bezos instructed his executives to accept more junk ads because Amazon could earn more money through increased advertising despite the ads being major headaches for consumers. Greed exemplified. Some things never change, do they?"

Beth returned to her masterpiece. "Well, let's just hope Cody does get his game player. We'll decide on letting him order more from Amazon when the time comes."

The front door swung open. Cody entered the room. His scalp displayed matted strands of hair twisted around each other into clumps. Dirt covered him from the top of his cornsilk hair to the bottoms of his shoeless bare feet. A sizable goose egg decorated the middle of his forehead.

Sheriff Daniels immediately noticed the red flag. He said, "You boys were supposed to be playing football. Not Kill the Man with the Ball. Come over here and let me see your head, Sprout."

Cody moved in front of the sherifff as Beth stood up and said, "I'll get an ice bag."

"Boys will be boys, and this one is all boy," Sheriff Daniels confirmed. Noticing Cody's grass-stained shirt and dust-covered jeans, he said, "Beth, would you draw Cody a tub of bathwater while you're up? I don't believe he could drag anymore dirt in this house if he tried, unless he used a bulldozer." He turned back to Cody and said, "Now, tell me how you got that hematoma on your noggin. It's spongy and feels rubbery. It'll probably be multi-colored in a day or two."