Its hard when the 3 bookstores you used to go to close down over the course of 5 years
Which means if you reserve a new release, be prepared to wait. Even with 17 copies of a particular newish book, the wait for it from my local library system is in excess of eight months.
Wait eight months, or drop $11.95 at Amazon? Easy choice.
Except we wait 2 or 3 years for the damn thing to be written; a little delayed gratification until your hold comes up is such a minor, first-world problem.
Popular public libraries are most definitely better than the alternative. They can justify better funding and bigger budgets, improve physical facilities and move into new service areas.
I go there for my used books now and rarely can't find what I need.
Yes, Amazon has ethical/moral/UX/etc... issues. Be critical of its actual sins, not imagined ones.
By not being required to pay taxes for a very long time, causing all of your local retail possibilities without that state benefit to close.
I'm not talking about places where bookstores, electronics stores, etc... closed because of Amazon. I'm talking about the vast majority of places that never had bookstores, electronics stores, etc... in the first place.