The main idea is to present the feelings the person had before amazon became what it is today. I had my own misgivings about ordering on line until I realized that I really had no choice. I live in a small community of about 800 people. There is a Walmart in the next town over (which has a population of 5000), but I'm not fond of what they did to small businesses.
So the choice was shop at a place I don't like or order through the mail. I didn't really make up my mind until about 2 years ago. Then it was fine.
The author of what you quoted had many of the same feelings. It's a gamble putting money where the system can be broken into and that is what this is all about -- fear of trying something you don't trust.
