Dear Amazon: Your invitation to communities to court you for your second headquarters — HQ2 — has caused a stir. Governments are prostrating themselves before you for the prospect of up to 50,000 jobs and up to $5 billion in investment on your part.

As of Monday, 238 had expressed their esteem and admiration, offering generous inducements for your consideration. New Jersey held nothing back with a munificent package of $7 billion in potential credits against state and city taxes. Stonecrest, Ga., proposes to build a new city, named Amazon, and anoint CEO Jeff Bezos mayor for life. Other CEOs would be green with envy.

Some squabbling among the suitors has ensued. New Hampshire, for one, cast aspersions on rival Boston with its proposal. “When you leave your tiny $4,000-a-month apartment only to sit in two hours of traffic trying to make your way to an overburdened airport, you’ll be wishing you were in New Hampshire,’’ it said. But the Granite State offered no financial inducements, with Gov. Chris Sununu saying, “We don’t play in the game of giving massive tax breaks … Other states had to do that because they have massive taxes.’’ Touche!

It must seem flattering, Amazon, but in case you decide to depart from the official suitor list, we ask you to direct your gaze away from the Upper Valley.

For one thing, the region is already uneasy about one big development proposal: a Utah visionary’s dream — perhaps just a well-funded fantasy — to build a utopian community in towns surrounding the Joseph Smith birth site in Royalton. Beyond that, we have reservations that begin with basic etiquette, that is, fairness. Surely Amazon could pay its fair share of taxes as it envelops more of the economy, even though for some years it wasn’t proficient at collecting state sales taxes — granting online transactions an edge. Tax breaks are corporate handouts, defensible only in rare circumstances. When all is said and done, local taxpayers most often don’t come out ahead.

Also, as we are in a small region once dotted with local stores, we aren’t big fans of retail disruption. We value local shopkeepers and salespeople who know their wares. The blame isn’t all yours, of course, but you now transact about 5 percent of the nation’s retail sales, while brick and mortar stores are slumping. As for 50,000 workers, we’ve read in The New York Times and elsewhere about a hyper-competitive — some call it crushingly competitive — work culture in your corporate offices, and about workers being driven to work harder and faster in your warehouses.

We’re not exactly sure what you stand for — efficiency and profits, of course — but what about other values? Your company operates unseen, mostly, with wondrous efficiency. Can some person say on your behalf how communities are improved when workers are treated like machines and local retail is squashed? Or does Alexa, the voice assistant, do all the speaking for you?

Regardless, an impressive 238 communities are putting out the red carpet. At the end of the carpet, in most cases, a bag of cash awaits. Just take it, Amazon, and leave us to our own devices.