Where we shop says a lot about who we are. It tells people about our attitudes and values in the things we buy and who we buy from. Although I can’t get all worked up about ‘sweatshops’ in other countries … I try not to patronize the domestic equivalent…. Walmart.
In fact, there is usually a choice in where you can spend your dollars and that choice affects your community and beyond.
I have always tended to buy from UNION shops if I could… however, I would trade with non-union folks IF I believed that the employees were well treated and shared at some level with the success of the business. I observed that Costco’s people work hard, but they pay and seem to treat their people well… they appear to be fair and the usual grumbling seems minor. As one union friend of mine told me… ‘there’s nothing we can offer them to join ( the employees usually recieve higher salaries and benefits when they become unionized).’
San Luis Obispo, California just recieved it’s first ‘box store’ and listening to the local politicos, you would have thought that the world was going to end. It’s ironic that the city’s coffers will be stuffed with the unanticipated gains from the store they fought so hard to keep out. As I mentioned, the benefits to the city are significant as well as to the consumer.
Looking back, I can remember that only a few years ago, it seemed like shopping locally was really adversive. When you walked in and asked a local merchant, ‘how much he was selling his lamp for?’… he would typically respond by asking,”well…. how much do you have?” Times have changed and with greater choices come lower prices.
The car on the left is obviously NOT mine but from a post by someone proud of their visit to Costco… obviously a thrifty soul as he is driving the vehicle featured in the last ‘Pink Panther’ movie… I think this …er…ah… car is said to be priced around $16,000. Come to think of it, I think something like this ‘auto’ was in the last Austin Powers flick, too?
I my neverending quest to provide reading material, here are a couple of links to recent articles on Arkansas-based Walmart that might just give you a chance to pause:
Walmart to cap wages & Add part timers
I guess I’d rather put a couple of nickles into someone’s pocket knowing that they’re making a happy living… and yes, I enjoy the discount, too!
Roger Freberg
I mean they are already picking on my candidate Fat Bastard saying he was caught wearing a dress… it’s a kilt for God’s sake! But I am sure the slimers won’t stop at this… they’ll even look into the fact that he has many lady friends.
Most Westerners have heard very little about the ancient people referred to as the Kurds. Probably , if you watched an old ‘Sinbad the Sailor” movie with Douglas Fairbanks you might remember the heroine referring to her homeland in the Kurdish Hills… but that — if anything — is all most people know.
The Kurds in iraq have been an autonomus democracy for 10 years. Christianity has been around since the Byzantine era:
There really are two kinds of people in this world: those who enjoy the night and folks who love the mornings…. I am one of those who love to wake up to the smell of early morning coffee and watch the sunrise bring new hope to the day.