I collaborate on a local blog for mamas in Portland, a famously liberal town. Today we posted a question from a reader, who wondered where it was good to shop for things like garbage bags, socks and paper. In her quest for information about sweatshop abuses and the like, she'd already discarded Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Fred Meyer, a local chain owned by The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR). She asked, "I'd prefer my money not going to line the pockets of Target or Fred Meyer execs," and wondered where her money should be going.A bunch of answers immediately sprung to mind, for me; I've recently been doing quite a lot of investigation into the employment and procurement practices at Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFMI) and learned that, not only was the company commendable for treating its employees exceptionally well, but also the CEO is one of the hardest-working, least-highly paid CEOs in the industry. He's humble and honest. I piped up in the thread to sing Whole Foods' praises -- but another mama responded that she preferred to avoid Whole
Foods; the company isn't "local." Same with Trader Joe's, owned by the German ALDI Group -- fair trade products are procured whenever possible, they treat their employees like kings and queens, but the money couldn't be going further away.Do we really care that much how far a portion of each dollar goes? After all, my best buddies and I eagerly snap up yarn died in women-owned cooperatives in Uruguay, and coffee grown by rainforest-friendly farmers in Panama. Is it about the distance the money travels? And if so, is any company really "good"?
I think the answer is both "no" and "yes." (How's that for Magic Eight Ball answers?) You can't really say any company bigger than a backyard garden keeps 100% of its dollars locally -- it might buy power from a company whose headquarters are across the earth, it might use shipping services by some uber-global logistics company, it might drive its products around in vehicles from Germany or Japan.
As a Toyota spokesperson said on NPR this morning, "we're not a Japanese company, we're a global company." So many of our companies can't really be pinned down any more, with major divisions that may, indeed, be local for me; but other divisions in far-flung nations. Your mobile phone's customer service could be in Topeka, or Mumbai; the cute little t-shirt that was sewn locally could have cotton grown in Uzbekistan, or Australia.
It's really hard to keep entirely local, to buy from any company that's "perfect." My approach is to check off three things from my good-company hitlist, and leave everything else up to the fates.
As a Toyota spokesperson said on NPR this morning, "we're not a Japanese company, we're a global company." So many of our companies can't really be pinned down any more, with major divisions that may, indeed, be local for me; but other divisions in far-flung nations. Your mobile phone's customer service could be in Topeka, or Mumbai; the cute little t-shirt that was sewn locally could have cotton grown in Uzbekistan, or Australia.
It's really hard to keep entirely local, to buy from any company that's "perfect." My approach is to check off three things from my good-company hitlist, and leave everything else up to the fates.
- A kinder, gentler CEO. My favorite companies have a CEO who is paid what seems to be a reasonable amount (i.e. in the very low seven figures) and appears to be honest, upfront, and kind in all business dealings -- a rare happenstance in the CEO world, for sure, but amazingly indicative of a kind company.
- Happy employees. At Whole Foods and Trader Joe's (and very few other more local businesses), I've noticed time and again that the employees are generally in great spirits, work quickly, are observant of customers' needs. There's no better indication of employees who are treated well than when the employees treat me well. Good benefits, good pay, and a positive work environment makes for a happy vibe all around. Employees gossiping in the aisles or behind the counter? It's a bad sign.
- Honest customer communications. Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) lost most of my customer dollar when I discovered the company likes to price its smaller-sized products at a lower per-unit cost than the bigger-sized products -- a great way to get hurried customers to pay more when they think they're paying less. Devious! All I want is for a company to treat me as if I am a friend, not an adversary -- it's a good indication that the company treats all its business partners with respect.
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So long peak oil, here comes peak uranium
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-08-2007 @ 10:19PM
Brockage said...
I'll just throw in three cheers for free choice. I'm strictly a Wal*Mart - Family Dollar kind of guy, but I love it that you can find the shopping experience you seek at Whole or TJ's, the next person can go to Ralphs's and I can go to Walmerica. Bless, bless the different stores we are all free to choose. Remember when Russia was the Soviet Union and they had one choice GUM and that was it. How drab.
3-18-2007 @ 2:38PM
TopCat said...
Although knowing where your produce is grown and knowing where the profits go is good. This isn't always possible. I'm against sweatshops myself and like to shop ethically, but I find it so hard to know where to find things sometimes.
TC
http://ethicalshopping.blogspot.com