"Real People"

[rowyn]

I enjoy buying things from individuals more than from large companies. When I go to a crafter's fair or a farmer's market, I'm much more likely to get things I don't need, or to buy expensive versions of things I consume (like pricey foods), than I am from Walmart or Costco. In the last year or so I've bought more books from self-published authors than from traditional presses. Almost all the art I've purchased, be it prints or originals, was either bought direct from the artist or through a convention art show.

Part of this is because it feels good to support people I know, people with a face. Real people.

Real people?

That thought bugs me. Are the people who work at WalMart not real? Am I not a real person because I work for a large company? Teenage Bank will really collapse without customers, just as surely as any sole-proprietorship would. Are Costco's stockholders not real people? Are the people who work in India or China or any other country manufacturing goods not real people? Are they not worthy of jobs and support? Why is that a person who runs her own business making her own goods is "real", but when thousands of people work together to form a corporation, they become fake?

I know some of the arguments here. Some people feel that the profits a large corporation makes go to people who are wealthy already, who don't need the money. (And yet without those corporations, where would all those employees work?) Wages in developing nations are poor and conditions are bad, and perhaps we shouldn't support companies who treat their workers in such a fashion. (But will wages magically rise and treatment improve when there's even less demand for those employees?)

I don't plan to change my spending habits; there's a quirkiness to products that aren't mass-produced that I also like, after all. But I want to remember that large businesses are also made of people. People with faces. People just as deserving of a livelihood.

Real people.

Comments

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it has something to do with Dunbar's number.

[ankewehner.livejournal.com]

My thoughts went into that direction, too. When you buy from a creator directly, you know who's getting the money, so there's sort of a direct relationship; when you buy from a company, not so much.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

There are more dimensions to the story than that, as I am sure you know.

One dimension is job security

Individuals in business for themselves are very vulnerable. Their business can be ruined by a car accident, catching Lyme disease from a tick in the high grass at a fair, a bad batch of ink, or what have you. The more you buy from them, the more cushion they have against bad luck.

People who work at Walmart are somewhat less vulnerable. A serious life problem might or might not cost them their job, but it certainly won't destroy the job itself. No matter how much you buy from Walmart, you're not changing their policies towards workers losing their jobs from life crises, and you're only changing Walmart's viability by a negligible amount. So you're helping less than buying from an individual.

Another dimension is support for your communities.

When you buy from an individual, chances are that it's an individual in one of your communities. Perhaps the physical one, as when you buy crepes and almond butter at the local farmer's market. Perhaps a fandom community, as when you buy my books. But it's from someone in a region that you probably care about.

When you buy from the local Walmart, that effect is diluted. Certainly some fraction of the money goes to the people who work there. Another fraction goes to Walmart's suppliers, who are all over the place. Another fraction goes to Walmart's shareholders and national organization and such, also all over the place.

So, all other things being equal -- and they're not -- who do you want to get the benefit of your commerce? Your friends and neighbors, or people all over?

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I was just going to make point two, but Sythyry has made the point already, quite elegantly!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

A third dimension is how much livelihood you are emitting per dollar spent.

When you buy from an individual, the whole of your post-tax purchase goes to that individual's business. If they've got a sensible business model (not a trivial concern), a significant amount of that will go to them.

When you buy from a Walmart ... I don't know for sure, but I would venture that only a tiny fraction of your purchase contributes to the livelihoods of the people who work there. Presumably a lot of it will get to the livelihoods of people somewhere, like Walmart's advertising department, and the factories who supply Walmart, and so on, and yes, those are certainly people too.

I suspect that, in the end, nearly all of the money you spend will get spent again and thereby contribute to someone's livelihood. But if you want to have a measurable effect, go for the individual.

A fourth dimension -- and that's plenty -- is joy.

When you buy from an individual crafter at a fair or online shop or something, they know you're buying from them, and have picked them out. I've been behind sales tables often enough to know that it's a distinct happiness to make a sale. Now, with specialty books, sales are scarce, and with crepes at a farmer's market, sales are pretty constant, but I daresay that even the crepe-guy I bought from this morning got some personal happiness from a day of solid sales.

I don't think there's a comparable joy for Walmart employees. Not that it
never happens, but I daresay the people who find it mind-numbing outnumber the
people find it exhilarating (This is unfortunate. Everyone deserves joy in
their work, as well as a livelihood. (But, if it is anyone's responsibility
to provide joy, it's probably Walmart's. (And perhaps the business world
would be improved greatly if businesses thought it was incumbent upon them to
provide joy to their employees. (And some few do. (And some few of those do
it well.)))))

So if you want to increase the joy in the world with your purchases, individuals are the way to go there.

Having said that, I often buy at big box stores, especially for things I can't
get from individuals, or don't want to pay specialty prices for. I think
that using your money get stuff you need is a sensible and sufficient use of
your money. Worrying about secondary and tertiary effects isn't always
necessary.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I've been kind of souring on Farmer's Markets. A lot of the stuff there is really expensive and not... good.

I don't think I really have an opinion on which is more ethical; I do sort of roll my eyes internally when people buy from one or the other on those sort of grounds. It just kind of seems like cheating, and not even cheating for yourself, but for someone who maybe wouldn't appreciate it I guess? I probably end up doing it myself sometimes anyway though; by rationalization if nothing else.

[sebkha.livejournal.com]

I don't think of organizations as people at all. They're alien intelligences that just happen to live in the same ecosystem as us.

Even when they aren't outright amoral (e.g. charitable foundations) their interactions with you are essentially a hollow mask of CRM procedures simulating human care.

Real people are of course constituents of any corporation, but the mind of that entity isn't any one real person, not even that of its notional leader. That person just administers the entity's thought processes, guided by established procedure, consensus, regulation, abstracted shareholder interest, and so forth.

An organization can be damaged, but it feels no pain.