Buy Nothing Day!

[Lauren]

Happy Buy Nothing Day! Please keep this holiday going by buying absolutely NOTHING today...or this weekend for that matter...short of food. Let's go anti-capitalism!

[formerly known as hf]

weehee for anti-corporatism!

I'm glad I'm not the only one to be doing this on the forum

For all the hardcores, there's buy nothing christmas, which is what I've done for the past three years - I usually donate to a charity (of their choice) instead...

[Lauren]

I think I just fell in love with you. *hugskisses*

[Stan]

I'm not anti-corporation and I'm definitely not anti-capitalism, but I do get distressed by the extreme "need" in the American society to buy elaborate and unneccesary gifts...especially for their kids. What does the birth of Christ have to do with buying someone a TV/DVD combo?

On that note, every year my wife's family selects a name from a hat and buys that person a gift (under $25). Last year my wife and I proposed that it would be better for the family to choose a charity to give to instead of buying each other a gift card to a hardware store or department store or wasting money on a fishing rod or something else absurd that we could buy for ourselves. It would amount to a good $400 or $500 in total. To our shock almost everyone disagreed with the idea . In fact, yesterday during Thanksgiving dinner my wife's uncle actually teased her about that "dumb idea" she last year. It took every ounce of energy I had to swallow that one. What is the heck is wrong with people?

[Agar]

I'm glad to see all of you participating. I've got my own "Buy Nothing" T-shirt, I expect you all bought yours long before me. If anyone is interested, I can post the websitie for the online store.

[SekoETC]

Shouldn't you rather make one yourself? Buying buy nothing merchandice...

[Agar]

I was poking fun.

I don't actually care one way or the other. Have fun, whatever you do! ... or don't do!

[Stan]

I'm going to start my own non-conformist club. If you want to join, let me know. But, everyone MUST be non-conformists.

[Pie]

ILE JOIN!!!!

[Sunni Daez]

I shopped for several hours, but, I only bought 1 pair of pants, for myself, as the size I wear, is difficult to find...I found a pair, so I bought them.. otherwise...well, hours later, several stores...I bought but 1 pair of pants for selfish reasons.

[nitefyre]

Although I haven't bought anything nor intend to, the idea of such a holiday is fundamentally flawed. If sales aren't made this time of the year, companies will be hard pressed to maintain labor budgets. And if the labor budget goes down, people either earn less or nothing at all, if there's cut backs.

So, then, you're really going to need that charity. If you want to really make a point in this sense, go the alternative route by buying stuff from people who have a harder time making it moneywise. (i.e. be a patron of your local arts, etc)

[Agar]

I'm going to start my own non-conformist club. If you want to join, let me know. But, everyone MUST be non-conformists.

I'm only joining if everyone else is.

[formerly known as hf]

Although I haven't bought anything nor intend to, the idea of such a holiday is fundamentally flawed. If sales aren't made this time of the year, companies will be hard pressed to maintain labor budgets. And if the labor budget goes down, people either earn less or nothing at all, if there's cut backs.

So, then, you're really going to need that charity. If you want to really make a point in this sense, go the alternative route by buying stuff from people who have a harder time making it moneywise. (i.e. be a patron of your local arts, etc)

You've hit it on the nail dude
the problem is, is that it is very difficult to consume along those lines. Buying fair trade, buying local produce, buying from local, independent retailers is becommming more and more difficult...

[Savanik]

Although I haven't bought anything nor intend to, the idea of such a holiday is fundamentally flawed. If sales aren't made this time of the year, companies will be hard pressed to maintain labor budgets. And if the labor budget goes down, people either earn less or nothing at all, if there's cut backs.

So, then, you're really going to need that charity. If you want to really make a point in this sense, go the alternative route by buying stuff from people who have a harder time making it moneywise. (i.e. be a patron of your local arts, etc)

You've hit it on the nail dude
the problem is, is that it is very difficult to consume along those lines. Buying fair trade, buying local produce, buying from local, independent retailers is becommming more and more difficult...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'fair trade'. Do you mean having a wide variety of goods available from different companies?

I'll agree with you on local produce - it is harder to buy from small farmers these days. But then, most of the food we have today is cleaner, better quality, and cheaper, so... I do grow a bit of my own stuff in the back yard, but it's stuff that's just absolutely best fresh - herbs and such.

As far as local, independant retailers, though - well, as the price of shipping has come down, small retailers have gone further afield. Witness Ebay, where things like the XBox 360 go for market value of $1000 due to scarcity, rather than the MSRP of $399.

I just don't get how Gamestop can't charge more than $399 for the things, or they're 'price gouging' - but individuals can go online and sell them for $1100 a pop. Makes me wish I'd gotten in on it.

Sav

[formerly known as hf]

fair trade:
http://www.fairtrade.net/
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
www.maketradefair.com
http://www.transfairusa.org/content/support/
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/

Fair trade is generally a labelling system. Products with the 'fair trade' label provide a guarnatee that the producers in poorer countries get a 'fair' price for what they grow - it ensures that more of the money you spend goes to the farmers, rather than large corporations.

This usually works by supporting co-operatives. Groups of land-owning farmers pool their produce, and deal directly with the distributors. Rather than the usual case where a large trans-national corporation own the land and pay people pittance to work upon it.

It's a far from perfect system at the moment, it's existed in the UK for about five years now, and is a common sight in most supermarkets, but here are still problems (such as the debate over what % of a product should be fair trade before it gets a label, and what measures there are in place to ensure that fair trade practices are upheld)


You might find that it is often cheaper to buy local produce where the facilities exist. In the UK, a common and growing phenomenon in cities are 'farmer's markets' where local famers bring their produce into the city centre - they can get a better price selling direct to the customer, and the customer usually finds that the price is cheaper.
You're more likely to get a better quality, as much of the fuit and vegetable produce that is stocked in supermarkets is selected for visual appearance - no blemishes, no odd shapes, no small ones. When, in fact, smaller fruits are more likely to have a more intense flavour. Much like you probably find with your (organic ? ) back-yard produce


As for eBay - I think it's a wonderful thing in many ways. eBay is very good for many things, I use it regularly. It can provide popular things usually at much cheaper prices than high street retailers. In the case of rareities, the size of eBay gives a greater chance that you will locate it there than in, say, your local record store. But, you will pay a premium on eBay due to the bidding nature, given that it is open to more people.
I doubt eBay has much of a detrimental effect on local business, except maybe specialist stores.