don't buy your christmas ornaments at walmart!

[Trek420]

we're happy to hear from you, Nancy.

Shefly, it's not just walmart. but Walmart is a pretty big nasty blight upon our country. all those people buying all that shoddy stuff which is being sold by employees earning low wages.
And the poor folks like Nancy who have no choice but to shop there.

Makes me appreciate where I live. Sure there are chains but also a thriving downtown and small business. Even local book shops!

The city I live in does a lot to keep the downtown thriving including free parking, farmer markets, zuchini festival even a small (by Bay Area standards) Pride day.

Often I'll shop downtown first before hitting the malls.

Also there are good deals online. Right now SierraTradingpost keeps having sales daily. 20% off select brands each day (moving comfort today! and I think Woolrich) + if your order's over 70 sumthin you can get more off using the catalog code 2223.

Just sayin' there are ways to get low cost and shop ethical independent companies.

[Tuckervill]

People who live on the coasts don't understand how much they have available to them, that is not available in flyover country.

I visited Corvallis, OR this summer. It's about the same size as my town. It has 3 bike shops. We have none. That's just one example.

For the first time this year I saw a vendor at the farmer's market (very, very small market, and they're all selling mostly tomatoes and cucumbers) who advertised organic produce. Their price was double. The nearest whole foods place is 30 miles from me in another city.

If you have the kind of town that Trek describes, DO cherish it, because you are lucky. I bought my house here 3 blocks from downtown, just hoping that gas prices and other economic factors will drive that kind of environment, but so far, not.

Karen

Karen

[Mr. Bloom]

To reiterate (in a different way) what others have said with the very harsh, and verbose, business perspective.

Wal-Mart starts by identifying what people will buy and what price they will pay. From that point, their purchasing department works backwards to identify what is available to meet that profile.

Wal-Mart is not in the business of employing underage workers in asian countries. They are in the business of meeting demand for what consumers (that is, "us" - sans much of present company.... ) want. They do that through manufacturers who Wal-mart attempts to screen...sometimes unsuccessfully.

If we don't buy, they don't procure, etc.

Despite my (I'm sorry) pretentious (in hindsight) Waterford post (oops, didn't mean to be pretentious...), we did buy three packs of cheap walmart ornaments a couple weeks ago to replace the very time consuming practice of tying a ribbon to each branch as we have in years past.

Using us as an example, if the $3 ornaments had cost $30, then we would have used alternatives. BUT, the $3 ornaments were available and for $9, we saved hours of 'work' on a year that we didn't have time to dress the tree as we normally would.

So, let's not blame Wal-Mart. As many have said, it is about what WE purchase. If Wal-Mart doesn't do it, someone else will...

Years ago, a local TV station cancelled their news program and fired all the news staff. The newspaper picked up on this with "shame on you, how could you do that" coverage directed at the station owners. It was interesting to hear what the owner said:

• we tried for years to make news work
• it cost us a lot of money
• but we were selling something that the consumers didn't want to buy
• so, we're not going to sell it anymore
• if you don't like what we did, blame it on the people who didn't watch...

Hmmm, the owner had a point...

Sorry for being verbose...

[Trek420]

People who live on the coasts don't understand how much they have available to them, that is not available in flyover country.

...... I bought my house here 3 blocks from downtown, just hoping that gas prices and other economic factors will drive that kind of environment, but so far, not.

Karen

But flyover country (or bike through country ) had downtowns, had community, had small business .... can again.

We are seeing here a subtle "implosion" as everything from vacant lots to abandoned buildings near transit centers and downtown is being renovated. Other cities can do that too. Hope yours does.

When I got dumped and had to find a home PDQ I looked near public transportation. I could have bought a bigger better newer place for less....in Modesto, Stockton, Hercules and spent my days in the car.

This place has been like having another car for me, I can take the bus, BART, Amtrack, or bike all in easy distance.

Forget where I read that cycling one errand a month or was that a week? Anyway it saves you around $1500 a year.

Bless my tiny decrepit but handy to transit home. When the price of gas skyrocketed woah doggies I was thankful to be here.

[Kitsune06]

I'd like to point out that though we'd all like to "pay a little extra" to support local artisans, and despite the fact that we do see our small towns implode , small businesses going under because unless they either cater to a very specific market or have very unique goods, they're sol in the shadow of Wal-Mart and the Fred Meyer/Albertsons conglomerate (they own more than that but I digress) for those reasons, we'd like to "pay a little extra" but it's kind of presumptuous to assume that we *all* can, or to think that it's because of *those* people who shop *there* that we lose small businesses. I know I'm not alone in saying that, honestly, my family back in WI is pretty poor. There are a lot of things they could simply not afford if they needed to go to local shops. Simple things. Clothes, food, etc etc. I say that *I* don't buy at wal-mart, but honestly, everywhere we go, we will be buying things made in china or pakistan by the lowest bidder.

the circle of blame goes 'round and 'round, but if we think of the time when small towns and businesses existed, travel and trade between countries was dramatically less, the 'very poor' did much of their own farming and worked insane amounts of hours to keep their families fed (as they do now) most people owned their homes and it just wasn't feasible to go 15-20 miles to the nearest big town to the big stores except once in a rare while as a treat.

With the growth of the american dream, where we all want all the good things in life that everyone else has, how can we tell people "No, you don't deserve xyz, you don't make enough"? We can't. Thus trade with countries that will make it for $.03 for sale in the States for $3.00 as opposed to a domestic company's price of $10.00 enables both the american dream of consumerism and the business of another country to flourish.

To change that would be just a monumental task.

[SheFly]

So, last night I went into my LOCAL Paper Store (yes, it is a chain, but a fairly regional one). This store sells mostly Hallmark products, as well as some other things like Yankee Candle, Vera Bradley, etc.

I needed ornaments and gift wrapping. I found NOTHING that didn't say Made in China. So, as much as I want to support my LOCAL store (where the same people have been working for years), I still am faced with products made in China.

My point - it's not just Wal-Mart.

SheFly

[KnottedYet]

We used to get roll-ends of newsprint from the city newspaper and paint or draw on it to make wrapping paper. We made a lot of our ornaments. Painted and drew our own holiday cards.

Now that SKnot is older, we haven't been doing that. I think maybe he and I should start that again. There's a family tradition that I don't want to fade away.

[Tuckervill]

When I got dumped and had to find a home PDQ I looked near public transportation. I could have bought a bigger better newer place for less....in Modesto, Stockton, Hercules and spent my days in the car.

This place has been like having another car for me, I can take the bus, BART, Amtrack, or bike all in easy distance.

We don't have public transportation.

Karen