54 Buy Local Craze Did You Buy It?
b"Today I want to talk about these buy local programs. It\\u2019s a chance to talk about the difference between good and bad economics, and feel good in reality.\\n\\n\\n\\nWhile everyone screams 'Buy Local', businesses fail. Business needs a path not a rhyme.\\n\\nWhat do I mean by that? First of all: Yes, there are some things that can be good about buy local programs, but they mostly feel good. They\\u2019re not sustainable. I\\u2019ll get to all of these, but there are some good things and some bad things, and there are some ways to make some of it work, but not if it\\u2019s done the wrong way. I\\n\\nFirst of all, let\\u2019s start out with a basic premise. Let\\u2019s say the program is out there saying you should buy locally. Well, somebody\\u2019s telling you to buy locally because it is good, as compared to say, buy it on Amazon, have it delivered to your home, etc., and save $10 or save x%. When is it good, and when is it bad? First of all, just the idea of buying locally, while it sounds good, can you imagine walking down the street and you\\u2019re passing by a shop, and you really like the guy and you like his shop, so you walk in and say: \\u201cHere\\u2019s a $5 bill. I just really like your shop.\\u201d You walk out again, and go on. Isn\\u2019t that the same as buying local for the wrong reason?\\n\\nBefore I go on to some of the other parts: Yes, there can be some very good reasons, and one of them happens to be in the food area. Some things with locally-grown food\\u2026 Forget the idea of just supporting the farmers for the sake of supporting the farmers, but think of the idea of what you\\u2019re really getting, because it\\u2019s the value, the perceived value of what you receive; fresh, locally-grown goods. Those tomatoes that are either locally grown or hydroponically grown. Yes, they can be grown all winter; they are in northwest and southern British Columbia. They\\u2019re grown in large green houses, hydroponically, so you\\u2019re getting something that is just about ripe as it pulled from the vine. I grow tomatoes and have grown tomatoes in my dinette, hydroponically. They grow like crazy and they taste great, so that makes sense. It might not make sense the way I do it, but it makes sense that it can be done commercially, and it is. Getting fresh things like that, what is the difference? They have more value because they taste better, they\\u2019re fresher. There is a true and perceived value difference.\\n\\nOn the other side of it, where I live right now, the Redmond farmers market has things, but the prices are actually higher by the \\u201clocally-grown farmers\\u201d than they are in a grocery store, and in many cases, the local farmers, because of where we are in Washington, are supplying the grocery store, too. In essence, you\\u2019re just paying more for the idea of supporting the farmer. That not only doesn\\u2019t make good sense when that happens, but it doesn\\u2019t really feel like the farmer is reciprocating in that buy local program of treating you right. At the same time, those same farmers, I can go down to Kent, Washington, and they\\u2019re selling them for about a quarter of the price that they sell them at the Redmond farmers market. Now, they\\u2019re not worth driving that far, but it\\u2019s just kind of interesting. The local farmer, which is just a few miles away is selling them based on the price as much as he can get out of whichever group he gets them, and depending on what neighborhood you live.\\n\\nWhat about the local stores and shops? If you\\u2019re walking into a local store or shop, there should be some perceived or added value for you to go there. Keep in mind that if there isn\\u2019t something there, what are you doing? You\\u2019re really just contributing. That sounds good and sounds nice, and they have lots of different reasons that they say you should do it. Some of it is that if you\\u2019re buying locally, there\\u2019s more likelihood that they\\u2019re going to turn around (than a big chain store), that they\\u2019re going to spend their money that they receive, locally, so in a sense it does stimulate the economy."