Currently, Kristin works in Operations and Human Resources on a tiny island in the middle of the sea. In previous lives, she’s been a cocktail server, bartender and personal assistant to an extremely wealthy Republican. Her favorite activities are snacking and napping. Should she be forced to be awake she finds writing, reading, tormenting her cat and consuming tequila to also be enjoyable. (Currently, tequila is out of the question due to a growing fetus, so she’s substituted Ben &Jerry's.) Since planning on bringing a child into existence, it stands to reason that she ponders the current state of the world and the various persons that live in it. Maybe if she can figure out why we do what we do, she can figure out how to be a better parent. Or not.
The Guilt of the Warehouse Superstore
By Kristin Lee Nichols
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
As the main grocery consumer in my household, it is a weekly – if not daily – challenge to find the most economic and healthy consumables. There’s Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) and the local Farmer’s Market. While my beloved Farmer’s Market is an affordable foodie’s paradise, they’re lacking in availability and convenience. After that, there’s always a (generic)grocery store.
But then, one sunny afternoon, I found the golden fleece of produce: Perfect, pesticide-free strawberries. And I bought them, and the guilt began. I found them at a warehouse superstore.
When the warehouse superstore was originally conceived, the goal was to provide for small business owners. Over the years it evolved so that average consumers go there for their everyday needs, making small “mom and pop” shops obsolete. This caused a hit in the pocket books of the grocery chains that, back in the day, were the megalith superstores that beat down the “mom and pop” stores.
Distribution runs downhill. Profits trickle from pocket-to-pocket making the world of consumerism what it is today. All those pockets need a penny or two to survive, and those pennies add up to a mother purchasing milk for her kid. So, people cry: “Cut out the middleman!” “Yay to warehouse superstore for cutting out the middleman!” But what type of sacrifice and corruption is needed to complete this task?
Corruption is never more apparent then on the small island which I reside. Islands are interesting; they’re like Petri dishes for societal experiments. Experiments like the Jones Act, which specifies that only two companies are allowed to bring products from the mainland USA to the island. These two companies, given their duopoly, set their own regulations on rates for bringing in product to the island.
And naturally the countries set special rates for giant corporations that are not extended to smaller businesses who have to use this duopoly. The small businesses are therefore forced to add in that extra nickel or dime for shipping into the cost of their product. This is passed to the “mom and pop” shop, which is passed to the consumer. The consumer then figures that it’s silly to buy from a small shop when they could buy from the warehouse superstore where the price is cheaper in bulk. This proves that the warehouse superstore is doing good business and that the duopoly should keep those special rates for big corporations. Ultimately this forces the smaller businesses to find ways to cut that nickel or dime to compete, which forces something to give. That something is usually an employee’s job. That is a guilt that is hard to live with.
It’s funny that this much guilt happens because of a strawberry, because I couldn’t get up in time to go to the Farmer’s Market to pick up a piece of fruit that was grown from a local farm somewhere on the island. So maybe next Saturday I’ll set my iPhone alarm so I can wake up in time, breaking my dependence on large corporations. Or am I?