Apr 11th 2012 08:01 am Basic philosophy
Steve from Royal Oak kicked off a great conversation yesterday, reminding me that it isn’t only independent bookstores that can be superior retail experiences. As he said, it could be a restaurant or a hardware store or a grocer. Of course, I agree. By praising the independent bookstore, I didn’t intend to exclude others. In fact, I think we all should pledge to support good local businesses when they are an option. We needn’t do it in a spirit of defiance or hostility but in simple recognition of the fact they are our hard-working neighbors, and they need us. I try to remember this, but I, for one, am going to try harder.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
41 Responses to “Basic philosophy”
Mindy on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:16 am #
I was out yesterday with a delightful [not] extended day with my friendly physician and I missed the thread. Read it just now to catch up, Jimmy, and I agree completely! Support the locals, they’re your neighbors and they’re trying hard. But the subject of “local” and “smaller” businesses made me grin this morning when I heard that the police in a nearby locality busted a brothel yesterday. [Big Mindy grin here!] Was that a local business being supported?
I couldn’t resist that, sorry. Retro mi Sarcasticus.
And today’s retro…well, another case of Jimmy peeking. Someone in my family, and I won’t name names, tried exactly that same line of thought/tactic last year to divert attention from a Honey-Do job around the house. It didn’t work then, either, but keep peeking Jimmy, I love the insights!
Mark on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:26 am #
What about our neighbors and family members that work at the big boxes and chain resturants? Are their jobs any less important? Should they be “let go” because they don’t work at a Mom & Pop business?
billinbossier on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:30 am #
A friend of mine, who owned a small store in a small town in SE Texas once told me, “If you don’t support your local businesses, when you need them, they won’t be there.” I have always tried to remember that.
Funny too, that Steve, and today you, should mention hardware stores. One of my Dad’s favorite past times was to go into a local hardware store, especially in a small town, and just look around. He passed that passion on to me. We have a few of those in this area, and I love all of them.
Crickett on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:34 am #
Mark, I think there is enough business to go around for both the small businesses and the big ones. The idea here is to not give all of our business to the big ones and ignore the little ones.
I borrowed this from Facebook, and I think it’s perfect.
When you buy from a small mom and pop business, you are not helping a CEO purchase a third vacation home.
You are helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get a team jersey, a mom or dad put food on the table, a family pay a mortgage, or a student pay for college.
Our customers are our shareholders, and they are the ones we strive to make happy.
bruce on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:41 am #
Switching from the large, multi-national beer brands to helping your local brewer start and expand a business is a great way to “go local.” The beer is much better, too.
John in Virginia on 11 Apr 2012 at 9:52 am #
There are good points for the big box stores as well as the small Mom & Pop operations and I really wouldn’t want to see either one win out. Actually, as long as the small guys are in operation the Bigs will keep prices down somewhat. Imagine what would happen if only Brand X and Store Y were in business? There would lie the lower prices since competition would be dead.
Bruce? Nothing will beat Olympia, Coors, New Zealand Steinlager and PBR dark draft. Of course, I don’t drink beer anymore so what do I know? I have just had no luck at all with the local micro-breweries…and I hated Jax and Dixie [beer, not the philosophy].
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 11 Apr 2012 at 10:28 am #
Today’s A&J, in the paper or click the Janis bookend above: I didn’t get it first, because I didn’t see anything in the third panel. Went back and realized it contained Arlo’s reply. Opportunity for women to say, “How like a man!”, but it depends on your women and men. I’ve known one-word answerers of both genders.
Blinky the Wonder Wombat on 11 Apr 2012 at 10:51 am #
Today’s retro strip dovetails well with a phrase I heard the first time this weekend. When my children hear someone griping about a trivial issue, they respond with “That’s a real First World problem”. Apparently this is a meme among college kids and there is even a website devoted to it (http://first-world-problems.com/ ) but I still thought it really puts what we consider important into the proper prospective.
Kevin Carson on 11 Apr 2012 at 11:16 am #
Mark: An awful lot of people were let go from Main Street businesses when the big boxes drove them out. The idea is for Main Street jobs to replace big box jobs, not for the jobs to just go away. By definition, most people in any system depend at any given time on the kinds of jobs the system generates; does that mean the system should never change? Most people in the USSR were employed by state-owned industry. Our “state-owned industry” in the USSA is giant, state-subsidized and state-protected corporations. And our bureaucratic ruling class is the MBAs.
John in NY on 11 Apr 2012 at 1:00 pm #
Amen Kevin. But still, we should all drink more beer.
To Blinky’s mention of the First World meme it’s funny that as you begin to identify what you and your friends and griping about as First World problems how minor those complaints begin to look. Stupid DVR didn’t record NCIS. FWP. Computer crashed and lost all my files. FWP.
But again. We should just follow Bruce’s advice and drink more beer.
Remember Sam Walton was once a small town shop owner.
Boise Ed on 11 Apr 2012 at 1:47 pm #
Yesterday, Dave in MA said “Makes me wish the “buy this” link was still showing up each day.” If you go to http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2012/04/10, they have a “Get This … Print” link. I have no idea how much (if at all) that helps JJ, but there it is. If it runs counter to today’s “Buy Local” idea, then forget this link. Maybe JJ could chime in about that, unless that would get him in hot water with GoComics.
Dave in MA on 11 Apr 2012 at 2:26 pm #
Boise Ed, Yes, a similar link used to appear here on arloandjanis.com for JJ’s retro strips. That’s the one I’m lamenting the loss of for strips like the one with the meeting being over and the blanket on Arlo’s shoulders that I would LOVE to purchase on a mug or a framed print of, etc.
John in NY, Yes, Sam Walton was once a small town shop owner. He had ambition and grew his business by being shrewd enough to cater to those with lower incomes by offering the same quality goods and brand names that other stores sell, but selling them for less. For that, he is now publicly derided as being greedy, which he most definitely is not. The thing is, you can’t keep prices low without doing three things. #1, buy in large quantities. Walmart and SAM’s Clubs both do this. #2, keep expenses down (like low payroll expenses, oh wait, that gets ridiculed as paying your employees too little) which both Walmart and SAM’s Clubs do within legally set limits that they are legally allowed to work within. #3, ignore the fact that other stores are selling the same item for a much higher price because they feel they can get away with it, or they don’t have the buying power to buy large enough quantities (which gets him ridiculed for being greedy, again, which he is not). Funny how you avoid the greed of selling at a higher price even though you can, and that gets you branded as greedy.
And before someone starts telling me how everything that Walmart sells is made in factories full of underage children being worked to death in poor conditions, which some friends of mine insists is a label that applies to every single item being sold at Walmart and SAM’s Clubs, keep in mind that these are major brand names, same exact model numbers you can find at all the other stores. That TV set for $400 is identical to the one down the street at Best Buy for $800. Same brand, same model number, same manufacturing location. If it’s ok for Best Buy to sell it, you can’t have it both ways, so it must be ok for Walmart and SAM’s to sell it. End of discussion there.
If Walmart sells it for $400, they are being greedy and making profit on the backs of their poor employees who are obviously forced to work there and nowhere else. If Walmart sells it for $800 because that’s what everyone else is selling it for, they are being greedy and making higher profits on the backs of their customers. Let’s face it, they can’t win in the eyes of some people.
I do agree 100% with buying locally produced items, when available, and when I can afford the higher prices I usually do because the support is so much better and that’s what I consider worth the price. But when I’m short on funds, I have no qualm about buying what I can afford and not going into debt to support someone who can’t sell to me at a price I can afford to buy at.
Mindy on 11 Apr 2012 at 2:46 pm #
Can I get by with simply agreeing with everyone?
sandcastler on 11 Apr 2012 at 3:37 pm #
Every large business began small, customers liked them and they grew. Does this make growth a FWP?
The Occupy Movement arrived with notebook computers, tablets, and smartphones; then need portable generators to keep them powered. FWP
We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come into being without it? Thus wrote Marcus Aurelius in the second century CE. I have seen much of this world, faught the cold war with hot lead and now even the combatants have changed; change too often does not equate to improvement.
God bless all of you for you are the future.
sandcastler on 11 Apr 2012 at 3:37 pm #
Every large business began small, customers liked them and they grew. Does this make growth a FWP?
The Occupy Movement arrived with notebook computers, tablets, and smartphones; then need portable generators to keep them powered. FWP
We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come into being without it? Thus wrote Marcus Aurelius in the second century CE. I have seen much of this world, faught the cold war with hot lead and now even the combatants have changed; change too often does not equate to improvement.
God bless all of you for you are the future.
Mark in TTown on 11 Apr 2012 at 3:44 pm #
“You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.” Good call, Rick Nelson.
Speaking of state-mandated business, I just heard in a meeting that new Federal regulations on hospitals have caused my employer an extra 500 hours of employee time digging up records so outside contractors for the CMS can look for ways to take back money that has already been paid.
Medicare already underpays by more than half the actual cost of a service, when they pay at all. Now they have outside contractors that get paid on a contingency basis searching for all possible means to second-guess hospitals to get money back after the fact. This comes on top of millions of dollars a year in uncompensated care for those who do not have insurance but get treatment anyway.
And you wonder why your medical bills/insurance keeps going up? It’s not greedy doctors or hospitals. It’s increasingly expensive drugs, equipment and excessive regulation.
sandcastler on 11 Apr 2012 at 3:48 pm #
Sorry about the double post, one rant should have sufficed!
Craig T on 11 Apr 2012 at 4:57 pm #
Not everybody has (or had) good independent stores. Twenty years ago (well, a bit more) I lived in decent-sized city with a couple of book and record stores, and they were terrible. The bookstores had about the same selection as Waldenbooks but a less-knowledgeable staff. The record stores had small inventories and snotty kids working there.
When first Media Play and then Best Buy showed up the record stores vanished, and I don’t think anyone who didn’t work there missed them. Then Barnes & Noble (and then Borders) showed up and the bookstores went away.
This wasn’t a bad thing. These were big stores with a wide selection and friendly people working there. Nothing was lost.
I’m happy for people who have great independent bookstores, and I’m said for people who had great ones that vanished, but “independent” and “local” do not make something good. It takes more than that.
Craig T on 11 Apr 2012 at 5:06 pm #
I swore I wasn’t going to, but here are a couple of comments about Dave in MA’s Walmart defense:
First, you don’t always find the same model numbers at Walmart that you find elsewhere. Many of the products they sell are made exclusively for them. Check it out.
The important omission, though, is #4 in how they get prices down: they are a big enough force in the market that they can dictate to manufacturers how much they will pay. This means that manufacturers often have to reduce how much it costs to make the products.
Sometimes the quality of the product suffers. I’m sure we can all think of things that aren’t as good as they used to be.
Sometimes they more production to places with lower labor costs (either poorer parts of the U.S. or to other countries).
This hits companies that produce common consumer goods (paper products, personal care items, and the like) very hard, since Walmart owns those markets.
Neal in Bahstawn on 11 Apr 2012 at 5:24 pm #
I live a New England town just outside of Boston that has a population of 11,000. We have no McDonalds, Burger King, WalMart, Home Depot or any of the other accoutrements of the typical American suburb (but you can find them within a ten mile radius). There’s a core of ‘village shops’ that exist because they cannily select products that the Big Box stores overlook.
For example, the town’s ‘department store’ (all 2000 square feet of it) has a core business carrying the pre-gathered required stuff for each school grade, but it also does a land office business by noticing what WalMart does poorly. You can buy those inflatable swim pools and other kid summer stuff at Target, Kohl’s, WalMart, etc. right now (when the temperature outside is a robust 48 degrees). Why? Because the marketing decisions are made in places like Arkansas. Lord’s (our store) stocks pool, flippers and snorkels in July, when Target’s shelves are filled with…. Halloween candy.
Can the owners of Lord’s get rich? No. But can they make a go of it? Yes, and they’ve been doing so since 1940.
Another local book store relies on, of all things, the internet to thrive. The owner of Park Street Books has 250,000 childrens books, all on line and all ready to ship to someone who wants a particular edition of some classic. The bricks-and-mortar store just covers its costs, but the ‘virtual’ store prospers.
Any store that depends upon the pity of local citizens to survive, won’t. The independent book stores I deal with have made service and knowledge of the local market their mantra. They’re still there while Borders is gone and Barnes & Noble is on life support.
Mary in Ohio on 11 Apr 2012 at 5:47 pm #
Around NE Ohio lately they have been doing “Cash Mobs” where the word gets out in various small towns that this weekend, every one who can should make an effort to shop at the local hardware/cafe/bookstore – it gives a lot of small businesses a cash infusion, and exposes some people who may not have realized what a resource was available.
Mindy on 11 Apr 2012 at 6:18 pm #
Sandcastler, I’m way too old to be the future!
Mindy on 11 Apr 2012 at 6:18 pm #
I didn’t say that. The devil made me say that! I’m only 39!
Jim from NC on 11 Apr 2012 at 6:33 pm #
My Pharmacists are brothers who live in the two small communities they serve, running a shop started by their father. They call almost everyone who comes into their store (regardless of ethnicity) by name. They are in the Rotary Club and the Lion’s club. I try never ever to call them after hours, but have done so twice in urgent situations and was helped as a friend. They will always get my business and they have earned it and continue to do so from the entire community. In the 60′s these small town businesses thrived, now in most part they are a vanishing breed. I despise going into the “box” stores and do so only where my alternative choices no longer exist.
Ghost Rider 6 on 11 Apr 2012 at 6:50 pm #
Mindy, why is it I always hear about those establishments only AFTER they have been busted?
Sorry, debbie. By the way, you still out there, hon?
Jerry in Fl on 11 Apr 2012 at 7:03 pm #
I just installed a fantastic new water heater. It is extremely effcient. It both heats the water quickly and also keeps my large garage cool. Figure that one out. I bought it from a local independent dealer, but I am getting a hugh rebate and the water heater will pay for itself in no time. Oh yeah, it was made in China. If you want to bermoan a possible one world economy and government go ahead but it has been an accomplished fact for a long time now. They just never got around to changing the letterhead on the sationary. I’m not part of the group that feels our current administration is communist or socialist or whatever. A redistribution of wealth is going on constantly. With no control it’s let the strong survive, the rich get richer and soforth. I know that I’m doing the very thing that we try to avoid, but check out today’s earthquakes and you will hopefully worry a little less about my rant. Rant #2-I had great expections of Titantic 3D, but my reccomendation is to skip it. It is a mishmash visually of poor 3D in the foreground in a few scenes making it painfully obvious that the rest is a painted, projected or CG backdrop, and they charged twice as much to see it as the original!
Jerry in Fl on 11 Apr 2012 at 7:05 pm #
bemoan, or not.
John in Virginia on 11 Apr 2012 at 7:28 pm #
Jack Benny was 39, also, Mindy. He stayed that for about 40 years, as I recall. Ghost Rider 6? Have you considered asking Mindy if the reported brothel was part of a chain? I started to use the common term — used above — for large volume chain stores such as Wally World, but since this is a family page I’ll not tweak the edge. Color me proud of my own restraint!
TruckerRon on 11 Apr 2012 at 7:42 pm #
I’m just glad I still have the freedom to decide which store(s) to patronize when I want to buy something. And I’m glad that those options include a variety of prices, customer support, brands, etc.
BTW, while WalMart is often accused of “dictating” prices, no manufacturer is forced at gunpoint to sell to them. They have the option of selling their product to WalMart or not. If they can’t agree on a price, how is that different from a neighbor kid deciding whether to mow my lawn for the price I’m willing to pay?
Just Jay on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:18 pm #
Hi All,
#rant
I also try to support local businesses, but sometimes the businesses make it impossible. For example, I am in the midst of refinancing my house. I tried to take my mortgage from a large national bank to a small local one, but could not find one I could get to without taking time off work! How hard would it be for them to have Saturday hours at one branch?
#endrant
Just Jay on 11 Apr 2012 at 8:26 pm #
Hi All,
Has anyone else had problems with the links below the comments? I keep getting “Cannot display the web page errors” when I click on them
Jay
Mindy on 11 Apr 2012 at 11:38 pm #
John in Virginia, what is the “common term — used above — for large volume chain stores?” Chain stores? Like, anchor chains or dog chains? [I'm joking! I'm not that much un-blonde!]
Mindy on 12 Apr 2012 at 1:00 am #
2 1/2 hours later…never mind!
sideburns on 12 Apr 2012 at 1:18 am #
I’ve found the conversation about small stores and big chains fascinating, but don’t have anything to contribute to it. I will ask, however, if I’m the only person here who’s wondering what it is that Arlo forgot to do in the retro-strip.
Mark in TTown on 12 Apr 2012 at 6:40 am #
No, but I am wondering what Arlo thought Janis asked him to pick up!
Mindy on 12 Apr 2012 at 7:59 am #
I wasn’t the only one who wondered what Janis had asked him to pick up? Wow! Wonderful! I’m not alone!
MWL on 12 Apr 2012 at 8:09 am #
Well I will say it. He is an opportunist, a liar, a fraud, a divider, a promoter of lawlessness, and is getting a free pass from unfortunately what most Americans believe is actual unbiased news. Where are the journalists? Where are the truth seekers? Who is going to question the drivel that spews from that mans mouth? Just look at any of his speeches including the last in Florida. As an American it should sicken us to no end.
Craig T on 12 Apr 2012 at 3:34 pm #
TruckerRon, your analogy would hold if you owned ninety percent of the yards the kid could get to. His choice is to mow lawns at your price or not have enough yards to mow to make any money.
For paper towels and socks and soap and dozens of other products Walmart owns enough of the market that choosing not to sell to them would require shutting down factories and laying off people and watching the business shrink. Instead they choose to sell to Walmart, shut down factories, lay off people, and watch the business grow. Selling to Walmart keeps the executives employed and the stockholders happy. The workers get screwed either way.
Yes, shoppers get lower prices, which is helpful, because they’ll be making less money if they can find any work at all.
Lost in A**2 on 12 Apr 2012 at 5:45 pm #
MWL, of whom do you speak?
I saw that some above speak of Mr. Walton in the present tense. I thought he had died some time back. Wikipedia says he died in 1992.
Fred in NH on 12 Apr 2012 at 5:52 pm #
Dave in MA: If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that often the WalMart/Home Depot/etc product is *not* the same as the seemingly identical product at your local electronics shop or hardware store. The model number seems to match at first, but look closer and you’ll see a couple extra letters at the end of the big box version.
The manufacturers sometimes meet the big-box store’s demand for lower wholesale pricing by building a lower cost version of the product exclusively for the store. That “…WM” model laptop at WalMart has slower memory and hard drives, the “…HD” DeWalt drill has plastic gears and a less powerful motor, that sort of thing.
“You get what you pay for” isn’t always so, but “You pay for what you get” generally is…
MWL on 13 Apr 2012 at 7:05 am #
My previous post was not clear. I was talking about President Obama. I apologize to any and all who for the lack of clarity.