

Reasons to shop local first - s3b
http://www.psfk.com/2009/08/infographic-why-buy-local-ten-reasons-to-shop-local-first.html

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karzeem
The smart thing about this list is that at least to some extent, it frames
local business as a _tangible_ net positive for the consumer. It bugs me when
people suggest that you should shop at local businesses as an act of altruism
or sticking it to the man. There's only one reason to choose any business:
they give you the best results for the things you care about.

People don't respond well to nebulous, "this strengthens the community"-type
stuff. They like good products, good service, low prices, and a nice
user/shopping experience. The crucial point is that whatever the good things
are about your business, people have to feel them in a single interaction, the
very first time — not years down the road. You can't depend on people
subordinating their short-term interests to a vague community benefit that a)
won't show up for a long time, and b) only shows up if everyone else in the
community also makes the same sacrifice.

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arvinjoar
Economical fallacies all over, there's a very simple way to measure the true
cost of something, and provided government isn't subsidizing anything or
skewing the market it actually measures things quite well. It's called a
price. If you think that the quality of local produce is higher than the
quality of non-local produce though, go ahead and buy things locally, it all
comes down to what you're willing to spend for the produce and what quality
you're demanding for your money. Here's two great articles on it by Art
Carden: <http://mises.org/daily/3026> <http://mises.org/daily/3059>

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j_baker
I smell a chamber of commerce's involvement.

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scorxn
And if you're looking for office furniture, look no further than American
Seating, Steelcase, Haworth and Herman Miller.

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andrewcooke
when i see this kind of thing, in a forum dominated by americans (or citizens
any other "first world" country), it always sticks in my throat a little. i
understand the motivation (and even agree with some of the environmental
aspects), but it's hard to ignore the thinly veiled implications that you
don't want the rest of the world to be as rich as you are...

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abscondment
In the general case, I agree with you. With the specific niche of food,
however, I disagree strongly.

In the US, supporting independent, community farmers is key in battling the
negative effects of the government corn subsidy. There are numerous places you
can learn about this subsidy's adverse effects on developing countries--I'd
suggest _Food,_ _Inc._ for one. Buying locally grown food is also an
environmental boon, since there's much less fuel burned in transportation.

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karzeem
Indeed. Were it not for the government subsidy of entrenched agribusiness
interests, local food might actually be objectively cheap. When you're growing
food sustainably, you don't get as much of the kinds of economies of scale
that give a $1 billion/year factory major cost advantages over a $1
million/year factory, so smaller farms aren't at a huge disadvantage there.
And there's no good reason for transportation or distribution costs to be very
high.

