

Is your stuff falling apart? Thank Walmart. - cawel
http://grist.org/business-technology/2011-11-11-is-your-stuff-falling-apart-thank-walmart/

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noonespecial
Its a bit of a two edged sword. Walmart-ism democratized _stuff_.

Just before my grandfather died he gave me a circular saw he got in the late
50's. It cost him a months salary. Its a monster. 100% metal right down to the
trigger you pull to switch it on. It works as well as the day it was made. Its
a piece of fantastic quality engineering... that my grandfather couldn't
afford until he was middle aged.

The existence of plastic throwaway circular saws at Home Depot is a good
thing. It means that some people who would never have had them at all can now
have one, albeit a poor one. The trouble is, it makes it harder to find a saw
like my grandfather's when you decide that its what you want.

And it is what you want in the end. Carefully buying top quality things as you
can afford them is brutal at the beginning, but as you build up a cache of
high quality things, you can stop buying the cheap garbage over and over again
and begin to enjoy the things you have, even as they _save_ you money, time
and hassle in the end.

~~~
cawel
As usual, the capitalist view has it in terms of the individual (as opposed to
the collectivity or even the whole planet). One can think about the
(perceived) benefits of buying (allegedly) cheap products. But like many
things, the figure on that price tag is not the real price. It leaves out
externalities.

Indeed, there was both a human (e.g. low salary for those workers, incredibly
long working days for those Asians manufacturing the cheap product) and an
environmental cost (e.g. pollution in countries where the anti-pollution laws
are non existent, carbon emitted during transport). Those costs are not
factored into the figure one can see on that price tag.

~~~
paulhauggis
"Indeed, there was both a human (e.g. low salary for those workers, incredibly
long working days for those Asians manufacturing the cheap product)"

They may work for a low salary, but in those countries, it's low salary or
their family starves.

"(e.g. pollution in countries where the anti-pollution laws are non existent,
carbon emitted during transport)."

Blame the government. They are the gatekeepers that choose to allow this type
of pollution.

~~~
cawel
_Blame the government. They are the gatekeepers that choose to allow this type
of pollution._

It is Walmart – not the government – which pollutes in somebody else's garden.
And North American consumers are certainly to blame as well for shopping at
Walmart and thus contributing to increase its clout.

If consumers could see the details of the whole supply chain (from collecting
the raw materials all the way to putting the product on the shelf), companies
with no concerns other than maximizing profits – like Walmart – would lose
their customers in no time.

~~~
paulhauggis
If only the illegal drug users in the US saw it the same way, the cartels
would be out of business. Maybe a solution to stop the violence?

