We've discussed this here before in chat with BF and I've posted something similar on CS, but this Christmas I was struck by just how much we've given up in the name of cheap consumer goods. I was hunting for secret santa pressies for two of my sisters-in-law, both of whom like fine things. I was short on time and wanted to go to just one place - so I went to Myer in Maroochydore. It used to be the case that Myer and David Jones carried prestige brand-name goods. You could walk in there and find high-quality crockery or linen and walk out paying less than if you'd gone to a specialist. The power of sales volume at work. This year, things had changed. Their shelves were dominated by their crappy import brand 'Vue', in every damn department. In crockery, it was either Vue or Maxwell Williams - purveyor of bland white china for all of a decade. There were a couple of celebrity endorsement items, but that was it. What had happened to the choice? The prestige? Or indeed the prices, which weren't particularly cheap. Well, here's what's happened - they drove the local small specialty retailers out of business and once they had no more competition, their standards dropped and their prices rose. We've let these big retailers become the only game in town. This is a battle that's being fought in every sector - Brett's story is persuasive. He bought local and is the worse off for it. Not because he made a bad decision, but because everyone else did. Fewer choices means less competition and less innovation. Look at Coles and Woolies with their cut price milk and their fruit and vege price war. You can be sure they're not losing a cent on this deal - they're strong-arming farmers who have no choice but to accept whatever prices are offered, they're importing cheap permeate-laden milk, they're importing their own cheap products from overseas. And when we have no farmers left and they raise the price on us and foist crappy substandard produce on us, what will we do? We won't be able to go to the local grower's market, because they won't exist anymore. This year my resolution was to avoid big-name retailers as much as possible. Avoid Coles and Woolies. Buy local wherever possible. For example, our local Foodworks carries Eumundi Noosa Milk - the expiry dates on their milk is reliably two weeks greater than their brand-name competitors. Why? Their milk doesn't last longer, I'm sure - it's because the brand-name stuff is shipped all over the country and takes two weeks to hit our shelves. When it's only $0.03 per two litres more expensive, I can't understand why any local wouldn't support them. Now I know this has been a long-winded rant, but I'm sick of it. I'm sick of parasitic corporations sucking the life out of every nation on earth, it's gone too far. Mine is a small stand, but I think it's a choice more and more people will be making. Or at least I hope they do.
