Do you shop with your pollitical/philosophic ideals in mind?

[vash1012]

For instance, if you are complain about the wealth and power of large corporations, do you not shop at large institutions and instead shop only at small local ones?

I choose to not spend any money period at Wal-mart due to their malicious business practices, constant demands for state tax relief, and encouraging of their employees to use state/federal welfare instead of paying them more.

I choose not to spend money at Starbucks if I can help it (my fiance doesn't share my view so we go there when we travel sometimes) because of their practice of opening new shops so close to local coffee shops to put them out of business although otherwise the company is pretty good.

I chose to go to more expensive grocery stores because they offer locally grown/raised products and local craft goods which are fresher, have used less fuel to be transported here, and because it supports our local state economy.

What things do you do in your shopping that you would or wouldn't want our government to force us to do, but you support/don't support through your spending?

 

[Jredbaron96]

I try to, but if I'm in a real rush, I frankly don't care.

 

[CalGun]

I love Wal Mart, but it's also all I can afford. Other places are too expensive and I shop very hard to save money because of a really limited income. Wal Mart rocks, but I make espresso dinks at home. No Starbucks for me though I often get a gift card from them, but I use that on beans to grind for espresso.

Though I have voted with my dollar twice. I avoid Pepsi after they gave Geraldine Ferraro $2m for a lame ad she made to pay off her campaign debts, and I avod rebok shoes since their "men are pigs" commercial.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

For instance, if you are complain about the wealth and power of large corporations, do you not shop at large institutions and instead shop only at small local ones?

I choose to not spend any money period at Wal-mart due to their malicious business practices, constant demands for state tax relief, and encouraging of their employees to use state/federal welfare instead of paying them more.

I choose not to spend money at Starbucks if I can help it (my fiance doesn't share my view so we go there when we travel sometimes) because of their practice of opening new shops so close to local coffee shops to put them out of business although otherwise the company is pretty good.

I chose to go to more expensive grocery stores because they offer locally grown/raised products and local craft goods which are fresher, have used less fuel to be transported here, and because it supports our local state economy.

What things do you do in your shopping that you would or wouldn't want our government to force us to do, but you support/don't support through your spending?

Well I buy high quality bud in the black market because even if I was in a state where Marijuana was legal I wouldnt want to buy my bud from a big time producer of it.

Support your local growers! Because everyone else is not local.

 

[MaggieD]

For instance, if you are complain about the wealth and power of large corporations, do you not shop at large institutions and instead shop only at small local ones?

I choose to not spend any money period at Wal-mart due to their malicious business practices, constant demands for state tax relief, and encouraging of their employees to use state/federal welfare instead of paying them more.

I choose not to spend money at Starbucks if I can help it (my fiance doesn't share my view so we go there when we travel sometimes) because of their practice of opening new shops so close to local coffee shops to put them out of business although otherwise the company is pretty good.

I chose to go to more expensive grocery stores because they offer locally grown/raised products and local craft goods which are fresher, have used less fuel to be transported here, and because it supports our local state economy.

What things do you do in your shopping that you would or wouldn't want our government to force us to do, but you support/don't support through your spending?

Do you also refuse to shop at Target? KMart? Or just the one the unions are doing a hatchet job on at present? What a joke. Save your moral outrage for stuff that matters. $11 an hour employees need jobs, too.

 

[ecofarm]

I chose to go to more expensive grocery stores because they offer locally grown/raised products and local craft goods which are fresher, have used less fuel to be transported here, and because it supports our local state economy.

What things do you do in your shopping that you would or wouldn't want our government to force us to do, but you support/don't support through your spending?

My economic and social freedom is intertwined. My dollars are speech.

I prefer farmers' markets, the real kind - not Starbucks with fruit. I buy organic when I can. Fair trade is another thing I look for. I'm vegan. I buy used stuff when possible. I use a bike for transportation. I send money to friends in Africa.

 

[Tonawanda]

Even though I have a completely different position related to those evil corporations, I almost always frequent the local Ma and Pa restaurants, and love to use individual based small businesses for service and purchases.

 

[mak2]

I have not bought a gallon of BP fuel since the spill.

Last I heard they were still in buisness even without my money.

 

[Carleen]

I'm not a brand name buyer. I think they are all rip offs and are made no better and sometimes even worse than generic brands.

 

[RepublicanMcDuc]

Generally speaking, I don't take such things into consideration when I spend money. And frankly, the things you mention are small potatoes compared to real suckiness. For example, many of the electronics I've purchased over the years from Apple, Nintendo, and others were made by people who literally had to install suicide nets because of the conditions and environment.

 

[Rapunzel52]

I try to buy American when I can but it's not always possible and while I don't really like Walmart, we lived in a very small town in OK for about 3 years and Walmart was the only grocery store to go to. They had a couple others...mom and pop stores, but they carried out of date items and were not clean. So unfortunately, sometimes there is not much of a choice.

 

[Helix]

i try to shop local, but i don't boycott lightly. the corporation has to do something to seriously piss me off before i don't shop there ever again.

out of all of the major stores, i probably avoid Walmart the most. i was close to someone who worked there in the early 2000s. i was less than impressed with the way they treat their workers, so i only buy things there if i need it immediately and no one else has the item.

 

[Gina]

I don't shop at Walmart, for the reasons already mentioned and avoid as many Koch manufactured products as I can find substitutes for. BP is no longer present in my town or I would boycott them as well.

 

[Deuce]

I rarely consider politics in my consumerism. Generally speaking, I tend to separate what a corporate CEO says or does personally from what his company does. Some random executive at Best Buy being a jerk doesn't mean I should shun the entire company. (I shun the entire company for other reasons!)

The exception is when one of those executives says or does something in the name of their company. The recent Chick-Fil-A deal would have been a good example of something that might make me boycott. The CEO made statements in the name of his company, not just for himself, and he's used company money to make donations to causes I disapprove of. However, I've never eaten at one in the first place and I don't think any even exist around here so it ends up largely irrelevant for me. If a company has shady business practices I'll tend to avoid them, like bad treatment of employees or customers, or how DeBeers basically funds a slave trade, etc.

The same happens on the flipside. Bill Gates donates just incredible amounts of money to charity, but it's his own money, not Microsoft's, so I don't really factor that in my decision to purchase Microsoft products.

 

[Mason66]

For instance, if you are complain about the wealth and power of large corporations, do you not shop at large institutions and instead shop only at small local ones?

I choose to not spend any money period at Wal-mart due to their malicious business practices, constant demands for state tax relief, and encouraging of their employees to use state/federal welfare instead of paying them more.

I choose not to spend money at Starbucks if I can help it (my fiance doesn't share my view so we go there when we travel sometimes) because of their practice of opening new shops so close to local coffee shops to put them out of business although otherwise the company is pretty good.

I chose to go to more expensive grocery stores because they offer locally grown/raised products and local craft goods which are fresher, have used less fuel to be transported here, and because it supports our local state economy.

What things do you do in your shopping that you would or wouldn't want our government to force us to do, but you support/don't support through your spending?

I assume you also don't use any Micrsoft products as they crush their competition any chance they get.

What browser are you using?

 

[Neomalthusian]

Do you also refuse to shop at Target? KMart? Or just the one the unions are doing a hatchet job on at present? What a joke. Save your moral outrage for stuff that matters.

The way consumers spend their money matters enormously and it is one of the things most overlooked.

 

[Neomalthusian]

We live in a very small town and one example of this is that one person has a local shop with organic produce that is only open on Tuesdays. We never miss it and spend an average of $100 a week there. Some produce is local, as are the eggs. Some has to be shipped up, but it's all organic.

I often spend the extra money to buy things from the local hardware store, outfitting shop, et cetera. Things they don't carry that I buy regularly I make sure to to tell them I would buy if they had it, and give them some assurance that I will if they add it to their shipments. This gives them an opportunity to know more about where their customers' demand is. Other times I will directly order something through them, rather than just buy it online (even though the latter would save me money).

I do believe in supporting local business and in fact my political/philosophical ideals include a relocalization of economies over the long run, and a renewed sense of importance (and autonomy) to deal with important matters of governance more locally and at a state level rather than all at a federal government level.

 

[vash1012]

Do you also refuse to shop at Target? KMart? Or just the one the unions are doing a hatchet job on at present? What a joke. Save your moral outrage for stuff that matters. $11 an hour employees need jobs, too.

Where do you see outrage in my post? I'm not outraged. I just choose not to support them. Any did you possibly consider the fact that I might be responding to things these corporations have done LOCALLY in my town rather than stuff they've done nationwide? Wal-mart tried to sneak a giant super walmart in my towns downtown that would have destroyed a historical landmark, rerouted a river, caused 2 historic neighborhoods to become pathways for freight trucks, as well as being a giant eye score through our city council under one of their subsidiaries which would have been companied with millions of dollars of tax incentives. Target and K-mart have not done ANY of that in my area. Besides, I live in a non-union state where our walmart workers don't get paid $11. They have a practice of moving into a small towns, putting local shops out of business by undercutting them, then jacking up their prices once they don't have any competition. These are all documented facts and I chose to not shop their because of them, so you can take YOUR moral outrage and direct it elsewhere.

 

[vash1012]

I use either Firefox or Opera most of the time. Whats your point? Can you work in the modern business world without using microsoft products? No. I don't use Apple products because I prefer the open systems in Android and Windows that are easier for small, independent developers to freely create program for, so yes, my political/philosophical views extend to my technological choices there too.

 

[Mycroft]

I don't spend my money based on my politics at all.

 

[ksu_aviator]

For instance, if you are complain about the wealth and power of large corporations, do you not shop at large institutions and instead shop only at small local ones?

I choose to not spend any money period at Wal-mart due to their malicious business practices, constant demands for state tax relief, and encouraging of their employees to use state/federal welfare instead of paying them more.

I choose not to spend money at Starbucks if I can help it (my fiance doesn't share my view so we go there when we travel sometimes) because of their practice of opening new shops so close to local coffee shops to put them out of business although otherwise the company is pretty good.

I chose to go to more expensive grocery stores because they offer locally grown/raised products and local craft goods which are fresher, have used less fuel to be transported here, and because it supports our local state economy.

What things do you do in your shopping that you would or wouldn't want our government to force us to do, but you support/don't support through your spending?

My political ideals don't call for discrimination based on the size or wealth of the entity I purchase from. I make my purchasing decisions based on financial sense.

 

[vash1012]

The way consumers spend their money matters enormously and it is one of the things most overlooked.

I couldn't agree more. This is the predominant reason I started this thread. I think way too many people go out and complain, asking the government to fix things, but aren't willing to do or stop doing the things in their daily lives that they can to make a difference. I am an environmentalist so I go out of my way to recycle, pick up liter, reduce my pollution and fuel consumption, and waste as little electricity as possible. In the same vein, I try to shop locally and not support giant corporations who try to bully their workers and state/local governments precisely because my political views would say its MY responsibility to affect change in them, not the governments.