I agree with the take even though it’s depressing. I just wonder sometimes if a business that does the right thing (focus on the customer, pay a fair wage, good quality, etc) can even survive anymore.
I’d say I have a burger joint that is bees knees near me that I go for the vegan options, but I think those people barely pay above minimum wage….
Walmart proved that they can’t 20-30 years ago by providing a level of cheap in every sense of the world that no new business with honest intent could ever match, killing small town main streets.
And in an economy full of desperate people, cheap > quality or community.
This economy’s incentive structure waved bye bye to the honest provision of goods and services between regular citizen owned businesses half a century ago.
I agree it’s depressing, It’s just what I observe.
What I think is even sadder is that even if a local small business makes a good, honest product and values consumers and employees and even if it miraculously doesn’t get decimated by cheap>quality and becomes successful. It will still get destroyed because private equity or another large soulless corporation will swoop in and make an offer the owner can’t refuse which then starts the the good business down the road of being sucked dry by the corporate vampires.
I do my best to go out of my way to patronize small businesses first, but too many times I’ve seen this happen. Every time it’s so depressing. What’s more depressing is that it really doesn’t need to be this way, and yet we continue as is.
I agree with the take even though it’s depressing. I just wonder sometimes if a business that does the right thing (focus on the customer, pay a fair wage, good quality, etc) can even survive anymore.
I’d say I have a burger joint that is bees knees near me that I go for the vegan options, but I think those people barely pay above minimum wage….
Walmart proved that they can’t 20-30 years ago by providing a level of cheap in every sense of the world that no new business with honest intent could ever match, killing small town main streets.
And in an economy full of desperate people, cheap > quality or community.
This economy’s incentive structure waved bye bye to the honest provision of goods and services between regular citizen owned businesses half a century ago.
I agree it’s depressing, It’s just what I observe.
What I think is even sadder is that even if a local small business makes a good, honest product and values consumers and employees and even if it miraculously doesn’t get decimated by cheap>quality and becomes successful. It will still get destroyed because private equity or another large soulless corporation will swoop in and make an offer the owner can’t refuse which then starts the the good business down the road of being sucked dry by the corporate vampires.
I do my best to go out of my way to patronize small businesses first, but too many times I’ve seen this happen. Every time it’s so depressing. What’s more depressing is that it really doesn’t need to be this way, and yet we continue as is.