This question revolves around non-business expenditures, only net money after taxes, etc., etc. Just the money you have some control over every day. This came to mind yesterday over the rant about big banks and their mishandling of their customers.
Whenever some company considers moving to your town they brag about how many new jobs it will create locally and how that will put huge amounts of money into the local economy. But, does it? Do you?
Do your interest payments for mortgage and other significant expenditures go to locally-owned and controlled banks or Humongous Bank of the Universe? Does your grocery money go to a locally-owned market or World's Best Conglomerate? Does your fuel money pass through a locally-owned facility on its way to Dubai or does it go straight to London? Do you get your auto supplies and repairs from a locally-owned provider or Muffler's 'R' Us? When you buy common household supplies, do you visit a small business or Sam's MegaMart to save 19 cents per item? Do your contributions go to local services and projects or do they go to Let's Save the World From Something Bad? Bottom line, do you actually start your money's path in such a way that it will stimulate the economy of your immediate neighborhood? We know it all will eventually pass through the greedy fingers of those anonymous multi-billionaires somewhere else in the world, but, do we make it a longer, slower journey via multiple local purchases?
This is a good subject and a reason why I love farming cotton with the family. Of curse we have to buy seed, chemicals, fuels, insurance, electric, etc etc from the big corporations.... But what we harvest directly affects our local economy.
For instance our farm hire 5 people full time. We hire a few extra guys when harvesting. We send our cotton to the local family owned gin about 5 miles away that hires 22 people and runs three shifts. It then goes to a warehouse 15 miles away that hires 10 people full time. It will stay in the warehouse until it's sold, most likely to a chinese buyer, which will pay for local trucks and riverboats...
Whereas our grain crops are hauled directly from the field to a handling facilty on the MS river. Who knows where they go from there. This is for "here" though.
The mom and pop banks are no more. My basic bank was home owned until a few years and now they are a branch of a bank that over an hours drive away. They have a branch in about 10 towns.
Credit Unions are the same. We have Teachers and Red River that are dedicate to the local teachers and to a government war machine plant that represent many depositors around here.
The mom and pop retailers are limited on their inventory and if you can wait for the order to come in, then fine.
Most of the places in towns have closed because the founders are gone and their descendents let the place go and it went under.
Trades and eateries exist and stay when they produce a good service and good food. The ones that setup shop and don't get things fixed right and put out a bad product fails quickly.
I am a brand buyer and shop where that brand is. My groceries come from 4 different places.
Equipment and parts are not the lowest price ones, name and quality comes first.
Half, and the better half, of the vehicle service and repair and mechanics have closed.
I can buy something online for much less money, then good for me, I'll have more money to live on.
If I were dependent upon the local town to make a living, I would not have a job.
I do trade with many of my clients and shop where their family works. 😉
We invest out money in local land for the most part. If the economy collapses and paper money & stocks are worthless, we can still cut firewood and grow potatoes on the land. We have also been debt-free since 1987.
I think the notion of trying to live in a "only buy local" world is not only unrealistic, but impossible. By local does that mean made in USA. I do my best by boycotting Wally World.
I buy all my building & home repair supplies at the family owned True Value across the street from Home Depot. My automobile geek is family run, but gets his parts from NAPA. The only 2 grocery stores are franchises of Kroger & Spartan. I bank at Chase because Well Fargo gobbled up the only local bank. Everything from my Toyota to my Samsung tv to the computer I'm on was bought local, but it sure ain't US. The closest survey dealer is 100 miles away in another state, not to mention all the equipment is from another country. Anybody ever buy stuff on line? I sure as heck do.
As simple as we try to be, and think we are, we are still a society of convenience and the bottom line. Unfortunately, that is where the Big Boxes 'R Us stores came from and they are not going away any time soon.
I think the only real localized mom & pop operations that stay successfull (never getting rich though) are service industry people, who don't really provide much in the way of manufactured products. Just people working with people, with minimal goods involved.
Wayne ..
I tried to use my local building supply store for building my spec house. I have been shopping there for 20 years and built two houses with their materials (excluding lumber, which I had milled) and numerous smaller projects over the years,
But they only offer contractor discounts for full-time for-hire carpenters. I just could not see shopping at a place where virtually everyone else (including many of my friends) get a 5% discount and I don't. At Home Depot and Lowes, everybody pays the same price(and they are open nights & sundays)
...kinda what I just said, right
I agree with you Perry. However, I prefer the True Value mostly because of the customer service that is virtually non-existant at HD. However there are some items they do not even carry so I still go to HD on occassion. In TV somebody is asking to help you within 50' of the door. At HD you can wander the store for 20 minutes not finding what you're looking for, or somebody to help.
I built a shed a couple years ago. All totalled up to around $1,000. TV delivered everything no charge that afternoon. HD not only was more total $$, but wanted another $100 for delivery. Same thing with a 12x20 deck I built the year before.
But everything else....
I do my best to "live local, buy local, be local", but it doesn't always work. I do my grocery shopping at Kroger because my local "mom & pop/family owned" store only carries crrappy store brand name products. I may go in there for Borden cheese, but that's about it. I also go to the Kroger Pharmacy because they have a deal with my insurance company... I can't afford to go anywhere else. When I get my points high enough, I also go to Kroger for gas, $0.10~$0.20 a gallon savings is nothing to sneeze at these days.
I do bank with a regional bank, and they give me great service. I don't want to be in the BofA or Well Fargo masses. When it comes to restaurants and bars, I wholeheartedly believe in "keeping it local". I couldn't tell you the last time that I was in an Applebee's, Outback, Olive Garden, etc... #1, I can't afford them, #2, I can get a much better meal prepared by someone that I know at a local place. I do occasionally break that rule with McDonalds or Hardees, basically because no one around here can make a decent dang biscuit other than the "big boys". I go to a local car repair place, and they are INCREDIBLE!! They have saved me a huge amount in repairs and being honest over the chain guys. I've also met people at their shop that I have done work for... it's a WIN-WIN!!
I have to go to the local Lowe's or Home Depot as my town has no small shop anymore.
I also don't buy anything from (or support) professional sports franchises anymore. You wanna talk about throwing your money away...
I do what I can to keep my money local, but I'm not perfect.
Sometimes its just passing on information that is helpful. I had to research it myself to find brands, and I can pass on a few.
Fox River also makes socks in the USA
SOS From Texas. Organic Cotton T-Shirts
These are Deb and my purchases. There are others also.
Big rant yesterday ???
This is the current "rant" that I know of:
Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
The New York Times
By GREG SMITH
Published: March 14, 2012
"I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it."
The only other "rant" I can think of, and it's not so much a rant, is the Fed has a Twitter page now and they are getting hammered
I bank at a local bank.
I've also come to realize that shopping on the internet is not all, its cracked up to be, and since I live in southern CT, we have almost every store you can think of. So there really isn't a need for it. Although I refuse to shop at Wally World, I swear the get second rate merchandise. I do however hit Target sometimes.
I buy all my survey supply stuff from Superior Instrument out of Connecticut.
I do buy coffee from Starbucks (addicted).
I try and support local business's because i am one.
Don't worry Joe
Hard to get locally-grown coffee.
wayne
Lukily my Home Depot seems to have good customer service, thought it wasn't always that way. I have several friends that work there and they have many employees that actually know something. They have licensed plumbers and licensed electricians that work there. Their employees will actually tell me when I get get a better deal by shopping somewhere else (though they usually whisper it to me)
The mom & pop limber store also had good service, though I'm not sure their employees were paid as much as HD & Lowes. I am not a high-maintenance customer and don't complain or always return materials but they would still not offer me the contractor discount.
The plumbing stores seem even worse. They will ofter mark up materials 30-40% to people who walk in off the street and want to buy some pipe. They also seem to actually get annoyed if you ask them how much something costs.
Don't worry Joe
I've been thinking about importing some of those civet cats from Malaysia that eat the beans, thus partially digesting them, leaving their droppings to be brewed into very, very, very expensive coffee for connosewers (you know what I mean).
