There’s No Place Like Home

Old Corner Bookstore, Boston

 

The rise of the supra-national mega-corporation over the past few decades has coincided, not surprisingly, with the political push to allow easy movement of corporate assets and jobs from one country to another.  Governments eagerly bought into the idea — encouraged, of course, by their allies and campaign-funds-suppliers in the corporate world — that this off-shoring of manufacturing jobs to the developing world would bring prosperity to formerly impoverished regions, while simultaneously allowing the Western, developed countries to concentrate on nurturing the so-called “knowledge-based economy”, those sectors that required a highly-educated workforce. (I believe that this would be what is known by politicians as a “win-win”.)

The theory was that both these workers in the new Western economy and the corporate entities that off-shored their production would be able to benefit from the lower cost base offered by manufacturing in a poorer, developing country — the companies because they would enjoy larger profit margins, and the workers because, in their twin role as consumers of these manufactured goods, they would enjoy lower prices.

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, I suppose.  Too bad it really didn’t work.

Oh, it worked pretty well for the companies, of course.  By moving manufacturing to any area of the world where the local economic conditions are crummy enough to make even what would be a pitiable wage by Western standards look enticing, corporations have been able to reap fat profit margins (and this despite costs particular to off-shore manufacturing, such as after-hours counterfeiting of one’s product, shoddy manufacturing leading to increased recalls, and costs of transporting finished goods across oceans.)

Who it hasn’t worked for, unfortunately, are the citizens of the Western, developed economies who used to constitute the middle class.  Remember the middle class?  They were the workers who used to actually make things, for domestic consumption and for export, and who earned a reasonable wage for doing it.  They were the ones whose jobs were centered in their communities, owned by local businesses, rather than by trans-national corporations who might decide tomorrow that an extra 0.05% could be added to the bottom line by moving production to somewhere — anywhere — else where there is no minimum wage, or sketchy environmental standards, or a slightly more corrupt government.

And those high-salaried, knowledge-based jobs that were supposed to replace the lost manufacturing jobs?  Didn’t happen, alas. As can be seen from the graph below, which is derived from data released by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the average annual incomes for the vast majority of Americans (one assumes that the Canadian

Courtesy Mother Jones Magazine.

data would not be very different) have stagnated at best, or declined at worst, over the past 30 years.

So I was happy to see the article in USA Today’s Money section entitled “Buy American Gets New Emphasis” (link here).  As consumers, we need to realize that our buying choices have real consequences for our communities and our neighbors.  When we make a conscious and thoughtful decision to buy something that is produced locally, or sold in a locally-owned business — or both — we are helping to create an economic future that is more vibrant, more stable, and more satisfying.  When we mindlessly choose the cheapest product, sold by a company with no real stake in the economic health of the community (hey, it can always move somewhere else, right?), we sabotage our future and that of our children.

We as consumers and as workers need to sit up and take notice of the fact that buying locally is good for us and for our communities.  It keeps jobs here, it keeps tax revenues here, and those jobs and tax revenues will keep our towns and cities vibrant and healthy places to live for generations to come.

Let’s not be those who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.  Happy Labor Day.

Building the Local Economy

Shopping locally makes a difference.

The 3/50 Project is a non-profit initiative whose purpose is to underscore the importance of locally-owned businesses to towns and cities all over the world.  The premise is simple:  you just pick three local, independent businesses each month with whom to spend fifty dollars each.  This doesn’t have to be extra money above and beyond what you’d ordinarily spend — buy some fruits and vegetables from your local farmers’ market, or your morning coffees from a non-chain espresso bar, or bring those down-at-heel boots to the cobbler for repair — but spending money locally has big effects.

The 3/50 Project estimates, for example, that of every $100 spent locally, $68 returns to and circulates through the community in the form of local taxes and payrolls.  When you shop a chain store, on the other hand, only about two-thirds of that amount — about $40 — stays in the community.  When you shop online?  Nothing stays in your community.  Nada.  Zip.

Shopping locally at least some of the time translates directly into local jobs and local tax revenue.  We local business owners support our communities directly and indirectly:  we send our children to local schools (staffed by teachers, custodians, and principals), we pay local accountants and lawyers for their services, we buy our office and store supplies locally, and we hire local contractors when we need repairs.

Small, local businesses also tend to be tough survivors.  Business decisions are often quality-of-life decisions:  many small business owners could make more money doing other things (usually working for other people, maybe in other places), but prefer to stay where they are, doing what they do, because they enjoy it and they feel that they can make their towns better places by being where they are.

I like to buy my apples from Randy at the Farmers’ Market, and books from Greenley’s Bookstore on Front Street, and my yarn and needles from the Knitting Nimrod Collective.  There are a ton of wonderful merchants and craftspeople out there, just waiting to give you the kind of service and attention to detail you thought was long gone in this age of big box stores.

Welcome to Scalliwag Toys!  How can we help you today?

Oil From Plastic

The amount of plastic that we use and sell in the store has been an increasing worry to us, both from the standpoint of our carbon footprint (with regard to climate change) and with regard to the phenomenon of Peak Oil and decreasing world energy supplies.

Here’s a video from United Nations University that shows a Japanese inventor and CEO named Akinori Ito, whose table-top-sized machinery might not only be the answer to overflowing landfills, but also might help us eke out our energy supplies a little longer.  Brilliant!

The Spam Killer

By now, everyone in the online world should know what spam is — it’s that unwanted, inbox-choking, potentially virus-carrying and identity-thieving junk mail of the internet.  What most of us don’t know or have ever really thought about is that spam and its close relatives, phishing and malware, are actually big criminal business.

It has been estimated that up to 80% of all worldwide daily email traffic is, in fact, spam.  These messages do more than clutter up your inbox, however:  malware and other viruses can turn your computer into a so-called “bot”, in which it becomes a robotic servant of the spammer, using your internet address and bandwidth to send out yet more spam to all the recipients in your address book.

Some versions of spam, the so-called “phishing” emails, are carefully crafted to resemble messages from a trusted source such as a bank, and contain a link for you to follow in order to correct some problem mentioned in the email.  These typically ask the recipient to provide access data such as passwords or other identifying materials in order to “unlock” an account or prove their identity.  What the spammers want, of course, is to gain access to your bank account.  (A good rule of thumb is merely to delete any email that purports to come from a bank or other financial entity and that asks you to click upon a link.)

Even spam that appears to be blank can contain hidden HTML code written to compromise your computer’s security (to target your ISP’s server for future phishing attacks, or to install a worm or so-called Trojan Horse on your hard drive.)

There’s a link at the bottom of the post (don’t bother clicking on it — it’s not meant for you but rather for spambots to follow) to an interesting website that targets spammers where it hurts — in their pocketbooks.  Once the spambot follows the link and reaches the site, it finds a veritable treasure trove of email addresses to follow in its never-ending quest.  Unfortunately for the spambot, each nonsensical and non-existent address merely sends it on to “an infinite loop of randomly created email addresses (starting with the ones it generates when it first comes to the site)”.  With any luck, that’s the end of that spambot and its email list.

And good riddance.

Spambots, please click here.  Thanks

What’s All This?

Las Vegas, the city that pretty much wrote the book on legalized sin in the forms of gambling, escort services, and lax liquor laws, is mulling over a ban on Hula Hoops.

Yup, Hula Hoops — if this ordinance passes a vote — will be banned from a downtown business district known as the Fremont Street Experience.  Las Vegas City Council is apparently worried that street performers using Hula Hoops pose a problem for tourists and merchants, though critics suggest that this is only the latest in a series of attempts on the part of Council to control even legal and seemingly innocent activities that go on in what is, after all, a public area.

The crux of the matter would seem to be the fact that the Hula Hoop performers, amongst others, are free agents and are not part of the Fremont Street Experience LLC, a business collective that operates light shows on the 5-block metal canopy over the pedestrian mall.

Who would have thought that a simple hoop could bring forth so much controversy?

Do Good Toys Cost More in Canada?

Map of Canada

The answer to the question “Do good toys cost more in Canada?” is a definite “No.”  And a definite “Yes.”

As Canadians, some 75% of us live close — very close — to the world’s longest undefended border, shared with the United States.  Canadians are, in a sense, bi-cultural:  we watch American television as well as Canadian television; we listen to American radio stations; we read American magazines, websites, and newspapers; and often, when the Canadian dollar is drawing close to parity with the U.S. dollar, we travel to the United States.

And, when we travel or watch television or browse websites, we shop — and when we do, we may notice a disparity between Canadian and U.S. pricing on similar (or identical) goods.  What on earth is going on, we wonder?  Are we being ripped off by Canadian retailers who often charge higher prices?

In almost all cases, the answer is no.  Canadian retailers are very focused on creating fair and reasonable prices for our customers.  Price differences between American and Canadian retailers on identical goods reflect some fundamental differences in the circumstances between the two countries.

The first difference, of course, lies in the two currencies and how they relate to one another, as well as how they each relate to other world currencies.  When the Canadian dollar falls in relation to the U.S. dollar, goods that we import from the U.S. become more expensive for us to buy.  When the Canadian dollar approaches parity, as it has done over the past year or so, American prices look better to us, as the Canadian dollar buys more than it did previously.  World currencies act in more or less the same fashion. Believe it or not, a change in the value of the U.S. dollar in relation to the Thai baht may mean a change in Canadian retail prices for certain products manufactured in or close to Thailand.  This sort of world currency fluctuation — which has become more frequent and pronounced over the past couple of years — can put the squeeze on importers, and Canada is a nation that relies heavily on imports.

The second thing that has an upward impact on Canadian prices is shipping cost.  Like it or not, there is an additional cost associated with bringing goods over the border –  for the supplier, there’s extra paperwork to be filled out, and brokerage costs to be paid, and a greater distance for the cargo to travel (just think how much more it costs to send a parcel across the country than next door.)  Fuel prices are steadily inching up, so that it costs more to truck goods across the border and from coast to coast.  All those costs generally get passed on to the retailer, and thus to the Canadian consumer.

American manufacturers and wholesalers also have a fundamentally different cost structure than do their Canadian counterparts.  We pay higher taxes, by and large, than do the Americans, with which we fund our excellent, universal, and free health care system, not to mention our comparatively inexpensive colleges and universities.  Americans may pay less for their retail purchases because of lower corporate and personal taxes, but it’s more than made up for by the health insurance premiums and medical co-payments demanded by their system — among those whose employer offers health-care benefits, the average American family’s insurance premium is around $14,000, of which the employer pays about $10,000 and the worker about $4,000 annually.  (And that’s for families without any pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, cancer, or heart disease.  They may not even be able to get insurance.)

Finally, in some cases, American companies furnish their Canadian retail customers with a Canadian dollar price list in which the Canadian prices are grossly inflated  –  way above what could be explained by the exchange rate and the cost of shipping (which is billed separately anyway, usually).  Most suppliers in this situation seem genuinely surprised when we point out this huge discrepancy between what an item would cost if we paid them for it in U.S. dollars and what they have decided the Canadian dollar cost will be.  Over the past few years, many American suppliers have decided to do away with the Canadian dollar price list altogether, so that Canadian retailers may now purchase directly from them at a lower cost.  This lower wholesale cost can then be passed along to the consumer as a lower retail price.

As Canadian consumers, we may always pay slightly more than Americans do for some goods and services because of these various factors, but Canadian retailers work very hard to keep prices as low as possible.  In our store, the ideal situation would be one in which the Canadian cost of an item is the same as the American cost, once currency exchange and shipping costs are factored in.  And we’re working on getting there, penny by penny.

A Place Worth Living In Should Have a Parking Problem

It’s hard to build a community around parking lots. — Ed McMahon

As the owner of a small downtown business, the number-one complaint I hear is about parking — how there is not enough of it, or how it’s too expensive, or how an available space was too far away from the store.

Here’s a link to an interesting article in Slate Magazine that argues for cities’ doing away with minimum parking requirements bylaws, which typically require a certain number of parking spaces be created with each new building constructed (or that must be maintained — either by the city, or privately, or both — for each existing business).  According to Donald C. Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, municipal minimum parking requirements “distort transportation choices toward cars, and . . . increase traffic congestion, air pollution, and energy consumption. They reduce land values and tax revenues. They damage the economy and degrade the environment. They debase architecture and urban design. They burden enterprise and prevent the reuse of older buildings. And they increase the prices for everything except parking.”

Shoup argues that more parking spaces equal more cars, and thus more demand for parking, creating a never-ending spiral of frustration.  In our downtown, for example, the city trumpets the fact that there are approximately 1000 parking spaces within three city blocks.  Standard parking space dimensions are roughly 9 feet by 18 feet, or 162 square feet.  Multiplying that by 1000 spaces yields 162,000 square feet — the area paved over for parking is equivalent to roughly  the ground-floor footprint of what could be 160 additional charming little shops!  (And to make matters worse, that 162,000 square feet does not include the laneway or driving aisle area of parking lots, necessary to access the spaces themselves.)

Now, I’m not really suggesting that each and every parking space be done away with, but perhaps the time has come to take a hard look at the hidden costs of cheap and plentiful parking.  The walkability of cities and neighbourhoods –  residents’ easy access to work, schools, and shopping without having to resort to the use of private cars — is an identified characteristic of places that are pleasant to live in.  It would be wonderfully ironic if we could improve the quality of life in our cities merely by reducing the area that we devote to surface parking, and thereby protect our health, our social interactions, and our historic buildings, all at once.

The Gulf Oil Spill Gets Worse and Worse

We as consumers, retailers, and manufacturers need to think hard about how to minimize our use of oil derivatives — such as virgin plastics — in toys and playthings, so that we can avoid scenarios like the one playing out right now in the Gulf of Mexico, where British Petroleum’s deep-water well is currently spewing at least 5000 barrels of oil daily into the ocean.  We need to use more recycled plastics and other renewable materials in our manufacturing, so that we can start to minimize our consumption of oil.  Decreased oil consumption means fewer risky drilling operations.  It’s the least we can do.

Here’s a video showing some of the visual impact of the spill.  It is hard to believe that the Gulf area, its economy, and its people will ever recover from this.