Local First
Big, online retailers are awfully convenient. They are rarely essential.
It is better for your community to shop local first. If you get into the habit of shopping this way, you will find that you can reduce your Amazon shopping, as well as support your local economy. You also will reduce your carbon footprint.
How to shop local first:
Suppose you need to buy a garden hose. Check the locally-owned stores first. Chances are, you can find what you are looking for without interacting with a large company. If you do this habitually, you will reduce your reliance on companies that don’t care about your town or city.
- Find your locally-owned hardware or garden shop. Check their prices.
- Do some comparison shopping for that item at several local shops.
- Check Amazon or Walmart or Target or whatever big company you’ve been depending on.
- Unless Amazon or Walmart or Target, or whatever is your go-to big company is massively cheaper, is it worth using?
People who don’t start their shopping online can choose locally-owned compared with large, out-of-state, corporation-owned businesses. Many of these companies have online features and some provide free pick up or delivery.
The food is plentiful
Supermarkets:
Massachusetts has corporate headquarters of several supermarket chains: Market Basket, Star/Shaws, Stop and Shop. So, that’s easy.
Amazon’s affiliate, Whole Foods takes more than it gives. Its corporate headquarters (where the big salaries are) is in Austin, Texas. Like many giant corporations, they bought or affiliated with successful local companies. Some they kept running under their flag (like the Whole Foods on Prospect Street in Cambridge, which was once a local store called Bread and Circus). Some they out-competed and ran out of business. Did you lose your food co-op?
Farmers’ Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), and small delivery businesses:
- When New England farms are in season, many towns have farmers’ markets. Consumers can also join CSAs. CSAs provide delivery to a drop-off point during the active season of the farm.
- If you google “farm delivery eastern Massachusetts” you will find local farmers who will drop food at your door.
The benefits:
- Fresher food.
- Keeping the money in the local economy.
Perfection is not the point
Please get passed the: “I can’t do that” because of the way you handle your personal finances. There are ways you can do some things to support your local economy, even if you can’t do them all.
Local companies offer many of the conveniences of large, out-of-state, corporation-owned businesses. Have you looked, lately? If you start local first, you will be pleasantly surprised by what you can get (and get delivered, for those who do not drive their own cars).
Examples of ways to do better:
- The RV traveler (and anyone on vacation):
Pay cash at gas stations, restaurants, and local shops. Paying cash is better for the business, because they pay fees to the credit card companies. Many ATM (automated teller machines) are part of networks, so your local bank may be accessible through another bank’s ATM.
You will need the right currency, if you are not in America. Depending on the exchange rate, it may be less costly for you to pay in the local currency than at the exchange rate of your credit card company.
It may be easier to shop at a local food market than to coordinate an Amazon shopping in the town you are visiting. If you go grocery shopping where the locals shop, you will see the local food on display – the favorites and the local produce. This will also expose you to the community you are visiting. Isn’t that part of why you travel?
- Businesses that won’t take cash
This is just not right, but it is legal. Businesses are not required to accept cash. Creditors must accept cash. More and more businesses are trying to speed up their checkout systems (online and live) by not allowing payment by cash or check. The companies that manage credit cards make billions. Those fees leave your local economy and are never seen there again.
What to do:
- Pay cash when and where you can.
- Pay off your credit cards ASAP to reduce your interest charges.
- I don’t have time.
Many local businesses have delivery and online shopping. Once you find those local stores, you will forget that you ever needed Amazon.
Before you got used to one-day delivery, you were better at planning. Consider whether the urgency to get things quickly is really important. The expectation that anything can be at your door tomorrow leads to more spending, and for some people, more stress.
This is a good time to look at your spending habits and consider where you can spend locally, instead of supporting big national companies.