Your Dollar Is Your Vote

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

I learned early on in my adulthood that when you buy something, you are supporting everything about it: from sourcing and manufacturing to packaging and delivery. Because of this, I have been hyper-aware of my spending habits since about 2004. 

At the time I came into adulthood, I was not very aware of foreign policy or trade policy, but I knew that buying clothing from China meant supporting underpaid workers in terrible conditions, so I checked the label of each item of clothing before I bought it. If there were options other than being made in China, I chose the alternative. Sometimes there was nothing I could do in that moment, and I would have to compromise my values to get a product I needed. For example, sometimes the only socks in a store were made in China. 

Unfortunately, the reason so may people support corrupt practices with their dollar is that the product is just so dang cheap! But that is because the workers were not being fairly compensated for their labor. I wanted to support as many American-made products as possible, but when you are living paycheck to paycheck, you simply can't afford to vote with your dollar. You just need to make that dollar stretch as far as possible until the next paycheck.

I understand the low prices are why many people choose to shop at Walmart. In 2006-2007, I was taking business classes online, and I had to write a paper on the business practices of Walmart, and how those practices often put small business in an unsurvivable position. A huge corporation bullied suppliers into manufacturing past their capabilities and providing those goods at unreasonably and unsustainably low prices. It also severely underpaid their workers by hiring groups of people that were so desperate for money that they accepted subpar wages. This is why Walmart was well know to have septuagenarians and octogenarians as their door greeters. 

Accidental Activism

My senior year of high school, I started working at Starbucks. There, I learned terms like "sustainably grown" and "fair trade," which were aligned with my personal ideologies. My mother was of the "crunchy" variety, and our food was usually purchased from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, where natural and organic foods where the norm, not the specialty item. In learning that sustainable growing was best for the environment, and fair trade was good for the laborers, I began to make the decision to choose those items above "conventional items" whenever possible. 

A few years later, I started working for Trader Joe's where I learned even more about the food supply chain, FDA regulations, global trade, and food safety. I was proud to work for a company that treated its employees well and cared about the global impact it made, even when it was operating in fewer than half of the United States. I loved that we donated our imperfect products instead of dumping them, and this was before the global outcry at the wasted food of supermarkets. I loved that we had a donations programs for local non-profits to establish relationships throughout the community. 

Deliberate Decisions

In 2020, I am in desperate agreement with author, advocate, and advisor Anna Lappé when she said “every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want." The world I want is kind to the earth (organic, sustainable, responsibly sourced), kind to employees at all levels (fair trade/ fair pay), and ideally, a world that gives back and invests in areas that are struggling. 

The world is more interconnected now more than ever, and from a business perspective, it can be difficult to make the choice to invest in technology, products, or people that are the right choice, as opposed to simply the most profitable. I know that is practically a blasphemous thing to say in the most capitalist society on Earth, but the increasing class divide is proof that unchecked capitalism is not sustainable. We can not continue to reap profits on the backs of impoverished workers while at the same time undermining environmental protections. 

We have reached the tipping point, and we need to be deliberate in our actions. This is my call for awareness. If you can take a few moments to consider picking those packages with organic or fair trade labels, you are telling food growers, manufacturers, and distributors that you are voting to continue and expand those practices. Maybe look in to companies like DwellSmart, TerraCycle, and Loop Industries that team up to change how we buy products by reducing plastic or offering a way to recycle the seemingly unrecyclable in a noble quest of #ZeroWaste. 

Sometimes, in order to make a big difference, you just need to start small. Next time you go clothes shopping, check the label for country of origin. Next time you go food shopping, opt for items with less packaging or for fair-trade coffee and tea.

Doing just a little background research on the companies you buy from regularly can help inform your decision-making.  For example, recently the grocery store Publix has been in the news for donations it received. There has been a social call to boycott them. This is a current example of how you can vote with your dollar to influence change at high levels. 

 Being aware of the choices you are given can change your buying habits for the better. The world is complicated and full of unintended consequences. With just a little effort, we can collectively create a huge impact.