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I live 10 miles from the town featured in this article and its publication has caused quite a few folks I know around here to renew their effort to buy local.

I live 10 miles from the town featured in this article and its publication has caused quite a few folks I know around here to renew their effort to buy local. To me though the frustrating thing is this line in the article: > I twice stopped by Wilson’s, the department store, to try to meet the manager, and saw no shoppers inside the store the entire time I was there. (Wilson’s did not respond to multiple interview requests for this story.) With a switch in marketing Wilson's could become a destination store as going in feels truly like going back in time. It's a real department store with separate registers in each department staffed by folks who know about what they are selling. Wilson's still puts huge full page ads in the local paper but I've never seen a single online or social marketing message from them. If/when they go out of business it is going to put a huge hole in the fabric of downtown Greenfield.

jseliger 9y ago
its publication has caused quite a few folks I know around here to renew their effort to buy local "Buying local" is the kind of thing everyone is in favor of and no one actually does. Well, okay, not "no one," but far fewer than favor it in theory. Like "giving up Facebook," "switching to Linux" and "always using a condom," the number of people who make the claim in order to signal something about themselves is much smaller than the number actually engaging a behavior. See further Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are ( https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Lies-Internet-About-Really/dp/0062390856?ie=UTF8&tag=thstsst-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957 https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Lies-Internet-About-Really/... ).
- EggsOnToast 9y ago
  I always imagine an unspoken "at a certain price" when people say they believe in buying locally. I live a short distance from a grocery store in my neighborhood, but I rarely go there because I like to cook and their prices for meat and produce are always higher than the big chains. In the case of their meat the difference has sometimes been as much as $1.50/lb. which is huge if you're someone who prefers a frugal lifestyle. Edit: As for condoms, I think the situation is a little different. They ruin sex compared to going without a condom, marketing from Trojan be damned. I'm not trying to endorse the mindset, but there are many people who are primarily just trying to avoid getting someone/themselves pregnant so if someone's on the pill that's good enough for them.
- Retra 9y ago
  I think "buying local" went out the window with "manufacture local" and "produce local."
  - smileysteve 9y ago
    +1 I have friends who buy things from the local retailer instead of Walmart, but it's the Walmart brand.
- ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
  >"switching to Linux" Been using Ubuntu for close to 5 years now. I tried, I really tried to love it but the drivers are horribly outdated. Nvidia graphics broke everything in my Dell 9560. Even a fresh install of Ubuntu LTS is practically unusable. Each keystroke takes around 3 to 7 seconds to register. The screen lag is horrible. I tried fresh install and still everything looks pathetic compared to OSX or even Windows 10. After Windows 10 got native Ubuntu 16, I just moved to it and though I have to run Linux startup services manually I am pretty satisfied with it. We can't fight the inevitable just because of personal vendetta. Walmart was a small time store once. They got big because of the ease of use. Same with Amazon. To me it's just stupid to go out of the way to "buy local" when it's a losing game.
  - psyc 9y ago
    I’ve also earnestly tried switching to Linux many times, over 15 years. My most recent attempt was just a month ago, after becoming infuriated by Windows Update. It’s not terrible, but taking all of my daily work into account, it’s still not feasible on the whole. And the problems are about the same as always. Hardware compatibility, arduous installations and config (yak shaving), and stuff just not working. And the pervasive pattern, inherited from open source itself, that things have recursive dependencies, each involving their own incredible journey of configuration and workarounds. Always the journey, never the destination of getting work done. In the end, I clean installed Windows, set it up to minimize annoyance, and got on with work. I feel that, much like Blender, Linux requires a certain mindset. I suspect that mindset resembles either masochism or Stockholm Syndrome. I still have no complaints about MacOS.
    - secabeen 9y ago
      Linux runs fine on desktop. I haven't had a significant issue in years on hardware that has the benefit of reliable wall power.
      - psyc 9y ago
        That’s good to know. It’s true my last attempt was on a low end laptop. My qualms about my daily applications remain. I’m sure I’ll keep trying.
- tinymollusk 9y ago
  I didn't find "Everybody Lies" particularly compelling. It was an interesting piece of exploratory research, but I didn't see a lot of effort on generalizability. Several of his examples were using rare occurrence rates. In short, the whole book felt like he got great access to data, and poked around in it until something interesting popped up. Then overarching conclusions were drawn without significant effort to describe whether or not the data was representative.
- bartread 9y ago
  I'm fortunate enough to be on a motorcycle trip through New Zealand's South Island right now, and I can see the evidence that plenty of people (albeit the overall population is small) do continue to buy local in every small town I pass through: the archetypal general store is everywhere, not to mention hardware merchants, and many other local businesses serving their local communities. It just doesn't happen much in our bubble.
  - pandler 9y ago
    Your observation is pretty spot on, but I want to add some context. If you’re just doing a trip through NZ (which is awesome and I’m envious of you right now by the way), I’m assuming you haven’t tried to buy anything online. My experience with shopping online in New Zealand is not like in the US. International shipping prices to NZ are typically insane and shipments take forever. Depending on the item, it’s usually cheaper and faster to just pick it up at the store. The exception to that is of course online shopping from NZ-based retailers, but I only came across online shops for specific verticals, like computers (e.g. Newegg.com), Trademe (Craigslist), or simply a a brick and mortar shop that also delivers (same price as in store, plus delivery fee). Keep in mind, NZ has a population of something like 5 million people, so it’s harder to get economies of scale. Furthermore, if you live in a rural area (I don’t know what the cutoff is) without a regular parcel service, you also have to pay an additional delivery fee through NZ Post. This looks like it’s at least $3.70, and maybe more for packages [1]. My point is that I think that the economic incensitves that cause Kiwis to shop locally are the same economic incentives that cause Americans to buy online. I don’t think it’s out of any heightened sense of altruism or local affiliation. [1] https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/rate-finder/sending-nz/rural-charge-for-tracked-services https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/rate-finder/sending-nz/rural-...
- grogenaut 9y ago
  Welp, gave up facebook a year after they opened, been using linux as a main home computer since 2001 (tho I am multi-os), always used a condom, and I always buy local (amazon, in seattle) and starbucks (same)...

jseliger 9y ago

its publication has caused quite a few folks I know around here to renew their effort to buy local "Buying local" is the kind of thing everyone is in favor of and no one actually does. Well, okay, not "no one," but far fewer than favor it in theory. Like "giving up Facebook," "switching to Linux" and "always using a condom," the number of people who make the claim in order to signal something about themselves is much smaller than the number actually engaging a behavior. See further Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are ( https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Lies-Internet-About-Really/dp/0062390856?ie=UTF8&tag=thstsst-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957 https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Lies-Internet-About-Really/... ).

EggsOnToast 9y ago
I always imagine an unspoken "at a certain price" when people say they believe in buying locally. I live a short distance from a grocery store in my neighborhood, but I rarely go there because I like to cook and their prices for meat and produce are always higher than the big chains. In the case of their meat the difference has sometimes been as much as $1.50/lb. which is huge if you're someone who prefers a frugal lifestyle. Edit: As for condoms, I think the situation is a little different. They ruin sex compared to going without a condom, marketing from Trojan be damned. I'm not trying to endorse the mindset, but there are many people who are primarily just trying to avoid getting someone/themselves pregnant so if someone's on the pill that's good enough for them.
Retra 9y ago
I think "buying local" went out the window with "manufacture local" and "produce local."
- smileysteve 9y ago
  +1 I have friends who buy things from the local retailer instead of Walmart, but it's the Walmart brand.
ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
>"switching to Linux" Been using Ubuntu for close to 5 years now. I tried, I really tried to love it but the drivers are horribly outdated. Nvidia graphics broke everything in my Dell 9560. Even a fresh install of Ubuntu LTS is practically unusable. Each keystroke takes around 3 to 7 seconds to register. The screen lag is horrible. I tried fresh install and still everything looks pathetic compared to OSX or even Windows 10. After Windows 10 got native Ubuntu 16, I just moved to it and though I have to run Linux startup services manually I am pretty satisfied with it. We can't fight the inevitable just because of personal vendetta. Walmart was a small time store once. They got big because of the ease of use. Same with Amazon. To me it's just stupid to go out of the way to "buy local" when it's a losing game.
- psyc 9y ago
  I’ve also earnestly tried switching to Linux many times, over 15 years. My most recent attempt was just a month ago, after becoming infuriated by Windows Update. It’s not terrible, but taking all of my daily work into account, it’s still not feasible on the whole. And the problems are about the same as always. Hardware compatibility, arduous installations and config (yak shaving), and stuff just not working. And the pervasive pattern, inherited from open source itself, that things have recursive dependencies, each involving their own incredible journey of configuration and workarounds. Always the journey, never the destination of getting work done. In the end, I clean installed Windows, set it up to minimize annoyance, and got on with work. I feel that, much like Blender, Linux requires a certain mindset. I suspect that mindset resembles either masochism or Stockholm Syndrome. I still have no complaints about MacOS.
  - secabeen 9y ago
    Linux runs fine on desktop. I haven't had a significant issue in years on hardware that has the benefit of reliable wall power.
    - psyc 9y ago
      That’s good to know. It’s true my last attempt was on a low end laptop. My qualms about my daily applications remain. I’m sure I’ll keep trying.
tinymollusk 9y ago
I didn't find "Everybody Lies" particularly compelling. It was an interesting piece of exploratory research, but I didn't see a lot of effort on generalizability. Several of his examples were using rare occurrence rates. In short, the whole book felt like he got great access to data, and poked around in it until something interesting popped up. Then overarching conclusions were drawn without significant effort to describe whether or not the data was representative.
bartread 9y ago
I'm fortunate enough to be on a motorcycle trip through New Zealand's South Island right now, and I can see the evidence that plenty of people (albeit the overall population is small) do continue to buy local in every small town I pass through: the archetypal general store is everywhere, not to mention hardware merchants, and many other local businesses serving their local communities. It just doesn't happen much in our bubble.
- pandler 9y ago
  Your observation is pretty spot on, but I want to add some context. If you’re just doing a trip through NZ (which is awesome and I’m envious of you right now by the way), I’m assuming you haven’t tried to buy anything online. My experience with shopping online in New Zealand is not like in the US. International shipping prices to NZ are typically insane and shipments take forever. Depending on the item, it’s usually cheaper and faster to just pick it up at the store. The exception to that is of course online shopping from NZ-based retailers, but I only came across online shops for specific verticals, like computers (e.g. Newegg.com), Trademe (Craigslist), or simply a a brick and mortar shop that also delivers (same price as in store, plus delivery fee). Keep in mind, NZ has a population of something like 5 million people, so it’s harder to get economies of scale. Furthermore, if you live in a rural area (I don’t know what the cutoff is) without a regular parcel service, you also have to pay an additional delivery fee through NZ Post. This looks like it’s at least $3.70, and maybe more for packages [1]. My point is that I think that the economic incensitves that cause Kiwis to shop locally are the same economic incentives that cause Americans to buy online. I don’t think it’s out of any heightened sense of altruism or local affiliation. [1] https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/rate-finder/sending-nz/rural-charge-for-tracked-services https://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/rate-finder/sending-nz/rural-...
grogenaut 9y ago
Welp, gave up facebook a year after they opened, been using linux as a main home computer since 2001 (tho I am multi-os), always used a condom, and I always buy local (amazon, in seattle) and starbucks (same)...