Could buying local have multiple benefits?

[Emiliamazing]

I’ve noticed in the past month or so berry prices on common household goods including groceries. Do you think buying local has a positive impact on your pocketbook in terms of savings/shipping costs and such? Not only does it help your local economy, but perhaps the quality is higher as well?

Thank you for your thoughts!

Updates

+1 y

The beginning of the question should have read
“Varied prices”. We do love fresh berries though🤣

[Smartman5]

I love everything local. yes, buying local products is beneficial in many ways. but those who sell local products, that is, those who sell their own products, do not sell it at a cheap price. It sells for the same or approximate price as other products. For example, while the price of an agricultural product is expensive in the market, it becomes cheaper if and only when it is purchased from the field. If the manufacturer sells the product he produces in the market, he sells it according to the prices in other stalls. Apart from this, supporting local brands and manufacturers greatly benefits their development and the development of that city. There is no monopoly problem. money stays in the country, no need to import.

[Chazmatazz269]

It doesn’t just help the local economy. Reducing the impact major corporations have in a given area also reduces their effectiveness in other areas. Think of them like a giant spider. Chopping off one leg doesn’t necessarily cripple it, but it has an effect. If more people were more vigilant about shopping and spending locally, eventually all of the legs come off. Now you have a crippled corporation. The leaders of which have two choices, change the way they operate or close up shop.

[Emiliamazing]

Thank you very much! I like the spider concept

[Guy13]

Prices are up 35% from Trump days across all industries. From my experience with Local businesses (strawberry, blueberry, and vegetable farms as well as grape orchards or smaller businesses (Ace hardware)... the prices are the Same now. Fresh and Store are about the same...

[Emiliamazing]

Thanks for the reply, it’s fun hearing about the different local economies from all of the different users on this site

[Guy13]

Certainly, good luck in your endeavors !!

[purplepoppy]

What a lot of people don't know is local often isn't that local. Those local eggs might be from a farm down the road but they've probably spent weeks at a storage facility 100s of miles away. Some local stuff even gets sent abroad. Scottish salmon goes to China then comes back and gets sold as local.

[Emiliamazing]

Holy cow! Or fish I guess.
We get our soap, eggs and pork, beef and chicken from within 20 miles of our home. We know each rancher/producer by name.
The local meat market handles all the animals.
Happy to be quasi rural🥰

[Astarlessnightsky]

It does have benefits, like less co2 emissions or supporting local businesses, but its usually more expensive.

Transportation is so freaking cheap, its less expensive to ship stuff around the globe, multiple times, from one poor country to the next, than produce locally with NA or EU wages.

[Emiliamazing]

This is an interesting take, the wages of EU and North America certainly are higher than poor countries. Not sure about the transportation costs though

[Astarlessnightsky]

If it weren't cheaper to produce in (mainly) East Asia (China/India/Pakistan) and ship to EU and US compared to just producing in EU and US and save on shipping, than 99% of all companies wouldn't do it this way.

[Sixgunsound]

Buying local definitely helps you and your community more. Why do you think mega corporations are trying to destroy small operations?

[Emiliamazing]

Point taken! We also feel like the quality of some of the goods that we purchase locally is much higher.

[Surely]

If an emergency would ever arise. Those local people will tend to take care of you better than the big stores.

Unfortunately they can only compete on home grown items. Having something to eat is a good start!

[OlderAndWiser]

I don't pay great attention to prices when I am grocery shopping.

[Emiliamazing]

I certainly understand the desire to buy your favorite products :-). Thanks for checking in!

[krin_m]

I love to buy local produce. There are quite a few local markets (farmer's markets) here. It may be a bit pricey but it is fresh and you buy just what you need. Especially during season, I shop for produce almost every day!

[In_Trance]

No i think it has 0 impact

[Emiliamazing]

Any particular reason? We have a few friends that produce usable goods (soaps, woodworkers, bicycle frames) not fluff, and we certainly feel good about supporting their livelihood.

[In_Trance]

Trust me I understand it from your perspective and wish that it actually made a difference. I find when you buy local it costs you more money for the same goods that you can buy at a mass merchant; in the end the local retailer goes out of business anyway. Less value for the consumer

[Emiliamazing]

That’s fair enough! In our area of Southwest US, I have actually found the local meat market has nicer cuts of meat which cost less than Costco another large retailers. That being said, I think there are some products that do cost more from local merchants/artisans.

[Emiliamazing]

I will admit, we get a little bit of a deal on soaps we use because it’s one of my husband’s best friends. He gives us a price cut if we buy 20 bars at a time, which lasts a whole year.

[In_Trance]

I agree with you on that local merchants pretty much always have a better quality product. Unfortunately the cost of living is high for all of us. That said regardless of the support of local business gets I find sooner or later they go out of business

[Emiliamazing]

I am be glad that we live in a quasi rural area, I sure hope the meat market doesn’t go, they’ve been around since the 60s :-)

[Sixgunsound]

The kind of attitude that makes them go out of business is enough people don’t buy from them. If enough people in an area gave mega corporations a one finger salute and sacrificed a few pennies on the dollar to keep local businesses viable especially in light of all the corporate food production facilities that are being bombed or burned down, I think it would ultimately be a better policy for more people if they paid slightly more to keep food production viable. Historically theLeftist parties worldwide have wield and hunger as a weapon, so keeping food production viable locally is likely to be a better long-term strategy then dependence on governments that want you dead.

[In_Trance]

That's clearly not happening and never going to happen. I don't disagree with you but people speak with their wallets

[Emiliamazing]

Thank you both for keeping this conversation civil:).
I think it’s very important to hear all sides of the stories, at least in this area of GAG

[Wise4myage]

Yes, It helps the local economy.