Someone has to tell me what I should have done.
I ate breakfast at a greasy spoon this morning. (Do not get the grits, they were instant.) And while I was waiting for my two eggs over easy, I was busily jotting down in my notebook everything I had to do today. Write this blog, send out some emails, and work on my novel.
I left the diner and went to the library to work. I like the quiet and the lack of distractions like TV, junk food, computer games and housework. I left my pen at the diner. I did not want to drive back to get a cheap pen, so I was stuck with buying another one.
I walked over to the Dollar General and looked at all the ball point pens I could buy. Bic knock offs, 8 for a $1, made in India. Real Bics, 6 for $1, made in Egypt. Variety ink pens, 8 for a $1, made in China. Pilot retractables, 2 for a $1.50, made in the USA. Other retractables were 4 – 6 for a $1 made from India or China.
I went with the American Pilots. Nice pens. Easy Touch retractable.
Did I do the wrong thing? Pilot Corporation of USA is a subsidiary of Pilot of Japan. Pilot (USA) has 260 employees; Pilot (Japan), 1500. I may have helped someone in the USA keep a job, but I am sure most of the profits went to Japan.
And did I save any energy buying American? The pens did not have to travel far. Connecticut to Virginia is only about 450 miles. It is a little bit further to China. Maybe around 7,000 miles. It’s got to be cheaper to get stuff from the US, right? It has to use less energy.
But… Even though I am paying an American to make a pen, am I also not firing an Egyptian, an Indian, a Chinese by not buying a pen from there. But where do the profits go? There are more profits for the companies paying less for the same manpower and that overshadows the transportation costs. And there are fewer environmental and safety rules to follow in Egypt, India and China than in the US. These rules also affect profitability. And the profits are not going to everyone, but to a select few shareholders and the executives of these companies.
And who do I help? The guy in Connecticut or the guy in India? Where does the wage make the most impact on the most people?
Yes, every decision we make affects people somewhere. And every purchase affects energy use somehow. We may not know how and we may make uninformed decisions, but we can ask.
