Whose Side Are You On?
I hear another Dollar Store is coming to town, the third in our half of the county. As a certified shopping snob, I've only been to a dollar store once, and that was to find plastic flowers I could glue to a bike I was taking to Burning Man.
Back in the day, of course, you went to Woolworth's for plastic flowers. And sewing thread, new flip-flops every summer, the occasional root beer float. But Woolworth's has gone the way of the brontosaurus, like so many things from my youth, replaced by Cost-Co, Starbuck's, CVS, and the Dollar Store. I can see how a Dollar Store might be useful if you had 18 children or were a party planner, but if you're trying not to buy goods from China, it's a total loss.
And here we arrive at a central paradox of our age: it is hard to be poor and also socially responsible. So many of the responsible options cost money, like wooden toys made in Kentucky, or clothing from North Carolina. The other irony is how many of the money-saving options cost money. The people who most need to save on gasoline are unable to afford even a used hybrid car. So middle class drivers who have $15,000 to lay out for a 2008 Prius are getting 45 miles to the gallon, and those whose used-car budgets don't go over $8000 are still getting a scant 22.
If you're trying not to buy goods from China — because they were made by child labor or you hate how China treats the Tibetans — you can't head for discount places like Walmart or the Dollar Stores. You need to check labels even at Crate & Barrel. Your best option for responsible inexpensive shopping is thrift stores. Many people I know are fabulous thrifters: they get that designer coat for twelve bucks or a dress in perfect condition for $3. This is the best kind of recycling: passing on whole goods for reuse. If something was made in China, it's not your problem to buy it used. Wearing it out is the responsible option now.
Unfortunately, I was raised by a father with expensive tastes and a mother with exquisite aesthetics, so I can't enter thrift stores, they give me hives. My entire immediate family would rather pay double if it means we get to browse in a lovely setting that smells like lavender instead of dead-people's closets. I do buy my appliances used, my windows and doors, every car I've owned. But ask me to wear shoes someone else has broken in?! That's like suggesting I sleep in unwashed motel sheets. “Yick!” is the only sane response.
What do you think? Can your town support another Dollar Store? Is buying cheap plastic items any way to save the oceans, or even the landfill? Do you have 18 children? When Tibetan monks light themselves on fire because of what China is doing to their country, whose side are you on?
