Category: business

libertarianism? not so much.

In their June 9th issue, Newsweek has an article entitled “Is Wal-Mart Too Liberal?“, examining conservative shareholders’ criticisms of Wal-Mart and ilk.

Here’s an excerpt: “…the right-leaning Free Enterprise Action Fund (FEAF), a tiny libertarian mutual fund, filed resolutions with 20 companies this spring, including Wal-Mart. Most of the FEAF resolutions argue that companies should be more skeptical and resistant as environmentalists push them to reduce their carbon footprint.”

It’s been about ten years since then-friend-now-ex-boyfriend Kevin Gaughen first got me thinking critically about politics, and, in doing so, inculcated in me some pretty strong libertarian leanings. I’m no longer a Libertarian (with a big L) in any sense, although I still have some attachment — perhaps mostly sentimental — to the libertarian (little l) ideals. I think actions like what’s reported above are a big part of why I’ve abandoned the big L.

In my mind, one of the foundations of the libertarian philosophy is the belief that individuals and companies can be more effective and efficient than government in addressing a wide range of issues. For me, Libertarianism was appealing because it included room to be voluntarily compassionate and responsible, without, as Rand would put it, the threat of a gun. But organizations like the FEAF, at least as Newsweek casts them, aren’t arguing against government forcing companies to be greener, they’re apparently against the greening itself, and maybe even against Wal-Mart offering better benefits to low-wage workers.

I thought libertarianism was about opposing government mandates, not opposing voluntary social responsibility.

gaps

I don’t always know ahead of time what a post will be about, but I did this time, so I started by trying to assign the relevant categories (listed up there under the post title). To my surprise, I have no categories for either “fashion” nor “environment”.

The two can probably only be called passing interests for me — in this post-An Inconvenient Truth world, everyone’s concerned about the environment, and I have to admit that recycling is a “when I think of it” thing rather than a way of life. And although I have a subscription to Lucky and I buy many more fashion magazines off the stand every month, well, most of my shoes are from Target.

A huge chunk of my non-shoe wardrobe, however, comes from Gap. I’d probably buy shoes there, too, but they don’t make them in my size. I buy Gap because there’s on one every corner (although no longer the corner of Haight and Ashbury), and because their clothes are reasonably priced and pretty much guaranteed never to go out of style. I never gave a thought to their “greenness”.

But apparently they’re greener than you might think. According to this article in The Motley Fool, Gap Inc. has been testing 100% organic cotton, hemp blends, and domestic violence outreach. I didn’t know either, but that’s kind of the whole point of the article — Gap has apparently neglected to capitalize on its conscience.

The only Gap mention of this stuff I can find is a tiny link at the bottom of their website, down there with the boring shit like “Privacy Policy” and “Investors”. The link says “Social Responsiblity“, but I’m too tired to read what follows. If it’s interesting, let me know. I’m still more interested in the clothes.

true value

Yesterday I went to Home Depot to purchase non-lethal mousetraps.

As I entered the store, I saw a young man slowly moving items from one box to another. He glanced up at me, we made eye contact for the briefest of moments, and he quickly turned away. “That’s okay,” I thought while scanning the banners at the end of each vast aisle, “I’m sure I can find someone to ask.” And I meandered over to the “Garden Center” banner, thinking it a more likely spot than “Plumbing” or “Electrical”.

The Garden Center was full of barbeque grills, cleaning supplies, and even candles — but there were no mousetraps of any sort in sight. So I kept wandering.

I wandered through half the store looking for clues, or at least an employee. Finally, in Cabinets, there appeared an obese man in an orange apron.

“Excuse me,” I said. He turned his head so that he was almost looking at me. “I’m looking for non-lethal mousetraps.” He blinked.

“For what?” he said slowly.

“Non-lethal mousetraps.”

He blinked again, but the eyes that opened were no more comprehending. “Uh. I guess that would be Garden. Down at the end of the store, through the sliding doors, outside.” Another man in an orange apron walked by, and the obese man confirmed that they thought that if they had them they would most likely be in Garden, but there was really no way to be sure.

I thanked them and began walking back toward the sliding glass doors. The obese man in an orange apron remained glued to his spot in Cabinets.

I passed through the sliding glass doors into the inferno that was the outdoor section of Garden. “Near the insecticides,” they’d said, but I could find no insecticides. Just bags and bags of dirt. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of dirt.

I began a fresh search for an employee, thinking that perhaps another orange apron could further narrow the hunt. There was no orange anywhere.

I walked back inside and took one more trip down the Garden aisle. There were no mousetraps; there were no employees.

I kept walking, right back out to my car.

This afternoon, I went to Hepfer’s True Value Hardware at the Highland Plaza in Lemoyne to purchase non-lethal mousetraps.

I walked in through the sliding glass doors and a blonde woman in a white t-shirt emblazoned with the words “True Value Hardware” looked up.

“Hi,” I said, “I’m looking for non-lethal mousetraps.”

She smiled and nodded. “Let me just get Ray to show you were they are. Ray?!”

Ray appeared.

“Can you show her where the non-lethal mousetraps are?”

Ray nodded, and began walking. I followed.

We arrived at a wall of assorted kinds of mousetraps.

“This what you’re looking for?” he asked, placing it in my hands.

It was exactly what I was looking for.

I took it to the front. I paid for it. I said thank you. I left.

Mom & Pop

Newport to lose an institution with appliance store’s closing

This article is noteworthy mainly because it doesn’t once mention that Home Depot or Lowe’s hurt the Shiffer’s business. I would guess that many people today aren’t interested in continuing their parents’ small shops, so as the proprieters age, it’s only natural that some of them are going to close. Of course the mega-stores have an impact, but I wonder if it’s as devastating as we often believe.

Get ’em Hooked

Microsoft to emerging markets: We’ve got a deal for you

This strikes me as a “The first one’s free” strategy, but a good example of how capitalism can have some synergistic results. And blah blah, it’s not capitalism because it’s a deal with a foreign government, but Microsoft’s motivations are purely capitalistic. But that doesn’t mean it won’t help both Microsoft and the consumers in the long run.

Mostly, I like the idea of the citizens all these developing countries getting computers for dirt cheap. Up to this point, the evolution from an agricultural society has, in most cases, been slow and painful. While most of the countries mentioned in the article have their share of sweatshops, etc., I’m hopeful that proliferation of information and access to that information will allow them to evolve more quickly. Even if it costs us a few jobs.

McWear

Way 2 Be

What do Sun Microsystems and McDonald’s have in common? They both use Way 2 Be to create their corporate apparel and merchandise, of course!

I don’t know if you can purchase Sun stuff, but if you’re looking to update your wardrobe with some new polyester Fry Girl shirts, this is the place for you.

Gmail

Gmail Privacy Policy

Gmail under attack in California

Well, I guess this is as good a time as any for my Gmail post. They offered beta accounts to Blogger members, so I got one, and am currently having my regular mail forwarded to my new Gmail address. I did this fully aware of the privacy concerns surrounding the service.

To be honest, the privacy concerns seem minimal to me. My father always said that nothing should ever be sent via email that wouldn’t be written on the back of a postcard. While I don’t follow this guideline, I believe in its truth, and I know that I can’t complain if sensitive information that I have emailed is compromised. With any email service, if privacy is what you’re looking for, you should be using PGP or another encryption service.

The article above raises excellent points about the services for which we are willing to compromise our privacy in nearly identical ways, and the things that we may inadvertantly be giving up if we pass legislation like what’s been proposed in California. That said, even if we weren’t giving up services that might be useful, it’s still our job as consumers to decide on an individual basis whether or not our privacy is worth it, and this isn’t the kind of thing for which there is a universal answer that can be mandated by the government.

Anyway, if Gmail is a concern for you, but you’d like to send me email, here’s my PGP key. Actually, if Gmail is a concern for you, I suggest just getting over it. But you can send me email anyway.

Sinking In

I am sitting in an empty office at work. My manager just left the building for the last time. Most of the other members of my department have been gone for days, along with nearly all of the 400 employees who have filled this huge space for the last four years.

On Tuesday night I took the last call to come into the Harrisburg call center. We thought all the queues were turned off, but as we stared at the still monitors, a straggler came through, which had to be answered. It had been six months since I spoke to a customer, but it felt good to do it one last time, even if was just for a minute before I transferred him to an outsource agent somewhere in Asia.

I told a friend this morning that it hadn’t sunk in yet. I had thought that it would on Wednesday, as most people departed for the last time; or maybe on Wednesday night at the bar where everyone celebrated both St Patrick’s Day and their liberation. When I didn’t feel it then, I thought it would happen this morning when I pulled into a vacant parking lot and made my way through an empty building — but it didn’t. I gave up, and told my friend that I didn’t think it would happen until I left for the last time, or maybe not even until a few days after that.

It happened just now, as my boss smiled and walked out the door. I’ll be back next week, to help facilities and IS with anything I can before we permanently vacate, but seeing the last of my department leave means that my job as I knew it is gone, in a far more real way than it was even half an hour ago.

I’m going to say goodbye to a few remaining people, log off this computer once and for all, then swallow the lump in my throat and go home. I’ll be back, for a few more days anyway, but the chapter is already closed.

Would you like some tofu with that?

McDonald’s super-size fries, and drinks going bye-bye

The title of the article says it all. McDonald’s has announced plans to phase out their super-size options. I’ve heard a lot of reactions to this, but the predominant attitude seems to be that this is a favorable thing. While I first thought that this was in response to the legal action that was taken against them last year, when families claimed that McDonald’s was responsible for their obesity, it appears that the legal threat is actually all but non-existant. Congress is even considering a bill making that type of suit illegal. Instead, it appears that this is mostly a PR move for the company, which is an interesting twist.

Were this a decision based on legal concerns, I would be disgusted — it’s each individual’s responsibility to decide what they are going to eat, and they need to accept the consequences for that. One person I spoke with said the current and projected obesity levels are just too much of a drain on the healthcare system, but if we focus on further privatizing healthcare (which I’m pretty sure I believe we should) then that shouldn’t be a concern. If McDonald’s is doing this because they believe it’s what the public wants, though, and that it will help their bottomline, then my reaction is different.

I don’t ever super-size things, unless I’m going to be sharing with at least one other person, so it won’t change the way I eat at McDonald’s. The only thing I don’t like about them getting rid of the option is that I’d like to see, as I mentioned earlier, people take responsibilty themselves — but if McDonald’s really does think that this is a wiser financial move, maybe it’s a barometer that people are being more responsible. Clearly the gained revenue from the larger sizes isn’t enough to offset the positive PR they’re getting from this decision.

On the other hand, maybe they’re just hoping that now people will get two orders of fries.