We don’t need the reminder. Who cares about the supply chain backlog? We can make do with what *does* arrive, as faithful, moral people ought to do.
During the final quarter of the year last year, the narrative was support local businesses. While I recognize even local businesses are having supply chain issues, maybe consider finding retailers that are even more local. Wood, metals, plastics, foods, and all materials made within a 100-mile radius of your residence. Sold from a warehouse or storefront around the same.
The big brands are not necessarily the best brands. Nor are big brands who pretend to be small to fake authenticity. Big box stores and department stores, I curse you for issuing Black Friday previews now. Market demand is good, but not when your workforce is a skeleton crew of the mealiest variety. Especially when you represent a brand that used to stand for the common people. People who stand for practicality and quality. You’ve inherited an intense brand loyalty that cannot be sated because you’ve put your own storefronts up for sale and will make bank whether the retailer lives or dies. You are both the jury and executioner.
Circulating new goods just forebodes more climate disaster. Just thrift or hand-me-down.
In all, please stop harnessing a sense of urgency in something so small as materials. Climate, disease, and labor ethics…That’s what’s urgent.
Sheila DeBonis: Marketer, Essayist, and Journalist 