 When it comes to buying goods, most of us would try sustainable goods if possible. Many of us buy organics, or recycled goods. One thing that is catching on is the decision to buy local goods. What not everyone knows is that major retailers often have more effects than lowering prices. These stores move money out of the town that they are in. A locally owned business is likely to produce income, jobs, tax receipts, and charitable donations for a community over several generations. Whenever ownership is in the same place as the location of a business, all these transactions reinforce one another and pump up the local economic multiplier, the basic building block for community prosperity. The money stays in the town or city it was in and continues to promote local interests.
Local ownership minimizes the chance of outsourcing. Across the country, cities have seen their best local companies sell their interests to outsiders and then their hometown plants shut down because of national chain retailers. Consequences always follow. Taxpayers thrown out of work become tax-drainers through welfare and unemployment payments. When the tax base is reduced, public services like education, police, and fire are usually cut. Property values plummet and, like so many steel and auto cities, the community descends into an economic decline that is tough to break from. Local stores have no plans to move to Malaysia or any ther outsourcing.
A third advantage of local ownership is that once a company agrees to stay indefinitely, the community can better shape its laws and regulations to serve the local quality of life. Today, most communities are held hostage to their largest companies.
Ecologically, the concerns of carbon for transportation are cut when goods are bought local. The average American’s food has traveled 1,500 miles to get to them. Some things like bananas are brought from the other side of the world. The only reason why we don’t feel the pinch yet is because petroleum prices are artifically low. The true costs would change our choices quite a bit. If goods are bought from a local source such as a local farmer or manufacturer, the carbon costs would be significantly less.
When you choose to buy local, you buy for the greater good. The place has a unique identity so it’s like any other town. The local economy is made stronger. It is simply much easier on the Earth.
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