“With No Malice”©2012
A General Interest Opinion Column by an opinionated person.
Vic Topmiller Jr.
01/28/13(67)
“Change – All changes, even their most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another!” Anatole France.
“More Big Box
Symbol of the world.”
Bad – when food and products are sent here for the folks, who is watching out for the folks? Is the FDA certifying that each ship- or planeload of produce is absolutely safe for consumption? Of course not. I'm sure it has a formula by which there is a random sampling taking place. But, as for me, I seem to fall between the cracks, between the samples. I'm still a great believer in buying from as local a producer as possible. You know, the farmer down the road or the neighbor whose chickens produce more eggs than they can eat. Another source of consumables is for sure the local food co-ops. The food there is usually a little different from the traditional name brand stuff but co-op stores are run by folks determined to purvey food that is good and good for you that usually comes with an organic certification from a farm that is close and open for all to see. The wisdom here is simply this—if I get sick from bad eggs or apples, I don't have to go far to apprehend the culprit. While on the other hand, if I get sick eating an apple from WalMart, well, go hire an expensive lawyer and see who gets the compensation.
So, let's get real, I'll always be going to the "Big Box” to buy stuff. If the price at the BB is a lot less and the quality is close, that's where I'll be buying. Unless. Here is where the local store shines many of the times. Ever try to get good advice about paint or produce or meat quality or other things that need to come with explanation of purpose and process from a professional person or from a person who has been hired because of their demonstrated skills in that field? Well, “WalMart” is not going to pay a salary competitive enough to secure that kind of help. That's where the local store can and usually does shine. You've got a project going and you need some advice—I suggest you go to a Mom-and-Pop store.
When you're buying hunting stuff, for instance. Ever go to the “Big Box” hunting department and visit with the hunters standing around sharing information about where the quail are or best loads for deer and elk? I haven't. If you want the latest hunting info to come along with the purchase then go to your local gun store. There you will meet up with a network of hunters and fisherman with the latest and greatest of the industry ready to share the part of the sale that can't be purchased at the “Big Box.”
But the big national stores are not all bad. As a matter of fact, they are quite good. Certainly, they have put a lot of Mom-and-Pop stores out of business, and you can't deny they demonstrate little empathy for the stores falling by the wayside, but remember, they also have checks and balances—they also have competitors challenging their every move. And with this competition comes the big stores' crowning glory—they drive prices down.
Well, okay, there you have it. You decide. But as for me and my family—I never want to live more than fifteen minutes from the “Big Box.”
“Even in slight things the experience of the new is not without some stirring of foreboding.” Eric Hopper.
That's My Opinion.
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