Jan 27, 2021
Revolutionizing Cheap Consumerism
How to heal the effects of mass production, cheap labour, and unethical sourcing.
The gradual domestication of the human species by those who feed them has been a sneaky process. Not meaning to be offensive, though surely intending to be bold and direct.
The American Dream and Big-box stores seem to be inseparable: wherever we look, there are gigantic square buildings filled with the needs and wants of a whole nation. A bunch of people working for minimum wage are spending their hours organizing, managing, and keeping these overflowing places running.
Surely, it is convenient, safe, and powerful if you may, but what is the real price?
Long-term safety at the cost of clutter.
Minimalism is usually on the other side of the spectrum when we compare it to a regular Northern American lifestyle. Big box stores managed to put products out there at unreasonably low prices by squeezing the suppliers and offering bulk deals that make every shopper’s knees jerk. Offers are found for huge amounts of daily goods that can get you mega deals. It certainly promotes a kind of lifestyle that we will look into deeper.
When we buy in bulk, we need more space to store all that we have bought. We are systematically led to believe we absolutely need a house with more and more space to be happier, so that we can store all the stuff which will finally bring meaning to our lives. A classic ‘agricultural brain’ move, after we stopped thinking hunter-gatherer and started farming in villages, our mental structures started to get used to having resources available to us in bigger quantities than we needed at our doorstep. We could say big box stores are the ripple effects of the same mindset that lead to the agricultural revolution. A primal bargain of “more food means more security means more comfort”
Moulding every fun wiggle into a grid
Spice markets with merchants from all over the world, fabrics being unfolded in front of the customers’ eyes, and the smell of smoked and salted meat all seem to be obsolete; forgotten in the new age of urbanized human civilization. Given the fact that everything evolves, as new packaging, more efficient ways of distribution and better ways of preservation are made available. The concern is with exciting jobs and networking opportunities that used to be widely available through passionate exploration and communal living. Depending on the lifestyle we choose, we might never experience those colours of livelihood as we used to. Our problem at hand is that these big-box models have been known to cause many family-owned businesses to close, and this could be disempowering to the natural cultural ecosystem.
Local business and corporate life can certainly co-exist; since there are things only made possible through huge networks of corporate-driven effort. The necessary corporate style systems that make fun video games, breathtaking technology, and a better future possible, happen to give their employees great benefits. These healthy, mindful companies know that their body consists of their workers and unions; symbiotic interactions will not damage their agendas but lift the whole system up. The problem is businesses that do not innovatively design a sustainable model: they attempt to replace already existing local economics and business models for the sake of profit only.
There is no one way of looking at the right work style, if a minimum wage job with set shifts and less true human interaction is what someone might need at a stage in their life, it is what it is. However, the downside of it is brutally clear, no one genuinely knows them: there is no space for the totality of their creative expression. No matter how many times it is affirmed that the team is a “family”, no one would care if a crew member was in trouble because they are easily replaceable. To be content with life is an art form needing constant work and evolution; when our job does not feel as dreamy as we want it to be, serenity is still within reach. Like it or not, there is no denying the fact that there are uniforms, guidelines, and strict rules for everyone to follow. Here talents, passions, and dreams are not taken into consideration; what a downer.
Why these gigantic businesses are opposed to worker unions.
A worker union is when the employees of a business unite together to defend their rights, paving the way for working conditions to be improved as big-box stores are committed to keeping the costs as low as possible. The idea of employees succeeding to get better benefits or higher pay could be a threat to their whole business model. They are even known for firing departments as a result of attempts to form unions. Recently during the Covid-19 pandemic, Cort Furniture Rental in New Jersey happened to replace a number of its drivers that were looking forward to unionizing with contractors that didn’t plan to form a union.
For a straight and square, black and white system to work and to keep offering cheap prices as a result of unfair trade and low wages; organic, authentic human connection in groups can be detrimental. Unless its agendas are moving towards a better future for employees, these unionization movements are stopped and harshly confronted by the authorities.
As a responsible, compassionate, and well-educated citizen of this universe seeking a truly better, happier, and sustainable tomorrow; making conscious decisions of what system to support is a basic human duty. Spending resources the right way, on the right things will not make us poor; rather it will facilitate the way to an authentically abundant life. So next time, don’t hesitate to spend a couple extra bucks to go for the better alternative that will support a better humanity.
