I have been reading Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture,* by Ellen Ruppel Shell, for a hundred years.
Okay, not really. But it was starting to feel like it. Make no mistake: that's not because it was a bad book. It's because it was a really good book. It was everything nonfiction should be: interesting, detailed, well-researched, and thorough. It was also as depressing as hell.
Shell describes the American (and to some extent, world) love affair with "cheap," and how our identification with consumer culture, rather than working class or production culture, is leading to a breakdown in many of our social and business systems. She does so systematically, discussing the history of discount stores and pricing in America (starting way before Wal-Mart), and she does so convincingly, examining all aspects of the "cheap" worldview such as pricing strategies and global trade imbalances. She covers a variety of retailers and products, from IKEA to our food supply. Really, it's an incredible book.
She's also upfront about how much we all enjoy bargains,** and how that might have to change if we really want to improve working conditions and wages and lifestyles worldwide. Honestly? There's so many and interesting and sad things to quote in this book, I wouldn't even know where to start. Oh, wait, I did stick in a couple of bookmarks; heres one paragraph I found interesting, from a labor scholar Shell interviewed:
"'Corporate giants have become our heroes,' he continued. 'We are so focused on the dream of wealth that we identify with billionaires, with whom we have nothing in common. Where fifty years ago we had labor identity that pit workers against management, today we have a system that pits worker against worker. And that includes workers in the United States against workers in the developing world.'" (p. 203.)
The book's also jam-packed with scary statistics about how much the overall price of food has dropped since 1970--and what that says about what we're eating--as well as numbers showing how real wages for the majority of Americans have mostly gone down, especially in the face of out-of-control health care costs.
It's a sobering book. Make some time to read it, and then read it. I think it will make you wonder just a bit about where bargain prices come from and how much they actually cost us.
*Please do click on this link, and read the review of this book listed there from The Washington Post. Now THAT is a review--and is right on. Although I liked this book, it did have its shortcomings. Reading that review highlights how my little blurbs here are not really "reviews" but are instead light "opinion pieces."
**I recognize this. The other day I was excited to find pork chops on sale for 2 for $2. I love pork chops, so I snapped some up, but when I think about it...how is that even possible? And this coming from a person who will not shop at Wal-Mart and mostly tries to avoid shopping at all. So the desire for cheap really is in all of us.
You know what's funny about bargain prices? My family eats organic produce, and now that we're getting it direct from a local farm, we pay about half what we paid at the grocery store. We're also growing our own mushrooms and herbs on the counter. What this has to do with labor is that it's possible to get bargains without undercutting someone's honest living or despoiling the environment.
Posted by: Jessica | 27 January 2010 at 10:13 AM
You're right, Jessica, but to some extent it's a drag. I think that's the real struggle (at least it is for me). All I can ever think is, "Christ, I don't want to go back to the farm." (Having grown up on one.) I find growing my own food--or even trying to--trying in the extreme (Asian beetles eating all my bean plants? What part of that isn't annoying as hell?). I even find shopping at farmers' markets annoying, which is terrible to admit. But it does take extra time to go to the market and get perishables, and then go to the grocery store for other stuff you need (hello, toilet paper). It's not really that hard, of course, and it's ridiculous to complain about. But it is a problem: I don't like to shop twice because I am so NOT domestic it's laughable (even though I'm a homebody)--but I recognize I am one of the lucky few who would probably have the time. People who are working two jobs and juggling other responsibilities just to make it? I can totally see where they don't want to dick around at the farmers' market either. It's a problem.
BTW--I totally salute you for growing your own herbs and mushrooms. Yet another thing I'm too lazy to do!
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 27 January 2010 at 10:22 AM
I'm scared. I am second generation away from the farm - and I'd like it to stay that way. We've tried gardening for a couple of years, and it's not cheap. I don't like driving to the produce market, farmer's market and grocery store - how can I be helping if I'm doing all that driving? What's a person supposed to do? And don't even get me started on WalMart. The big question is, how do we get all the WalMart dummies to read this book?
Posted by: Melanie | 27 January 2010 at 10:40 AM
Oh, Melanie,
There's so much good stuff in your comment. I know exactly how you feel. And I LIKED growing up on a farm; I like my family; I liked that feeling of (somewhat) self-sufficiency, and to some extent, I don't mind hard work. But still? I'd like to stay off the farm too. No way in hell could I ever care for animals (my kitty notwithstanding, who largely takes care of herself).
I don't know either, what to do, and to some extent, even when I know what to do, I am loathe to take away from my reading time to do it. I'm scared too.
I thought that's why the worker quote was so interesting--I don't even think everyone who shops there are Wal-Mart dummies. I think they've been pitted worker against worker for long enough now that all they can think about is how they need Wal-Mart just to get by. (I even know a person who was once railing against Democrats and taxes--even though she is on state-assisted health insurance and just got a FEMA check for flood damage to her home! If people can't make those connections....man, I don't think a book is going to do it.)
Plus they wouldn't have time to read such a book, and I don't know if it would change their minds or help them materially anyway. See? Depressing.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 27 January 2010 at 11:06 AM
All of this "cheap" stuff is "supposed" to help us - so that we can afford things on our stagnating wages. The problem is that more and more people can't even afford the cheap stuff, and have no wages, stagnating or other. I refuse to darken Walmart's door, but I'm able to buy things elsewhere. I loves me a bargain too. But we don't know the cost of things. It's part of this privatized profits, socialized risk thing. Businesses - shareholders - are the only one entitled to the profits, but we (and government) get to pay for roads, infrastructure, tax incentives, pollution, and the like. It's not a fair exchange my any means. Sigh. I'm already trying to reduce/reuse/recycle.
Posted by: sarah | 27 January 2010 at 12:14 PM
I grew up in an urban environment and I know absolutely nothing about farming - or even gardening. I didn't even learn to cook until my 30s (i.e. very recently).
I do know how to shop frugally, though. I've learned that it's less expensive in the long run to pay for, say, one well-made pair of shoes than several pairs from the discount store. Everything I have ever bought at a Dollar Store has broken almost immediately. One $45 umbrella that lasts five years is better than five $10 umbrellas that last one year. The only "cheap" thing I will buy is sunglasses, because I always lose them.
I think the real problem might start to come in when people quit buying things they don't need. If all of us had one bowl and one saffron robe, then what?
The issue goes beyond "cheap" products. We've automated so much that it takes very few humans to accomplish things. What happens to a large group of people who are not "economically necessary"? What if we woke up and found that only 20% of the population was really "needed" to keep society running?
Posted by: Jessica | 27 January 2010 at 01:30 PM
One of my problems with the superstores is how they assemble produce. When my husband comes home with a bag of fifteen bags of bananas from costco, i know i have to eat two a day to make it worth it - since my husband doesn't like bananas. I also know i'll be baking banana bread. When I explain how difficult it is to eat two bananas, his bargaining mind tells me it's cheaper to buy the big bag of bananas than it is to buy three or four from the supermarket. I guess I'll have to read the book to figure that one out.
This was also explored in Nobodies when the author discussed how Walmart (?) would only sell gallon jars of pickles even though most families had difficulty going through that many pickles. It's the waste of food that gets to me.
To do my part, I am using thrift stores more to buy things. We're running out of glasses, so instead of buying brand new ones, I plan on visiting a thrift store to get some. Since I don't care whether anything matches (and it already doesn't), it's not a problem.
When you read these kinds of books, CR, you get me on a roll...
Posted by: Venta | 28 January 2010 at 09:20 AM
Haven't read this one (it's been on my list for a while), but I did go through an anti-consumerism reading binge a few years ago. It lead me to read a lot of books on simple living (many of them repetitive and/or poorly written). While it's not really my "thing," I did choose to adapt a fair number of their techniques. I've stopped the constant browsing that made life so aggravating, and learned to just buy only what I really need. My house is a lot happier for it, and so am I. My trash and recycling bins get a lot less work, too. Except cool lipsticks; I still go through lipstick binge phases and I'm ok with that.
Posted by: Rachael | 28 January 2010 at 12:25 PM
Sarah,
You're exactly right. I used your "privatized profits and socialized risks" line to my mother today and she thought that was right on.
Jessica,
I salute your trying to shop frugally and live a bit closer to the earth. I think you've hit on a fundamental problem with our economy--what happens when the only way forward is to keep buying but we don't have anything left to buy stuff with?
The automation question is also an interesting one. What I don't understand (and I'm thinking of mainly health care here) is how they can both use computers and employ plenty of staff and still everything goes missing or wrong. It's a mystery. In the meantime I'm simply refusing to use self-check and become a pawn of stores trying to offload the price of labor onto me. Screw you, stores. If I wanted to learn how to run my grapes over the scanner, I would apply for a job in your store and get paid for the honor. Cheap bastards.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 28 January 2010 at 05:35 PM
Venta,
Something is wrong in a society where sacks of bananas can be had more cheaply than a few (and then often go to waste). That's just not right, even if it is a bargain. My mom flirted briefly with the Sam's Warehouse in town but I think she got over it when she watched me consume, in short order, a bargain barrel of Laffy Taffy I bought there once.
I'm glad you brought up "Nobodies." This book actually reminded me of it several times, although I think in terms of writing and insight "Nobodies" was still the better book.
And, mmmm....thrift stores. Next time you swing out through the Midwest we'll have to visit some of my favorites. :)
Rachael,
Wow, you aren't kidding. At least this one was a good journalistic read--I'll tell you what I can't read any more of, and it's the "I went back to the land to live frugally" books, many of which are just, as you say, poorly written. I am also not going to become an urban scavenger. But I'll agree that everything gets a lot easier when you stop (or slow down on) buying stuff. Less time wasted shopping, less time wasted moving stuff around and cleaning around it=more time for reading!
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 28 January 2010 at 05:40 PM
I have the feeling that the "after" picture of you (after the Laffy Taffy) wasn't a pretty sight?
re the privatized profits - you can also call it "heads I win, tales you lose", or "I got mine, screw you" . . . or . . .
Posted by: Sarah | 30 January 2010 at 03:35 PM
Sarah,
Well, I've always been on the chubby side so I don't know that the "after Laffy Taffy" picture would have been significantly different from the "before" one. I don't even think I had a tummy ache--I used to be a goat (could eat anything).
I think "I got mine, screw you" sums up the entire American system pretty succinctly.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 01 February 2010 at 11:50 AM