How Serious Are You About Buying Fair Trade Items.

Helena · #1 02/27/10, 11:45 PM

How serious are you about buying and using fair trade items in foods or organic clothing from fair trade or legal factories in countries. I personally will not buy clothing that is made in countries that the factories or companies can not tell me who and how their clothing was made and buy whom..yes..it does make it difficult at times..but how much does one need. More than 2 pair of shoes..or pants or 4 or 5 T-shirts..organic ? Perhaps I am more serious about this than others. yes..it is hard to find the right answers at times but shouldn't we all try. Anyone ??

fellini123 · #2 02/28/10, 12:06 AM

Only Fair Trade Item I have ever bought was coffee. So not much help here.
Alice in Virginia

chickenista · #3 02/28/10, 12:08 AM

Nope.. absolutely no way on earth I could afford and organic, fair trade shoe string..
But I do try to buy thrift stores only and whenever possible as my little way of bucking the current system.

Helena · #4 02/28/10, 12:13 AM

I understand the increased cost at times is a problem. Yes..I also will buy used clothing before new because of the cost and also the eco-idea of not wasting things that might end up in land fills. I have found that I will buy less and can not remember when I have been to a mall to buy clothes. Now..I'm not saying I look like a beggar..by any means..but ever so more conscious of what and where I buy. Fair trade foods are readily available at the grocery stores and cost is not usually any more than "regular" items.

chickenista · #5 02/28/10, 12:16 AM

wrong thread.. sorry...

**clovis** · #6 02/28/10, 01:30 AM

Helena,

I understand the basics of fair trade items, but I would like to learn more about how/where to find products.

BTW, who decides if the item is a fair trade item? Is it the manufacturer's call?

Clove

TheMartianChick · #7 02/28/10, 08:41 AM

I don't specifically look for fair trade items. I just don't see them at the places that I shop. One exception is the local farmers market. There is a seller who sells candy made with fair trade sugar. Other than that, I don't think that I've ever seen fair trade on any other label. Maybe, I'm just not looking in the right places?

**ladycat** · #8 02/28/10, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clovis

BTW, who decides if the item is a fair trade item? Is it the manufacturer's call?

More info here: http://www.fairtrade.net/

Wisconsin Ann · #9 02/28/10, 09:14 AM

When there are two items, similar, and one is from a Fair Trade company, I'll buy that one. But I don't go out of my way to look for it. Since I mostly buy my clothes through St. Vinnie's, it's not much of an issue. Artificer has to wear a certain type of very heavy jeans for work, so that's a problem finding ANYTHING that fits the bill.

When I was buying coffee at the store, I always tried to buy the Fair Trade...and it was usually the same price as the others...and tasted really good. Then for some reason it went sky high in price, and the quality went down, so....

Wolf mom · #10 02/28/10, 09:32 AM

Not at all. Sounds like another tenacle of the Progressives - "allow members to join unions"... Just what we need. More unions, one world government.

NamasteMama · #11 02/28/10, 09:43 AM

I will buy USA made over ANYTHING. Its the deportation of our jobs to the "fair trade" have cost the hemoraging of jobs here. With that being said if it is something that I absolutly can not buy from the USA, then I will purchase fairtrade, for instance chocolate or vanilla.

Kumquat · #12 02/28/10, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wisconsin Ann

Then for some reason it went sky high in price, and the quality went down, so....

Simple common sense and economics at work. Fair Trade, and I use the term loosely, pays growers a fixed price for the beans. That price isn't based on the quality of the beans or what the world market price is. At one point Fair Trade was paying $1.26/lb while the regular buyers were paying $1.42; Fair Trade then turned around and sold their coffee for $13.00/lb to its customers.

To join the Fair Trade group, the growers also have to pony up $3,500 - a huge chunk of money for that part of the world. They are also forbidden from hiring seasonal workers. There is no incentive for the growers who join the Fair Trade group to give their plants more than the minimum amount of care needed, since they can't afford to hire people in the numbers needed because they would have to hire them full-time for a few months' work.

In other words, any coffee grower who can produce halfway decent beans is better off not joining the Free Trade group.

There are a lot of good books written on the subject. Like so many other things, "good ideas" with no grounding in reality fail. If the price was based on the quality of the beans, and they paid a premium above the market price, it might work.

DoubleBee · #13 02/28/10, 11:14 AM

I'd love to buy all American made or local produce. It's hard to find around this 2 horse town.
What's bad about unions? Hubby's union work was good for us. It allowed us good health insurance and now a pension for him.
Not all unions are bad.

ronbre · #14 02/28/10, 12:43 PM

i guess i don't see it the same way others do..i figure everyone has a right to work no matter where they live..and i do understand that some governments mistreat their workers and pay them next to nothing..but if they had less would that help them? I just don't know how to justify that myself..

arabian knight · #15 02/28/10, 01:02 PM

Don't matter one bit to me. Being on a limited income I buy what I can afford and if that means a lower price because the4 product was made in some other country, so be it. that is the way it is. Heck all my electronics are made over seas, even my small appliances are made over their I could care less, as long as the price is low.
I just bought a Bluray DVD Player, (Sony) Made in Malaysia, so what?
just read yesterday that (Apple) is cracking down on places they do business with that allow underage children working in factories.
Well Good for them. Let Companies make it their job to crack down on such things not others telling them what they can or can not do or who they do business with.

ar_wildflower · #16 02/28/10, 01:31 PM

I like fair trade. I buy it when I see it and can afford it. I worry though that it is just another sales pitch to make me feel good about buying crap!

Helena · #17 02/28/10, 01:40 PM

Agree..you do have to buy what you can afford..or do with less and at times that isn't possible. Unions..don't blame them for all the world problems. Where would the 40 hour week be without the beginnings of union which we all enjoy no matter if you work union or not. But..back to the subject..yes..if I need to pay a little more for a fair trade, organic and even made in USA they are my first choice. I actually inquire at the companies I order from catalogs where their clothes or items or made or you can go on line to check it out for where and what people made them. [I] realize that if we didn't buy cheap made over seas products people wouldn't have any $$$ to life their life at all..so what to do ?? I just think that we need to think about our "wealthy" way of life..no matter how "poor" we are by American standards we still all life like royalty compared to most of the world. Think before we buy...and even think..do I really, really need to buy anything more..anyway

belladulcinea · #18 02/28/10, 01:48 PM

The US has lost job after job because we as the buying public demand low priced products. The companies in order to make a profit so they can pay the shareholders, which include those with 401k invested in mutual funds, have shipped the jobs to cheaper places. Well, we can thank ourselves for running them off and our shortsightedness.

I buy as many products as I can that are made in the USA, food products especially. I'm beginning to see alot of these labels watered down from what they were meant to be.

arabian knight · #19 02/28/10, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by belladulcinea

The US has lost job after job because we as the buying public demand low priced products. The companies in order to make a profit so they can pay the shareholders, which include those with 401k invested in mutual funds, have shipped the jobs to cheaper places.

And just what makes those companies that ship jobs over seas? More times then one can count it is the Unions and what Unions have Demanded on those companies~!
Heck the Unions have driven Whole Companies out of Michigan~! Yes whole small companies that were making products for the auto factories. Paying a respectable wage,
THEN guess what the UNION comes in and TELL that private small company YOU ARE and WILL match the union wages at the auto makers plants OR You will NOT make parts for ANY of the auto plants~!!!
Yuppers sounds fair to me. NOT.
The union coming in making their suppliers pay what the HUGE auto plants are paying~!!!!
So guess what They MOVED the HEck of of Michigan.
Now you see what unions have done to Detroit not only to Detroit but to the Whole State.
Same goes for others union contracts.
Heck most unions shops get 3 TIMES the amount of wage increase when the minimum went up. ( Even though they were way higher in wage.) Their union contracts said Increase OUR {PAY 3 Times what any hike in minimum wage is.
WOW it is the unions that have messed this country over big time. and now we as a nation are paying the price because of no manufacturing jobs hardly are left in the USDA., THANKS Unions ~!

**highlands** · #20 02/28/10, 03:19 PM

Be aware that some of these things are really more about marketing and high income for the certification agency than about making a real difference.