I love coffee. I thank God for coffee whenever I drink it. I make it at home; I buy it at coffee houses. I will even buy it at 7-Eleven when the mood strikes me. I'm no coffee snob—although I really don't like Folger's; there's just something about that brand I don't care for. Maybe it's their “flavor crystals,” but I just don't like the taste.
So I went to this one coffeehouse where they have some anti-Starbucks bumper stickers on the wall. The sticker in question has the Starbucks logo, probably in violation of copyright, and “Friends don't let friends drink corporate coffee.”
A bad choice of words; the coffee they use is produced by a brewer in San Francisco, which is owned by a corporation headquartered in Virginia. I don't know the source of their beans, but I'm pretty sure they're not shipped to the United States by a private individual. So whose corporate coffee shouldn't we be drinking?
Somehow many small businesses—which are supposed to represent the great American entrepreneur spirit—aren't above accepting a little Marxism if it'll keep them in business. Somehow corporations are “greedy” and “evil” because they make so much money; but the little guy is noble and personable. Why? Because the less successful you are, the more noble you are? Because the poorer you are, the friendlier you are? (Obviously you've never worked in a food ministry. For every appreciative person, there are three grabby, rude people that are only looking out for Number One.)
Coffeehouses are pretty bad, but bookstores are worse. A lot of people work at bookstores because they love books. Profit-making comes second—heck, they're lucky to break even, so of course you have to love it in order to do it. Naturally, bookstore owners hate corporate bookstores because the corporations are always threatening to drive them out of business.
It's not hard to see why. First of all, my local Barnes and Noble has a Starbucks—books and coffee in the same place; thank you, Jesus!—a much better selection, and better prices. The small-bookstore argument that corporate bookstores limit selection is a load of crap. Corporate bookstores have a huge selection, and if you can't find it there, they will order it for you. I have yet to find a book that Amazon can't track down once I give them the
What I disapprove of most is the hypocrisy. “Corporate” is just fine until it threatens your livelihood; then it's bad. How many people have no problem driving 50 miles to buy clothes at Walmart, yet don't want one to move into their area because they're afraid it will compete with their hardware store? If they truly have a problem with corporations in general, I challenge them to go a month without buying anything manufactured by a corporation. (Better start with your electricity.)
What are the most common complaints about corporations?
- That they're impersonal? Okay, that's true of the phone company; but I've had nothing but great customer service from Walmart, Apple Computer, Amazon, and many of the other corporations I've done business with.
- That they're only focused on profits? So is anyone who owns a business—if you wanted to do charity work, you'd run a charity.
- That you're giving money to someone you don't know instead of someone you know? Hey, I know many people that work at my local Walmart. My money doesn't go directly to them; but any money I spend at a small business doesn't go directly to the workers or owners there either; not until suppliers and landlords (or big corporate mortgage companies) are paid, anyway.
- That the money I spend at a corporation might go towards something I don't approve of—buying political candidates, pollution, third world sweatshops, etc.? Well, corporate crimes are a lot more obvious, but no less damaging—a small business owner could be a Marxist who drives a gas-guzzling SUV and buys Vietnamese-made Air Jordans for his porn-collecting, weed-smoking teenage boys (if she doesn't blow it on animal-tested cosmetics first). Pick a cause you're against; individuals (like small business owners) are worse.
- That they're not accountable to anyone? Sure they are. Their presidents and chairmen answer to their board members and shareholders. If the corporation does anything to annoy either group, people get fired. Individuals (like small business owners) answer to no one. If a corporation is caught polluting, it makes the papers and heads will roll. If a small business owner is caught dumping trash on the side of the road, he pays a big fine and no one is the wiser. If a corporation cheats customers, people go to jail. If a small business owner cheats customers, the Better Business Bureau gets called. In every way, the small business is less accountable.
I am currently getting shafted by a small business owner. I ordered a textbook from someone through Amazon—not from Amazon itself, a company whose customer service is so good that if this small business owner takes off with my money and sends me no book, Amazon will pay me back. I ordered this book in late August, and it's been three weeks—Amazon would have sent it to me in three days, even without expedited shipping.
There is no earthly reason, save death or dismemberment, why this bookseller should take this long to send me a book. For all our jokes about the slowness of the U.S. Postal Service, they take three days, tops, to send things. They should have dropped the book in the mail the day I made the order. That's what I do when I sell something over the Internet. Instead, this seller has 28 days to send it to me, and that deadline is going to be pushed as far as it can go. Meanwhile, I need my textbook. Somehow, I've managed to complete two assignments without it, but not easily.
Amazon wouldn't have put me through this crap. God bless corporations.