You often hear people say, support small businesses and don't give money to the big ones.
So what makes you stop supporting a small business when it has become too big?
Based on turnover/profit? Size of the store? Number of stores? ATO definition?
Many big businesses would have started as small backyard operations at the beginning many years ago. Are they no longer deserving your support?
Curious to hear people's thoughts.
But you rarely hear service being the argument proffered by those telling us not to support big businesses. They always talk about how much money they have.
the arguments i usually hear are
don't support harvey normal, because gerry harvey is a massive prick (valid)
don't support nestle, because they support rainforest deforestation + stealing water from third world countries and selling it (valid)
i never really see "don't support X because they have a lot of money" but rather "instead of buying from X, buy from Y, it's the same product, same price, but you are supporting a small business"
it's always an alternative, rather than an outright "don't support", unless they are doing something unethical.
This, normally the bigger the company gets, the more everything else goes out the window, which tends to be service or quality, or both.
Size doesn't matter. It's the price that counts.
absolutely!
the cheaper the better!
Yeah, and that doesn't necessarily mean cheaper the better.
It can also mean I'd pay for the more expensive option because of greater efficiency, more features, better perceived customer service, etc etc.
Customer service is what matters, if they can continue with it, great.
Most business scale up after it is sold, so new management is mostly about racking in money and reduction in customer service.
There is a huge parasitic element in modern business:
Successful founders often get burnt out or bored at some point, and happy to take the big paycheck to sell their reputable company/brand.
So the parasites buy it, and install a CEO who doesn't know anything about the business (or sometimes even business at all - some rich guy's idiot son who had his way paid through an MBA at a fancy university).
His only job is to cut costs by firing people and reducing quality and service. Costs go down, profits go up (temporarily).
Reputation slides, but slowly. Customers generally do catch on, over time, and churn over to the competition (if there is any).
But by then the parasites have made their ill-gotten gains and moved on to the next target. The incompetent CEO puts "I increased profits by XX million per year" on his resume, and gets an even higher-paid CEO job. The investors sell the company or liquidate it, and buy another.
You know all those products/brands who just aren't what they used to be? This is why.
Welcome to Capitalism!
This idea that people are against (or cautious of) big businesses has no meaning anymore. It's an outdated neo-Marxist trope based on the early anti-capitalist movement.
Nowadays, people unconditionally stand by big pharma, big tech platforms, corporate media, and even vote for major corporate parties. Pretty sure most people also shop at Colesworth. So your health, social life, news, food, and political persuasion is all done through the richest and most powerful entities in their fields.
You don't support big business? If you say so…
I guess you being off your Meds (again) is saying no to Big Pharma. lol
Neg away the facts you don't like.
You really need to invest in a dictionary and learn the difference been opinion and facts. You might find yourself less confused and outraged.
@Ughhh: lol did you accidentally post that response in the wrong place? It has nothing to do with my original post.
If the pivotal areas of your life are all done through mega corporations, you have no dignity claiming to be against big business. No opinions in that whatsoever.
@Ughhh: Water is wet
Dogs are omnivores
If most of your life is outsourced to mega corporations, then you are not opposed to corporate interests.
No opinions in that whatsoever. Just calling it like it is.
@SlavOz: Read:
https://gentledogtrainers.com.au/dogs-carnivores-or-omnivore… and consider the statement:
"So once again, are dogs’ carnivores or omnivores? As you have seen, this is a complex question to answer, and it can be viewed from various angles. However, the arguments in favour of calling dogs carnivores seem to outweigh the other option."
facts
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means"
Nowadays, people unconditionally stand by big pharma, big tech platforms, corporate media, and even vote for major corporate parties. Pretty sure most people also shop at Colesworth.
So what would you have people do?
Stop being such puppets. Question what corporations say, don't let them walk all over you, call out their bullshit and for God's sake - stop believing they have your best interests at heart.
Everyone pretends they're against big business (it was always the cool revolutionist thing for the left), yet we spent the last 3 years demonising anyone who dared question the intentions of Pfizer - the most fraudulent and richest company in history. Let alone making laws that force people to buy and consume their products.
It would be nice to see people stand by their own principles for a change instead of just shilling for whatever ABC, Facebook, Liberals/Labor, or Pfizer want. Alas it seems that every mainstream opinion over the last decade has been fully aligned to corporate interests.
Next time you walk into Colesworths and see apples for $0.99/kg, make sure you question and interrogate the staff. Ask them what their agenda and intentions are. Don't let them tell you walk over you, tell them you're the boss and you'll pay $3.50/kg.
Using supermarkets as an example, I prefer to support Colesworth where the profits are shared by many thousands of shareholders and super funds compared to Aldi where the profits just go to one billionaire family.
My preference is IGA, primarily because they support other local businesses as well as donate to local causes (driven by customer selection).
So you're supporting multiple rich people instead of just one.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Yes, they're sharing the wealth with the wealthy: but in their comparison - assuming it is accurate - they are sharing it amongst many rather than few. It would be a "lesser evil".
It's like how the Greens carry on about emmissions targets but refuse to support the emmissions target/s of the major parties. I get sticking to your principles, but are you better off with an emmissions target that's less than what you wanted, or with no emmissions target?
It would be a "lesser evil".
Depends how you look at it. Assuming the business models are as they say, supporting ALDI means you're only making one family richer, whereas supporting Colesworth means you're making many more people richer.
So if you're opposed to more rich people or wealth inequality, you'd rather support ALDI. It's better for one family to have more money than everyone else than for thousands of people to have more money than everyone else.
@SlavOz: I think capslock's point is that some of the money going into Colesworth is going back to super funds and shareholders; not just one person's/family's pocket.
If you're opposed to more rich people or wealth inequality, is it better to make one person/family significantly wealthier or to make a number of rich people slightly wealthier? The latter may be increasing the "number" of "rich" people, yes, but it is increasing wealth inequality less than the former.
Beats supporting ungrateful refugees who took advantage of our hospitality and can’t be bothered to learn our anthem and worst of all then want to treat our indigenous population like crap and close the door on other refugees.
Hey man that's uncalled for. You're taking all that out of context.
I don't want to treat Aboriginals any lesser than the rest of the population. In fact I'm giving them the option (totally up to them) to disband from their colonisers and live as an independent citizenry. This is the only policy that recognises the cultural injustice that was done to them and seeks to reverse it rather than forcing them to remain under our oppressive, racist system.
@SlavOz: Is that what you call this comment?
“if they wanted to continue practising child sacrifice, they should be free to do so”
Shame on you. Shame from the same person that spits on our national anthem. We welcome you here as refugee and you spit in our face.
What an odd way to look at it.
So you're willing to spend more money at a multi billion dollar company just because there are shareholders in it ignoring the fact that there are definitely billionaires that have a lot of said shares, and all the the rich people directly involved in ColesWorth?
So while you're at home with less groceries compared to what you could have gotten at Aldi, you feel good that you've given money to billionaires and other rich people who are shareholders?
my sides
Private companies are more able to do the 'right thing' though, even if lowers profit or growth.
Whereas public companies are obligated to look after shareholder interest first, so profit & growth has to come first.
It's not like they'res many supermarkets to choose from, especially in rural areas, I only have IGA, Woolies or Aldis, plus a mum and pop shop or two to choose from.
they'res
Well…thats a new one.
Whoopsies, made a spelling mistake (or rather I chose the wrong word).
I stop supporting them when they think they have gotten too big. This come a lot sooner than them actually getting too big.
To me its less about being big or small and more about being local. I'll support an aussie business first if I can big or small and even moreso if they're from the town/city around me. Then it depends on price vs what they're like/reputation/customer positiveness.
Does the business have shareholders?
If no, then the owner is fully responsible for the quality of the products and services = a better product for us.
If yes then they're 'big' (in the OP's original sense) enough to be listed and therefore the managers/staff are liable to answer to the shareholders above the needs of the customer. This is the biggest cause of problems as you trade goodwill, customer service, and quality for increased profits instead.
Depends what your definition of a ‘small business’ is: I’d define it to be: e.g. a party shop in your suburb, the butcher, the independent grocer, independent shoe repairers, independent pub, independent brewer
I used to by raw food for my dogs from a small family business. When they first started, their prices were extremely competitive, fantastic service, high quality food, etc.
They gained popularity very very quickly and with that, everything good about them slowly went down. Prices increased every two months or so to the point that after two years, their prices were double the original prices and became more expensive than similar food at Best Friends pet shops (noting how expensive Best Friends is!). They also started contracting some parts of their operation. During that time they bought more real estates, e.g. bigger house, a farm.
So yea, like other people, I stopped buying from them because the prices became too expensive, quality of the product went down and there was no customer service that you usually see at a family business.
That's probably the only small business I stopped supporting so far.
Did you stop voting Labor or consuming ABC once they turned corporate too?
It’s a value proposition that is based on many factors not just size.
I think sadly 'small business' has become synomous with rip off.
I think also sadly we're in a cycle where we shop at colesworth, bunnings, dan murphys, chemists warehouse, liquorland, jb, hn, good guys, officeworks which really is the same old bunch of assholes who live in $44 mil. houses…
I still go to some small businesses simply because they offer the superior product at a tad more expensive price… but the price is worth it
service??? I mean… that means little really.
I prefer to support small businesses and will pay slighty more to do that. However a local farm gate business i tried to support was considerable dearer than the local supermarkets even though they grow the product no middle man etc. I will support small business and i am prepared to pay more for good service etc but if it gets to a point where i feel like im getting taken advantage of.
LOL, I use the business that can provide the service or product that I require. It is not noble to "support" small businesses, small businesses have to be relevant and provide a better service for me to use them.
Luckily this is fairly easy as the bigger the business the more likely they have reduced or removed customer service as an "unnecessary" expenditure because seeking profits impresses the shareholders and the way to do this if you can not increase revenues is to reduce expenditure.
Choose the business that provides the best service for your needs, as there are still employees and money being pushed back into your local community through salaries and other costs of running a business.
When they stop caring about you personally and give bad service.
in my experience, this tends to coincide with an overall drop of quality and customer service. once you get big, it's harder to oversee the business and make sure everything is being done properly, and you can't get to customers as quickly (because you have a lot more)
i won't stop supporting businesses that grow, unless the above happens, which is usually the case.