The Justice of Shopping
“Everything will be alright when we go shopping… Never enough till you got all the stuff… Everything will be alright when we go shopping.”
(Lyrics from the song “Shopping” by the Barenaked Ladies)
Some of my musings recently have made me think that sometimes everything is definitely not alright when we go shopping, especially when we go shopping online.
This “guest blog” resulted from my initial wondering where to buy the book for this year’s Lenten study which Wayne Hughes will be leading. This led to a discussion about the merits of buying from Amazon (cheaper, maybe faster) and buying from a bookshop (probably more expensive but supporting local). Full disclosure: I do a miniscule amount of shopping online and I will never, ever buy anything from Amazon.
When I let Wayne know that I have boycotted Amazon for a long time he invited me to do a “guest blog” this week reflecting on why this was important to me. So, here are some personal thoughts about my ethical considerations when shopping in general, and about Amazon in particular.
My mantra has always been to shop local—Comox before Courtenay; Comox Valley before another city on the Island; vegetables from Seifferts or farmers’ markets before the grocery store; local shops instead of online. But I recognize that things are different in these times of pandemic, and there are many other things to consider regarding online shopping aside from one’s personal ethical choices. There’s a reason why we see so many delivery trucks on the road, whether they’re showing up on the doorstep with tonight’s dinner or bringing something ordered online so you can stay home safely.
But I believe there are still choices we can make when shopping online. I feel there is something fundamentally wrong in supporting businesses whose billionaire owners care very little for their workers. Take Amazon, for example, a company that has wormed its way so deeply into our lives that it now seems to be an integral part of our economic infrastructure. When the pandemic upended lives many people began to rely on Amazon as a lifeline. Its owner, Jeff Bezos, is the richest man on Earth, and yet the workers in his warehouses often have terrible working conditions, few benefits, and little security; during this pandemic, they have consistently complained, with justification, that their boss values profit over the safety and health of his workers.
An Oxfam report in 2020 about the obscene wealth reaped by billionaires during the pandemic stated that Bezos could have personally given every one of Amazon’s workers a six-figure bonus and ended up just as rich as he was before the pandemic started. If I had ever even considered shopping on Amazon this fact alone would have stopped me cold.
I also feel that there is something deeply wrong in our society when, by 10:09 a.m. on January 2nd, Canada’s highest paid CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) had made as much money as the average Canadian will earn all year (according to a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). This kind of disparity makes me weep (and rage!) and work harder than ever to ensure that our governments will institute a Universal Basic Income Programme (more information about that on the Social Justice page of our church website: https://www.comoxunitedchurch.com/ministries/social-justice ).
Shortly after reading that CCPA report last month I decided to find out who owns my local grocery stores and my discoveries caused some existential angst. Should I buy my food at John’s Independent, which is owned by the third richest man in Canada (Galen Weston) or Quality Foods, which is owned by the six richest man in Canada (Jim Pattison)? I decided that even though QF is a longer drive for me at least it’s a company that pays and treats the workers more fairly, and its owner is a philanthropist who actually shares some of his wealth.
I read recently that Jesus’ conflicts with the religious leaders of his day were not about doctrine or dogma or belief. They were about practice, how we live our everyday lives in this world. There are ethical dilemmas everywhere yet for the most part we have choices, choices about where and how to spend our money. As for me, I’ll keep shopping or ordering what I need from local stores. And I’ll keep writing letters and signing petitions to try and make the world a place of justice and dignity for all.
Blessings, Cathie Talbot