Local vs. Global

there is some emphasis in some places to buy locally from local businesses. and that makes a lot of sense in some cases. here's two instances of local business and than one case of a global business that i have encountered in the past week that show the positive sides of both.

today i went to the credit union to get a cashier's check. it was very quick, very easy with a low fee. now when i have gone to bank of america in the past it was a long ordeal to get the cashiers check and while i don't think there was a fee the interest rates on the savings account certainly make up for that. the credit union has okay rates, but the service is without parallel and they know who i am even though i don't go there very often.

the post office here where i have my po box i consider to be a local business though some would argue it isn't. but i think a great deal of the money spent ends up going toward people's salaries which are local people mostly. i could be wrong on this and should probably do research to back up that opinion... but they remembered that i wanted the american scientist stamps that just came out since i asked about them and so one of the employees saw me come in to check my po box and came to tell me the stamps were in. that's really good service.

finally an instance of where a global business is good for local people. i was at starbucks spending some gift card money (occasionally a student will give me a gift card to starbucks at christmas, don't worry it doesn't affect my grading). while i was waiting for my coffee a lady behind me recognized a friend behind the counter and the conversation included the barista saying, 'working here and getting health insurance.' yes in general i would say spending $2 on coffee (or more) is a waste of money but having an employer in the community that has health insurance is probably worth that price. so even though i don't often get coffee there i do feel better in that indulgence than buying something from wal-mart.

PO Box part II

another advantage to having to walk to a po box is sunshine. apparently us desk sloths don't get sunshine to manufacture our own vitamin D and thus are deficient. and this leads to all kinds of weird problems. so a few minutes in the sun (without sunscreen) would do us all good.