Here is a fellow who from the trenches discovers what specialty trade has meant from the beginning...
The USA destabilizes vast swathes of the world, and communities that functioned for millenia are degraded and then the perps show up with a "plan." How about a different foreign policy?
How about we disband our military and business people show up with a purchase order? We pay trillions in taxes so Dick Cheney can show up overseas and tell people what to do. How about we pay nothing in taxes and I show up with a sketchpad?
I have to disagree with this fellow on the point that Fair Trade efforts raises customer awareness, since he makes a point we in specialty small business have always known... there is a premium on quality. I think he is being nice since his customers no doubt believe in "fair trade." Instead of creating a sinecure to be funded out of grower profits, the best way to "raise awareness" is to associate the grade with the cup of coffee a given person is drinking at a given money. Logos, halos, whatever do not do the trick.
As I learned forty years ago from people who learned it where they first worked, compete on design at the specialty level.
I've complained about fair trade before...
There are two other points this fellow is rocking if you nose around his website:
1. Finance along trade lanes... credit along the trade lane is necessary to recovering small business international trade. He is doing this.
2. Traceability... he offers it as authenticity, but I see it as trumping the violent interference of the state in trade with the IPR of trademarks. Strike one for freedom!
When Fair Trade showed up in the 1980s it was clear it was another progressive collectivization, sinecures with a halo, a program to pick winners and crush losers, that would get co-opted by the big boys putatively being fought. Mission accomplished.
It warms my heart as people with no relation to me, never heard of me let alone took any of my classes, come to the exact same conclusions of what needs to be done concretely. It means we are making progress.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
Above all we remain focused on quality and consistencyExactly, or "pack consistently to grade" ... "Quality" means nothing, since Walmart has a quality level and Saks has a quality level. The trick is to establish what the level is, not "insert a buzz word." And then make sure everytime the box is open that grade is in the box.
Mexican coffee growers are way too polite to use rude gestures, but what do you think they said when I suggested that they pay to become "Fair Trade" certified?The same thing when a group of Ecuadorians were told they should introduce microloans to their villages. "It is a trap."
The USA destabilizes vast swathes of the world, and communities that functioned for millenia are degraded and then the perps show up with a "plan." How about a different foreign policy?
How about we disband our military and business people show up with a purchase order? We pay trillions in taxes so Dick Cheney can show up overseas and tell people what to do. How about we pay nothing in taxes and I show up with a sketchpad?
I have to disagree with this fellow on the point that Fair Trade efforts raises customer awareness, since he makes a point we in specialty small business have always known... there is a premium on quality. I think he is being nice since his customers no doubt believe in "fair trade." Instead of creating a sinecure to be funded out of grower profits, the best way to "raise awareness" is to associate the grade with the cup of coffee a given person is drinking at a given money. Logos, halos, whatever do not do the trick.
As I learned forty years ago from people who learned it where they first worked, compete on design at the specialty level.
I've complained about fair trade before...
There are two other points this fellow is rocking if you nose around his website:
1. Finance along trade lanes... credit along the trade lane is necessary to recovering small business international trade. He is doing this.
2. Traceability... he offers it as authenticity, but I see it as trumping the violent interference of the state in trade with the IPR of trademarks. Strike one for freedom!
When Fair Trade showed up in the 1980s it was clear it was another progressive collectivization, sinecures with a halo, a program to pick winners and crush losers, that would get co-opted by the big boys putatively being fought. Mission accomplished.
It warms my heart as people with no relation to me, never heard of me let alone took any of my classes, come to the exact same conclusions of what needs to be done concretely. It means we are making progress.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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