We are big fans of making our footprints on earth as small as possible. There is no planet B. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about harnessing the wind. So what more can you do?
Here is our second suggestion: Redefine “bargain”—add the life time of the product to the bargain hunting game. You’ll be surprised how many nice quality items you can buy and still save money over time!
Let’s start with an example. While living in Europe, I used to buy a quality brand of indoor slippers. They would typically last for two years indoors and then be abused as back-yard slippers for another two years. After moving to the US, I bought the same brand of slippers, but a completely different model. At first, I was happy to find them at about half the price compared to Europe. However, after only one year of indoor use, they were ready for the land fill. Instead of leather, the materials were all man-made and were fraying everywhere. The straps had stretched, so the slippers did not stay on my feet any longer. So much for a bargain!
This is how much more it cost for four year’s use of “cheap” slippers:
– Pay half the price four times -> 2 x cost
– Go to the store four times -> 4 x precious family time
– Manufacturing and landfill -> 4 x environmental impact
When we sell pedestrian reflectors at events, we often meet people who tell us they are surprised about the durability of the reflectors they bought from us the year before. Has is really gone so far that quality surprises customers?
I’m glad to see that the issue of cheap versus quality and environmental concern is being brought up in a larger perspective by others as well. Did you know that by shopping low quality items with small price tags at for example WalMart, you also make it harder for other stores to carry quality products? Today’s post at grist by Stacy Mitchell gives an idea of how each and every purchase we make has an impact on the market and on the environment.
To limit the environmental impact of our safety reflectors, we insist on quality and durability. We could probably make more money on products with a shorter lifetime, but that is not who we are nor what we believe in.
That’s why you only find our pedestrian safety reflectors at small independent retailers and in our webshop.
That’s why we use American made 3M Schotchlite reflective material.
That’s why we keep manufacturing our reflectors in Sweden, in a family-owned factory with years of experience.
So what can YOU do to improve the situation? Build durability into the price when you choose products. A change of attitude requires a bit of effort, but is often very rewarding! Return products that don’t hold up for normal use. (If stores get heaps of broken products, they’ll need to rethink.) Favor stores that care about quality. Quality products are sometimes hard to find, so share information with your friends, to give and get information, ideas and inspiration!
Elisabeth
Previous blog posts in the series: Small Footprint #1 – Harness the Wind
