Small Business Saturday: Debt as Virtue

Small Business Saturday: a shopping event brought to you by American Express. Which wishes more small, locally-owned shops would accept Amex so they could charge the largest fee of the major credit card companies – up to 8%. Note that it is not planned for Black Friday, when you should shop at the nationally-owned stores as usual, but the next day, when you should be so stuffed to the gills with shopping that you are sick of it and tempted to stop. But, oh, you must do your duty, American consumer, and support your local retailer (for one day out of 365). So do not tire. Do not rest. Go forth! Spend more! And ask Mom and Pop, when you see them, why they don’t take Amex, when clearly Amex is doing So Much to support Mom and Pop.

Ahh, yes: shopping as an expression of one’s values. How else can you or, more to the point, your neighbors and co-workers, know your mettle, if not by shopping? And what a sacrifice: to go out into the traffic and crowds yet again, the day after Black Friday, having been already seduced and used by corporations for whose sake we live and move and have our being, to spend and buy and rack up debt yet again on Saturday.

I have a suggestion. Shift Your Shopping. Not just on Saturday. If you must spend – and really, though everyone says it’s your duty, you don’t have to – spend wisely so your spending is also investing in your community. Money spent in locally-owned stores stays in the community more than money spent in big national stores – 45 cents on the dollar, compared to 13 cents on the dollar. Of course, no matter where you buy, and how good the deal is, if you buy it on credit, and don’t pay for it immediately, the sale price doesn’t matter because you are paying interest to Amex, Visa, and others, instead of using those interest payments to buy new stuff that you might actually need.

So if you MUST shop, shop locally EVERY day. But wherever you shop, don’t go into debt to do it. Because then your money doesn’t go to ANY store, but to a credit card company, which doesn’t produce or sell anything. You think you bought that toy on sale for $19.95? By the time you have your credit card paid off, you may have paid double for it. Like your house. But that’s another story.