Anyone else tired of the companies jumping on the “fair trade” money grab? Show us the books and tell us exactly how much, in dollars, you are paying poor people in other countries and what the amount you pay them represents in their standard of living. Open the books to us so we can tell which ones just use “fair trade” as a very cynical marketing ploy and which companies really do pay a “fair” price. Otherwise boycott these exploiters and don’t let them get away with pulling the “fair trade” card to expense account their vacations in poor countries. —Wanting Fair Trade to Really be Fair
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2010.
A boycott wont do too much, because for every one person who sees through the marketing, there’s 3 people drinking a “fair-trade certified, organic” coffee. The only thing that will change this would be strict labeling laws.
I’m sick of this whole hippy “Fair Trade” nonsense, too. I now intentionally do not buy Fair Trade ANYTHING because I don’t want to be associated with those smelly hippies. That, and I hate poor people in Third World countries. I don’t know what it is, I just hate ’em!
Fair Trade certification is regulated, with stringent requirements.
http://transfair.ca/en/about-fairtrade/fai…
Fair bitch. Not that I bother with fair trade products, but the OP has a valid point for those who do buy fair trade products.
my fair trade must contain minimum 4% bat guano to be zZz certified.
that’s when you know the flavor’s locked in.
HAHA ZZZ NICE one !!! Now if we can just get “fair trade” weed …….
Under that regulatory system only Sarey. More often than not, companies will create associations to make their product seem better, or associate themselves with proper associations that have loose ethics.
There should be strict labeling laws, and there should be a governmental agency that certifies it, not an independent group.
Sarey there are many companies around NS that aren’t “fair trade” certified but say that they use “fair trade” principles. Not the same thing. These companies are not regulated by anyone and it’s up to consumers to hold these people to account.
SOME companies are “fair trade” certificated which is fine but consumers should be able to verify the claims for themselves by requiring any company that makes these claims to publish their accounts.
If buying “fair trade” only serves to keep people in poverty then I would rather put my dollars into better solutions that don’t involve profits for fat cats at home.
my motivation for buying products: oftentimes it’s directly related to happy employees.
my guys are grinnin gents^^
with politricks, we always get taken for a ride, problem is, no one wants to do anything to stop it. you just keep voting the same greedy bastards back in, time after fucking time. wake the fuck up people.
I equate “fair trade” to “organic farming” – a marketing tool and con joband isn’t what it’s supposed to be. “Fair Trade” is nothing but a trademark, just Like “Ford”, Coca Cola”, etc.
Hmm. “How about a genre called “Exploitation Coffee”? You pay less, and they promise to treat the workers especially poorly. That wording is a less effective marketing ploy, but that is what quality differentiation and indeed “fair trade” boils down to.”
Okay, I’ll tell you what Fair Trade is, and what it entails, from a first hand experience. I am a coffee roaster for a local cafe, and I deal specifically with Fair trade coffees. First of all, Fair Trade is very heavily regulated, to the point where I want to rip my hair out at times. This is what it does:
– Coffee Farmers are promised a base price of $1.25 for each pound of coffee sold, this is compared to $0.70 paid for non fair trade coffee.
– Then an extra 10 cents is added on to the cost of each pound, this goes directly to the community of the farmer, and is used to pay for things such as schools, hospitals, wells, and housing. This does not sound like much, but when you take into consideration that I order on average 11088+ lbs of coffee a year, thats $1108.80 going just to a community, and I am one of the smallest roasting operations.
– Fair Trade Farmers are forbidden from using slave labour, and must pay their workers a fair wage
– Both producers and retailers are monitered by monthly submissions of documentation, including (at least on my end) Amount (lbs) imported, weight of coffee lost during roasting, and amount (lbs) sold
– 1-3 times a year, both producers and retailers are audited, where all financial data is closely examined, to make sure that non fair trade products, are not being sold a fair trade.
Frankly, there is no financial benifit for me to carry Fair Trade coffee, it can increase the cost I pay for coffee by up too 33%, they only thing I get out of it, is knowing that at least my dollar is actually going to help someone out.
Fair Trade is not some gimmick, it is an honest attempt at allowing farmers a decent chance at life.
NS Sunshine: useful info for sure. But you didn’t say what the amount of money paid to the farmers represents in their standard of living. Do your payments keep them in poverty even though you say you pay more than others might pay?
What about all the unregulated companies that say that they are “fair trade” to get customers to buy products and aren’t monitered by anyone. Don’t they give “fair trade” a bad name. Seems anyone can say they are a “fair trade” company and get away with just saying that the people they buy good from get “well” paid. What does “well” paid actually mean?
NSSunshone if you want “fair trade” to get the kudos you say it deserves them you should be weeding out the people who just use it to boost sales.