Meat Market Vs. Fred Myers (Small Business Vs. Big Business)

Do you prefer to support small local businesses or large corporations?

On the surface, ideally we all want to say we support small local business. Unfortunately, sometimes I feel like the choice is not that simple. Sometimes you have to ask yourself questions like... Do I want to support small business even if it lacks competitive pricing, quality, or service?

I went to my locally owned meet market to get some chicken the other day instead of going to the corporate giant, Fred Myers. The young man who was "helping" me had his ear buds in while talking to me. Weather they are on or off does not matter to me; that's disrespectful and unprofessional. Anyhow, I then asked for my meat to be cut into cubes which, had never been an issue at Fred Myers. The young man then asked with an incredulous voice, "You want me to cut it up? No." I was confused. I guess I wrongly expected this transaction to go a lot differently. As I did a mental checklist of my experiences, I found myself hard pressed to come up with reasons to "support" my small local business. Higher prices+ poor service+ unprofessionalism,+ a quality of product just barely higher = not worth it.

It's the same when you walk into the local coffee house and before you have even ordered you're bombarded by aggressive anti customer signage like, No cellphone! Cash Only! We have the right to refuse service to anyone! No refunds! No blank! and so on and so on... Then, when you make it to the counter, the cashier looks at you with disdain because you are keeping them from making it to their Occupy Wall Street Meeting. No please or thank you for the business from them.

I'm sorry my order has offended you because you apparently hate any form of capitalism.

More and more I have to wonder at why small businesses are really going out of business. Is it because the corporate giants are squeezing the little guys out of business? Or, is it because the small business owners are not thankful enough for their customers? I really think that more and more of small business owners go into business for themselves because they probably really suck at working with other people.

I will ignore a lot of things if I'm given great customer service. I will pay more for a product thats not as great if I feel that my money is going to support a person who cares about me as a customer.  But! You are not doing me a favor by being in business or accepting my money!!! I am your customer! I, I AM DOING YOU A FAVOR!!!

Don't forget, this is America, your customers have choices. Yes, I will choose the the corprate giant over the little guy when the little guy treats its customers like trash. Im not trying to impress my friends in Portlandia by accepting crapy service. Oh, and by the way Montage, I don't care how good your spicy Mac and cheese is, your customer service is crap. I don't think it's cute. You're not sticking to the man by treating people like crap.

I think my basic opinion on the matter can be summed up by this Derek Sivers video:

Now, I am not against small business. I want to own a small business someday. Yes, I have had great experiences at certain local businesses. It's just sad to me that that is not my normal experience. Both in Bozeman and Portland I have been underwhelmed by local business and thats really sad. So, before you blame Starbucks for putting you out of business, you may want to ask yourself some questions. How do you treat all your customers? How is your pricing? Is your product good? Is the product and service consistent?

So, what has your experiences been with your local small business? Please, brag about the good ones and let the bad one be put on the wall of shame!