By Raffique Shah
December 10, 2006
I kept wondering for some time now how long it would take Starbucks, the upscale coffee chain, to start doing business here. Last week I read where some local entrepreneur indicated he’d cornered the franchise. I guess by next year Trinis who did not know of Starbucks before would be flocking to the coffee house. A few years ago, in London, I had my first encounter with it. While I sipped an over-priced, under-flavoured “cuppa”, I observed the behaviour of customers in this consumer-driven ambience. I found it very revealing.
It’s a paradise for “gapers” and for those who like to be seen at such establishments. In the main, the customers were young-from students in their 20s to mid-to-upper-level social aspirants in their 30s and 40s-many of them no doubt stretching the limits of their credit cards just to sit in Starbucks. Unless one is a coffee addict, which is bad for one’s health anyway, what can justify so many people flocking to this and other, similar “joints”? I saw people absorbed in their laptop-screens, seemingly oblivious to everything around them, except the “hot cuppa”. Others were gossiping, giggling, or speaking non-stop on their mobile phones, and most of all sipping cup after cup of a range of coffee brews.
For me, nothing that they served there (I did not try more than two of their brews) can remotely compare with a steaming cup of Hong Wing, prepared “just right”, as Sprang would say. And without advertising for the local company that has built a reputation over decades, I dare say its coffee is superior to most of the major brand name brews whose only forte is their high prices. People believe if you pay more for something it follows that it is of better quality than cheaper products. Experienced shoppers will tell you that quality is not always dictated by price.
But we are not dealing with smart shopping here. We are faced with an advertising and promotion-driven commercial sector that can easily turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Take ice-cream as another example. Haagen Daas was introduced here a few years ago, and some people who profess to be connoisseurs swear by the expensive foreign brand. I can be an ice-cream freak at times, and I can vouch for the scrumptiousness of the B’s, Willie’s and Flavorite brands. Also, although I’m no beer drinker, I don’t know that a $10-plus Carib at upscale sports bars is any better or colder than what one gets at much cheaper prices at Nari’s or Chris’. Note that I have thus far dealt with selected, non-essentials. But this class-driven spending is behind the creeping consumerism that will lead us into galloping inflation and the valley of personal debt.
With Christmas mere days away, shopping madness has gripped the country more than it did over the past few years, merchants are saying. Whatever their complaints about steep increases in food prices, and in most other consumables, people are buying even if it means going into credit card debt they will find difficult or impossible to repay.
In developed countries, mostly the USA and Britain, personal debt, bankruptcies and broken lives that follow are tales too woeful to tell.
In a recent lead article in the New Statesman headlined “How Shopping Became A National Disease”, staff writer Lynsey Hawley delved into the shopping mentality in a very incisive way. She stated that by September last, Britons had racked up 151 million pounds in credit card debt. That whopping sum did not include cash purchases or other debts like mortgages or purchasing vehicles.
In a book by Oxford professor Ayner Offer (The Challenge of Affluence) that deals with unbridled consumerism, the author wrote: “Prudence has built up affluence, but affluence undermines prudence.”
While real affluence is confined to a small percentage of the population in any country, those who hanker after the values spawned by the wealthy are the ones who “shop till they drop” and end up not being able to meet their debts, or having to sacrifice everything else to so do. Over-spending at overrated establishments, and on overrated “brands”, also leads those who cannot resist the temptation to “buy, buy, buy” into deep trouble. The numbers of Americans and Britons who are declared bankrupt rise every year. And they come mainly from the ranks of the poor and middle income wage slaves.
There is nothing the Government can do directly to stem this wild spending that has overtaken the country. People will simply say it’s their money, even if it’s borrowed, and it’s their right to spend it on what they want.
In Trinidad where “hobbing with the nobs” is a national pastime, upscale establishments will continue to relieve the foolish of their hard-earned money. It’s why, as a recent study showed, two per cent of people command 50 per cent of the world’s wealth while 50 per cent command a mere one per cent. Need I say more?
http://www.trinicenter.com/Raffique/2006/Dec/102006.htm
There is nothing more to add to this article. It is well written. The poor will get poorer, and the rich will get richer. Starbucks is not needed in any country. The coffee is a killer.
So true my friend, so true. I myself prefer Dunkin’ Donuts coffees. Needless to say, my friends say I’m cheap. Go figure!!
Quite amused at the fact that the JKRowling may be the author of the Harry Potter series, but prefers another American coffee. Now, I saw a pun in the title of the piece, a reference to “Nob Hill” and who lives there. Of course the Nobs hobble the poor with debt, and we “glad to pay”. We “chuppidie”- translation for non-trini readers We are stupid.Debt-dealing is death dealing, another pun. The secret of capitalism is to make the poor believe that they need something that does them no good, create a fad for it, and sell it at a high price, while paying starvation wages to the employees.You Go, Raffique!
We as a society are now reaping the ‘benefits’ of Neoliberalism, Deregulation and Privatization and because of this (mindset) the accumulation of material acquisition will continue to be the benchmark that society uses to determine one’s social strata.
In Western societies, it is often the people who cannot afford basics are the ones who spend more on useless luxuries. Look at how many factory & CPEPP workers have better shoes, cellphones and jewelry that those who can actually afford it.
At the same time, nothing is wrong with purchasing an expensive brand of coffee or ice-cream if one can afford it. If I like the taste of Starbucks (which I don’t by the way) or I want a place where I can get a free Wi-Fi connection for my laptop, then it’s my right to purchase a cup there. If I find it does not taste good or is too expensive, then I can choose Nescafe instead. It’s called choice. It’s not “hob nobbing” if I deceide to pay $35 to go to Movie Towne and sit in comfort without people talking, smoking and kicking the back of my seat rather than pay $10 to go to Monarch.
Shah is right. From the Maco magazines that portray the lifestyle and tastes of expatriates and entreprenueurs who are far removed from day to day, real caribbean living to the infiltration and assimilation of American consumer culture of “shop till you drop”. Trinidad has become a place where your worth is measured in terms of what you eat, where you shop, where you live, who you know and what type of car you drive. Not only that this reign of consumerism does not bode well, especially for the thousands of working class individuals whose salaries are inflationary upon effect as they try to live a lifestyle that is only within the reach of the very rich.
Neo-liberalism, Casino Economy, Privatisation, Consumerism, Deregulation, Free-Market Capitalism and Globalisation cannot be all that bad. I don’t know what they mean, neither do I care. However, if the government is in favour if these policies then I support them because the government will always look out for the interest of the average Trinidadian. Unemployment is at 4.5 % and falling, the economy is booming and people have lots of money to spend. So what is everybody griping about? Being rich isn’t a bad idea. In the long run, the rich will get richer and the poor will be better off.
Capitalism all the way! Shah has stated it wrongly while having it right. It’s not the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. It’s the smart geting rich at the expense of the stupid.
A smart man will see a demand and capitalise on it. A smarter man will see no demand and create a market for a useless product through hype and marketing.
Ever notice that it’s the fashion designers who say what’s “in” this year/season? Of course they’re going to say what they designed is “in!” And dummies out there believe them and go and buy.
This is how economy works in case you didn’t know. If there is equity then the economy will freeze and everyone will become poor. If there were no blue collar workers, who would be working the factories or picking up your garbage, cutting your grass etc?
If people are stupid enough to waste their minimum wage on expensive coffee or some other useless thing then let them help the smart get richer. In nature, it’s called survival of the fittest. Let the smart ones get rich enough so that they can afford 24 hour security so that when the stupid run out of money and resort to crime, the smart are protected.
I maintain that RAffique is right. CAribbean economies are former colonies of exploitation, where taking advantage of the poor man is the way to go, or was.
THE ROLE OF NEWSPAPERS IS PARTIALLY TO EDUCAATE, AND MAINSTREAM PAPERS CANNOT DO THAT BECAQUSE IF THEY SIDE WITH THE POOR THEY LOSE THE ADVERTISEMENTS THAT KEEP THEM GOING,
AND THEY GO OUT OF BUSINESS.
In a country like TnT, essentially a small economy where most things are imported, people pride themselves in owning expensive imported stuff, which was once the realm of rajahs and princes. Illegally imported stuff is even better. Sneaking past customswith dutiable goods duty free gives one bragging rights. Buying something way beyond your means also gives bragging rights.
People who spend like they are throwing out dirty water will wake up tomorrow to find that their personal debts exceed their assets by thousands of dollars. The expensive stuff they bought would not be worth much as old or used stuff, so they will be poorer and unwiser.
If theeconomy picks up, they will be overspending again.
Someone needs to sound the tocsin, and Raffique is well suited to do this.
I read this and it’s a repeat of one of the things Naipaul said in ‘The Middle Passage’. How locals prefer the “foreign” goods over the better, locally made ones; ironically he used coffee as an example.
While the Government may not be able to do anything about it (unless it wants to be sued for suppressing growth) the NGOs can educate about smarter choices and wiser spending. It ultimately lies with the consumer to change spending habits, and to be seen as doing less than your neighbours takes priority over your bank account.
As I always say “Don’t keep up with the Jones’, drag them down to your level.”
BostonBean, what a backward thing to say; “Don’t keep up with the Jones’, drag them down to your level.” Probably a better thing to say would simply be, “Forget about the Jones’ and live the withing your means.” though it doesn’t have that ring to it.
Remember when Naipaul wrote ‘The Middle Passage’ the situation was different to that of today’s. Local is not always better quality anymore. Wise spending should entail getting value for your money. Go I want to buy a clothes from a local designer which may last me 1 year or clothes that are only slightly more expensive from a foreign designer that will last me longer….trust me, I have pants and shirts that are more than 3 years old and they haven’t begun to come apart.
This is like the “Boot theory” by Corpral Colon (a fictional charcter in created by Terry Pratchett). His theory was that the Poor had to spend more than the Rich. And that is why the Rich remained rich and the Poor remained Poor. He was a poor man who could only afford $20 boots. He needed the boots for work. The soles were made of compressed cardboard and only lasted 2 months. Now the rich people could afford shoes for $100 which lasted 1 year or more. So in 1 year, the a poor man spent ~ $120 on shoes while the rich man only spent $100.
So many are trapped in a viscous cycle.
The old calypso “Rich man, poor man” comes to mind. Educated people are “rich” because they can make informed decisions, and do not have to fake anything for appearances sake. I met a medical doctor who works in St. Vincent once. He does not own a pair of shoes. He owned two pairs of sandals. His point was that closed up shoes are unhealthy for Caribbean feet- given the endless heat and damp. Anywhere that required dress shoes, was someplace he was not interested in going. His Jamaican born wife suported him totally on this. When I visited their home in the company of another doctor, whose motto was earn and spend, like a kid in a toy store with his father’s credit card, this Vincentian guy served a dinner of freshly friend fish, boiled dasheen, other vegetables, and ginger beer.Everything was made in St. Vincent except the sugar imported from Trinidad.That was in the 1980’s
That is man.
We need more like him in the region, but our newspapers at Christmas push Santa and shopping, and our children must have birthday parties with imported US stuff. Imported from the US but made dirt cheap in China. We now have graduation from pre-school complete with caps and gowns. Somebody is profiting from our mimicing others. It is not the poor. They are in debt up to their teeth.
The wealthy get wealthy based on the poor man living above his means.
What does it take to walk away from a store full of non-essentials because they cost too much? Common sense, and the guts to do your own thing, and not follow fashion. This is not about twenty dollar shoes, but about buying fluff and trash, non-essentials.