Me..myself and I…..

 I took the Learning Styles Inventory and found out that my preferred learning styles are Visual and Auditory. I scored the same number in both. I agree with the results because I like to read out loud, but I can also visualize things in my head. I do listen to music quietly while I am studying, and it has helped me when I have other distractions in my house. I read about the student who used pencils that smelled different for every class, and that is a really good idea! Never would have thought of that.My Myers-Briggs profile says that I have a ENFJ profile. I completely agree with this. I am a very organized person. I have a place for everything in my house. Sometimes I feel obsessive, but it keeps my life organized. It was funny reading what it said about me because I am such a giving person. I usually forget about myself and give, give, give. With my kids, it is really easy to give more. I may need new clothes, ( I only have 3 pairs of jeans) but my kids usually end up with new ones, even if they don’t need them. Also, because I have this personality, people tend to take advantage of my kindness as well. For example, I lent my friend $150.00 almost a year ago, and just asked for it back yesterday. When I originally lent him the money, he promised he would pay it back in a month, but always had some excuse as to why he could not pay me that particular month. I finally got fed up and asked for my money (after being taken advantage of a lot in the last year, not just by him, but other people as well). He actually seemed mad that I asked for my money back! Which triggered me to feel guilty for asking. But this person took advantage of my kindness and friendship and I have had enough. Thankfully, he said he will pay me back next week. Time will tell I suppose. So you see, I help people out all the time, but a lot of the time, I get burned in the end. So, I now tell people, do not mistake my kindness for weakness.

We were asked to do a visualization project for a class on what we visualize for ourself when we are out of school, and in the career we want. We also had to write our obituary too. This is what I wrote for this assignment.

 I am in a battered women’s shelter with lots of children running around playing. Most of the women are sitting around talking amongst themselves. It is a house, a very big house with everything a person would expect to have in a comfortable home. I am in my own office, looking over in-take paperwork for a woman that just arrived with her 3 children. She is sitting in the chair in front of me with her three children that look very frightened but anxious to play with the other children at the same time. I read in her in-take, that she has been married for 7 years to an abusive man. She has reported him may times to the local police, but he seemed to get away with hurting her again and again. It also states that he is abusive to his children, which is apparent from the bruises on their faces. She is looking at me with fear in her eyes that I will ask her to leave, but instead I welcome her and her children to this safe house. She is very happy and starts to cry. Her and her children exchange gigantic hugs. I look over at my book shelf where the book I wrote about my life sits and smile to myself. I know that everything I went through growing up, made me who I am today. I am proud of the accomplishments I have made, and the fact that I have a decorate to prove it. When I was going to school, it was a struggle with two kids and being a single mom, but that just made me stronger and want to work closely with people, not from behind a desk at the county offices. And finally, when the woman and her children get up to meet the their new roommates, she turns around at my door with tears in her eyes and says “thank-you”. She just made my hard work and sacrifices worth it. My obituary will read as follows:

As college students, most of us know what it is like to live off of a modest budget, so finding the right clothing at the right price is important. Comparing prices of the items you buy most often, from both new and secondhand stores, is one way to find out the best place to make your purchases. However, price isn’t the only factor to consider when deciding where to buy. It also important to be aware of how the particular store operates, for the sake of ethics, and so you are aware of who and what you are supporting. Good inquiries about a store, company or organization would be; how do they treat their workers, where is the clothing manufactured, do they buy from or run factories with unfair treatment and working conditions, does the organization or company who runs the store contribute to the community, and if it is a non-profit what is the mission and who benefits from its operation. So, keeping these questions in mind, we will explore the questions of where, what, and why to buy. To do this we will compare prices and availability of five common clothing items at three different nationwide stores. T-shirts, sweatshirts, track pants, jeans and sneakers at Wal-Mart, Plato’s Closet, and Good Will were researched. We will also examine where the clothes are made, under what conditions, what the alternatives are to buying from a discount store, and what the benefits of the alternate options are, for both you and others who are directly or indirectly involved. So, take a look and arm yourself with the information you need to make informed decisions about where, what and why to buy!

First we will look at price and availability of the items. We will begin with sweatshirts. Wal-Mart carried a variety of inexpensive brand options such as Fruit of a Loom and Starter. Men’s and women’s prices were within cents of each other, (excluding sales) though generally they had a larger variety of men’s than woman’s in all items researched. Prices ranged from $10-$15, with an average price (all averages are between brands and genders) being $12.45. Comparatively Good Will, second-hand store, had a more limited selection of sweatshirts in their store and through their website, www.shopgoodwill.org. All the items were in good, wearable condition and their prices are lower than Wal-Mart’s, ranging from $3-$10 (this is excluding one dollar “color tag” deal days) with an average price of $6.50, nearly half of the average at Wal-Mart.

Jeans, the next clothing item, are abundantly sold at Wal-Mart and are available in a variety of brands such as Faded Glory and Levi. The prices ranged from $12.74-$19.68, with the average being $16.34. Plato’s closet, a trendy secondhand store, also had a good selection of jeans though the brands were more upscale such as American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch. The price ranged from $12-$30 depending condition of the items; generally all items are in top gently used condition. (Plato’s Closet) So, we can see that while Wal-Mart’s price range stops about $10 lower than Plato’s Closet, it starts at the same price and offers the item in a wide price range for brands that are of better quality or at least more upscale than Wal-Mart. Essentially, you could buy a $60 pair of jeans for the same price or less than a lower quality pair at Wal-Mart.

Track pants are the third commonly worn item we chose. Wal-Mart again had a wide variety of inexpensive brands such as Hanes and Athletic Works. The prices ranged from $10-$15, with an average of $12.42. At Goodwill, track pants were unavailable in the researched location as well as on their website; however stock varies greatly over time and from location to location, as the selection depends solely on donations. Generally though, track pants seem to be less available in the secondhanddshops than at a discount store such as Wal-Mart.

T-shirts were researched next and Wal-Mart offers a wide variety such as No Boundaries and Faded Glory in a price range of $6-$9, with an average of $6.13 per item. At Goodwill, the selection is very large and the conditions vary from acceptable to like new. The selection of brands was also vast, but included some of the same offered at Wal-Mart with the price quite a bit lower, at $1-$6, depending on condition. Plato’s Closet also has a good selection of these items, often of higher scale brands such as American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch for both men and women. The price range was $8-$24. However that range includes not only t-shirts but button up shirts as well. Tank tops and t-shirts are on the lower end of the range. So, Goodwill offers a large variety of items as the most inexpensive price, and Plato’s Closet offers gently used trendy brands for prices comparable to Wal-Mart, depending on the type of shirt.

The last item that we all need is sneakers. At Wal-Mart sneakers for men and woman were similar in price and available in several brands such as Air Speed and TredSafe. Prices ranged from $18-$22, with an average of $19.66. Goodwill had a smaller selection of shoes in the location researched, however offered a larger variety, with brands such as Tommy and Sketchers, via their website. Prices ranged from $3-$16 depending on condition, brand and material of the sneaker. The average over a variety of items was $6.24. So, Wal-Mart has a wider selection than available at the secondhand store, but the average price of Wal-Mart shoes were $14 more than at Good Will. The prices were lower than at Wal-Mart for good brands in various conditions, but the selection was smaller than Wal-Mart.

We can see that while Wal-Mart offers a large variety of items and brands at inexpensive prices, by taking the time to search secondhand stores we might find higher quality items at lower or comparable prices or comparable items at lower prices. However, secondhand shops sometimes have less of a selection in some items as we found out with track pants and sneakers. The positive thing about shopping second hand is the selection is forever changing. What isn’t there today might be there tomorrow and you might just get an excellent deal. Overall, just looking at the aspect of price and if one is willing to spend a little extra time checking out secondhand shops and websites, secondhand is the way to go for lower prices, comparable or higher scale items, and largely similar selection of that of a discount store. For those items that aren’t readily available at the secondhand shop of your choice may be found at another location or even via a popular website such as E-bay. If you lack time and energy for this, we can see that these items are available at discount stores such as Wal-Mart for inexpensive prices. However, before making your final decision on where to buy, let’s explore the other important factors so you are aware of who and what you are supporting by making a purchase. We will examine where the items we have priced often come from, under what conditions they are made, and the ethics and missions of the companies or organizations running the store, in our case, Wal-Mart, Winmark (Plato’s Closet) and Goodwill (a non-profit).

Let’s begin with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart obtains its clothing from its own factories and well as privately owned companies. Wal-Mart owns factories in Bangladesh, Nicaragua and China. Wal-Mart is responsible for 10% of all Chinese imports to the United States. Its Chinese factories often employ women between 17-25 years, provide wages of 12-28 cents an hour, force unreasonably long hours, provide no days off and require employees to work at a fast pace. Furthermore, employees often reside in poor living conditions. They have no health insurance, maternity leave, paid holidays or family leave on the occasion of the death of a loved one. (China Labor Watch) One factory worker reported than she lives in a single dorm with 11 other workers and has no hot water or widows, minus a small hole in the wall. She reported that they work more than 16 hours a day, and are given energy pills after this point so that employees can continue to work well after exhaustion has set in. (America’s Union Movement) Furthermore, inspections of 12,500 factories in China, Nicaragua, and Bangladesh yielded 8,900 with violations of Wal-Mart’s own policies so serious that they were suspended; all of these factories had warning of the inspection and still failed at a rate of 77%. Information was not available on the failure rate of the factories with unannounced inspections, though we can imagine it would be ever higher. In 2006 an inspection of a Bangladesh factory, preformed by the National Labor Committee, discovered 200-300 child workers who were beaten, forced to work long hours, given fake time cards, and made to lie about their age. The remainder of Wal-Mart’s clothing is purchased and imported from factories in 48 counties not including the United States. In 2000 workers at a factory in the Philippines attempted to strike because management refused to negotiate working conditions with their Union; the issues went unresolved and workers participating in the strike were fired. (United Food and Commercial Workers) We could conclude, by examining the evidence, that Wal-Mart cares little about foreign workers and does not hold itself to standards of fair treatment and human rights. This company appears to create policies for appearance only, because the vast majority of its factories violate these policies. Furthermore, it supports private factories with deplorable working conditions on a regular basis. But what does Wal-Mart have to say about their corporation?

Wal-Mart’s campaigning motto is “Save Money. Live Better.”, running a constantly updated ticker counting the billions of dollars they have saved Americans over the years. But at what price is this money saved? It seems a bit ironic for a store that is responsible for such poor working conditions and mistreatment to identify itself as a promoter for living a better life. Wal-Mart appears, based on our research, more concerned with profit than ethical treatment of its workers, yet still willing to identify itself as morally upstanding. According to Wal-Mart’s website, the founder Sam Walton began out of genuine concern to provide his customers with good quality, low prices, convenient shopping and friendly and knowledgeable service. In his autobiography Walton says “You love it when you visit a store that somehow exceeds your expectations, and you hate it when a store inconveniences you or gives you a hard time, or pretends you’re invisible.” It seems Walton had noble intentions; however things seemed to have gone seriously wrong. Again we must ask, at what price are we receiving these benefits? Wal-Mart also identifies charitable giving as important to them saying on their website, “At Wal-Mart, we believe in a philosophy of operating globally and giving back locally. We know we can make the greatest impact on our communities by supporting causes that are important to our customers right in their own neighborhoods. We are proud to be a ‘store of the community’ for all of the communities we serve by helping to provide financial and volunteer support to more than 100,000 charitable and community-focused organizations, and by utilizing our locations to provide opportunities for our customers and associates to give back.” (Wal-Mart) They also have recently announced improved health care benefits for employees as well as scholarships available for graduating seniors. To conclude, Wal-Mart clearly values its community, rather its market, far more than the foreign workers that they have build their corporation upon. It seems that the reduced prices of items at Wal-Mart are not worth the violations it commits. Supporting Wal-Mart by purchasing their items could be considered incompatible with supporting humane and equal treatment for all workers in all countries, as it only condone their actions. So in addition to price, we should take these factors into account when accessing our options. So what of the secondhand shops?

In our research we investigated two different second hand shops, Plato’s Closet, which is run by Winmark Corporation, and Goodwill, which is an international non-profit organization. When considering secondhand shops there is the additional factor of who benefits from the existence of these stores. In the case of Plato’s Closet, they are a corporate business. In the case of Good Will, they are a non-profit organization, so the missions are different. We will explore Winmark’s mission and what kind of work Good will does in addition to the working conditions under which the items sold are made. We will begin with working conditions and labor laws of the clothing sold at both stores. As Plato’s Closet and Good Will are secondhand stores they carry a wide variety of items, unavoidably coming from some of the same locations as items from Wal-Mart. Manufacture locations of particular items included Mexico, Nicaragua, Columbia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, United States, and Sri Lanka. As we have covered working conditions in some of these countries already, we will briefly discuss The United States, Sir Lanka, and Thailand.

A very small number of items found were made in the United States. Research on those that were made domestically revealed that they were being made in cities with large migrant worker populations. This population is likely experiencing unfair treatment and low wages not in line with American labor laws. Sometimes clothes carrying a “Made in the USA” are actually not made here, but only sewn in to create a larger appeal to consumers. (Emmi Cohout) So even when buying within our country we cannot be certain that the items are manufactured under fair conditions. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, 90% of workers in the garment industry in Sri Lanka are women. The minimum age of employment is 15 yrs old and laws exist to prevent child labor however many child workers still exist, driven to it by poverty. Wages are low compared those in developed countries even as the cost of living has risen This has caused many strikes and protests in the recent years. Laws exist that protect workers’ rights to take part in these actions, however low wages and less than favorable working conditions still exist. (Nations Encyclopedia) Working conditions of garment factories in Thailand are often poor, though child labor laws do exist stating the minimum age to be 13 yrs, with 13-15 yr old being allowed light work. The reality is far different as various agencies have reported children working in sweatshops for many hours a day, receiving poor treatment and low wages. According to one such agency, young girls often work 12 hours a day in factories making 5 cent per 100 buttons they sew. In 1987 a newspaper reported that the highest paid child worker they could find was a 14 year old girl working 15 hrs a day, 7 days a week sewing skirts, which resulted in about $70 a month in wages. (U.S. Dept of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs) Migrant workers are often utilized, receiving poor treatment and wages far below the established minimum wage for Thailand. Abuse is rampant in the factories, as well as by Thai police. Migrant works fill jobs many Thai citizens won’t fill, though they don’t even receive the benefit of the most basic labor laws. (Amnesty International) It is obvious that the working conditions in these countries are comparable to those that produce clothing for Wal-Mart. Our research indicates that the majority underdeveloped countries producing garments for export to the United States lack fair treatment, fair wages, and even violate their countries labor laws. So if the conditions are the same between Wal-Mart and the secondhand shops, what other factors should we consider about secondhand shops?

While secondhand shops are selling clothes produced under deplorable conditions, we must take the perspective that they are re-selling these clothes and did not directly purchase or support the production of these items as Wal-Mart does. Also by recycling used items they are doing the good deed of preventing unneeded waste within our country, re-selling clothes that may otherwise end up in landfills. Furthermore, we must look at the individual merits and benefits of the organization or corporation that runs the store.

In the case of Plato’s Closet, Winmark is the parent corporation. Winmark owns several nationwide second hand chains including Plato’s Closet, Play it again Sports Music Go Round, and Once Upon A Child. Winmark specializes in franchise owned and operated stores and they appear dedicated to supporting small businesses. In their mission statement they say, “To utilize our business expertise to be a partner, resource and advocate for small and medium-sized companies… by providing innovative leasing and financing solutions that help growing businesses succeed.” They also launched a free resource site for entrepreneurs and small/medium business owners in 2004, which offers 6000 plus pages of information for every aspect of running a business. (Winmark Corporation) Employee benefits at Winmark owned stores often offer comprehensive packages including paid vacation, sick leave, health care, and 401K. (Career Builder) Research done to uncover poor business practices or questionable ethics turned up nothing, though it is hard to be 100% certain. As far as can be seen, Winmark runs its corporation and stores in a professional manner, provides business opportunities in the United States, and contributes to supporting small businesses, a cause it deems worthy of time and money. All of this makes supporting their corporation more favorable than supporting Wal-Mart.

The other store we researched was Goodwill, which is an international nonprofit organizations operating in 17 counties. Goodwill’s primary presence is in Canada and The United states, where they work to improve the lives of people with disadvantages. Via their website, Goodwill says this of its organization “We are North America’s leading nonprofit provider of education, training, and career services for people with disadvantages, such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities. Last year, local Goodwills collectively provided employment and training services to more than 930,775 individuals.” (Good Will) Good Will does this by providing a variety of supportive and educational services, including training programs that prepare workers for a variety of fields. 2003 marked the launch of the Good Will Virtual Community, which is an online learning community to assist people in locating and keeping jobs as well as advancing their positions. Goodwill has received grants for some of these programs but is largely supported by selling donations and relying on volunteers. They also receive income by assisting businesses in filling open positions caused by labor shortages. Over 83% of Goodwill’s entire budget goes to funding its programs. (Goodwill) Goodwill is in stark contrast to stores such as Wal-Mart. Instead of violating human rights for the sake of money, their mission is to bring in revenue for the benefit of those with disadvantages, creating success and improving lives. This makes patronage at Goodwill a direct contribution to their worthy cause and can be considered a more ethically sound choice than Wal-Mart.

This brings us to the end of our findings, let’s summarize. Wal-Mart sells a large stock of essential clothing items in variety of brands. Their prices are very reasonable, with the highest average price (sneakers) being less than $20. However they don’t sell any domestically made items and they leave much to be desired in the realm of ethical business and human rights practices, often failing to follow their own policies. They support local communities, but at the price of foreign workers, including children. Plato’s closet sells high scale brand name clothing by reselling it at reasonable prices. Although the clothing comes from similar locations and manufactured under similar conditions as Wal-Mart, the items are used and the corperation is not directly supporting these practices, rather they are doing a community service by recycling clothing and reducing the need to further contribute to corporations such as Wal-Mart. Some items are even manufactured in the United States, however in light of what we discovered, we would have to say this is only a partial improvement in some cases. They also offer a relatively wide selection of items though it does vary depending on the location and when you go. The highest price was $30 (for jeans), however we must take into consideration that they are selling high quality items and the fact that the price range is quite wide. Overall, their prices are nearly comparable to Wal-Mart for higher quality items. Furthermore, Winmark appears to be a morally sound cooperation dedicated to supporting small businesses. Goodwill sells a variety of donated items and they have the majority of our essential clothes available though the selection varies from location to location and on their website. Their prices were the lowest of all three stores with the highest priced item being a pair of sneakers for $16 (website). Excluding sneakers, none of the items priced were higher than $6.50 yet the selection was nearly comparable to that of Wal-Mart provided you are willing to do a little searching. They do sell clothing manufactured under conditions we have already outlined, but again they recycle used items and do not directly contribute to these practices. In fact, their mission is to improve lives by providing supportive and educational services to people worldwide. They appear to be at the opposite end of the moral spectrum from Wal-Mart while providing very low prices and good variety.

To conclude, all of this information makes the answers to “where, what, and why to buy” clear. While discount stores offer a wide selection of inexpensive items, secondhand shops do the same just with a more varied availability of items. In the process they eliminate waste and avoid contributing to a corrupt system of inhumane treatment and unethical practices. This makes shopping secondhand stores, either privately owned or non-profit, beneficial to the consumer, the community, and the environment. At same time, you are supporting human rights and initiatives to improve the quality of life for many. Obviously it is tough to avoid making any purchases at discount stores such as Wal-Mart because of their prominence. However, by replacing Wal-Mart clothing purchases with secondhand shop purchases, reducing or limiting discount store patronage, and being aware of the problems that do exist, you can make positive purchasing choices that are easy on your pocket book and easy on your conscience.

Works Cited

“Sri Lanka Working Conditions.” National Economics Encyclopedia.2007.< http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/Sri-Lanka-WORKING-CONDITIONS.html>

“Thailand: Abuses and Explotation of Migrant Workers.”Amnesty International.June 2005.< http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGASA390022005>

China Labor Watch.April 2007.www.chinalaborwatch.org

“What we do; How We Operate.” Goodwill Industries International.2005.http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about/whatwedo

The Daily Texan Online.www.dailytexanonline.com

“Wal-Mart Facts.”Walmart Stores Inc.2007.www.walmartfacts.com

America’s Union Movement.www.ulfico.org

“Thailand.” U.S. Dept of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs.2007.< http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat/thailand.htm>

United Food and Commerical Workers.2007.www.ufcw.org

“About Winmark.” Winmark Corporation.2006.http://www.winmarkcorporation.com/aboutwinmark.aspx

Kohout, Emmi. “Sweaty: The Human Expense of Sweatshops.”UCI.2006. https://eee.uci.edu/faculty/losh/UROP2006/KohoutPaper.pdf

“About Us.” Plato’s Closet.2006.<www.platoscloset.com>

“Shop Good Will Online.”November 2007.www.shopgoodwill.com

They say that it is better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all…..really? So..if you were so in love, why did it just go away? Isn’t love unconditional? Never having to say sorry? Because when you love someone, you will not do things to have to say sorry? Love…what is love?….A feeling…an emotion..that can fade as fast as it appears….? Love to me is respect..respect for that one person…you would never do anything intentional to hurt them..you will make mistakes..we’re human…it’s praying for that person more then you pray for yourself…..it’s doing even the smallest thing for them to see a smile..it’s excepting them for who they are..past..present..and future…faults and all…It is never jealous..never unkind…it is a deep emotion that some people may never experience………Love