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mactammonty's review against another edition
5.0
Ellen Shell advocates for the consumer to take back control of their buying habits. Some of the information she uses I have heard before, but she introduces it for new reasons giving the data a different relevance.
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
An argument that big box stores, like Wal-Mart and Ikea, while allegedly saving individuals money, actually cost society money by keeping goods cheap and not giving their employees living wages, and not practicing sustainable, ecological businesses. (Yes, she really does come down on IKEA, perhaps because WalMart is such an easy punching bag and she wants people to look beyond that. For instance, IKEA sells cheap furniture that ends up being thrown out rather than used for generations; how is that a good thing?
emiged's review against another edition
4.0
I seriously may never buy anything again.
Ok, so that's not realistic, but after reading this book I'm more aware, perhaps even paranoid, about the statement I'm making with each purchase. I'm definitely a bargain shopper, but I don't want my search for a great deal to mean that workers in Mexico don't make a living wage or that Chinese migrant workers are standing in vats of toxic substances for 14 hours a day.
But how on earth am I to ascertain that? It took Ms. Shell, with her many contact and considerably greater resources than I have, months (years?) to gather the information and interviews and data for this book.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the lack of product quality, workers' protections, environmental concerns, etc. Manufacturers, retailers, governments, CEOs, suppliers, you name it, all shoulder part of the responsibility. And this wide-ranging book does not let consumers off the hook either. We are complicit by our all-too-frequent lack of interest in questioning the origins of the items we buy due to our single-minded focus on low, low price.
Some of the information in this book was not new to me - particularly the topic of food production has been dealt with by other authors recently, too. Other topics, like reference pricing, were concepts I was somewhat aware of, but I now feel much better informed. And I doubt I'll ever shop at an outlet mall again!
Ms. Shell captures the dilemma for many of us perfectly when she says "Consumers are left to choose between discount retailers whose practices they find questionable and high-end stores whose prices they cannot afford...'Voting with your feet' doesn't apply when your values are so completely out of line with your budget."
The one quibble I have with the book is that it makes the problem seem too big to do anything about. I finished the book and my first reaction was to feel completely hopeless. I've always avoided the hordes packing into Wal-Mart and I buy a lot of food locally. Particularly with large purchases, I look for quality and craftsmanship at a good value rather than the lowest price possible. But where do I go from here?
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Ok, so that's not realistic, but after reading this book I'm more aware, perhaps even paranoid, about the statement I'm making with each purchase. I'm definitely a bargain shopper, but I don't want my search for a great deal to mean that workers in Mexico don't make a living wage or that Chinese migrant workers are standing in vats of toxic substances for 14 hours a day.
But how on earth am I to ascertain that? It took Ms. Shell, with her many contact and considerably greater resources than I have, months (years?) to gather the information and interviews and data for this book.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the lack of product quality, workers' protections, environmental concerns, etc. Manufacturers, retailers, governments, CEOs, suppliers, you name it, all shoulder part of the responsibility. And this wide-ranging book does not let consumers off the hook either. We are complicit by our all-too-frequent lack of interest in questioning the origins of the items we buy due to our single-minded focus on low, low price.
Some of the information in this book was not new to me - particularly the topic of food production has been dealt with by other authors recently, too. Other topics, like reference pricing, were concepts I was somewhat aware of, but I now feel much better informed. And I doubt I'll ever shop at an outlet mall again!
Ms. Shell captures the dilemma for many of us perfectly when she says "Consumers are left to choose between discount retailers whose practices they find questionable and high-end stores whose prices they cannot afford...'Voting with your feet' doesn't apply when your values are so completely out of line with your budget."
The one quibble I have with the book is that it makes the problem seem too big to do anything about. I finished the book and my first reaction was to feel completely hopeless. I've always avoided the hordes packing into Wal-Mart and I buy a lot of food locally. Particularly with large purchases, I look for quality and craftsmanship at a good value rather than the lowest price possible. But where do I go from here?
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
jereshkigal's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting book that makes me want to rethink the way I spend my money. I will have to look into this subject more and maybe make some changes in my life.
elisacp's review against another edition
3.0
I found myself more cynical than usual reading this book. It's very easy to come from a place of privilege and tell people to eschew cheap goods. I know that much of what was in this book was really true and that reducing consumerism is a good thing. But the tone really bugged me. After I read about half, I got the point and didn't feel compelled to finish :(
eberico's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this book made me feel bad about the fact that I was reading it while reclining in my IKEA bed. Though others have pointed to problems in copyediting, overall the author does a really good job of examining the shifts in culture that have led to our current "cheap is better" mentality.
There were a lot of good things about this book, but one of the things that stood out was her mention of social justice conflicts that exist in relation to cheap/discount culture. This was discussed particularly in context of local eating, and was treated as a systemic problem - that only the middle and upper classes can really afford to eat in the ways that nutritionists and food advocates recommend. This is not directly the fault of the farmers who charge too much at the markets, or of the consumers who are able to make these lifestyle choices - it's endemic in a system where the government subsidizes certain crops, which are then used to feed animals kept in lousy conditions, which are then processed into a burger that costs less than a green pepper at an urban farmers market. This makes NO SENSE AT ALL, but it makes a lot more sense in the context of the consumer/producer culture presented in this book.
Seriously, read it.
There were a lot of good things about this book, but one of the things that stood out was her mention of social justice conflicts that exist in relation to cheap/discount culture. This was discussed particularly in context of local eating, and was treated as a systemic problem - that only the middle and upper classes can really afford to eat in the ways that nutritionists and food advocates recommend. This is not directly the fault of the farmers who charge too much at the markets, or of the consumers who are able to make these lifestyle choices - it's endemic in a system where the government subsidizes certain crops, which are then used to feed animals kept in lousy conditions, which are then processed into a burger that costs less than a green pepper at an urban farmers market. This makes NO SENSE AT ALL, but it makes a lot more sense in the context of the consumer/producer culture presented in this book.
Seriously, read it.
yarnylibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
I hesitate to review this because I didn't finish it, and I ended up skimming a lot of the sections I did read.
Why? I thought the author was redundant in her presentation. This book could have used some tighter editing.
But more than that, this book made me uncomfortable and anxious about buying anything. It confirmed my sense that generally, consumers are overcharged for just about everything, and that the quality of manufactured items has plummeted in recent years. I hate feeling duped and this book pretty much confirmed that I am duped when making most purchases, particularly large, infrequent ones like furniture and mattresses. (Mattresses! Don't get me started!)
I'm in the habit of distrusting retailers who offer crazy-low prices on items. You know those prices come from unfair labor practices, environmental assault, and other practices I don't want to support (except that we ALL support them, as a society - who pays for emergency health care for citizens whose employers won't cover them?). But it seems that the higher-priced items aren't so different from the deeply discounted ones. What is a consumer to do?
What I, as a reader and a consumer, would LIKE to read is a book about how to identify products that are well-made and which do not harm the people who make them or the places from which the resources used to make them were taken. I don't mind paying a fair price as long as I understand how it is derived. It isn't realistic to pay $50 for each organic cotton US-made t-shirt my family wears, but surely there is a price point that is reasonable and transparent.
We have to find a way to talk about these issues without making consumers feel like crap. I mean consumers on both sides of this - the ones who like getting a "good deal" on Black Friday AND the ones who steer clear because they sense no good can come of it.
This book didn't help me with that conversation, though.
Why? I thought the author was redundant in her presentation. This book could have used some tighter editing.
But more than that, this book made me uncomfortable and anxious about buying anything. It confirmed my sense that generally, consumers are overcharged for just about everything, and that the quality of manufactured items has plummeted in recent years. I hate feeling duped and this book pretty much confirmed that I am duped when making most purchases, particularly large, infrequent ones like furniture and mattresses. (Mattresses! Don't get me started!)
I'm in the habit of distrusting retailers who offer crazy-low prices on items. You know those prices come from unfair labor practices, environmental assault, and other practices I don't want to support (except that we ALL support them, as a society - who pays for emergency health care for citizens whose employers won't cover them?). But it seems that the higher-priced items aren't so different from the deeply discounted ones. What is a consumer to do?
What I, as a reader and a consumer, would LIKE to read is a book about how to identify products that are well-made and which do not harm the people who make them or the places from which the resources used to make them were taken. I don't mind paying a fair price as long as I understand how it is derived. It isn't realistic to pay $50 for each organic cotton US-made t-shirt my family wears, but surely there is a price point that is reasonable and transparent.
We have to find a way to talk about these issues without making consumers feel like crap. I mean consumers on both sides of this - the ones who like getting a "good deal" on Black Friday AND the ones who steer clear because they sense no good can come of it.
This book didn't help me with that conversation, though.
ejdecoster's review against another edition
2.0
Ruppel Shell makes a number of interesting assertions and connections in Cheap, but I'm not sure the book successfully tied together into a whole. There are chapters on behavioral economics (why we prefer certain price points, etc.), how cheap design has replaced real craftsmanship (Ikea), and the externalized costs of cheap food (ecological impact of industrial shrimp farming). But the transition from chapter to chapter often seemed jarring, with little tying the topics together. I think the book could have benefited from more explicit discussions of causation (e.g. the full impact of cheap, easily replaceable furniture of the Ikea variety beyond "it's replacing craftsmanship with design!") and of appropriate reactions. She discusses Wegmans and Costco as examples of companies that have done things right, but after spending 2 chapters discussing how certain bargain hunting/cheapskate behaviors are supposedly "hard-wired", I would have liked to see some resolution on that issue as well.
windingdot's review against another edition
4.0
This is a comprehensive and sobering account of contemporary American retail culture, and how discounting has become pervasive, and what the consequences are for our economy and even our health. She delves into the history of discount stores, the psychology of shopping, agricultural practices, and more.
Some of the discussion I'd seen of the book made it sound as if the author was a straight up elitist, blaming ordinary Americans for wanting to save a few dollars. But I don't think that's the case. She discusses how the structural, institutional, and cultural environment makes it difficult if not impossible to avoid shopping practices that have negative consequences. As such, the book is short on "solutions" per se (be more like Wegman's seems to be the main one), but sometimes it's just as important to put the critique out there and get people thinking about their practices in a way they hadn't before.
This isn't a dense or difficult book (I read it in about a day). I recommend it (but you might want to get that Ikea trip out of the way before you read it...)
Some of the discussion I'd seen of the book made it sound as if the author was a straight up elitist, blaming ordinary Americans for wanting to save a few dollars. But I don't think that's the case. She discusses how the structural, institutional, and cultural environment makes it difficult if not impossible to avoid shopping practices that have negative consequences. As such, the book is short on "solutions" per se (be more like Wegman's seems to be the main one), but sometimes it's just as important to put the critique out there and get people thinking about their practices in a way they hadn't before.
This isn't a dense or difficult book (I read it in about a day). I recommend it (but you might want to get that Ikea trip out of the way before you read it...)