It's easy to print up business cards and other brochures and literature that make untrue claims in order to collect money for a good cause. You never know if that person who is wearing a Santa Suit and ringing a bell, or who is standing outside your supermarket with an official looking can is even going to turn over your donations to a real non-profit.
It's easy to turn your pockets inside out to give a few coins to someone, and we're not saying that all those people who need out there are frauds or that you need to give big or take tax deductions to give.
We're saying be careful, make phone calls, ask good questions, and also protect your privacy as a giver. One of our friends gave a couple thousand dollars to a candidate she believed in years ago and her name, address, amount she gave, and other information are still on the Internet, and of course there is an assumption about her political affiliation because of it. SO YOU MAY WANT SOME ASSURANCES THAT YOUR DONATION WILL ALWAYS REMAIN PRIVATE.
A way to start is to read some of the sites about NONPROFITS. Here is a site that will lead you to MANY opportunities to find out more about the non-profit you may consider donating to:
NON PROFIT AND CHARITY EVALUATORS resource center
Showing posts with label Opinion by Patriotic Purchase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opinion by Patriotic Purchase. Show all posts
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
CALIFORNIA PLASTIC BAG BAN : OPINION BY PATRIOTIC PURCHASE BLOGSPOT
California has now banned plastic shopping bags at stores within the whole state. (Stores we've purchased at are allowing you to provide your own, or will sell you a paper bag for a dime and sometimes give away heavy promotional plastic bags or sell heavy plastic bags, destined, they hope, for reuse. Though there have been local votes in some places, such as Los Angeles City, any further localization of this ecology driven law is pointless.
On the basis that so many plastic bags are imported from China and other countries rather made in the USA, we have for the last few years tried to find and use bags made in the USA, with little success except for cloth bags bought at Trader Joe's.
WE HAVE FOUND SHOPPING MORE CUMBERSOME THAN EVER. We really want a bag from the store we just purchased in to carry our purchase out and around. We try to carry some folded, previously used bags around, jammed in a purse or the backseat of a car, but despite our best efforts we still find ourselves out shopping and needing more bags.
We have been stopped when our own bags, bulging with purchases from more than one store, appeared suspicious to sales clerks or a buzzer went off at a store front through no fault of our own. GREAT! Recently we were carrying both Farmer's Market Produce and clothing bought on sale in one bag when we entered a third store on a shopping avenue and the buzzers went off. Then again, we were once accidently charged for a library book at a cash register when we set the book down to get the wallet out.
MANY OF THE BAGS STORES ARE CHARGING A DOLLAR TO FIVE DOLLARS FOR HEAVIER BAGS THAT STILL FALL APART RAPIDLY. Often it's the handles that detach or we see a hole in the bottom after a couple uses. Don't know how many uses you're getting from them, but we did try to machine wash a couple of them (in cold water) that looked a little stained or stinky and that did them in. These heftier bags are often also made in China or other countries, and they are badly sewn and falling apart so rapidly, and then must be thrown out. From the looks of them, they will take a very long time to degrade naturally, especially in that PLASTIC is one of the materials used for these bags, such as the ones that are plastic over woven straw.
WE THINK THE IMPACT IS ON WATERWAYS and THE OCEAN WILL EVENTUALLY BE POSITIVE, but banning plastic bags is not enough... Also what should be banned is fast food drink containers and lids and straws because this isn't so much about the bags but the LITTER BUGS WHO DON'T THROW THINGS AWAY PROPERLY... Maybe PLASTIC IN GENERAL SHOULD NO LONGER BE USED... (Can you image, no more plastic shower curtain? Picnic table cloth? ) Really that SEA OF PLASTIC IN THE PACIFIC THAT'S THE SIZE OF TEXAS is VERY TELLING... However, SINCE PLASTIC BAGS ARE NECESSARY TO THROW TRASH OUT IN and the bags themselves go to the LANDFILLS we are not sure really how the plastic shopping bag ban will improve the ecological impact ON LAND!
WE JUST THINK THE COST OF THE BAGS WENT TO THE CONSUMER INSTEAD OF THE STORE.
Another phenomena is that BRING YOUR OWN BAGS seems to mean BAG YOUR OWN BAGS! That is also saving stores money they should be paying employees.
On the basis that so many plastic bags are imported from China and other countries rather made in the USA, we have for the last few years tried to find and use bags made in the USA, with little success except for cloth bags bought at Trader Joe's.
WE HAVE FOUND SHOPPING MORE CUMBERSOME THAN EVER. We really want a bag from the store we just purchased in to carry our purchase out and around. We try to carry some folded, previously used bags around, jammed in a purse or the backseat of a car, but despite our best efforts we still find ourselves out shopping and needing more bags.
We have been stopped when our own bags, bulging with purchases from more than one store, appeared suspicious to sales clerks or a buzzer went off at a store front through no fault of our own. GREAT! Recently we were carrying both Farmer's Market Produce and clothing bought on sale in one bag when we entered a third store on a shopping avenue and the buzzers went off. Then again, we were once accidently charged for a library book at a cash register when we set the book down to get the wallet out.
MANY OF THE BAGS STORES ARE CHARGING A DOLLAR TO FIVE DOLLARS FOR HEAVIER BAGS THAT STILL FALL APART RAPIDLY. Often it's the handles that detach or we see a hole in the bottom after a couple uses. Don't know how many uses you're getting from them, but we did try to machine wash a couple of them (in cold water) that looked a little stained or stinky and that did them in. These heftier bags are often also made in China or other countries, and they are badly sewn and falling apart so rapidly, and then must be thrown out. From the looks of them, they will take a very long time to degrade naturally, especially in that PLASTIC is one of the materials used for these bags, such as the ones that are plastic over woven straw.
WE THINK THE IMPACT IS ON WATERWAYS and THE OCEAN WILL EVENTUALLY BE POSITIVE, but banning plastic bags is not enough... Also what should be banned is fast food drink containers and lids and straws because this isn't so much about the bags but the LITTER BUGS WHO DON'T THROW THINGS AWAY PROPERLY... Maybe PLASTIC IN GENERAL SHOULD NO LONGER BE USED... (Can you image, no more plastic shower curtain? Picnic table cloth? ) Really that SEA OF PLASTIC IN THE PACIFIC THAT'S THE SIZE OF TEXAS is VERY TELLING... However, SINCE PLASTIC BAGS ARE NECESSARY TO THROW TRASH OUT IN and the bags themselves go to the LANDFILLS we are not sure really how the plastic shopping bag ban will improve the ecological impact ON LAND!
WE JUST THINK THE COST OF THE BAGS WENT TO THE CONSUMER INSTEAD OF THE STORE.
Another phenomena is that BRING YOUR OWN BAGS seems to mean BAG YOUR OWN BAGS! That is also saving stores money they should be paying employees.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
BUYING AMERICAN PRODUCTS LEADS TO MORE AMERICAN PRODUCTS BEING MADE
So, we know that when you go to the store and start looking at packaging and the underside of products looking for evidence that something is MADE IN THE USA it can be frustrating, even make you angry. It's true that we have REPLACED SO MANY AMERICAN MADE PRODUCTS and the jobs they created) in a search for cheaper things.
And often what we get are cheaply MADE things. Things you have to throw away and replace rather than repair and keep! If you could only tally up the energy you use working for, buying, and then throwing away cheap products.
(I'm thinking right now of a Land Fill full of MADE IN CHINA shoes!)
This is the truth of it. Maybe it takes a millionare to buy everything American, but TRY. For every item you buy American you are preserving a job. And every working American can stimulate the economy! So start small and keep going!
IF YOU CAN'T BUY AMERICAN maybe you don't need it!
C Patriotic Purchase blog 2011 All Rights Reserved
And often what we get are cheaply MADE things. Things you have to throw away and replace rather than repair and keep! If you could only tally up the energy you use working for, buying, and then throwing away cheap products.
(I'm thinking right now of a Land Fill full of MADE IN CHINA shoes!)
This is the truth of it. Maybe it takes a millionare to buy everything American, but TRY. For every item you buy American you are preserving a job. And every working American can stimulate the economy! So start small and keep going!
IF YOU CAN'T BUY AMERICAN maybe you don't need it!
C Patriotic Purchase blog 2011 All Rights Reserved
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