Hello!

I am a graduate student at the University of Southern California who
is looking into the perceptions people have of fair trade products.
I’ve created a short, non-commercial survey and would love to hear
your opinions.

The survey should take between 10 and 15 minutes. Your participation
is entirely voluntary and your identity will be strictly anonymous.

By completing the survey, you will have the opportunity to enter a
drawing to win a $50 iTunes gift card.

If you would like to participate in the study, please click the link
or type in this URL:
https://uscannenberg.qualtrics.com/S...FQbmW5b4E45PuI


If you have any questions, please email me at .

Thank you,

Laura Donnelly

Laura Donnelly > wrote:
>
>I am a graduate student at the University of Southern California who
>is looking into the perceptions people have of fair trade products.
>I=92ve created a short, non-commercial survey and would love to hear
>your opinions.

This is an interesting survey, and I'm curious what you're actually trying to
measure here.

None of my opinions about free trade practices were listed anywhere on the
survey, so it's kind of difficult to measure them.

The survey misses the point (and so do a lot of other people) that free trade
practices exist to insure people making a product receive a fair minimum wage
for doing so, but that in the process it also insures that they won't make
any more for doing so; if they make a product which is of higher quality they
won't be selling it as free trade.

Consequently, free trade is fine for generic commodities, but for specialty
items, it tends to narrow the range of quality down, meaning on the high side
that there's no high quality material being sold.

This is great if you're making huge amounts of generic CTC assam tea, but if
you're talking about the kind of single-estate teas that most of the folks in
this group are talking about, it's not a good thing.

I'm horrified to even think about free trade wines....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

All of the Cost Plus teas are now sold as Fair Trade. I think it will
fade in a couple of years. If I worry about it at all I think is it
really a Fair Trade item. I remember a college economics professor
who said minimum wage keeps workers from unionizing.

Jim

On Jun 21, 6:28 am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> Laura Donnelly > wrote:
>
> >I am a graduate student at the University of Southern California who
> >is looking into the perceptions people have of fair trade products.
> >I=92ve created a short, non-commercial survey and would love to hear
> >your opinions.
>
> This is an interesting survey, and I'm curious what you're actually trying to
> measure here.
>
> None of my opinions about free trade practices were listed anywhere on the
> survey, so it's kind of difficult to measure them.
>
> The survey misses the point (and so do a lot of other people) that free trade
> practices exist to insure people making a product receive a fair minimum wage
> for doing so, but that in the process it also insures that they won't make
> any more for doing so; if they make a product which is of higher quality they
> won't be selling it as free trade.
>
> Consequently, free trade is fine for generic commodities, but for specialty
> items, it tends to narrow the range of quality down, meaning on the high side
> that there's no high quality material being sold.
>
> This is great if you're making huge amounts of generic CTC assam tea, but if
> you're talking about the kind of single-estate teas that most of the folks in
> this group are talking about, it's not a good thing.
>
> I'm horrified to even think about free trade wines....
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Interesting thread. I've bought fair trade whenever I had a choice
without really knowing the ramifications. I've just assumed it was a
good thing but, apparently, nothing is that simple or straightforward.
I'm guessing that overall it helps more people than it hurts but I'm
cynical enough to think that may be in spite of the system rather than
because of it.

Ken

On Jun 16, 3:43*pm, Laura Donnelly >
wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I am a graduate student at the University of Southern California who
> is looking into the perceptions people have of fair trade products.
> I’ve created a short, non-commercial survey and would love to hear
> your opinions.
>
> The survey should take between 10 and 15 minutes. Your participation
> is entirely voluntary and your identity will be strictly anonymous.
>
> By completing the survey, you will have the opportunity to enter a
> drawing to win a $50 iTunes gift card.
>
> If you would like to participate in the study, please click the link
> or type in this URL:https://uscannenberg.qualtrics.com/S...FQbmW5b4E45PuI
>
> If you have any questions, please email me at .
>
> Thank you,
>
> Laura Donnelly

Ken Baxter > wrote:
>Interesting thread. I've bought fair trade whenever I had a choice
>without really knowing the ramifications. I've just assumed it was a
>good thing but, apparently, nothing is that simple or straightforward.
>I'm guessing that overall it helps more people than it hurts but I'm
>cynical enough to think that may be in spite of the system rather than
>because of it.

It's definitely a good thing from the standpoint of the people making the
product. It's not always a good thing from the standpoint of the product
quality.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."