Walmart Goes for the Gusto with Fair Trade

But that doesn’t mean I will shop there.

Wal-mart announced plans to carry Fair Trade coffee.  In fact, they are aiming to carry the cheapest fair trade coffee on the planet.  Wal-Mart said the Sam’s Choice coffee will be priced at $5.88 for 10- to 12-ounce bag.

By comparison, an 11-ounce bag of O Organics Aztec blend medium ground coffee is listed at $9.19 on Safeway’s Web site.  The Archer Farms brands from Target is priced close to $10.

Wal-Mart also said that the six coffees they plan to market under the Sam’s label are also certified as “carbon neutral” because Cafe Bom Dia, its Brazil-based coffee roaster, has cut its net carbon emissions to zero.

“The socially conscious consumer is a growing area we’re marketing to, and certainly this coffee fills that void … in our line,” said Matt Kistler, senior vice president of sustainability at Wal-Mart, in an interview.

Hello? I think they are missing the point.

I lived through the organic/recycling  revolution  in the late sixties.  Everyone in my suburban neighborhood began buying organic, sucking down yogurt like it was going out of style, and putting sprouts in their whole grain sandwiches.  We had neighborhood recycling programs and my mom drove our 1969 Buick station wagon around the neighborhood and we picked up bottles then a bunch of us sorted them, while we listened to Joan Baez, and untangled the fringe on our suede vests.  We felt like revolutionaries.

By the 80s those things were passe. They had become mainstream and organic no longer meant that it was grown carefully (and ethically) on a nearby farm.  The label was there but the heart was gone.

So it goes with Fair Trade….. Peeps, Fair Trade is not about saving money. It is about paying more and using less if need be, so that the person growing it gets a fair amount for the work they do!

So….I am not impressed. They are just going where they think they can make the most money. I will believe that they care about Brazilian coffee farmers when I see them bring their ethics home.

Image :Morguefile