I had just unpacked after returning from a trip to a third world Country.  As the TV  played in the background I tried to comprehend what I had just experienced.  The poor living conditions, lack of food, opportunity, and health care, makeshift houses with dirt floors, it all seemed unfair just because they were born in a different place then me.  Somehow my focus shifted to the TV show being broadcast, it was a doggie fashion show from LA.  Dogs of the wealthy were in a competition, being walked down the runway dressed in designer outfits worth thousands of dollars and collars imbedded with precious stones and diamonds.  What I experienced at that moment was much harder to comprehend.

In Canada the cost alone of mailing a letter within our Country with Canada Post is $1.00.  For the same amount of money we can buy an item at a dollar store consisting of:

• the cost of  dozens of individually manufactured parts
• plus the cost of shipping of those parts to an assembly factory
• plus the cost of assembling and packaging the final product for sale
• plus  the cost of shipping that product from the other side of the globe to Canada
• plus the cost of maintaining a retail business outlet and employees in Canada where the item is sold at $1.00 for a profit.

(Canada post reposted a 31 million dollar loss in the second quarter of 2015)

Whether it be companies moving to Mexico, outsourcing to India, or the estimated 170 million child labor’s working long hours in appalling conditions for our designer clothes, how can we justify taking advantage of these people to put diamond collars on our dogs.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com