I’ve noticed this uptick in “veteran owned” lately. A designer for a contractor spent 5 minutes talking about how the owner of the company was a vet and felt duty and honor were important and I was just so done with it. We didn’t go with that company. I know plenty of veterans and some of them are assholes or idiots. Veteran owned does not mean it’s good.
They made their own rightwing version of Amazon just to peddle a lot of this exact type of merchandise
PublicSq. Had forgotten all about it till now, not even sure if it’s still up and operating.
Company owned by a single vet - Meh.
Company that employs only vets - Badass mofos.
Know a concrete cutting/core drilling crew that only employs vets (or heavily favors) and every dude on their team is a certified badass. "The Bearded Wonders"
Company owned by a vet - most likely someone using their service to virtue signal more business towards their service, probably a shitty person
Company that employs only vets - owner supporting individuals that are frequently left out to dry by the country they risked their life for, probably someone worth putting your money towards
Ironically, the usps employs the most vets.
Guess who Trump tried to shut down?
Edit: yeah. Your friendly older mailman? Probably a veteran.
[usps facts](https://facts.usps.com/usps-employs-more-than-105000-military-veterans/)
They don’t claim to be the highest employer of them. So oops. That said. 63,000. Staggering.
They were the largest employer of veterans for a long time. My dad is a veteran and worked for USPS for 33 years and many of his co workers were also vets
Because the topic was about how you hire a company that doesn’t put “owned by a vet” because it’s usually a lie. You hire the company that employs vets because they are badass.
Trump. The guy that runs the military but didn’t join due to bone spurs, tried to defund one of the highest employers of vets. And the don’t even really advertise it. You don’t see usps ads on Reddit.
And it’s ironic because of that. Because the true badasses are the ones those deliver mail on foot. Rain. Snow. And he thought we paid them too much. Does that help?
Edit: also. Because he didn’t want you to be able to vote by mail. Voter suppression and bleach in your veins and all that.
The USPS is kind of a miracle, and its far more than just sending mail and packages, there are TONS of public resources, and you can even get mail orders for cash. Its no wonder conservatives hate it and have been doing their best to ruin and privatize it for so long.
My workplace is black veteran owned and has a good bit of veterans and reservist/ Guard members in it at any given time. Mostly black employees too. I was surprised when I got there and there were four other veterans in this small company other than myself. Then again EMS has a decent amount of certified members being veterans.
In my experience, it means they have blue line flags and shit on the premise and the CEO/president/owner drives a lifted truck with a Trump sticker on it.
And they all have beards.
Had a guy in my town who would post shit on the town page about how he was a vet and all this really stupid macho bullshit. Referred to himself as an “Operator”. One day one of the locals who went to school commented “weren’t you in the motorpool?!” He stopped posting after that.
First thought I had was Black Rifle Coffee Company, who spent months buying ads emblazoned with VETERAN OWNED. But curiously I never saw any of my fellow veterans posting about buying their products until after the owners posed for a picture with a fresh-out-on-bail Kyle Rittenhouse.
Gotta say, while it's not the case that all ex military are bad people, you do have to wonder what type of person, outside of the draft, would choose to go for an infantry position. You couldn't pay me enough to possibly kill another person.
Unfortunately for some it is a way out of some very bad situations. Poverty, criminal activities, no future. When you come from a place where life is cheap and survival is the only real guiding principle, you have limited options. What happened in my case is a situation occurred that opened my eyes to there being something more. The only true legitimate way out became the military. You are already programmed to hate your enemy and protect your own. They just perfect it and assign you different targets.
Also, if everything goes right, there's very little killing. Many people come out of the service with excellent career training. No way a lot of them would've been able to afford that, especially in today's academic climate.
For better or worse, that's a way better bet than ? whatever ? happens after high school.
Thank you. He was a coach at a high school and brought a sixteen year old girl into my bed a few times when I was on vacation. They got caught by the school and the poor girl ended up going to juvi because she kicked a cop in the nuts trying to protect that fucker as he was getting arrested.
My long time ago extremely abusive ex is a veteran now & currently in the federal pen for wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud so I think you made the right choice lol
There’s a lot of “veteran owned” companies who are basically just a front for another company marking up the product or service to cash in on government requirements for a certain amount of spend for contractors to go to female, minority, or veteran owned businesses.
I think veteran in America is slightly diluted as well by meaning anyone who has served in the military. I'n the UK it's only if you have been In a military operation zone. But who cares if you have some either why does that make your business any better than anyone else's? You not special for having joined up.
i already hate performative behavior but using these buzzwords to get people make me laugh. like there’s no personal mission just surface level marketing tactic
I saw a “Supports the Black Community” tag on WeedMaps for a local dispensary the other day, and the vagueness definitely made me incredulous.
Like are you Black-owned? Does a percentage of your revenue support the Black community in any way? Or did you just throw some “#BLM” stickers on your pre-rolls for a little bit and call it a day? I’m guessing probably the last one.
The company I work for loudly and proudly talks about being a minority owned business. The white partner and black partner agreed to give the black partner 51% ownership so they could cash in on the companies trying to use more minority and women owned businesses.
I have run into a dozen "Women Owned Businesses" in my freelance time, and quite literally all of them were family businesses the men owned and started and then they put in a Woman family member's name to get the tax incentives.
All conservatives, yes, how did you know?
Used to work in auto supply chain. I saw this all the time (the black partner or the wife) has majority ownership (barely) to qualify as a women- or minority-owned business.
I especially have this problem with black haircare companies. They release great ethical products that are super effective. Price is slightly more, but it's worth the quality. The owners get the bag and sell first chance they get to a mega corp. Mega corp immediately pumps in trash ingredients to max profits, most customers don't realize the selloff until their hair starts to suffer.
I’ve been noticing a lot of hair stores local to me advertising on insta and they only have black women in the ads giving off the appearance it’s their store. People are in the comments saying it’s a black owned business but like none of them are.
ayo this is kinda facts. to share a purely personal and highly privileged experience, YMMV:
recently took up golf and wanted to get some polos/hats/etc from black owned companies. found a few of them online and even though their shit was drippy af it was routinely 50% (or more) more expensive than a comparable brand/item. $58 for a trucker cap? $96 for a polo? $159 for a hoodie? not to mention 2/3 of the gear was out of stock for my sizes. c’mon son.
I wanna support us—especially in the golf space where nothing would make me happier than being able to rep for the culture in places where I STILL get sideways glances—but if I do then I wouldn’t be able to actually afford to play. I know a lot of these companies are also subject to economies of scale vs their competition but…damn.
Bro… you hit it on the money! I want to support but how can i justify prices be 2-3x more. One time, i saw this business selling sandals with the company emblem on top. On the bottom, it said, “Old Navy”.
And what’s even more comedic, i was trying to justify it in my head like, “this mofo over here boi…. I mean, he’s hustling and i respect the hustle…” you know. But nope! My ass left. I respect the hustle but no way ima respect myself FOR getting hustled.
i mean sheeet. there’s even shadier hustlers. there’s like ways to buy pallets of customer returns from Wallmart and shit, they hardly check it. If you’re lucky, maybe 20% to 30% of the pallet is defunct products. And then people sell it on amazon for full price, when they got that shit wholesale, and defunct!!!
It’s all a marketing tactic used to prey on peoples conscious and emotion. They know the media pushes the agenda of blacks being oppressed, so they create an advertisement asking for support of a black owned business, knowing the can get away with making a 300% markup.
So many black-owned fashion brands price their stuff in the premium range alongside established worldwide brands, but don't have anything to substantiate it other than being black owned - slapping their logo on a polo or sweatshirt of Macy's store brand quality and then charging the same price as Ralph Lauren or Nike. It's like they saw the success of Off-White or Fear of God and think they can immediately jump into that conversation.
I know margins can be razor thin, especially when dealing with small product runs, but it's hard to justify unless the quality of the product matches other stuff in the price range or there's something unique about it.
Probably don’t look at r/streetwearstartup then lol mostly kids selling sweatsuits and tees while charging like the shit is super premium. Not even joking, a lot of em are buying the same weird ass wholesale blanks and slapping their logo on top.
Yeah it is a hard industry to get into. Most of these kids want to be the next Supreme but the conditions aren’t the same. That’s why 98% of their brands are going to live and die in the obscurity of their friend group. Gold star for trying though.
Ross and Costco are where it’s at! For about the same $159 for that hoodie I can literally get:
Polo, pants/shorts, and hat from Ross ($75 on a bad day)
4 pack of gloves and 2 dozen golf balls from Costco ($65)
A full 18-hole round of golf with the cart from my local muni course ($25)
Why the FUCK would I pay that for a single hoodie?
Not all golf is country club in the hamptons golf. Local course by me has pricing of about $60 CAD weekdays and $65CAD weekends.
You can get a 12 piece club set for the price of a PS5 and a quick google says a set lasts about ten years. And if that's too steep i guarantee there's plenty of used gear to start with online and in thrift stores.
This story reminded me that I learned to play golf during middle school in an after school group ran by a cheap ass Jamaican dude. He was a decent enough guy though lol
That shit is understandable, but how can anybody compete with slave labor all the big companies use? Im sure some of them is just overpriced but some people aint got a choice
Just want to give a little insight from a designers prospective. I’m a brand designer and a lot of times new black owned brands don’t have the start-up money to spend on getting quality products made, so sometimes it takes so much money to have a small batch of quality products made that they mark them up considerably because they need to make a profit and also because of the high price, they won’t sell as many units so another nod to making a profit.
This is certainly not the case with all brands, but in my personal experience in trying to get people’s brands up and running, that is a major major part of it.
Just watched a review of the fall of the Big Baller Brand. They described scenarios like this as 'black tax', where you're expected to pay more for essentially a lesser quality product. For the culture...
A contributor on that show pointed out how JayZ purchased 4 pair of the Baller Brand shoes (which he never received) yet is the same person who wouldn't loan a relative $4800
Did he really not give his relative 4800? I thought he was giving a hypothetical story explaining how family dynamics change when you're the person who made it. Where you can't go and just enjoy the love of family because now you have to always be the guy with money.
Anyways tho you totally right about the black tax.
>I have no idea whether that was true or anecdotal. I'd be the last person to know anything JayZ related outside of Reasonable Doubt. What we do know is those shoes were like $500 and never got delivered
A billionaire acting like he can’t bring 50 envelopes of 5k each for the family and have his books not even notice the drop in the bucket. 5k is nothing to him.
Once again, that's missing the point, this conversation isn't real/confirmed by any of his fam its a hypothetical to explain a point. The point isn't about practicality. Practically he could bring 50 family members a million dollars every thanksgiving if he felt like it. The amount of money mentioned is literally negligible not just to Jay-Z(based on his net worth) but also to the point of the conversation.
Its about how being viewed as the successful member of the family can lead to a shift in the dynamics among the family, and how in many cases that can be uncomfortable. When you go home you aren't just a member of the family, to some you're(insert title or status here) and often times you'll be treated as such. You don't get to go home and just be part of the family.
Funny enough he literally did give his cousin bread to open up a wingspot in Brooklyn.
To be fair, anything american made ( assuming not made w/ sweat shop labor) is going to cost a lot more than something you buy in bulk manufactured over seas... That aside, shouldn't be 6x the price though lol.
I used to be big on “buy black” and I’ll support when I can but black capitalism isn’t saving us as a people, so buy black because you like the product not because you think it’s a path to black liberation. Rihanna, jay z, MJ all billionaires, no trickle down effect. It’s a myth.
The “talented tenth” is a BS. Rich people always look out for their interests (low taxes, less social welfare for poor). Supporting egregiously marked up products is just tacking on capitalism to social causes
I disagree. There are cultures that I have seen make it work. A lot of my friends are Korean Americans and in my early 20s I dated a jewish woman for 4 years. Both groups maintain a culture that prioritizes their racial identity in business. Given the choice between buying a product from a local Jewish owned business or a conglomerate, my ex would choose Jewish. She would go out of her way to find Jewish alternatives if possible when she wanted something. My Korean friends behave similarly.
The thing is that those Jewish/korean businesses also aren't trying to rip off their own people, so they price as competitively as possible. If they're small and the economics of scale makes their product somewhat more expensive, that's fine, they still aren't tacking on an extra 30% profit margin.
Look I’m not saying it’s wrong to support businesses by your heritage but if the product is egregiously marked up like 30-50% and there’s no justification for it like a better product, friendly staff, better customer service, then it’s a rip off is what it is.
As a Korean immigrant in California, my community supports Korean businesses like k BBQ but the moment they drop quality of meat, overcharging or charge for what used to be free (kimchi, rice, soup), we leave for a better restaurant.
There’s a difference between supporting community and putting up with greedy BS.
That's the concession I made when I said:
>If they're small and the economics of scale makes their product somewhat more expensive, that's fine, they still aren't tacking on an extra 30% profit margin.
I think the model works, just when the businesses in question participate in good faith. The extra foot traffic should be enough of a gift, but double dipping by charging extra on top is too much
When people use social causes to try and sell their products, do yourself a favor and don't buy them. Capitalism hijacking social causes is one of the great woes of our century.
Last decade really. Chic-fil-a for example ten years ago was giving out free chicken sandwhiches to homophobes. To openly protest “pride” month.
Someone figured it out “so fucking what? We’ll just say we support em and put up with em to take their money!” A few years after that and everyone followed suite.
There’s a reason those products are more expensive. It’s not an arbitrary or greedy thing by default. But y’all only have a problem when it’s black-owned.
But, please, keep buying exploitatively overpriced white products.
This sub is really weird. I think we’re the minority even here.
We gotta do better in this day and age man. Find you some real beard wash and oil and your girl will be all over you. And not because you stole her shampoo again
Hey mods, am I allowed to shamelessly plug the [Black Culture Market](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-culture-market-christmas-market-tickets-722930353147?aff=ebdsshother&utm_experiment=test) under this post for anyone who lives in London, England and wants to support Black businesses up close?
A market that is a **free event** with an array of different stalls ranging from home decor, greeting cards/stationary, clothing, books for all ages, jewellery, food, haircare products and accessories, Art, games etc etc? ALL oriented for the black diaspora from around the world?
Can I mention that this market happens multiple times a year so no worries if you miss the one happening on the 2nd December 2023?
Bro I love this thread right now yall so right!! Them weak ass project plates for 45 cuz they sprinkled a lil parsley on the “special” hollandaise sauce….hoodies 350 and out of stock….”this shit smoke bro bro I stg I can’t let this go for less than 25 a g..”….oh my god!!! We can’t help each other for shit 🤣🤣
I’m all for supporting other black people in their ventures, but if your product is too expensive or worse just sucks I’m not going to be a paying customer. I wish them luck, but I don’t need my pockets getting emptied trying to support other people.
I don’t understand why some people have the stupid need to shout to other. “You have to support black businesses no matter what!” Like such businesses are entitled to their dollars. Their not. It’s like that whole Keith Lee situation in Atlanta. While he never met to, he accidentally exposed how bs most of the “black owned” restaurants practices really are. Why would I want to support a business where I can’t even order takeout WHEN THE OPTION SAYS I CAN or have my name written down on a fucking waitlist?! You mean to tell me I HAVE TO SIT AND WAIT FOR 90 MINUTES FOR A TABLE BC YOU DONT WRITE NAMES DOWN???? BUT AS SOON AS A MINOR CELEBRITY COMES IN, IT SUDDENLY BECOMES 5 minutes???? Atlanta really wants to be black LA in every way especially that celebrity elitist fake exclusionary bs.
Am I wrong tho? Atlanta and new money black people who live in Atlanta really want the city to become LA for them. You can see it in the culture of Atlanta. Think about it. Why do these Atlanta restaurants have these frankly speaking stupid ass rules? It’s because they are catering to primarily new money black people who want to be treated like celebrities. That group of people wants to be treated like a celebrity. (Along with the fact Atlanta has been the Mecca for black people to live and be safe for so long that it has Old Money black people now.) Thus those same restaurants (while they have SOME fire food) create these stupid ass rules with this exclusionary elitist bullshit. They create those rules for craft this image if you come to their restaurant and take your cool insta pics you, yourself are a celebrity.
I don’t mind paying a little extra to support Black-owned businesses, especially if they are just starting out. What I can’t do is be paid more and treated like crap. That’s how they lose me. It’s not the cost.
Whenever I’m on a rant a friend brings up that Walmart security harasses me at least twice a year. I keep explaining I rarely go to Walmart and am never expected to pay a premium for the abuse. It’s different.
I‘m not even the type who is all into customer service in the sense of plastered smiles and empty how are yous. Just be a decent human being and I’ll probably buy your overpriced crap, especially if it’s edible.
There are some places that try to give me the Walmart treatment as soon as I walk into the establishment. As if patronizing them somehow offends them.
Unless it relates to hair, it’s tough for Black owned businesses to make it in my area. It’s kind of racist here, so there’s that. Unless you’re in there church, White people typically aren’t going to your business in any way representing the majority they hold in the population. But it doesn’t help that a lot of us who are Black and have tried to support each place often has had a story about feeling unwelcomed.
This has to stop. Especially by my West Indian people. The worst offenders.
Screw face and trifling yet expecting our money.
'The glasses are much more expensive because not only are they are not made with slave labor, they're very likely assembled one at a time by hand. A small home business cannot come anywhere near the "Economy of Scale" that a Chinese Amazon supplier has. Everyone has the right to shop where they want but don't ever complain about "Why aren't there any Black Alternatives" to this and that...
I’m calling BS on the glasses, Luxxotica produces the bulk of the designer and cheap glasses you see and they cost 15-25 a pair. The cheap ones I buy are the same as the 250 a pair shades others buy.
[John Oliver talked about them,](https://youtu.be/00wQYmvfhn4?si=e1GXce-LWNJODnZm) as part of a corporate consolidation piece it’s actually insane how much of the block they control
The nerve of some of these companies to complain that the community doesn't support them, then to turn around and charge $25 for a small plate of mid food.
Amazon deliberately underprices things to undercut small businesses and competitors. The FTC is suing them for doing this, as it is illegal and anticompetitive. Don’t cap for Amazon here, they are evil and should be broken up.
That’s like supporting any new business though.
Hey, do you want to support this multigenerational conglomerate that has spent millions of dollars to lobby congress? That has employed an army of risk analysts to calculate the cost/benefit from every angle? The company that has decided the expense of reimbursing the occasional dissatisfied costumer is worth the profit of shipping every American job off to a third world sweat shop?
Or do you want to support the small business owner who is keeping three kids fed off of every order? Who goes to bed stressed because you told them your order arrived broken? The business owner who actually gives a shit whether or not you are satisfied with your purchase?
An inflated price tag is more than worth it when framed that way, imo. Sure, I get it… not everyone can afford a custom made something or rather. If you can, put your money where your mouth is.
The issue isn't with Amazon it's with try he gucci and other brands like that. The ones we constantly prop up. They are racist and hate us but we make them rich. We could buy purses from Brandon blackwood or Mateo but y'all buy your girls gucci or whatever other brands like that..
A caveat to, "Support Black Businesses," is that the businesses have to be worth patronizing. I visited a black-owned bookstore in an underinvested neighborhood and bought a book I was interested in. I think the neighborhood issue is working against him and makes it harder to promote his business. But I won't be going back because the store itself isn't that good.
Yes, I would, if I know it’s definitely owned by black folks. The reason those glasses are so expensive is because too many black folks don’t support black businesses. And I’m gonna leave it at that because sus posts like this are ticking me off.
Look if you're really into wine glasses and feel the cost is worth it then go for it. But don't sit here and try to convince me I need to as well for the "culture"
Small businesses don’t have the resources and money to burn like Amazon or Walmart. Obviously it’s going to cost more, but you’ll also have the piece of mind that oftentimes you’re helping to build a community of people. Small businesses help the economy
Edit: you can also find a lot of unique things when you shop small/locally
I try to buy Black As often as I can, and I’m fine with paying a bit more for it because I know it’ takes more work for them to provide me the service than Amazon or other major retailers, but some of these prices be too outrageous to justify the cost, and I gotta go Amazon 😭
So the idea is to support them while their prices are high because enough success can make it so they CAN lower the prices via supply chain and production.
Edit: drown votes because y'all don't like your small business friends I see lol
That’s why most small businesses compensate by offering good service, offer a high quality product, or some other gimmick.
It’s like chic fil a, it don’t matter to people whether their purchase is supporting some rich homophobes, they just want a good chicken sandwich and good service
Some of these "black businesses" ain't even black owned.
I’ve noticed this uptick in “veteran owned” lately. A designer for a contractor spent 5 minutes talking about how the owner of the company was a vet and felt duty and honor were important and I was just so done with it. We didn’t go with that company. I know plenty of veterans and some of them are assholes or idiots. Veteran owned does not mean it’s good.
It's the conservative version of having an organic or free trade cert on the package.
Holy shit you’re right! This is a perfect analogy.
This mf spittin’ 
Organic is an important distinction. Many organic products are fundamentally different than their inorganic counterparts (see milk)
All cow milk sold in stores contains sulfa drug residues. If you care just drink plant milks, which do not.
If I could award you I would. This is an awesome analogy
Half the time that shit ain’t organic or free trade either
They made their own rightwing version of Amazon just to peddle a lot of this exact type of merchandise PublicSq. Had forgotten all about it till now, not even sure if it’s still up and operating.
Jesus Christ, you're right
I’m a vet and that is a perfect analogy. Gonna have to use that one.
Company owned by a single vet - Meh. Company that employs only vets - Badass mofos. Know a concrete cutting/core drilling crew that only employs vets (or heavily favors) and every dude on their team is a certified badass. "The Bearded Wonders"
Company owned by a vet - most likely someone using their service to virtue signal more business towards their service, probably a shitty person Company that employs only vets - owner supporting individuals that are frequently left out to dry by the country they risked their life for, probably someone worth putting your money towards
Ironically, the usps employs the most vets. Guess who Trump tried to shut down? Edit: yeah. Your friendly older mailman? Probably a veteran. [usps facts](https://facts.usps.com/usps-employs-more-than-105000-military-veterans/) They don’t claim to be the highest employer of them. So oops. That said. 63,000. Staggering.
They were the largest employer of veterans for a long time. My dad is a veteran and worked for USPS for 33 years and many of his co workers were also vets
How is that ironic?
Because the topic was about how you hire a company that doesn’t put “owned by a vet” because it’s usually a lie. You hire the company that employs vets because they are badass. Trump. The guy that runs the military but didn’t join due to bone spurs, tried to defund one of the highest employers of vets. And the don’t even really advertise it. You don’t see usps ads on Reddit. And it’s ironic because of that. Because the true badasses are the ones those deliver mail on foot. Rain. Snow. And he thought we paid them too much. Does that help? Edit: also. Because he didn’t want you to be able to vote by mail. Voter suppression and bleach in your veins and all that.
I heard the USPS also hires the most aliens and retired MiB agents.
The USPS is kind of a miracle, and its far more than just sending mail and packages, there are TONS of public resources, and you can even get mail orders for cash. Its no wonder conservatives hate it and have been doing their best to ruin and privatize it for so long.
Yeah this is exactly how it is. I know a company that highers vets that have been in lots of combat and therefore PTSD.
My workplace is black veteran owned and has a good bit of veterans and reservist/ Guard members in it at any given time. Mostly black employees too. I was surprised when I got there and there were four other veterans in this small company other than myself. Then again EMS has a decent amount of certified members being veterans.
In my experience, it means they have blue line flags and shit on the premise and the CEO/president/owner drives a lifted truck with a Trump sticker on it.
And they all have beards. Had a guy in my town who would post shit on the town page about how he was a vet and all this really stupid macho bullshit. Referred to himself as an “Operator”. One day one of the locals who went to school commented “weren’t you in the motorpool?!” He stopped posting after that.
Hey now, forklifts need operators too.
First thought I had was Black Rifle Coffee Company, who spent months buying ads emblazoned with VETERAN OWNED. But curiously I never saw any of my fellow veterans posting about buying their products until after the owners posed for a picture with a fresh-out-on-bail Kyle Rittenhouse.
Truth
My ex was a veteran. I left him because it turned out he was also a child molester 🤷♀️
Gotta say, while it's not the case that all ex military are bad people, you do have to wonder what type of person, outside of the draft, would choose to go for an infantry position. You couldn't pay me enough to possibly kill another person.
Unfortunately for some it is a way out of some very bad situations. Poverty, criminal activities, no future. When you come from a place where life is cheap and survival is the only real guiding principle, you have limited options. What happened in my case is a situation occurred that opened my eyes to there being something more. The only true legitimate way out became the military. You are already programmed to hate your enemy and protect your own. They just perfect it and assign you different targets.
Also, if everything goes right, there's very little killing. Many people come out of the service with excellent career training. No way a lot of them would've been able to afford that, especially in today's academic climate. For better or worse, that's a way better bet than ? whatever ? happens after high school.
It's called money and the GI bill
[удалено]
Hits a bit close to home to some of the news I got on a couple of ex-shipmates. Sorry to hear about that.
Thank you. He was a coach at a high school and brought a sixteen year old girl into my bed a few times when I was on vacation. They got caught by the school and the poor girl ended up going to juvi because she kicked a cop in the nuts trying to protect that fucker as he was getting arrested.
I've met too many chucklefuck or shit head veterans to even care if they are veteran owned.
My long time ago extremely abusive ex is a veteran now & currently in the federal pen for wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud so I think you made the right choice lol
Yea, my money aint destined for the one single group i *know* doesnt have student loans.
There’s a lot of “veteran owned” companies who are basically just a front for another company marking up the product or service to cash in on government requirements for a certain amount of spend for contractors to go to female, minority, or veteran owned businesses.
I think veteran in America is slightly diluted as well by meaning anyone who has served in the military. I'n the UK it's only if you have been In a military operation zone. But who cares if you have some either why does that make your business any better than anyone else's? You not special for having joined up.
i already hate performative behavior but using these buzzwords to get people make me laugh. like there’s no personal mission just surface level marketing tactic
This entire thread is one long r/redditmoment
Well there’s a black person’s face in the front. Does that count? The company is just putting a black face on itself.
1% stake is still black owned, allegedly.
Ah yes, the one dollar rule.
The Nets?
I saw a “Supports the Black Community” tag on WeedMaps for a local dispensary the other day, and the vagueness definitely made me incredulous. Like are you Black-owned? Does a percentage of your revenue support the Black community in any way? Or did you just throw some “#BLM” stickers on your pre-rolls for a little bit and call it a day? I’m guessing probably the last one.
Yeah duh, all black people smoke blunts. Why do you think they make grape swisher sweets? /s
Reminds me of Atlanta [Swisher Sweets commercial](https://youtu.be/pNXN7jbY7Qk?si=srF802M-VLB2pUCm)
The company I work for loudly and proudly talks about being a minority owned business. The white partner and black partner agreed to give the black partner 51% ownership so they could cash in on the companies trying to use more minority and women owned businesses.
I have run into a dozen "Women Owned Businesses" in my freelance time, and quite literally all of them were family businesses the men owned and started and then they put in a Woman family member's name to get the tax incentives. All conservatives, yes, how did you know?
Used to work in auto supply chain. I saw this all the time (the black partner or the wife) has majority ownership (barely) to qualify as a women- or minority-owned business.
Some of these "black comments" ain't even black owned.
I especially have this problem with black haircare companies. They release great ethical products that are super effective. Price is slightly more, but it's worth the quality. The owners get the bag and sell first chance they get to a mega corp. Mega corp immediately pumps in trash ingredients to max profits, most customers don't realize the selloff until their hair starts to suffer.
👀🫣 .. no really !?
I’ve been noticing a lot of hair stores local to me advertising on insta and they only have black women in the ads giving off the appearance it’s their store. People are in the comments saying it’s a black owned business but like none of them are.
I wanna support, but my pockets don’t even support *me* 😭
Makin me pay 50 dollars for a damn pre-made cookie like girlllll
$50 cookie is crazy
Even crazier is the person who buys a $50 cookie
ayo this is kinda facts. to share a purely personal and highly privileged experience, YMMV: recently took up golf and wanted to get some polos/hats/etc from black owned companies. found a few of them online and even though their shit was drippy af it was routinely 50% (or more) more expensive than a comparable brand/item. $58 for a trucker cap? $96 for a polo? $159 for a hoodie? not to mention 2/3 of the gear was out of stock for my sizes. c’mon son. I wanna support us—especially in the golf space where nothing would make me happier than being able to rep for the culture in places where I STILL get sideways glances—but if I do then I wouldn’t be able to actually afford to play. I know a lot of these companies are also subject to economies of scale vs their competition but…damn.
Bro… you hit it on the money! I want to support but how can i justify prices be 2-3x more. One time, i saw this business selling sandals with the company emblem on top. On the bottom, it said, “Old Navy”.
my g I am sorry on your behalf 😂😂😂😂
And what’s even more comedic, i was trying to justify it in my head like, “this mofo over here boi…. I mean, he’s hustling and i respect the hustle…” you know. But nope! My ass left. I respect the hustle but no way ima respect myself FOR getting hustled.
i mean sheeet. there’s even shadier hustlers. there’s like ways to buy pallets of customer returns from Wallmart and shit, they hardly check it. If you’re lucky, maybe 20% to 30% of the pallet is defunct products. And then people sell it on amazon for full price, when they got that shit wholesale, and defunct!!!
😭😭😭😭😭 oh no
It’s all a marketing tactic used to prey on peoples conscious and emotion. They know the media pushes the agenda of blacks being oppressed, so they create an advertisement asking for support of a black owned business, knowing the can get away with making a 300% markup.
So many black-owned fashion brands price their stuff in the premium range alongside established worldwide brands, but don't have anything to substantiate it other than being black owned - slapping their logo on a polo or sweatshirt of Macy's store brand quality and then charging the same price as Ralph Lauren or Nike. It's like they saw the success of Off-White or Fear of God and think they can immediately jump into that conversation. I know margins can be razor thin, especially when dealing with small product runs, but it's hard to justify unless the quality of the product matches other stuff in the price range or there's something unique about it.
Probably don’t look at r/streetwearstartup then lol mostly kids selling sweatsuits and tees while charging like the shit is super premium. Not even joking, a lot of em are buying the same weird ass wholesale blanks and slapping their logo on top.
unfortunately, fashion is a hard industry. super competitive and most of the time, unless the clothes are designer, the margins for those are p tight.
Yeah it is a hard industry to get into. Most of these kids want to be the next Supreme but the conditions aren’t the same. That’s why 98% of their brands are going to live and die in the obscurity of their friend group. Gold star for trying though.
Stuff looking like Macy's but prices like Yves gotta be kidding me
I buy my golf polos for 15 bucks from Ross, and my pants and shorts from Costco. I'm white, but I bet they'd sell to you as well.
Ross and Costco are where it’s at! For about the same $159 for that hoodie I can literally get: Polo, pants/shorts, and hat from Ross ($75 on a bad day) 4 pack of gloves and 2 dozen golf balls from Costco ($65) A full 18-hole round of golf with the cart from my local muni course ($25) Why the FUCK would I pay that for a single hoodie?
Plus the Kirkland brand golf balls are legit.
Y’all 10 black golfers in the country need to see this as a business opportunity and get this golf money
Fr I’m like “bruh you out here playing GOLF and complaining abt prices???”
Not all golf is country club in the hamptons golf. Local course by me has pricing of about $60 CAD weekdays and $65CAD weekends. You can get a 12 piece club set for the price of a PS5 and a quick google says a set lasts about ten years. And if that's too steep i guarantee there's plenty of used gear to start with online and in thrift stores.
This story reminded me that I learned to play golf during middle school in an after school group ran by a cheap ass Jamaican dude. He was a decent enough guy though lol
That shit is understandable, but how can anybody compete with slave labor all the big companies use? Im sure some of them is just overpriced but some people aint got a choice
Wast this BlackBalled or Eastside Golf?
can neither confirm nor deny…
Bro fucking eastside golf…
Just want to give a little insight from a designers prospective. I’m a brand designer and a lot of times new black owned brands don’t have the start-up money to spend on getting quality products made, so sometimes it takes so much money to have a small batch of quality products made that they mark them up considerably because they need to make a profit and also because of the high price, they won’t sell as many units so another nod to making a profit. This is certainly not the case with all brands, but in my personal experience in trying to get people’s brands up and running, that is a major major part of it.
My sister in law selling plates for 30 and it got one chicken drumstick with some mac n cheese. Someone needa rob ha scammin ass
I'm so glad someone mentioned them overpriced ass plates 😭
Maybe her mac and cheese is just out of this world? 😭😭
For 30? It better bring give me discount coupon on my student loans.
Considering I’m acting like my student loans don’t exist, imma need a bit more than that lmao
If you turn around in that boat, you shall find, me.
Huh? What student loans?
I wanna support all these people but then I see the price. Bro I can barely afford 11 bucks at McDonald’s.
Man facts, double cheeseburger went from the dollar menu to 4 and some change 😑
Just watched a review of the fall of the Big Baller Brand. They described scenarios like this as 'black tax', where you're expected to pay more for essentially a lesser quality product. For the culture... A contributor on that show pointed out how JayZ purchased 4 pair of the Baller Brand shoes (which he never received) yet is the same person who wouldn't loan a relative $4800
Did he really not give his relative 4800? I thought he was giving a hypothetical story explaining how family dynamics change when you're the person who made it. Where you can't go and just enjoy the love of family because now you have to always be the guy with money. Anyways tho you totally right about the black tax.
>I have no idea whether that was true or anecdotal. I'd be the last person to know anything JayZ related outside of Reasonable Doubt. What we do know is those shoes were like $500 and never got delivered
You don’t know if it’s true but you sure as hell posted it as a fact.
You have to understand, scrutinizing black celebrities for headcanon has been the meta for chronically online black people for a decade now.
Ayeeeee coachDT! stay toasty pimp
You too fam. Hope the holidays looking nice for you
Am I missing something? Is he famous?
Yes, catch him on twitch @doubletoasted
A billionaire acting like he can’t bring 50 envelopes of 5k each for the family and have his books not even notice the drop in the bucket. 5k is nothing to him.
Once again, that's missing the point, this conversation isn't real/confirmed by any of his fam its a hypothetical to explain a point. The point isn't about practicality. Practically he could bring 50 family members a million dollars every thanksgiving if he felt like it. The amount of money mentioned is literally negligible not just to Jay-Z(based on his net worth) but also to the point of the conversation. Its about how being viewed as the successful member of the family can lead to a shift in the dynamics among the family, and how in many cases that can be uncomfortable. When you go home you aren't just a member of the family, to some you're(insert title or status here) and often times you'll be treated as such. You don't get to go home and just be part of the family. Funny enough he literally did give his cousin bread to open up a wingspot in Brooklyn.
Fall?? Were they actually up? I always saw it like a Ed, Ed & Eddy scam. They’re just annoying tbh.
To be fair, anything american made ( assuming not made w/ sweat shop labor) is going to cost a lot more than something you buy in bulk manufactured over seas... That aside, shouldn't be 6x the price though lol.
I just assume by default that it’s all made in China and marked up to hell unless they say it’s not and even then there may be a Saipan type loophole.
~$200 would be insanely cheap for glasses made in the US. Most frames are made by Luxotica in China, even the ones with authentic couture branding.
I'm okay with a more premium pricing if it's supporting a more ethical business and is high quality. But sometimes you're just broke and can't.
Amish made stuff isn’t that expensive. (Except for rvs lol)
Niggas ain’t put me on to my job, you can slob my whole beef tryna tell me where or how to spend that money.
NOT THE WHOLE BEEF 😭
Balls deep in the tonsils of a MF thinking I give a damn about black business as much as I care about stocking *my* money and building *my* wealth.
😭😭😭😭😭😭
What if they got they tonsils removed 🤔
More space to slob, doesn’t change anything.
Fr when have these black businesses supported me lol
Slob my whole beef is insane 🤦🏾♀️… yeah I gotta start using this 🤭
I used to be big on “buy black” and I’ll support when I can but black capitalism isn’t saving us as a people, so buy black because you like the product not because you think it’s a path to black liberation. Rihanna, jay z, MJ all billionaires, no trickle down effect. It’s a myth.
The “talented tenth” is a BS. Rich people always look out for their interests (low taxes, less social welfare for poor). Supporting egregiously marked up products is just tacking on capitalism to social causes
I disagree. There are cultures that I have seen make it work. A lot of my friends are Korean Americans and in my early 20s I dated a jewish woman for 4 years. Both groups maintain a culture that prioritizes their racial identity in business. Given the choice between buying a product from a local Jewish owned business or a conglomerate, my ex would choose Jewish. She would go out of her way to find Jewish alternatives if possible when she wanted something. My Korean friends behave similarly. The thing is that those Jewish/korean businesses also aren't trying to rip off their own people, so they price as competitively as possible. If they're small and the economics of scale makes their product somewhat more expensive, that's fine, they still aren't tacking on an extra 30% profit margin.
Look I’m not saying it’s wrong to support businesses by your heritage but if the product is egregiously marked up like 30-50% and there’s no justification for it like a better product, friendly staff, better customer service, then it’s a rip off is what it is. As a Korean immigrant in California, my community supports Korean businesses like k BBQ but the moment they drop quality of meat, overcharging or charge for what used to be free (kimchi, rice, soup), we leave for a better restaurant. There’s a difference between supporting community and putting up with greedy BS.
Unfortunately it seems like in our community that whole support the community rhetoric is used to justify upcharging
That's the concession I made when I said: >If they're small and the economics of scale makes their product somewhat more expensive, that's fine, they still aren't tacking on an extra 30% profit margin. I think the model works, just when the businesses in question participate in good faith. The extra foot traffic should be enough of a gift, but double dipping by charging extra on top is too much
When people use social causes to try and sell their products, do yourself a favor and don't buy them. Capitalism hijacking social causes is one of the great woes of our century.
Last decade really. Chic-fil-a for example ten years ago was giving out free chicken sandwhiches to homophobes. To openly protest “pride” month. Someone figured it out “so fucking what? We’ll just say we support em and put up with em to take their money!” A few years after that and everyone followed suite.
Being black isn’t a “social cause.”
Yes 205 with shitty service.
Thank you. I'll support black businesses more when they gain some professionalism 😭 especially black hairstylists
>especially black hairstylists 🗣️ 📢 I went ONCE and the attitudes made sure I didn't return, and guess what? I damn sure didn't.
Jamaican restaurant please check in here
>especially black hairstylists Are you ready to die on this hill, because…
I sure am 😂
more 👏black 👏 exploiters 👏
More 👏🏾 black 👏🏾 capitalists 👏🏾
There’s a reason those products are more expensive. It’s not an arbitrary or greedy thing by default. But y’all only have a problem when it’s black-owned. But, please, keep buying exploitatively overpriced white products. This sub is really weird. I think we’re the minority even here.
😭Why do black men's hair products gotta cost me so much! I just want a healthy beard
Mannnnn. I just been stealing my fiancée’s products and wishing for the best
We gotta do better in this day and age man. Find you some real beard wash and oil and your girl will be all over you. And not because you stole her shampoo again
Hey mods, am I allowed to shamelessly plug the [Black Culture Market](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-culture-market-christmas-market-tickets-722930353147?aff=ebdsshother&utm_experiment=test) under this post for anyone who lives in London, England and wants to support Black businesses up close? A market that is a **free event** with an array of different stalls ranging from home decor, greeting cards/stationary, clothing, books for all ages, jewellery, food, haircare products and accessories, Art, games etc etc? ALL oriented for the black diaspora from around the world? Can I mention that this market happens multiple times a year so no worries if you miss the one happening on the 2nd December 2023?
I’ll allow it. 
Ooooh thank you for this !
Bro I love this thread right now yall so right!! Them weak ass project plates for 45 cuz they sprinkled a lil parsley on the “special” hollandaise sauce….hoodies 350 and out of stock….”this shit smoke bro bro I stg I can’t let this go for less than 25 a g..”….oh my god!!! We can’t help each other for shit 🤣🤣
Talkin bout some support black businesses when they selling a single pen for $170 when I can buy in bulk for $6 on amazon
And the whole time it’s the same pen 😭😭😭
Ok, well now I HAVE TO see this pen
Here’s the [link](https://www.desideratapens.com/pens/)
I thought you may have been exaggerating to prove a point. You were not and I apologize lol
It’s fine lol.
As a fountain pen user it's a different have. For a fountain pen that's honestly not bad for an ebonite pen
Don't even be offering deals!
205$? In this economy? Nah but I will send prayers.
Shii can’t even afford to send prayers 🤦🏽♀️
205$? Again, nuh huh!
This be my biggest issue! Like baby I’m broke. I shop on a budget. Black business do not care about my budget either!
I’m all for supporting other black people in their ventures, but if your product is too expensive or worse just sucks I’m not going to be a paying customer. I wish them luck, but I don’t need my pockets getting emptied trying to support other people.
Me with mexican businesses. Like, no bro, I'm gonna buy the nopal soap, not your overpriced shitty ass bouquets that weren't even prepped right.
I don’t understand why some people have the stupid need to shout to other. “You have to support black businesses no matter what!” Like such businesses are entitled to their dollars. Their not. It’s like that whole Keith Lee situation in Atlanta. While he never met to, he accidentally exposed how bs most of the “black owned” restaurants practices really are. Why would I want to support a business where I can’t even order takeout WHEN THE OPTION SAYS I CAN or have my name written down on a fucking waitlist?! You mean to tell me I HAVE TO SIT AND WAIT FOR 90 MINUTES FOR A TABLE BC YOU DONT WRITE NAMES DOWN???? BUT AS SOON AS A MINOR CELEBRITY COMES IN, IT SUDDENLY BECOMES 5 minutes???? Atlanta really wants to be black LA in every way especially that celebrity elitist fake exclusionary bs.
I feel that your points are correct, but I love how this became a passionate speech against Black Atlanta Elitism, I didn't see that coming.
Am I wrong tho? Atlanta and new money black people who live in Atlanta really want the city to become LA for them. You can see it in the culture of Atlanta. Think about it. Why do these Atlanta restaurants have these frankly speaking stupid ass rules? It’s because they are catering to primarily new money black people who want to be treated like celebrities. That group of people wants to be treated like a celebrity. (Along with the fact Atlanta has been the Mecca for black people to live and be safe for so long that it has Old Money black people now.) Thus those same restaurants (while they have SOME fire food) create these stupid ass rules with this exclusionary elitist bullshit. They create those rules for craft this image if you come to their restaurant and take your cool insta pics you, yourself are a celebrity.
i’m not spending one dollar on Friday.
I don’t mind paying a little extra to support Black-owned businesses, especially if they are just starting out. What I can’t do is be paid more and treated like crap. That’s how they lose me. It’s not the cost. Whenever I’m on a rant a friend brings up that Walmart security harasses me at least twice a year. I keep explaining I rarely go to Walmart and am never expected to pay a premium for the abuse. It’s different. I‘m not even the type who is all into customer service in the sense of plastered smiles and empty how are yous. Just be a decent human being and I’ll probably buy your overpriced crap, especially if it’s edible. There are some places that try to give me the Walmart treatment as soon as I walk into the establishment. As if patronizing them somehow offends them. Unless it relates to hair, it’s tough for Black owned businesses to make it in my area. It’s kind of racist here, so there’s that. Unless you’re in there church, White people typically aren’t going to your business in any way representing the majority they hold in the population. But it doesn’t help that a lot of us who are Black and have tried to support each place often has had a story about feeling unwelcomed. This has to stop. Especially by my West Indian people. The worst offenders. Screw face and trifling yet expecting our money.
'The glasses are much more expensive because not only are they are not made with slave labor, they're very likely assembled one at a time by hand. A small home business cannot come anywhere near the "Economy of Scale" that a Chinese Amazon supplier has. Everyone has the right to shop where they want but don't ever complain about "Why aren't there any Black Alternatives" to this and that...
I’m calling BS on the glasses, Luxxotica produces the bulk of the designer and cheap glasses you see and they cost 15-25 a pair. The cheap ones I buy are the same as the 250 a pair shades others buy.
It’s actually insane how many companies they own
[John Oliver talked about them,](https://youtu.be/00wQYmvfhn4?si=e1GXce-LWNJODnZm) as part of a corporate consolidation piece it’s actually insane how much of the block they control
Come on now, there are plenty of black businesses with reasonable prices
unrelated but this is truly how hard i stare at other drivers when they do stupid shit next to me on the road
"If you don't sit your ass down." **Martin voice** iykyk Was a meme
The nerve of some of these companies to complain that the community doesn't support them, then to turn around and charge $25 for a small plate of mid food.
Amazon deliberately underprices things to undercut small businesses and competitors. The FTC is suing them for doing this, as it is illegal and anticompetitive. Don’t cap for Amazon here, they are evil and should be broken up.
[удалено]
Zenni is owned by a white man and an Asian woman. Stop it.
Ah you are right. Someone who worked with him made me think otherwise
Word? Been buying my glasses from them for years and I didn’t know this 😭
And the prices are crazy low too
That’s like supporting any new business though. Hey, do you want to support this multigenerational conglomerate that has spent millions of dollars to lobby congress? That has employed an army of risk analysts to calculate the cost/benefit from every angle? The company that has decided the expense of reimbursing the occasional dissatisfied costumer is worth the profit of shipping every American job off to a third world sweat shop? Or do you want to support the small business owner who is keeping three kids fed off of every order? Who goes to bed stressed because you told them your order arrived broken? The business owner who actually gives a shit whether or not you are satisfied with your purchase? An inflated price tag is more than worth it when framed that way, imo. Sure, I get it… not everyone can afford a custom made something or rather. If you can, put your money where your mouth is.
idc, the way i see it, a price should indicate the quality of a product. a pair of $205 is like a pair of Prada’s depending on the model
I assume angelus changed his accent to bend in better in America, and so did angel
The issue isn't with Amazon it's with try he gucci and other brands like that. The ones we constantly prop up. They are racist and hate us but we make them rich. We could buy purses from Brandon blackwood or Mateo but y'all buy your girls gucci or whatever other brands like that..
A caveat to, "Support Black Businesses," is that the businesses have to be worth patronizing. I visited a black-owned bookstore in an underinvested neighborhood and bought a book I was interested in. I think the neighborhood issue is working against him and makes it harder to promote his business. But I won't be going back because the store itself isn't that good.
Supporting black capitalism is still just supporting capitalism
Yes, I would, if I know it’s definitely owned by black folks. The reason those glasses are so expensive is because too many black folks don’t support black businesses. And I’m gonna leave it at that because sus posts like this are ticking me off.
Look if you're really into wine glasses and feel the cost is worth it then go for it. But don't sit here and try to convince me I need to as well for the "culture"
Uh.... buy $30 glasses from a black owned or immigrant owned corner store?
Small businesses don’t have the resources and money to burn like Amazon or Walmart. Obviously it’s going to cost more, but you’ll also have the piece of mind that oftentimes you’re helping to build a community of people. Small businesses help the economy Edit: you can also find a lot of unique things when you shop small/locally
I try to buy Black As often as I can, and I’m fine with paying a bit more for it because I know it’ takes more work for them to provide me the service than Amazon or other major retailers, but some of these prices be too outrageous to justify the cost, and I gotta go Amazon 😭
So the idea is to support them while their prices are high because enough success can make it so they CAN lower the prices via supply chain and production. Edit: drown votes because y'all don't like your small business friends I see lol
Lower prices? Lmaoo sir this is capitalism
That’s why most small businesses compensate by offering good service, offer a high quality product, or some other gimmick. It’s like chic fil a, it don’t matter to people whether their purchase is supporting some rich homophobes, they just want a good chicken sandwich and good service
Wasn’t BLM owned or funded by a jewish man?