Real math? Girl math?

Both add up when you value all human beings

Thank you Chani for seeing me this week…

I spend many of my Sunday mornings doing what any respectable woman in her mid-40s would do with her precious weekends: I sell African baskets out of the side of a van in a parking lot. 

Truth be told, vending at the Riverside Farmer’s Market in Reno is actually quite fulfilling. It gives me an opportunity to share and support the work of Zawadisha, reshape the narrative of Africa, visit with friends, and consume copious amounts of carbs (thanks Beloved’s Bread).

Sometimes, though, you get a glimpse into what’s wrong with the world on a macro level, and it’s defeating. That happened to me over the weekend.

Let me set the scene for you

I was approached by a woman who felt that my prices were high because she purchased the same handwoven market basket from Ghana five years in Tahoe for $20 that I sell for $95. While I respect her right to have all her feels, I question the reasoning behind sharing them with a stranger when they clearly haven’t been fully thought through.

Please let me tell you something that I want you to tell everyone

NO SMALL BUSINESS OWNER wants to be told that their prices are too high because THEY ARE IN THE FUCKING TRENCHES WITH YOU. Our prices are our prices because in the year 2023, when you refuse to sell things that have been made by tiny hands and you don’t have the purchasing power of multinational corporations, that is the actual cost.

I’m not Jeff Bezoing the fuck out of you, taking your hard-earned cash and building a space dick while I revel in my monopoly. I’m legit trying to pay my rent and keep people around the world employed and contribute to making this world a better place.

There will always be things that we either cannot afford or choose not to spend our money on, but that doesn’t automatically render the seller devious. We must be more discerning and inquisitive. It’s a shame that we distrust corporate America so much (for very good reason) that we cannot differentiate between the industries and CEOs inciting labor union strikes and the small business owners doing good and yet still scraping by.

The price is not the problem

And I get it. Shit is expensive. A handcrafted basket isn’t on the list of must-have-today-or-else, so of course people will consider whether or not it’s in the budget. If it’s not, happy to chat and exchange smiles. You don’t have to buy it. We can still be friends.

But the price is not the problem; our inability to afford things due to rising costs of living that don’t match wages, inflation, lack of universal healthcare, lack of childcare, structural inequities, wage gaps, and essentially unfettered capitalism is the issue.

It’s not simply this tension between the perceived haves and have-nots, however, that led to her sharing what she did. There’s a fundamental disconnect from the origin of the goods (and food) we buy. And this is what I chose to focus on in my response to her.

Cute, right? There are two items in the photo that cost less than $20, three less than $30, and three less than $40. Can you spot them? Hint: It’s not those huge baskets on the right with the leather handles.

Girl Math FTW

That you can even buy an heirloom piece that a human being spent days making at $95 is a deal because if it were made in the US, it would cost at least 3x as much, if not more. If we want to apply Girl Math it would look like this:

You are basically getting a free basket because you did not invest the time and money into spending decades on the continent of Africa sourcing the best makers and the best goods and then paying them a fair price so that we all don’t go to hell for taking advantage of the poorest people on this planet.

If you can buy something that a human being spent days making for $20, you shouldn’t brag/shame a small business owner about the deal you got. You should consider what conditions and practices exist for you to be able to pay so little. They are shameful and exploitative. That was the mistake on her part that I found so egregious; it wasn’t that she didn’t want to pay $95, it was that she didn’t think she should have to pay $95. What does that say about how we value human life?

Ready for that real math?

Let’s talk retail pricing. If you purchase wholesale to sell other people’s goods, you get a 40 to 50% break on MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price). Another way of putting it: If you are buying things to resell, you normally double the price you paid. That’s standard.

That means that a $20 basket likely cost the seller around $10.

But that $10 basket traveled halfway across the world, which is real money (trust me, I used to throw up a little in my mouth every time I had to pay a shipping bill but now I’m numb to how unbelievable it is). Because of shipping expenses, I add between 15 and 40% to each item (a pair of earrings is less, a two-foot basket is more, based on actual shipping costs). Shipping this basket with my bulk discont runs around $12 (a one-off would be more like $30 - $50).

I’m not going to take advantage of the poorest on the planet so that a white Western woman with means can consume more, so I ensure that I pay people well for the goods they make. Beyond the cost of shipping and materials, there are real human beings who deserve to be compensated for their trade and their skill. And just because they are African and live off of $2 a day doesn’t mean they should be paid nearly nothing.

Quite the opposite: We should pay them more if we are committed to ending poverty.

For that $95 basket, I work with a maker’s collective in Ghana that pays the highest wages in the entire country. Sure, I’m in business to make money (which is why I have margins, obvs), but with Zawadisha we also are committed to strengthening and investing in communities. So we practice those values in everything we do.

Let’s put this all together with truth and transparency

The basic formula looks like this:

Cost of basket (materials + labor) + shipping + margins (50%) = What you pay

For funsies let’s assume that materials are $2, labor is $15 (again Girl Math DEAL), shipping $12, and margins at 50%. Here’s the numbers plugged in:

2 + 15 + 12 + ((2 + 15 + 12 )*.5) = $43.50

As you can see, it’s impossible for this basket to cost $20. In reality her $20 basket costs me $43 (see how good I am), so if we apply standard keystone pricing, I should be charging $86 for it. But I don’t, I charge you $95. And that’s because the maker’s collective has asked us to charge $95 so that we don’t devalue their product since it’s so easy to think that African goods should be like ummm free.

I don’t feel bad about this $9 discrepancy for three reasons:

#1: The proceeds of our sales benefit Zawadisha’s microlendig program in Kenya.

#2: We are changing the perspective about a people and a place who have been exploited and marginalized since the early slave trade and colonization. Together we are creating a new future for the global majority. That is worth so much more than the deal you think you deserve.

#3: $95 is still less than starting a business to sell these goods OR you traveling to Africa to buy it yourself as I noted earlier (but if you want to go, you can come with me and yes, I’ll take you shopping).

Is it an inescapable bind?

When I curate my collections for Zawadisha, I have choices to make. I can knowingly pay people less than a living wage so that people who earn more than a living wage can buy more shit. I can bear the brunt of people’s anger, distrust, and general dissatisfaction with the system. Or I can speak truth to the value of human lives.

I choose the latter.

Africans deserve so much more than to be rendered producers of cheap goods or laborers who should be grateful for our scraps. These are real human beings with tremendous skill who should be fairly compensated. They create beautiful things that bring us joy every time we look at them and use them. If we can’t do right by these people through the simple act of paying what something’s worth, then how will we muster the fortitude to address the very same issues of not valuing workers in the US?

It’s all connected. When we choose to move away from rapid consumption and into carefully selecting lasting goods from businesses that align with our values, we will begin the process of chipping away at a system that is so broken and serves so very few of us.

#RantOver