Ethical Trading
18/July/2007 Filed in:
JottingsLots of questions from readers about Veilshop. The goods we sell through our online shop are all manufactured in Europe. We are assured that they are "responsibly sourced", i.e. there is no exploitation of producers of the raw materials nor of the finished articles. Inevitably, therefore, we will never be able to match the prices of mass retailers or supermarkets. As we are selling in such small quantities, one wonders why anyone should expect us to. There is a similar problem with Veilpress. We offer a professional design and print service and incur the same costs as any other small company, yet some people assume that as nuns we should work for nothing. That is not only impossible, it is immoral. If Benedict were writing his Rule today, instead of worrying about overcharging, I suspect he would be cautioning against undercutting in the hope of cornering the market and the ills which flow from that. Ethical trading has as much to do with value as with price, and at its core must be a concern for honesty and fairness all round.