Are You A Big Business Bigot?

Clearly, I love small businesses…the smaller, the better. But that doesn’t mean I hate big business. More specific, that doesn’t mean I hate big businesses just because they’re BIG.

And I’m sad to read small business bloggers’ posts that scorn the big guys for just that: being big. Often with the (false) claim that big businesses don’t offer what small businesses can: personalized service, accountability, a human touch, etc.

Because here’s the thing…

The Thing

There are certainly big businesses that raise my hackles for using their size as a weapon. They abuse their employees, short their vendors, and dishonor all of us with bullshit mission statements that say they care. Wal-Mart comes to mind and I’m sure you can think of others.

But then there are big businesses who take fine care of their people, their partners, and us. They use their size to make good things happen for businesses of every size. In my experience, Costco is a great example of this. They’re not perfect (who is?), but they’re wonderful. I love me some Costco!

With that said, here’s the other thing…

The Other Thing

There are small businesses who’ve earned a hard kick in the ass for what we consider “big business behavior”. I can think of an online service (who shall remain nameless lest I burn my tongue with bitterness) who hung me out to dry.

Their customer support reps may as well’ve been fucking bots for all the human touch I got. I asked for help with a problem and I got copy/paste answers. When I asked a follow-up question, they simply didn’t answer my email. Or my tweets. Or my second email. Humph!

And there are small businesses who use their wee size as an excuse for poor quality, weak products, or ineffective marketing. A friend told me this story: her local web host didn’t offer space, bandwidth, and other features at a competitive price. When she told him about packages she’d seen at Bluehost and others, his response was, “No one can afford to give you that at the price you’re talking about”.

WTF? Of course they can….they do and are. Try coming back with a solution instead of defense and denial, Dude!

One Last Thing

So really, I think this attitude of dissing big businesses because they’re big is just plain ol’ bigotry.

And yet there are small business folks I adore—who don’t have a racist or gender-biased bone in their bodies—who let their Big Biz Bigot flag fly.

But why, when…?

…there are small businesses owned and run by demon-spawn and there are big businesses led and manned by minor deities.

…some small’uns will put mouse turds in your ice cream and say they’re chocolate chips (hat tip to James Lee Burke for that glorious visual), while some big’uns stand by their promise to replace their product if it fails you—whenever, whatever, no problem.

…Amazon is huge, but their datasource knows what books I’ve read and what books I may want to read…and then connects me to indie bookstores where I can go buy them.

…there are tiny jewelry shops like silverdotjewelry and staroftheeast who package my treats with such personality and care that I hesitate to open them. Yet other wee Etsy shops do the least possible to make my buying experience joyful: no thanks-for-buying email, no shipping notification, no business card or note with the purchase, no nuttin’.

Big and little. Little and big. Shitty and marvelous. Fantabulous and jackassiness.

Being big doesn’t make them monsters. Being small doesn’t give us a free pass.

Size can matter, but it doesn’t have to.

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Et tu? Do you have a resolute Grrr! toward big business? Should small businesses get our love just because they’re small?