Similarly to the last thread this is a scenario I made into a video I feel comfortable with but could be of interest here.
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The Point Of Divergence in this timeline is that In 1890 Vincent de Paules Melbourne branch networked with William Carr Smith a fiery Sydney based socialist preacher who was widely known as a master orator to figure out how to fulfil their mutual aims of trying to improve the lot of the poor and needy via social activism and worthy deeds. From there a plan formed to raise the bar of what was expected from companies in terms of social responsibility and improve the lives of other Australians.
William Carr using his own money and the funding of Vincent de Paules would make the first grocery store named Vincent de Pauls Grocery Emporium later shortened to Vinnies.
A grocery store formed by Catholics for a laudable purpose would have a number of advantages over capitalist grocery stores it would be competing with. First off the grocery store could use its social connections at the church to build a initial client base, use its social connections with farmers and people with gardens to negotiate buying food more cheaply and taking excess food people don’t know what to do with off their hands (I know from personal experience where I live that in September and October everybody within a 50 km radius of me including my family has too many lemons)and using an informal economy of favours fix problems cheaper and easier than if they were done by professionals for a price.
Vinnies supermarkets would likely have a constitution laying out what it could and couldn’t do.
A mock-up of what some points within it could be would be to:
1. Balance the increase of the price of the food from where you bought it to the amount poor people would be able to afford so as to be able to expand and provide cheap food.
2. Hire a percentage of people to be decided who are/were long term unemployed or down on their luck at beginner roles and promote based on merit.
3. Sell food at a rate designed to not waste any stock. Reducing the prices of foods which there are an excess off and increasing the price of foods there is a shortage off to increase spending on other goods.
Over a period of decades using its lower food prices, and its large customer base who approve of its Christian and social responsibility ideals it would advance in size to compete directly with other major food retailers. Supermarkets and groceries would be forced to try and compete directly with Vinnies for brownie points to maintain a grip on the market. This would mean trying to avoid scandals such as underpaying staff, ripping off milk farmers and using too much plastic and cardboard to transport goods and trying to match x stores for virtue with policies attempting to match the popular conceptions of the problems of the day. These would eventually include reducing its waste, electricity use and carbon emissions.
Social effects
Vinnies has a history of serving and looking after homeless people, refugees, domestic violence survivors and other folk. There would be more contact between people in such situations and the general public.
This added contact may mean that this timelines Australia wouldn’t have the shameful and abhorrent refugee policy that exists currently. There also be many more people in parliament who worked with Vinnie’s in order to build connections and would have more personal experience with people in these circumstances and have greater knowledge, empathy and understanding of nuance to be better able to design policies to solve social problems.
Economic effects of a company culture which has quotas of hiring long term unemployed people would be that there would be less homelessness, less economic inequality, Farmers in this timeline would be paid more for the food items they produce and would be richer and more resilient to drought.
Political effects of this institution would be that there would be slightly less demand for a welfare state and the Christian socialist movement within Australia would be larger with many people following such an ideology within and without the Labour party. A funnel for politicians would be created where people who worked with Vinnies charitable arms would eventually become politicians who would see their actions politically as an extension of their social work within the organisation. Additionally, there may be a minor party of Christian socialists in federal parliament in this timeline.
Cultural effects of such an institution would be that comedians and popular figures would often donate/fundraise to support Vincent de Paul’s charitable arms and would hold them up as an exemplar of what Christianity and political religiosity should be in comparison to political and religious groups like southern Baptists, scientologists and the wider catholic church.
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The Point Of Divergence in this timeline is that In 1890 Vincent de Paules Melbourne branch networked with William Carr Smith a fiery Sydney based socialist preacher who was widely known as a master orator to figure out how to fulfil their mutual aims of trying to improve the lot of the poor and needy via social activism and worthy deeds. From there a plan formed to raise the bar of what was expected from companies in terms of social responsibility and improve the lives of other Australians.
William Carr using his own money and the funding of Vincent de Paules would make the first grocery store named Vincent de Pauls Grocery Emporium later shortened to Vinnies.
A grocery store formed by Catholics for a laudable purpose would have a number of advantages over capitalist grocery stores it would be competing with. First off the grocery store could use its social connections at the church to build a initial client base, use its social connections with farmers and people with gardens to negotiate buying food more cheaply and taking excess food people don’t know what to do with off their hands (I know from personal experience where I live that in September and October everybody within a 50 km radius of me including my family has too many lemons)and using an informal economy of favours fix problems cheaper and easier than if they were done by professionals for a price.
Vinnies supermarkets would likely have a constitution laying out what it could and couldn’t do.
A mock-up of what some points within it could be would be to:
1. Balance the increase of the price of the food from where you bought it to the amount poor people would be able to afford so as to be able to expand and provide cheap food.
2. Hire a percentage of people to be decided who are/were long term unemployed or down on their luck at beginner roles and promote based on merit.
3. Sell food at a rate designed to not waste any stock. Reducing the prices of foods which there are an excess off and increasing the price of foods there is a shortage off to increase spending on other goods.
Over a period of decades using its lower food prices, and its large customer base who approve of its Christian and social responsibility ideals it would advance in size to compete directly with other major food retailers. Supermarkets and groceries would be forced to try and compete directly with Vinnies for brownie points to maintain a grip on the market. This would mean trying to avoid scandals such as underpaying staff, ripping off milk farmers and using too much plastic and cardboard to transport goods and trying to match x stores for virtue with policies attempting to match the popular conceptions of the problems of the day. These would eventually include reducing its waste, electricity use and carbon emissions.
Social effects
Vinnies has a history of serving and looking after homeless people, refugees, domestic violence survivors and other folk. There would be more contact between people in such situations and the general public.
This added contact may mean that this timelines Australia wouldn’t have the shameful and abhorrent refugee policy that exists currently. There also be many more people in parliament who worked with Vinnie’s in order to build connections and would have more personal experience with people in these circumstances and have greater knowledge, empathy and understanding of nuance to be better able to design policies to solve social problems.
Economic effects of a company culture which has quotas of hiring long term unemployed people would be that there would be less homelessness, less economic inequality, Farmers in this timeline would be paid more for the food items they produce and would be richer and more resilient to drought.
Political effects of this institution would be that there would be slightly less demand for a welfare state and the Christian socialist movement within Australia would be larger with many people following such an ideology within and without the Labour party. A funnel for politicians would be created where people who worked with Vinnies charitable arms would eventually become politicians who would see their actions politically as an extension of their social work within the organisation. Additionally, there may be a minor party of Christian socialists in federal parliament in this timeline.
Cultural effects of such an institution would be that comedians and popular figures would often donate/fundraise to support Vincent de Paul’s charitable arms and would hold them up as an exemplar of what Christianity and political religiosity should be in comparison to political and religious groups like southern Baptists, scientologists and the wider catholic church.
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