• queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    i.e. a middle man

    A farmer could set up a stand outside their driveway and advertise on Facebook, but the farmer’s market middle man acts as a go between to handle logistics and advertising and customer availability and creates a safe marketplace for customers and vendors.

    • freagle@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      No, that’s not what middle man means.

      A middle man is an intermediary. I do not buy food from the farmers market. I buy it from farmers who have paid rent to be at the farmers market. The market is the landlord, not the middle man.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Landlords are middle men.

        Is Amazon not a middle man? In many cases you’re buying directly from the seller, just like at a farmer’s market. Amazon, like a farmer’s market, exists to facilitate trade between sellers and buyers. It just collects rents.

        • freagle@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          No. Absolutely not. Landlords are middle men between tenant and the earth. But they are not middle men between consumers and commercial tenants.

          Amazon is ABSOLUTELY a middle man because you DO NOT buy directly from the seller you pay Amazon and Amazon pays the seller.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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            1 month ago

            Landlords are middle men between tenant and the earth. But they are not middle men between consumers and commercial tenants.

            And commercial tenants can’t access customers without the landlord.

            Face it, they’re middle men.

    • some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      A lot of these markets are more community-focused and, yeah, they’ll charge something but not beyond the actual cost of putting the market together. They’re not making a profit. In some places the state or municipality will organize the markets in order to foster the local food/ag scene.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Do you think those things mean something isn’t a middle man?

        The cost of putting the market together is always going to be higher than selling out of a van. Bigger venue, higher costs. It’s worth it for the increased sales, but the middle man still gets a cut. Even if there’s no profit, even if the cut is fair, there’s still a cut.