The high cost of cheap shoes

Sometimes I do things against my better judgement. About a month ago I bought a cheap pair of sandals. A month later they are already falling apart. A really decent pair cost about two and half times as much, but last a lot longer. In fact, my old worn out quality sandals are now better than the new cheap ones. Never mind that the new ones give me a sore back.

I couldn't help myself. It's not all that often to see size 14 footwear on the shelf. My first tendency is to buy anything in my size that actually fits. The next footwear sales person who tries to squeeze me into a size 13 will get punched in the nose. They don't have size 14 in stock so they try to squeeze me into something a size smaller. Maybe I'll just cut myself a pair of hobo sandals out of an old tire.

Workboots are a lot easier to find, but I'm trying to avoid work. Actually, with my snowbird lifestyle I get a lot more use out of sandals than boots. Sandals are nice as they don't require any socks. In fact too many people wear socks and sandals as it is. Cut that crap out please.

For day to day use around the house I'm perfectly happy with a good pair of flip flops, thongs to you Austrailians. I'm lazy and they just slip right on. For serious play time I like a good sandal with straps that hold them securely in place. Nothing worse than stepping in the muck and leaving your sandal behind.

L. L. Bean has some nice sandals of that type. After wearing them almost constantly for 2 years the glue in the sole let go. Since they were my sailboat footwear they saw an awful lot of salt. After talking to customer service in Freeport Maine they said I should ship my old ones to them and they'd send me new ones. No problem. It's nice to deal with a company that sticks behind what they sell.

The funny thing is, it takes almost as much resources and energy to make something crappy as something good. Can the world really afford more crap in the landfills and floating around in giant trash patches in the ocean?

-Sixbears