NYT article on spending money responsibly in developing countries
 

travel.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/travel/13prac.html?hpw

There is lots of talk about tipping in Asia here on the forum. This article gives plenty of other suggestions about how to support the people and the economies in the countries we visit. I like the philosophy and suggestions in this article.

A lot of excellent suggestions in the article. If buying/overbuying gifts, be sure that the mdse is made locally, though!

Also pleased that the OP is recommending articles from NYT.

I often have the same questions the author poses. Supporting local charities is the best solution I've come up with thus far. Thanks for posting.

I found the comments made by readers even more interesting and far more insightful than the article! And sometimes even local charities and ngos are suspect, so it's best to do some careful vetting before you decide to give. Orphan tourism has become one of the biggest scams in Indonesia, just for example.

Some good pointers in this article. I like the concept of pushing cash into the local economy rather that just tipping which will only ever benefit the lucky few involved in the tourism industry and arguably encourages begging. For this to be really effective, you really need to check that the goods are infact made locally (not as easy as it seems as we found out recently in Sri Lanka).

I totally agree with kuluk's comments re being wary of local charities and NGO's and would in fact extend this warning to some of local operations of the larger international international charities and aid organisations. We spent some time working with a local NGO in Africa as part of the VSO operations and I was shocked and appalled by the rampant corruption there having been personally asked for bribes by a couple of very well known international aid organisations.We also had first hand experience of local and national politicians trying to get in on the act(no surprise there though!!) The norm seemed to be for indviduals to set up an NGO as a means of primarily, of generating an income for themselves, the work of the NGO often seemed of secondary importance.

I don't bargain very hard and buy many small items--most of which I don't want and "forget" to pack when we leave. It's my way of contributing.....

Yup, support the local economies - tough for us to sample "local" food, although many on this forum do...

Good article. I don't like the McDonald's gift cards idea. I don't understand #1. I liked the reminder of he Golden Rule.

There wasn't much in the article about tipping. I do like the idea of using (and tipping) a bellhop over there even though I don't do it over here. Or for other services I might not normally take. Tipping, according to the local custom, is far different from begging because it is a customary payment for services. Those tips to people in the tourist industry don't just benefit the lucky few (at least there are a few lucky ones). Those people take that money back home and spend it in their communities.

The lucky few in the tourist industry are the ones who work at places like foreign chain hotels or for tour companies. A lot of U.S. visitors to the Hilton Hanoi Opera are probably tipping according to U.S. customs. I am not sure now what the custom is in that situation, the local one or the foreign tourist custom. I'd like to think that the foreign tourist custom attracts the best service industry workers, so maybe they aren't simply lucky, but actually more competent and trustworthy.

The idea of not lowering the price but increasing the quantity of the sale is really excellent.

More food for thought that the article does not but perhaps the comments express...if you buy cheap handicrafts just for the sake of spreading pennies around, then locals are tempted to spend their time (and chop down trees) making crap, as they think that is what is on demand. I usually try to look for quality not quantity, to reward local and superb craftsmanship. But I avoid the internationally marketed brands that operate sweatshops but sell items at a huge premium. Where possible I buy directly from individuals or small cooperatives, although I realize that is often hard to do.

Good point Kuluk. I'm much happier paying a fair price for something of quality that I value, rather than spending a few dollars on cheap trinkets.