Products in Vekllei

Part of the bulletin series of articles.

Summary

• Vekllei is sometimes described as a country without a consumer society, for many reasons.
• Among them is the conceptualisation and treatment of products in Vekllei, and how they are advertised, distributed and consumed. This is because Vekllei contains multiple distinct economies that do not necessarily compete with each other.
• For example, products of bureau industries have limited branding and usually demonstrate only the contents of the product straightforwardly, diminishing its conceptual value as a product.
• This influences the psychology of commerce in Vekllei, and affects both producers and consumers in their complicated market systems.

The Vekllei basic standard of living is assured through its tireless functionaries – the bureau syndicates that exist somewhere between state-owned enterprise and independent industrial federation. Industrial bureaus account for about 70 per cent of Vekllei consumption, and produce all manner of consumer and industrial goods that facilitate all of Vekllei society. Clothes; homes; food; cosmetics; medicines – the economic security of an endless middle class is supported by this centralised enterprise.

The remaining 30 per cent arises chaotically out of imports (6 per cent), local production (10 per cent) and municipal enterprise (14 per cent). In Vekllei department stores and groceries, these different products are arranged together, and represent a decent standard of living that ensures no person in the country suffers poverty.

Because Vekllei people do not use money in everyday life, they do not purchase products as consumers do overseas. And while Vekllei does have competing industry and records revenues for enterprise, it does not resemble a commercial market where value, labour, material and branding intermingle. Not all aspects of a product are abolished – the social economy heightens sensitivity to social forms of capital, and so prestigious, luxurious or rare products are especially treasured in Vekllei. But tinned peas in Vekllei are mostly, for better and worse, tinned peas.

Freshness? Quality? Value? None of these things are printed on a tin produced by a bureau. They might have coloured labels, or a recipe on the back, but they are not competing for your dollar. Each tin represents the total capability of the hydroponics, logistics and manufacturing of the bureau syndicates. Weaknesses compared to products overseas are, in some ways, weaknesses of Vekllei itself – such is the trouble with centralised economies. A lot of effort goes into improving them, but where their attention lapses the product stagnates.

Not all goods in Vekllei are the product of these huge, federated corporations. A great many products are manufactured locally, organised under municipalities in localist tradition, or individuals making spices, granola, ginger beer or crafts. These people have direct, usually personal relationships with grocers and local shops. As such, stores in Vekllei roughly represent the macroeconomic ratios of consumption – about 70 per cent is bureau or federal goods, with some imported, some unique and the remaining sixth being local specialty organised municipally.

The general variety of products varies depending on the market, type and location. For bureau goods you can expect anywhere between 2-3 types (tinned products, pasta, toothbrushes, etc.) and hundreds (clothes, spectacles, accessories). Others are impossible to calculate, because local production and import is irregular and not usually distributed nationwide. As a general rule, there are fewer choices in Vekllei supermarkets and department stores than wealthy countries like the U.S. or France, but there is almost always a choice – whether between two types of tinned apricots or a thousand colours of necktie.