So let's turn this topic around. Now, I know we're not comparing apples to apples here because there's no quality factor here, but theoretically if a local privately or employee owned elevator offered you .20 less per bu on 25,000 bu of corn, and they were 3 miles further than one of the major grain buyers, are you going to give up that 5K to make yourself feel like you've done the right thing? Let's say it's 50 loads, 10K into the wind. What about a local packer offering .20 less per lb for your steers than one of the majors? Business is business, and making it personal costs money. Wal-mart and DG have long since gone the way of the Mike Stamps of the world, too big to fail.. only for real. If you get 20 neighbors in a town of 3,500 to boycott the local DG, DG isn't going to bat an eye. They'll just keep overworking the same 5 employees they pay next to nothing, and as each one of those burns out and quits, there are 50 others looking for any kind of job that will step in there for a few months until they burn out as well. Never ending cycle, but just like the "gas boycotts" and all this other stuff every year or two, the squeaky wheel is heard all the time, but they're the minority and big oil doesn't care that .025 of people across the states didn't buy gas on that one day, a 2 cent price hike that is unnoticed by the masses actually made them more money that day than the day before. Jokes always on us in the end, it started when the first privately owned bank was opened in the late 1700's and has just ballooned since. 

My opinion is that the majority of people will perpetually choose price over quality. There will always be outliers, but the majority are what drives things. You have to keep in mind, the average person isn't trying to decide if a 15k upgrade in autosteer capability is worth it on an already 200K tractor purchase, they're trying to figure out that if they buy ground chuck vs. the turkey this week if they're still going to be able to pay their electric bill next week. I work in an environment where nearly everyone I interface with makes a minimum of $100,000 a year. Most make quite a bit more. It took me a long time to actually believe how many of those folks live paycheck to paycheck, with a working spouse. And that's only the ones who are vocal about it. Probably many more that are in that position that don't let it be known. (And yes, I understand they are in that spot by living above their means, but that doesn't change the fact that they are a good representation of the "majority" and whether they made that bed or not, they still have to weigh out the ground turkey vs the ground chuck this week.