Moneybox: Can the Cans

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Moneybox Can the Cans Why food drives are a terrible idea. By Matthew Yglesias Posted Wednesday, Dec 07, 2011, at 05:29 PM ET 'Tis the season for food drives. It's a holiday tradition as storied as Christmas trees, awkward conversations with the in-laws, and embarrassing drunken moments at the office holiday party. Your employer, your church, and your kids' school put out the boxes and ask everyone to drop off excess canned goods for the needy. Then the boxes are collected, sorted, and handed out to the poor. Everyone feels better about themselves, the hungry get fed, and you get to free up some much needed shelf space. It's win-win-win. The problem is that, economically speaking, it's totally insane. America, after all, is not a country stricken with famine. There's no objective shortage of food, in other words, that makes it vitally important for you to draw down the stockpile in your kitchen cabinet. Indeed, many of us don't even have that much food socked away, which leads to us going out to buy extra food in order to give it away. But having 100 different people go out and pay retail prices for a few cans of green beans is extraordinarily inefficient relative to pooling those funds to buy the beans in bulk. But it's even worse than that. All across America, charitable organizations and the food industry have set up mechanisms through which emergency food providers can get their hands on surplus food for a nominal handling charge. Katherina Rosqueta, executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, explains ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Lithwick: The Ridiculous Arguments Conservatives Use To Filibuster a Qualified Judicial Pick Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Account Hacked, Private Photos Leaked How the Underrated  The Closer Is Shaking Up the Tired Cop Procedural	Advertisement
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