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Okay, it's that time of year again, and I see everyone getting all into an uproar over "Black Friday".
And once again I want to hide in a burrow, away from the idiotic behavior of clueless people acting clueless all in the name of "giving".
A few points to remember:
1) Retail is pure democracy, and you vote with your dollars. Businesses (stores) can do nothing without the assent of willing consumers, rewarding them with dollars.
2) "Sales" are not "steals". Sale prices, bargains, deals, discounts, etc. are written into the profit margin of an item before the merchandise even leaves the factory. That means that if an item is marked at some "low low" cost for Black Friday, that is the price it was intended to be sold for. The "Suggested Retail" price and all those numbers that are crossed out before the one you think is a "bargain"? Those are there to make you think you're getting a deal, and to make you feel psychologically comfortable with the price you're paying, which is exactly the price the company wants you to pay. No less.
3) There is no objective business reason that a so-called bargain can or should be offered only at a specific time or date. Limiting the offer is a retailer's attempt to hype their business and get a quick estimate on a season's performance. If nobody shows up on Friday, they'll still have the merchandise on hand and the need to move it, they WILL create new "deals" and schemes to get it out of their stockroom by Dec. 24th.
4) Opening stores for "off" hours, the "Midnight Madness" sales, etc., only combines the false impression of a "discount" (in #2) with the hype of #3. It does not display your consumer savvy, it only demonstrates the sick effectiveness of cheap ploys. Worse, voting with your dollars at midnight the night after a holiday means voting FOR companies that require their lowest-paid employees (the cashiers and stockroom attendants) to work a middle-of-the-night shift. For consumers that buy into the cheap ploys.
So go stand in line at midnight to get your "bargains". But look at everyone working in that store, when you do. See them, at midnight or two a.m.? Those aren't automatons, they're people, and they have families (at home, sleeping, probably) and holiday gift shopping of their own to do. And unlike you, the shopper, they didn't have a choice to be there. Holiday shifts are mandatory for those retailers.
Here's the thing that people have a hard time grokking: If the stores threw a sale, and nobody showed up, they would still run those same discounts later on, during normal business hours. The merchandise has to move for the company to make a profit. An executive would look at the spreadsheets and say "Hmm, people like our widgets, even more than the competition, but the prime buying hours are between 8 and 10 am, and then again between 2 and 3. We're wasting money on all that staff, all night long." And next year, things would be a little different. Instead, each year they come up with even more and more extreme plays, and each year, more and more people, blindly following the advertising, fall for it, and each year it gets worse for everyone.
I have it easy: my shop is stable, and my workers well-cushioned. I can tell you right now how many visitors we'll have and much money we're going to make on Friday, and it's not going to be any chaos at all. But other people don't have it so lucky, and I cringe for them.
I cringe, too, for all the people telling me (like I should be happy for them, since I'm a shopkeeper) that they're looking forward to standing in a line at midnight. I only grimace. You're being played, sucker, and worse: you're hurting other people in the process.
Each dollar you spend is a vote for something. What kind of world are you voting for?
And once again I want to hide in a burrow, away from the idiotic behavior of clueless people acting clueless all in the name of "giving".
A few points to remember:
1) Retail is pure democracy, and you vote with your dollars. Businesses (stores) can do nothing without the assent of willing consumers, rewarding them with dollars.
2) "Sales" are not "steals". Sale prices, bargains, deals, discounts, etc. are written into the profit margin of an item before the merchandise even leaves the factory. That means that if an item is marked at some "low low" cost for Black Friday, that is the price it was intended to be sold for. The "Suggested Retail" price and all those numbers that are crossed out before the one you think is a "bargain"? Those are there to make you think you're getting a deal, and to make you feel psychologically comfortable with the price you're paying, which is exactly the price the company wants you to pay. No less.
3) There is no objective business reason that a so-called bargain can or should be offered only at a specific time or date. Limiting the offer is a retailer's attempt to hype their business and get a quick estimate on a season's performance. If nobody shows up on Friday, they'll still have the merchandise on hand and the need to move it, they WILL create new "deals" and schemes to get it out of their stockroom by Dec. 24th.
4) Opening stores for "off" hours, the "Midnight Madness" sales, etc., only combines the false impression of a "discount" (in #2) with the hype of #3. It does not display your consumer savvy, it only demonstrates the sick effectiveness of cheap ploys. Worse, voting with your dollars at midnight the night after a holiday means voting FOR companies that require their lowest-paid employees (the cashiers and stockroom attendants) to work a middle-of-the-night shift. For consumers that buy into the cheap ploys.
So go stand in line at midnight to get your "bargains". But look at everyone working in that store, when you do. See them, at midnight or two a.m.? Those aren't automatons, they're people, and they have families (at home, sleeping, probably) and holiday gift shopping of their own to do. And unlike you, the shopper, they didn't have a choice to be there. Holiday shifts are mandatory for those retailers.
Here's the thing that people have a hard time grokking: If the stores threw a sale, and nobody showed up, they would still run those same discounts later on, during normal business hours. The merchandise has to move for the company to make a profit. An executive would look at the spreadsheets and say "Hmm, people like our widgets, even more than the competition, but the prime buying hours are between 8 and 10 am, and then again between 2 and 3. We're wasting money on all that staff, all night long." And next year, things would be a little different. Instead, each year they come up with even more and more extreme plays, and each year, more and more people, blindly following the advertising, fall for it, and each year it gets worse for everyone.
I have it easy: my shop is stable, and my workers well-cushioned. I can tell you right now how many visitors we'll have and much money we're going to make on Friday, and it's not going to be any chaos at all. But other people don't have it so lucky, and I cringe for them.
I cringe, too, for all the people telling me (like I should be happy for them, since I'm a shopkeeper) that they're looking forward to standing in a line at midnight. I only grimace. You're being played, sucker, and worse: you're hurting other people in the process.
Each dollar you spend is a vote for something. What kind of world are you voting for?
