Capitalist Pigs and Consumer Flypaper
(x-posted from elsewhere)
I got an interesting response yesterday, from someone, about yesterday's Wal-Mart situation. I was intending for my reply to be pretty simple, but it turned into a bit of a speech. (Heh) Here's the issue:
I'm just touching on your comment about it being convenient, yet you're playing into the marketing schemes by never leaving without spending $100 or more? Doesn't make sense...
Eh. They have marketing schemes because they work. They spend billions to find out what makes you tick. That's also why Smiths and Albertsons have their "Fresh Values" or "Preferred Customer" cards, respectively.
Do I have concerns about that? Yeah, I might. Not enough to usually care. It's not particularly invasive, and if it allows them to literally provide products I like (which tend to be better in one way or another) in greater supply, I might consider that a worthy compromise.
Why is this okay with me? Because, in the end, I get what I want. It's my choice, and therefore my responsibility, what I spend on things I pick up there. If I don't like them pushing buttons in my gray matter with their marketing, then I need to be more staid about getting what I came for, and ONLY what I came for. But how often do you come for only orange juice, and realize you also are running out of laundry detergent? And bread. That you probably ought to have a few lightbulbs for when they go out at your house. And, oh yeah, your child could use some more socks. Hey! There's a DVD I've been jonesing for, for months, and it's $5 cheaper than pretty much any other place! (And the price won't be this low for another 6 months)
That's how it works. Everything was something I wanted or needed. Another reality of market forces at work is that, if you buy more products there, they can also afford to cut prices more to entice that spending. It's one, eternal round. Hence, programs which keep you coming back, like the Cystic Fibrosis coupon book I bought at Jiffy-Lube two days ago. It cost me around $10, and saved me $7 that same day, off my oil change. It'll be another $7, plus a free air filter, the next time I go back. So it will have "paid for itself". Jiffy Lube is happy to have a return customer. I'm happy to have cheaper service. And it benefits Cystic Fibrosis in the mean time too. That's not Win-Win, but Win-Win-Win!
What I'm trying to say is, it's not evil by default to use marketing; It's smart salesmanship. I'm willing to support Capitalism (aka "economic democracy") unless it creates hugely miserable circumstances, like the downtrodden poor and the robber-barons of the Industrial Revolution.
But then, it was also a so-called "capitalist pig" who established the standard of the 40-hour work week. Of letting people have not one, but TWO days off. And of paying a good enough wage that employees could afford one of the products they work on. It made them enjoy their jobs, and it invested them in what they were doing. Product quality rose. His name? Henry Ford.
I got an interesting response yesterday, from someone, about yesterday's Wal-Mart situation. I was intending for my reply to be pretty simple, but it turned into a bit of a speech. (Heh) Here's the issue:
I'm just touching on your comment about it being convenient, yet you're playing into the marketing schemes by never leaving without spending $100 or more? Doesn't make sense...
Eh. They have marketing schemes because they work. They spend billions to find out what makes you tick. That's also why Smiths and Albertsons have their "Fresh Values" or "Preferred Customer" cards, respectively.
Do I have concerns about that? Yeah, I might. Not enough to usually care. It's not particularly invasive, and if it allows them to literally provide products I like (which tend to be better in one way or another) in greater supply, I might consider that a worthy compromise.
Why is this okay with me? Because, in the end, I get what I want. It's my choice, and therefore my responsibility, what I spend on things I pick up there. If I don't like them pushing buttons in my gray matter with their marketing, then I need to be more staid about getting what I came for, and ONLY what I came for. But how often do you come for only orange juice, and realize you also are running out of laundry detergent? And bread. That you probably ought to have a few lightbulbs for when they go out at your house. And, oh yeah, your child could use some more socks. Hey! There's a DVD I've been jonesing for, for months, and it's $5 cheaper than pretty much any other place! (And the price won't be this low for another 6 months)
That's how it works. Everything was something I wanted or needed. Another reality of market forces at work is that, if you buy more products there, they can also afford to cut prices more to entice that spending. It's one, eternal round. Hence, programs which keep you coming back, like the Cystic Fibrosis coupon book I bought at Jiffy-Lube two days ago. It cost me around $10, and saved me $7 that same day, off my oil change. It'll be another $7, plus a free air filter, the next time I go back. So it will have "paid for itself". Jiffy Lube is happy to have a return customer. I'm happy to have cheaper service. And it benefits Cystic Fibrosis in the mean time too. That's not Win-Win, but Win-Win-Win!
What I'm trying to say is, it's not evil by default to use marketing; It's smart salesmanship. I'm willing to support Capitalism (aka "economic democracy") unless it creates hugely miserable circumstances, like the downtrodden poor and the robber-barons of the Industrial Revolution.
But then, it was also a so-called "capitalist pig" who established the standard of the 40-hour work week. Of letting people have not one, but TWO days off. And of paying a good enough wage that employees could afford one of the products they work on. It made them enjoy their jobs, and it invested them in what they were doing. Product quality rose. His name? Henry Ford.