Step Right Up
This post is about the hustle we call commerce.
It's great to find what you want at a good price. It's also understandable to delay the purchase until the item is on sale. But, is a bargain a bargain if the item is something you could afford but wouldn't have purchased had it not been on sale.
Credit is an intensely marketed commodity despite the fact that so many don't handle it well. For an item like a home, credit is [usually] a necessity. However, for so many, credit is a simple fact of life. Oscar Wilde said, "Anyone who lives within his means suffers from a lack of imagination". Sellers of large ticket items ...that item you know you can't afford ...move their goods by stimulating the imaginations of the prospective buyers. The issuers of the needed credit rely on convincing people that the inability to afford something need not be a deterrent in possessing it. P T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." Many sellers seem to rely on this statement to be factual.
Aggressive advertising in its insidiousness has reached the point of almost being criminal. It has permeated every form of communication. Even people themselves have become walking billboards for designer goods. With all the junk advertising you throw away, you think, "Nobody wants this, why do they do it?" Well, actually, there are enough sales generated from all that "junk" to warrant its expense and continuity.
And then if it's not about what you buy, it's about how much of it you buy. All I wanted was roll of paper towels. But no, I had to buy a pack of 8. And bathroom tissue now comes in a 12-pack. I'm not talking about a warehouse shopping club, but my local Safeway. They've dispensed with any small sizes in favor of economy bargain-priced sizes. And to avail yourself of any sales, you have to buy two ...buy one get one free. Why can't they just sell it at half price. I know it's to their benefit to sell you two instead of one, but what if I don't need two 12-packs of bathroom tissue. So just get the one, you say. Well, my frugality won't allow that.
And then there's the situation where the giant size [of relish], much more than I can use, is less expensive than the size I actually want. So do I buy the larger size and throw the excess away? That's wasting food, and all through my childhood I heard ad nauseam, "There are people starving in the world and you're wasting food", so no, I couldn't do that. Instead, I buy the size I need ...and gripe [to myself] about having paid more for it than I had to.
It's great to find what you want at a good price. It's also understandable to delay the purchase until the item is on sale. But, is a bargain a bargain if the item is something you could afford but wouldn't have purchased had it not been on sale.
Credit is an intensely marketed commodity despite the fact that so many don't handle it well. For an item like a home, credit is [usually] a necessity. However, for so many, credit is a simple fact of life. Oscar Wilde said, "Anyone who lives within his means suffers from a lack of imagination". Sellers of large ticket items ...that item you know you can't afford ...move their goods by stimulating the imaginations of the prospective buyers. The issuers of the needed credit rely on convincing people that the inability to afford something need not be a deterrent in possessing it. P T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." Many sellers seem to rely on this statement to be factual.
Aggressive advertising in its insidiousness has reached the point of almost being criminal. It has permeated every form of communication. Even people themselves have become walking billboards for designer goods. With all the junk advertising you throw away, you think, "Nobody wants this, why do they do it?" Well, actually, there are enough sales generated from all that "junk" to warrant its expense and continuity.
And then if it's not about what you buy, it's about how much of it you buy. All I wanted was roll of paper towels. But no, I had to buy a pack of 8. And bathroom tissue now comes in a 12-pack. I'm not talking about a warehouse shopping club, but my local Safeway. They've dispensed with any small sizes in favor of economy bargain-priced sizes. And to avail yourself of any sales, you have to buy two ...buy one get one free. Why can't they just sell it at half price. I know it's to their benefit to sell you two instead of one, but what if I don't need two 12-packs of bathroom tissue. So just get the one, you say. Well, my frugality won't allow that.
And then there's the situation where the giant size [of relish], much more than I can use, is less expensive than the size I actually want. So do I buy the larger size and throw the excess away? That's wasting food, and all through my childhood I heard ad nauseam, "There are people starving in the world and you're wasting food", so no, I couldn't do that. Instead, I buy the size I need ...and gripe [to myself] about having paid more for it than I had to.
 | In his song, "Step Right Up", Tom Waits does a send up of the huckster by recalling every line you've every heard from some shady character trying to sell his bill of goods. At the very end, he utilizes the famous W. C. Fields line, "Get away from me kid, you bother me." The actual lyrics can be viewed here |
Quote of the Week: “Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny."
posted by gieau_sf (8:42:00 AM)
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6 Comment(s):
In some other words from Waits, that also seem appropo: How can the angels get to sleep when the devil leaves the porch light on?"
Lillie: I like that phrase. I'm not familiar with it, but it is so "Tom Waits" :)
I like that quote of the week. Very true.
It's from a song called "Mr. Segal." One of my favorites. He does have a wonderful individuality, doesn't he?
and what about coupons. i know so many people who buy items they would never buy just because a coupon has discounted it. i never bother with coupons.
tom waits is one of my favorite artists. f
ah yes, the old addage.........cheaper by the dozen.....so if they get cheaper and cheaper the more you buy.........will they be free if you by a gazillion? hmmmmmm i don't think so........
I have 5 straw hats because they were ON SALE, and I have only one head...........
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