Picture this...
Tuesday 11:30pm at Wal-Mart and you are heading to the cashier to pay for your hypoallergenic laundry detergent. Given the time of the day, you only have a certain amount of lanes to pay. You look at your basket and see that you only have 8 items, so you decide to go the "express 20 items or less lane." Now that you have pictured what was going on, let me tell you what happened....
I approached the line and there were only three people in front of me so I thought "awesome, I will be out of here really soon." Needless to say, I was there for much more than the five minutes I was expecting. By this point you are probably wondering, what does that title have to do with all this??
Well the lady that was in front of me, which was in her early 60s was the one that was holding the line. She was in an electronic wheelchair and had a about 5 items as well. Her intro line to the cashier was "I don't know if I have enough money, but.. I guess we will find out and take out as necessary." I didn't notice the items she was purchasing, but what I did notice was that the only items left on the conveyor belt were a bag of bagels and a dozen of 'cage free' eggs.
So I said to myself, "if she doesn't have enough money I will pay for her food, it will probably only be $10." So the lady gives the cashier $10 in cash and asks her for the total, the cashier says $52 dollars." As she is giving her the total I notice that that lady was purchasing 2 kids t-shirts, an infant bicycle and some gift boxes. The old lady then says, "please take away the t-shirt, and the gift boxes" the lady then scans her card and goes it through. So she asks to re-scan the kids t-shirt and the gift boxes, the cashier does, and she pays with her card, again, and the card goes through. She is now feeling confident, and asks to please scan the bagels and the eggs, the card goes through.
Tuesday 11:30pm at Wal-Mart and you are heading to the cashier to pay for your hypoallergenic laundry detergent. Given the time of the day, you only have a certain amount of lanes to pay. You look at your basket and see that you only have 8 items, so you decide to go the "express 20 items or less lane." Now that you have pictured what was going on, let me tell you what happened....
I approached the line and there were only three people in front of me so I thought "awesome, I will be out of here really soon." Needless to say, I was there for much more than the five minutes I was expecting. By this point you are probably wondering, what does that title have to do with all this??
Well the lady that was in front of me, which was in her early 60s was the one that was holding the line. She was in an electronic wheelchair and had a about 5 items as well. Her intro line to the cashier was "I don't know if I have enough money, but.. I guess we will find out and take out as necessary." I didn't notice the items she was purchasing, but what I did notice was that the only items left on the conveyor belt were a bag of bagels and a dozen of 'cage free' eggs.
So I said to myself, "if she doesn't have enough money I will pay for her food, it will probably only be $10." So the lady gives the cashier $10 in cash and asks her for the total, the cashier says $52 dollars." As she is giving her the total I notice that that lady was purchasing 2 kids t-shirts, an infant bicycle and some gift boxes. The old lady then says, "please take away the t-shirt, and the gift boxes" the lady then scans her card and goes it through. So she asks to re-scan the kids t-shirt and the gift boxes, the cashier does, and she pays with her card, again, and the card goes through. She is now feeling confident, and asks to please scan the bagels and the eggs, the card goes through.
As she is leaving happy with her purchases, I couldn't help but to think what were her priorities, the food or the gifts, and why? As we are in an economic recession, one that has gotten a lot of publicity, how are consumers reacting to this? Shouldn't we be more careful were we are spending our money? Shouldn't we be telling kids that this x-mas might be leaner than normal?
What just happened to you, makes me think that the majority of consumers are and will always be driven by their emotions. Despite the enormous campaign that the media have done by suggesting consumers to be careful in how they spend their money during this times of crisis, it seems that our rational decisions are minimized by our feelings to make someone else happy, but us. Moms and Dads will always look to please their kids, after all it is part of the American culture to believe that their x-mas is all about gifts. I would like to think about a x-mas with my entire family together having dinner at the table, rather than someone to give me a nice gift, but that is just me.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree being debt free is really important, especially if you want quality healthcare ;-)
DeleteI think if people can not admit to themselves they are broke, then how can they tell the children? It is worth going broke to protect the children from reality? Kids would be a lot smarter and wiser if the parents were just honest with them. They would all learn a lesson or 2 in life and be better persons for it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm....
DeleteInteresting.... there was a lot of talk this year at Iconosphere about seismic status-symbol shift that has occurred over the last 5 years - from being 'cool' because of what you consume to being 'cool' because of what you create (blogs, youtube, photography, etc). THAT in itself is not new news. What was interesting, however, was how experts thought this shift would be impacted by the economic downturn. Almost unanimously, people felt like "smart" was going to become the new "cool" - with shopping for deals, prioritizing purchases, and re-examining how we consume replacing pay-for-activities like going to the movies, eating out at restaurants, etc. and that in the end this downturn would actually drive consumers back to value-based consumption patterns and the modeling of such values/patterns to our children.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the blog, Guys! They're fun!!! One day I may even share my URL with ya!
Hey Paul! Thanks! Please do share, you will get some followers ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for your comments on the posting, totally agree. As a matter of fact, I thought it was really interesting to see the strategy Target took during this holiday season. Their advertising was literally value driven, but with the focus of spending time with family and at home. (i.e. Camping in the back yard, movie theater (at home), etc.)
I thought they were pretty creative pieces of advertising.
Paul Who?
Delete