Without that wire, you are just a button pusher
There’s a seedy side to retail, and I’m not referring to the grain business. Somewhere along the road, the idea of the customer as prey became a rule of thumb. Let me illustrate.
This afternoon, I spent some idle time in the local computer and business supply store. Waiting, not shopping, so help me, although I did take a keen interest in current price points. Throughout the store, there are kiosks offering fancy USB cables, complete with goldish connectors and 2.0 branding, at the heady price of $30 (give or take a few pennies). Now, wire is wire, and I know from personal experience that the local dollar store has knock-offs for a thirtieth of the price, no haggling required. Why such emphasis on cables?
The store also sells a selection of printers: ink jet, laser, whatever. The wonderful thing is that there’s always a sales selection, so the consumer who wants to buy paper (later) can buy a printer (now) at a fair price. Let’s say $70 (once again giving or taking a few pennies).
The woman looked worried. She’d bought a printer earlier in the afternoon and only discovered back in the home office that new printers don’t include new cables. In other words, all you can do with a new printer is admire the workmanship and maybe (if you are particularly adept at keypresses) kick out a test page or three. Forget actually printing something useful. She did the walkaround, and then asked one of the helpful kids in red polo shirts for the appropriate wire. She was polite; I wouldn’t have been.
Why didn’t Mr. Helpful “suggest” that she purchase a cable an hour earlier? Why didn’t the store include a cable, just because they could? Why have the printer manufacturers adopted a strategy that can’t improve their bottom line by more than a few pennies (given or taken)? Why does the customer always have to second-guess in order to be a satisfied customer?
The shelf prices also offered “printer installation” for $25. Try to imagine the arrival of a red-shirted Mr. Less Than Helpful with his corporate USB cable in your home or office. Plug things in, prove that everything is sharp and in living colour and then take the wire and leave without so much as a “by your leave”.
