WAY OFF: Insidious business practices

[Paul Mather]

On Thu, 29 Mar 2001, Brian Halligan wrote:

=> One more thing about the cards. Sure, they save you money but they also
=> entice you to buy things you wouldn't have even thought about buying
=> otherwise, or in larger quantities than you normally would. So, in a way,
=> there also contributing to America's weight problem. :-)

But shops are designed to make you buy things you wouldn't have thought
about buying otherwise.  The cards are no different in that respect to
coupons, store promotions, buy-one-get-one-free, and all those other
enticements to purchase things you maybe shouldn't.  (In fact, these
cards may actually discourage some people from buying because the item
is blighted by the Evil Mark Of The Card[TM].)  Because we are all
intelligent and discriminating Hawkwind or BOC fans on here, I would
assume we all would utilise that inherent superiority and would
carefully weight up whether or not an item was in fact what is known
in some circles as "a bargain" before purchasing it.

;-)

("I didn't want to buy that, Honey.  The CARD made me do it!";)

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa