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I can't help being amazed at some of the silly business practices that I observe in the world. Here are a few that I have recently seen locally and internationally.
There is a business in town that routinely advertises that they are "going out of business", and "prices will never be this low". They've done it several times in the last twelve years. I'm sure there must be some legal loophole that allows them to make these claims and continue this practice. If it were not so, surely they would be prosecuted for fraud. The most recent episode has resulted in a renaming of the business at the same location, with the Principle's name at the forefront of the new business name, claiming it is "under new ownership".
Maybe there's enough residential turnover in our community to generate business by luring in the unsuspecting. Or maybe we locals just haven't paid attention to how often this guy has gone out of business one day, and re-started business the next, at the same location. Now I ask you, when you think about this continuing practice, and are about to make a significant purchase of goods from this store or a competitor, why would you choose the guy who makes it routine to deceive the public? Can you really trust the guy to "do right" if you have a problem with the purchase? If past practice is a predictor of future events, expecting a good outcome when dealing with someone who plays fast and loose with the truth might be disappointing. One would think that even the owner of the business would, at some point, realize the diminishing returns of this business strategy.
On the international level, I have recently gone on the web looking for airfares. Why is it that the airlines want to charge you significantly more, in some cases nearly double, for a one-way ticket compared to a round-trip? This practice makes absolutely no sense to me. In the next couple of years my wife and I would like to take a trans-Atlantic cruise. Quite obviously when one goes over on a boat, one would need to return on some other form of transportation. So when I looked to fly from the European destination city back to the good ol' US of A, I was more than astounded at the ticket price. For a round-trip ticket from the destination city in Europe to the USA and return to Europe, the ticket price was a little more than half the one-way rate. Can you guess what my plan will be? No one says you have to get on the plane to go back. Stupid is about the best comment I can make about the airlines practice of jamming the consumer for a one-way ticket. And they wonder why times are so bad for the industry. Now we are paying for checked bags, peanuts and soft drinks on board, and forget about meals. Customer service has gone by-by.
Lastly, we have been told by the mayor of PCB that as far as she is concerned the issue of lifeguards on public beaches is "dead". Unfortunately for the eleven visitors to the world's most deadly beaches, they are ones who ended up in that state; dead. Turning away from this issue is for sure the greatest example of poor judgment by a public official, responsible for the general safety and welfare of the community at large. It is hard to believe anyone could be this callous.
If you are peeved about how some businesses, or your local government, treat their customers, how about starting a dialogue on this issue by sharing your experiences. |
too pre-occupied with video games and the opposite sex to pay much attention. This time around however, they are of age to cast their own opinion. They fill in a dot that will help determine which man becomes the most powerful leader in the world. That's a lot to take in for an eighteen year old who's biggest decision previous to this one was which acne medication to buy.
