You know, I wonder why people want stuff for
free, hunt for the best bargain or actually haggle over the price of an item at
a furniture store or Wal-Mart. For
example, just the other day I saw this man and women, in their 60's, at a Wal-Mart here in Green Bay
"discussing" the price of an item with a store associate. The poor
sales person couldn't get a word in x-ways and you could tell she was becoming
more frustrated with each passing second.
I was waiting to talk about the same article and
was getting more "pissed" with each argument that the couple brought
up. Finally, unable to further stomach the conversation, I interjected that
maybe the couple should "go to the other store where they saw the item for
so much cheaper."
Today we are hit with so much advertising about
getting stuff for free, how the company is "working" for the consumer
and all you have to pay is shipping and handling.....and hell, you'll get 2 for
the price of 1, just pay the additional shipping and handling.
Many of these "free" products are aimed
at older folks with health problems, and the marketing programs have to
work because the television channels are bombarded with the offers. It reminds
me of the old radio raceway advertisement, "SUNDAY, SUNDAY, AT THE
INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, GET YOUR FREE TICKETS NOW."
Nothing is free, everything costs money, if it
doesn't cost me, you'll pay double
for the product.....to make up for my
freebie. "They" get you with that "shipping and handling
charge" too, much of the time the article being sold costs less than the
shipping and handling.
And for an additional charge, "factored in
with shipping and handling," you can get your brand new handy dandy self
lubricating catheter in 5 working days, gross.
Yesterday I had a prescription filled at my local
pill factory, the price on the label listed the medication at $134.50, but my
charge through my insurance was $0. That's right; my insurance company saved me
the entire cost of the item.....how can that be?
Later in the afternoon I went to my doctor’s
office, to get my diabetic medication straightened out and the nurse gave me a
"free" meter for my wife (she also is diabetic). I asked her what the
cost was and she said, "It's free." The company gives
"free" samples.....how can that be?
NO WONDER OUR ECONOMY IS IN THE CRAPPER:
With all this "free" stuff floating
around out there, I wonder how companies can turn a profit, after all, that's
what business is in business for.....right.....to make money.
Funny, whenever something smells a little
strange, the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand on edge, I get the
feeling that there's a hidden agenda out there that I need to know about. With
so much "give-away" going on out there, I discovered 2 reasons that
it's still profitable to give it away.
Dirt cheap labor and the shipping and handling
charges, they both work in concert to keep overhead down and profits up. The
concept is actually a damn good business procedure, as long as you’re not one
of those workers in China who get 3 hots, a cot, and a buck and a half a day
for working 12 to 16 hour shifts.
United States workers have no chance, American
business can't compete and although we can still get stuff for "free"
or pay a reduced price at the local Wal-Mart,
our economy is in the crapper because everything, "and I mean
everything" is out-sourced.
I'm not just picking on Wal-Mart, God knows there are many businesses
out there that practice this "free stuff" mentality, the shipping and
handling and the dirt cheap labor. For me, it's really a tough call; I mean
business has shareholders that are always bottom line oriented. It's how we
work, as a society, but I wonder how well it's going to work in the long run.
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION:
The Federal Trade Commission was set up in 1914
to administer all sorts of business issues, from competition law, to monopoly,
to predatory pricing to misuse of patents and copyrights. However the minute a
company moves off shore, the rules change and the protection that the original
FTC was created to give American citizens has been watered down.
As I mentioned, "nothing is free,"
everything comes with a price, maybe we should be looking for a fair price, a
price structured so that working class people can make a decent living here in
the good old United States.
As a guy entering his twilight years, I know you
get nothing for free.....and so do you, we just want it now.....and for free.
Maybe the price that we are paying is way too much.....I wonder.
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