Won’t be long now, so start making your Christmas list.
With all that extra dough from your tax reduction and the economy
picking up and your stocks souring, it is time to get online and start
shopping. Don’t wait for the tariffs to raise the prices, there is junk out
there to buy and have delivered.
The old days of getting dressed up to go downtown to the fancy department
stores to be attended to by some smiling face working for a commission.
Carrying bags and boxes back home to rediscover what was paid for in cash or
the newly developed store card with extended payment plans, it was like
Christmas all over again. The dopamine fix was great.
Long ago we’ve decided that fancy malls and piped in music stop enticing
us to buy what we really don’t want or need. Retail was established on wanting
a pair of shoes and leaving with a suit, hat, new suitcase and probably lunch.
Shopping was a day’s excursion, no a safari in the jungle of manufacturers and
marketers feeding out need for more and more that would wind up in the
landfill.
No, today we sit in our jammies safe at home away from those salespeople
who would ask, “if we wanted fries with that?” Oh no, we are to technically
savvy for that bait and switch stuff.
Today we ask our smart phone or speaker or whatever we can use to seek
out an item of interest. Though you can’t try on the clothing or test or taste the
item to see if it should be added to the cart, we feel empowered due to the online
comparison shopping and reviews and videos to make a purchase sure that it was
the right choice.
Once the box arrives and is open, it may not look the same as it did on
screen. It may have to be assembled and maybe there is a part missing or it was
mislabeled or the wrong color or worse yet, busted and needs to be sent back
for a replacement. Now the hassles start.
Get on the phone, get another redelivery package, appointment time for
pick-up all the while your credit card has already been charged and you are
just haggling and tracking return, or just get so frustrated you trash it and
move onto another shopping opportunity. No customer service representative from
across the world will show up at your front door to personally apologize for
the mistake and offer a money-back guarantee until your complete satisfaction
or maybe giving a coupon for more stuff to buy.
During the holidays, you can have the ‘present’ delivered to another address
and the recipient of Christmas Joy can deal with the hassle.
Being friends and family, we will respond to the sender our appreciate
and wonderful thoughts for the gift when it will either go into the closet with
all the other ugly sweaters and goofy t-shirts or into the trash.
Don’t forget to recycle all those cardboard Amazon boxes.
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