Ah the shopping public...
08:46 Edit This 0 Comments »
Remember the phrase "you get what you pay for"? I found myself helping at my old job for a couple of evenings this week, a picture framing shop. It never ceases to amuse me to watch people shopping in the store. They want the most beautiful, the nicest, the most classy and they think it should cost nothing.
Now I will admit that the inexpensive and the expensive can quite happily co-exist together providing - and this is the important part - that the quality is compatible. Not everything that is inexpensive is disintegrating trash, and likewise not everything that is expensive is actually worth nearly what you paid for it. But lets be honest, the reason that picture on the rack is only $20 is because there are tens of thousands of them mass produced by people who are not paid enough to care about it. They are then packed by the crate load and shipped across the country - (if not the world) by more people who really don't care much. So yes, it is only $20 but chances are there will be a scratch or a careless blob of paint or a ding somewhere to mar the surface. This does not mean you are entitled to a half price discount.
Now if you bring in a photo or a work of art to be framed you are paying for someone to care and to take the time to make sure the mats are cut perfectly, the glass has no fingerprints on the inside, there is no tiny stray lint sticking to your great great grandfather's nose etc. And in that case you are entitled (and expected) to look over every square inch to make sure it meets your expectations.
Now I have just presented two extremes but the fact is that there has to be some reasonable expectation about what you are buying. And the fact that you are paying ANY amount of money at all is not an automatic entitlement to stunning perfection.
Now I will admit that the inexpensive and the expensive can quite happily co-exist together providing - and this is the important part - that the quality is compatible. Not everything that is inexpensive is disintegrating trash, and likewise not everything that is expensive is actually worth nearly what you paid for it. But lets be honest, the reason that picture on the rack is only $20 is because there are tens of thousands of them mass produced by people who are not paid enough to care about it. They are then packed by the crate load and shipped across the country - (if not the world) by more people who really don't care much. So yes, it is only $20 but chances are there will be a scratch or a careless blob of paint or a ding somewhere to mar the surface. This does not mean you are entitled to a half price discount.
Now if you bring in a photo or a work of art to be framed you are paying for someone to care and to take the time to make sure the mats are cut perfectly, the glass has no fingerprints on the inside, there is no tiny stray lint sticking to your great great grandfather's nose etc. And in that case you are entitled (and expected) to look over every square inch to make sure it meets your expectations.
Now I have just presented two extremes but the fact is that there has to be some reasonable expectation about what you are buying. And the fact that you are paying ANY amount of money at all is not an automatic entitlement to stunning perfection.
No comments:
Post a Comment