Retail Laziness

A few days ago I succumbed to the undeniable appeal of the Wii and bought one. Well, scratch that, I tried to buy one. I went to Sam's Club one night for nothing more than an Icee (yes, I'm that cheap) and what, to my amazement, do my kids see? A whole bunch of tickets ready to be pulled and taken to the register to purchase the nearly impossible to find Wii!

Now admittedly, I haven't been looking for one. I did think to myself that if I ever did come across one, I might actually get it, but I wasn't in full search mode. After pondering the decision for a few moments, I thought, what the heck, it looks cool and sounds like a load of fun. For $249.00, how could I go wrong? (plus controller, SD card, batteries...)

Here's how it all goes wrong. How about right after you call your wife, ask her for the pre-requisite permission (I'm older and wiser now) and then inadvertently get my boys all excited (the girls were with me), I take it to the register and try to actually buy the dang thing. Imagine my surprise when I find out they don't have any. Yeah, it was wishful thinking and too good to be true to have nearly 10 untouched Wii's at the end of the day but who knew when they put the tickets out there. Well, I'll tell you when! Try weeks ago. They hadn't had Wii's in over two weeks.

How can they be so lazy? How can they tantalize their customers like this? How can they dash the hopes of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young ones and their fathers with tickets that imply they actually have them in stock? Uh, they are lazy.

When I inquire why these tickets are out there still, I'm told it is too much trouble to keep track of them. Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot that work involved, well, work!

So thanks Sam's Club for then sending me on a wild goose chase all over town to actually try and find a Wii. I mean, I just told the boys I was bringing one home. What kind of damage would this cause? What would they think?

Well, it turns out I have more understanding kids than maybe I give them credit for. Maybe, just maybe, it was more disappointing to me than them. It is a slim chance but a chance nevertheless. It was no big deal to kids.

Whew! I'm off the hook at least until next weekend. (oh...that's tomorrow isn't it? Yikes!)

What happened to the market taking care of itself?

I feel for all those out there facing foreclosures and potentially having their homes taken away. I really do! The loans they were able to obtain in the wild real estate market of the past few years got them into a lot of hot water. But wait, didn't they get a written contract spelling out the arrangements?

If the government bails people out either through straight out legislation or via some scheme concocted for the FHA to do it, what are people going to think? Is there no risk to anything anymore? Are there no consequences to stupid actions?

One complaint made was that if it wasn't for these loans that people wouldn't have been able to get loans in the high priced real estate markets of places like San Francisco? Uh, Hello...anyone home? Isn't that how the market is supposed to work? Since when did what the seller wants dictate what the market should pay? If no one had been able to get loans for these outrageously priced pieces of property they wouldn't have sold for these crazy prices in the first place.

Did you pay too much for your house? Guess who's to blame. All these people who purchased houses they couldn't afford in the first place. Sure, the rising prices of real estate benefited those who owned but guess what, if you sell your place, you still need to buy another and you'll be paying the same insane prices again. If it is a second home for you, congratulations! You've just screwed the people who can't afford a second home.

I've heard a lot of complaints that contractors can't sell homes they've already built. Well, let's correct that a bit. How about, you can't sell the house at the price YOU want. And that's the problem, the real estate market was letting the seller set the price instead of the buyer. People could get money like turning the water on in your sink. Unless your wealthy, buying a home is difficult and takes some planning. Getting a home shouldn't be like buying at stereo system at your favorite electronics store.

Maybe a bailout won't change what happened but it sends a clear message that this kind of thing is OK. If the FHA plan works then perhaps it won't be so bad as my understanding is the obligations of others won't be written off. The problem is, the FHA is going to probably take on a lot more bad debt than they would have otherwise and then they're going to need bailing out later.

I surely hope this doesn't become another bottomless pit for tax payer dollars.

The damage of yesterday's real estate market has been done but let's not make it worse.

I think Steve actually screwed up

Yes, it can happen to the best of us. Steve screwed up.

Not allowing the Apple credit for the iPhones to be used in iTunes for music is just plain stupid. I realize they make nothing on the music and that is probably why it isn't allowed but what are people supposed to do with $100 besides buy a Shuffle perhaps.

How can he do a whole video with his eyes closed?

Why is this man's eyes closed?

How can he do this entire video without seeing?

Of course, you have to love what he's talking about!!

Way to go Steve!

All I can say is, "My Hats off to ya Steve!"

The open letter from Steve Jobs outlining the promise to give a $100 store credit to early iPhone purchasers is absolutely amazing. I can think of no other company executive from a major firm that personally responds like this to its customers. If there is one thing that Apple and Steve Jobs know, it is that happy customers are good for business. Taking care of the early adopters like he is doing is especially important.

Personally, I'm not so sure if I'd been head of the company if even I would have done that. I mean, we're talking about breakthrough technology that is way ahead of anything from the competition. If you buy something technology related, whether it be an LCD TV, Computer, Cell Phone, or whatever, what do you expect? Did you think the prices were going to increase?!?!

I personally just bought an older style (well it is older now) iPod Nano 4GB unit and I thought I got an amazing deal on a refurb one at $129 from the Apple Store. Well, guess what, I'm a little disappointed I'm not getting the new one (a little bit, I'm not sure I like the squat design) but that's the way this business works. You buy and then regret when the price drops. Personally, I'd be very upset if I was still paying the same price for a 512MB flash card or USB drive that I was 3 years ago.

This new price can only me one thing: more iPhone users than ever!

If that's a bad thing, then I'm not sure what's good anymore.