“Having your cake and eating it!”
- May 8, 2019
- General
- Posted by Dave Woolf
- Leave your thoughts
I recently went to collect a car from Burton on Trent a town famous for its beer making. As the Dealership was only a mile or so from the Station and it was a fine day I decided to walk – I wish I hadn’t. The aptly named Station street is what was once a thriving shopping area – Greengrocers – butchers – shoe shops – newsagents – sweetshops – hairdressers –haberdashers – ironmongers – Alas now all gone. Without exaggeration, I would guess something like 70-80% now unoccupied. It was a depressing sight – yet the truth is I am as responsible as everyone else. Their failure to survive is down to a number of factors – certainly the burden of council rates has not helped – but first and foremost is the fact too few of us supported them. Let me be clear – I understand you cannot stop progress. It is a fact that we are now the third cheapest country in the world for food – few could argue that on balance this is a good thing BUT it comes at a price.
For many reasons – some obvious –some not – as consumers we are now conditioned to expect the best quality at the lowest price. Yet surprisingly many of us realise we cannot have it!
A couple of days ago I sourced a car which was very much in the “Goldilocks” category – everything was just right. I knew it would sell very quickly. Sure enough no sooner than it was advertised the enquiries started to come in. Amongst them was now the inevitable – “what is your best price” – “what will you take for it” – “would you accept £300 off the asking price (This on a car costing £1150!)” “How much will you take for cash”. Please – do not get me wrong – I have no problem with any of this. But here is the reality – I knew just how good this car was and what I needed to pay to get it – of course I wanted to pay less but that was never going to happen and if I messed about making silly offers it would be snapped up by a more “reasonable” bidder and I would be left with nothing. So what happened? It was sold for the asking price within an hour of our opening after the Bank Holiday.
Once again we return to my late father’s favourite sayings:
“REMEMBER QUALITY IS REMEMBERED LONG AFTER THE PRICE IS FORGOTTEN!”
