I can't help feeling that the adage:
"One person's pay rise is another person's price rise"
applies here. Low prices mean small profit margins and staff employed at
minimum wage. When we want to buy some item of photographic equipment or
film, how many of us scour the shops and the web so that we can buy at the
MOST EXPENSIVE price? Hands up! Yes, I thought so. And yet by buying at
the cheapest prices we can find, we condemn ourselves to shops staffed by
minimum-wage spotty oiks with no GCSE's (for you Americans, that is
equivalent to "failed to graduate from high school").
Higher prices and higher profit margins allow shops to pay higher salaries
to attract and retain experienced and knowledgeable staff, and to fund
regular training. Of course, whether shops charging the highest prices
actually DO pay their staff higher salaries is a separate question...
Perhaps my expectations of shop staff are unrealistically low, but I never
expect the sales assistant to know more than I do. Having done my research,
I sometimes go into a shop and feign ignorance about the product I wish to
buy, just to see what half-truths and down-right lies the shop assistant
comes out with (but I will still buy from that shop if they have the product
and the price is right).
If there is any piece of wisdom parents should pass on to their offspring,
this surely is a must:
"Never believe anyone who has a vested interest."
All shop staff have a vested interest in selling you something, so anything
they say (whether right or wrong) is of no value. In my experience, most
will tell you whatever it takes to persuade you to buy from them.
-- from Cy in the UK
(who is currently scouring the UK web to find a Manfrotto tripod at the
lowest possible price)
PS: Are oiks always spotty? Perhaps I am being "oikist"! Apologies to any
unspotty oiks who may be reading this!
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