Sales
> By : Myra Sidharta <
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Sales |
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> By : Myra Sidharta < |
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Sales, sales, sales! One sign bigger than the other smiles to me whenever I go shopping. It is difficult to resist the seduction. Usually I try to be strong. "Buy things only when you need them," I say to myself. After a few days, I regret and start to waver and when I finally have made the decision, the sales are over or the things have been snapped up by other people. What is it that makes people buy so much during sales? My psychological insight says, that it is the discounted price, that makes it so attractive to buy things. The old price with a cross over it, usually done with red ink end the new price, much lower than the first becomes an attraction for the prospective buyers. The discounted price makes it a must to buy things that you don't really need. Announcements are displayed about the discount one can get: 10%, 40% or sometimes even more. Because these sales are being held regularly, people think it is better to wait for the sales to buy things, especially luxury items. Provided that they have not been snapped up by others, one can really get good buys during these sales. The biggest rush for sales items this year was probably the sales held by a branch of an American Department Store. It is not a luxurious Department Store such as Saks 5th Avenue or Marcus Neimann, but most of the Indonesians like to buy their goods in this kind of stores and brag, that they bought it in America. However, once settled here, the merchandise of the store was considered too expensive. They had to close down and held clearance sales in all their outlets. The first sales were not very popular, so there were more sales with more reductions until the final sales held in December, just when the dollar had reached historic high levels. It was then that I went to one of the biggest outlets and could see for myself. There were my favorite underwear for 40% of the usual price, so I bought three of them, but Tanya thought I should have bought at least a dozen. She herself bought six night gowns, - enough for a life-time -, all in different styles and different colors. "Pure silk, you'll never get it again, at least not for that price. And you must convert everythin in dollars, then you'll find out how lucky you are," she assured me. "Come you should buy some too." While I trotted behind her to find the place, I noticed that she had bought a lot during the time that I was contemplating about my underwear. When I asked her, she opened one of the bags and showed me...... dozens and dozens of socks! "Pure cotton, 3000 rupiah per pair, only 60 cents," she said proudly. "you can find them only in America. Over here everything is mixed with polyester. They were my husband's favorite socks, when he was studying there and he still prefers the same brand. He always asked friends, who are going to America to buy them for him." When we finally finished shopping and were waiting for our car, we saw a noisy couple pushing their cart, or better carts, for there were three of them, all full with disposable diapers. I looked away embarrassed, because I had just received an invitation for their wedding reception. Being raised in a more wholesome time, I thought that they should have shopped in the evening when there were less people. However, they had a lot of fun and when they saw me they said: "Don't you think that our baby will be the most wanted baby?" "Well I should think so, when is it due?" was my answer, whereupon they burst out in laughter. "No, there is no sign of a baby yet, but these diapers were going for so cheap that we couldn't let them go. Isn't it our duty to save and to buy things when they are on sale? Now we have enough diapers, to welcome the baby when he or she comes, we bought different sizes from newborn to two years old!" |
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