When I was a child, my mother would spend all day Saturday running around Los Angeles, doing her shopping. She'd get the real chore out of the way early: grocery shopping. Blech. Booooring! Then she would return home, drop off the food, and continue on to the more fun part of the shopping day: the Mall! Of course, her version of fun was clothes shopping. Double blech. Me? I went off to my two favorite types of stores: music and books!
Waldenbooks...B.Dalton Booksellers...Sam Goody...Wherehouse Music...Bookstar...Music Plus... businesses that, when I saw their names...their open, inviting doors... I ran toward them, a smile on my face, eagerly awaiting what new surprises were in store for me. I spent hours in these stores, strolling the aisles, finding things I was hoping...praying...that my mother would say "yes" to, and practicing my "sad puppy dog" look in case an unwanted "no" was imminent.
As I grew older, the era of "Corporate Chain" companies came along, and, having started making my own money, I would spend my free time roaming places like Circuit City, Virgin Records, Tower Records, Borders Books, and Barnes and Noble. I'd make it a Blockbuster Night, or, if I was near one, a Hollywood Video evening when I wanted to rent a movie for a couple of days.
What do these businesses all have in common? They're all gone...or dangerously close to joining those already resting in peace. Who's to blame for this? The greedy corporations who continued to charge top dollar (way above average market price) until they breathed their last gasp? Consumers, who found more and more ways to get things at a much cheaper price from online sellers? The answer: both are to blame.
Let's start the assessment with the corporations, shall we? Yes, the major downfall to all of these companies are the fact that they sell all of their products for top dollar value. Who's going to buy a CD for $17.99-$19.99 at Tower Records and Virgin Megastore, when you can buy it for between $9.99 and $12.99 the first week they are released at Best Buy, Walmart, Target, or Amazon? Who's going to buy a paperback book for $13.99-$19.99 at Borders or Barnes & Noble when you can find it for $7.99 or less at Walmart and Amazon? Who's going to rent a new release film for $5, per movie no less, when they can get a months' worth of movies for $20 or under on Netflix, depending on which plan you choose?
"It's the rising costs of rent, and electricity, and labor" people say. Well...yes, okay. Maybe. I mean, Walmart and Target are thriving...and are much bigger...and employ more people per store than any Borders or Blockbuster Video location...yet, they still offer the same products at almost half the cost! Meanwhile Blockbuster, Borders, et al pay their employees the minimum amount of money they can possibly get away with, so...it's not really the labor... meanwhile company CEOs are taking home million dollar bonuses every year. See where THIS train of thought is going...?
On the flipside of the argument, there's the consumers. I know, I know, I know..."Netflix is cheaper! I can even stream movies for free!" "Amazon rocks! I can buy used product and get free Super Saver shipping!" "Redbox is only $1 for new releases!" All of that is really great...for now. Consumers are so...pardon the pun, but, CONSUMED, with sticking it to the big corporations by going the cheaper, more affordable route, that they don't realize the one true fact: once you knock out all of the competition...all of that great, affordable competitive pricing will quickly disappear. Without competition, there's no need to seek out the love from consumers, now that a monopoly will be put into place.
For instance: Netflix was charging $16.99 for a three out at a time movie program. As of last month, they raised it to $19.99. Now, this is while Blockbuster is still around to give customers the gift of "immediate gratification". Let's say Blockbuster closes up shop next year. Mom and pop stores are virtually gone (with smaller chains like 20/20 Video going the way of the dinosaur as well). So who's left standing? Netflix and Redbox. So now everyone who wants to rent a movie has to use either Netflix or Redbox. Notice how, on Netflix, everything new goes to immediate "Long Wait"? That's just with the thousands of customers they have right now. Imagine when the rest of the U.S.' population join because they have nowhere to go? Netflix will have to spend more money to get more copies of those films. Where do think that money will come from? Their checkbooks? Nope. And guess what else is going to get expensive? The shipping of these films, that customers currently don't have to pay for. With more discs going out every day...I wouldn't be surprised if a "shipping charge" will be added to each month's already increasing bill. Free streaming? Not when so many people are using it, causing the servers to begin to slow down and crash. And when you become the main game in town, what's the first thing you do? Drive up the costs...because you know people will have to pay it if they want to watch movies at home...
Same thing goes for Amazon, a site that sells virtually everything you could possibly want without having to leave the comfort of your own home. Again, a great idea! But then, that cheap book you knew you could get for $5 used is now $15. That rare-ish CD you were going to get for $8 is now $30. Maybe you could stop in at Borders really quick and...oh wait...you put that company out of business too! And now,you're paying the exact amount you would have been paying at Barnes & Nobles, if not more, because of tax, shipping and handling, and rising costs of the monopolistic society you just created!
Now, that's just the pocketbook side of the argument. Let's move onto the effect it will bring to society as a whole:
Remember when you would meet your friends out for a coffee or for lunch (which you will always be able to do, because, let's face it, America's fascination with drinking Liquid Crack and spending less time in the kitchen cooking will continue to thrive forever) and decide to go window shopping? Spending time in a store (music, books, clothing, pick your poison) and socializing, face-to-face for another hour or so after eating, so as not to go home and have to be alone? Yeah, those days are about to be over. Because your newfound love of the Internet and shopping will replace your face-to-face socializing time with typing on Facebook chat while doing Window Shopping 2.0: browsing through the pages of Amazon.
Remember looking forward to the weekends when your parents would take you to a video store as a "treat" after dinner? Well, now you better hope it's not a holiday, or that you didn't forget to put that Netflix movie in the mail so you can get your next movie in time for whichever night you wanted to watch something...because you won't have a video store to pop into and grab a flick "really quick". And good luck with Redbox...those Kiosks don't exactly hold thousands of titles...(or that many copies of each title!) Let's not also forget that no one reads what a movie is about anymore, and is constantly looking for feedback from people (usually employees) to find out if a movie is worth your time. Well, Netflix doesn't have a number for you to call to ask such things...and God forbid you take a couple of minutes reading reviews...
Yes, I sound bitter. I know. But I have every right to be. The American public is taking my childhood away from me, slowly but surely. By the time I have children, all of my favorite memories will have to be shared by spoken word stories...as I won't be able to show them, up-close-and-personal, what going out, browsing, and socializing was like...because people prefer to chat and shop online rather than actually spend time out in the real world with each other.
I also know that I sound like I'm putting the major blame on consumers, but I hold the big corporations equally responsible. If it weren't for their ridiculously greedy pricing strategies, the Internet would never have gotten us this addicted to begin with!
I will end my diatribe for now, but let me just leave you with this last thought: remember that great Disney film, "Wall.E"? Where the patrons of society were painted as fat, lazy, housebound hermits? Well, not everything comes strictly from the imagination. You have been warned...
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