The terms ‘free’ and ‘sale’ are all designed to lure the masses who think that they have some sort of ordained right to trick the system and get something for nothing.
Freedom does not mean that you can get something for ‘free’. That is the irony of freedom. The practice by businesses to offer more for less has degraded the financial morals of the country. The marketing angles of giveaways and incentives together with the ability to spend more than you have are at the core of financial problems in the nation. It makes it difficult to know what the real value of things are and creates an atmosphere that quantity is more important than quality.
The whole problem is made worse by people only working jobs for their income, creating an issue with their ability to make more money. As a single, you can possibly afford to live on a certain amount of money, but once you are living with someone and then children come along then that same amount becomes far too little for people to provide for their kids and be able to get what they want as well. As a society we are failing at being active members of the free enterprise system, which is to be able to earn as much money as you want in a fair and honest way.
Lets look at the different ”more for less” offers that you see in the retail industry:
- McDonalds went from the regular hamburger and cheeseburger to the Big Mac and Value Meals
- Burger King did the same with the Whopper.
- ”All You Can Eat” Buffets
- ”Free Refills” at restaurants.
- ”Buy one, get one free!”
- Sales
- Everything for a Dollar
The list is long, and on top of that you can use your credit card to purchase everything, saving money while you are borrowing money and then running up your debt.
The generation of today are largely trained to be professional consumers. This selling at any cost is costing everyone a lot of money. Until we end the need for money, we will have to live by it’s rules and they are not complex. The only way money is made is if something is sold. Without sales everything stops and if sales produce small outcomes it doesn’t help much either.
This doesn’t mean overcharging for something, but it does mean having a price and sticking to it. Really, as far as I know, the only company that really practices the high road of pricing is Apple, which produces high quality products for a price without any bogus sales or deals. Guess what? People gladly pay it because they know what it is they are getting and how much it is going to cost and are willing to pay for quality.
Doesn’t it sort of always make you mad when you see stuff on sale? Let’s face it, they aren’t going to lose money on that sale price, it just means that the original price was that much over priced. So, today, if the word ‘sale’ is not attached to a product, most people won’t consider buying it.
Thrift is not a bad thing. There is an art to being a good consumer, and as a consumer it is obviously wise to work the system and pay as little for something you want as possible. The problem is that people often buy stuff they don’t want or need just because they see it is on sale at a low price and buy it mostly based on that. The real issue is, is what you are buying truly something you want, is it good quality and is it worth adding that thing to your collection of junk that gathers in your closets and in the basement?
But here is the real bottom line with this entire issue: Businesses offer these deals because it gets you into their stores to buy over and over again, so don’t think you are getting a good deal, the truth is, you are being manipulated. So there is a fine line at work with all of these offers.
If you don’t make a profit in a business you don’t make money and money needs to be made. It is good for the customer because they get something ‘real’ for their money, it is good for the business which makes a profit, and it must to stay in business, and it is good for the employee who has a job because the company can afford to pay them. The less profit, the weaker the business and therefore products are reduced in quality and the employee remains at the maximum wage that a business can afford, which is often minimum wage.
I’m sure businesses have figured it all out in terms of sales and giveaways, but I find it comforting to know that a product has a price and that is the price. There is a place for bargaining, but when it gets to the point of one side taking advantage of the other then both sides are guilty of trying to ”work” the system in their favor.
Freedom doesn’t mean everything is for free. The best example of the problem with a lowest price for all scenario is communism, which disintegrated because no profits could be made, the people became very poor and ultimately the system collapsed. The idea of social economics for the masses may seem to be a good thing for the poor, but it is exactly that which keeps them poor because they have no chance to ever improve their situation because they can’t make profits.
Every program that encourages an entrepreneurship opportunity for people is a step in the right direction for creating a society of producers and profit makers, and takes us away from a society of consumers, borrowers and financially imprisoned people. This is essentially why Network Marketing is a good thing, it promotes making a profit and people to become an entrepreneur.
If you don’t have a profitable business that you are working to build then you are destined to be financially imprisoned by your wage. Yes, overtime you can scrape and save to get ahead and be able to retire comfortably, but you can get there faster if you have your own business.
The ”Free” in Freedom doesn’t stand for ‘something for nothing’ it stands for ”Free”enterprise and the freedom to earn as much money as you want by providing quality products and services to customers who are willing to pay a fair price for quality things they want and need.