19th June 2010
On sales and savings

It’s here. It’s SALE time again. As I write this piece, I’m sitting at my desk in the editorial department of THE VOICE newspaper, where one employee has pulled out a large bag from somewhere under his desk (it is the lunch hour), and is proceeding to extract from it so many varied articles of clothing, that it really is unbelievable.
The man is obviously in the wrong line of work. He should shelve his career as a journalist (which, experience has shown this author, pays very little and that at very irregular intervals) and go into what could only be a more lucrative field, that of magic. For as I gaze, entranced, he pulls what seems to be hundreds of pieces of apparel, skirts, blouses, pants, shoes, accessories such as brooches and earrings, even hats, from a bag which one would have calculated to be able to hold, at the most, say six or so pieces.
And none of it is wrinkled. It really was amazing. Have you ever seen one of those circus acts where twenty or more clowns come tumbling out of a miniature Volkswagen? Watching him perform, I was reminded of the experience.
Anyway, the sleight-of hand performance involving the apparition of the pieces was not the focus of attention here. What mattered to the female staff, who were examining, with all the appropriate oohs and aahs, as each piece was produced, was the apparent originality of each piece, and the very welcome low, low price which was quoted in every case.
Yep, you got it. An office sale was in progress. The beauty of theses sales is that, as far as St Lucia is concerned, each item of appeal is a “one of a kind”. If you purchased any piece here, you stand very little risk of going to a Christmas party and encountering anyone wearing an exact duplicate. Wherever they were bought, whether in Miami, Venezuela or New York, care was taken to ensure that only individual, different items were brought back for sale.
And then, of course, there was the price. Most of the stuff comes into the country as personal luggage, not subject to extra freight charges or customs duty. The seller’s overhead (store rent, employees’ wages, electricity, etc.) are non-existent, so that even if he sells for two or three times his purchase price, the buyer still ends up making a good deal.
So as I watched the transactions taking place, I began thinking about this whole SALE business. Sales have become so prevalent, that I wondered, does anybody actually buy anything which is not “on sale”? And wouldn’t one be silly to do so?
Look around you. There are stores and shops which have the SALE sign as a permanent fixture on their premises. There are grand “Opening” sales when a new store is being launched and “Going Out of Business” sales when they are being closed. Then there are the “occasion” sales—Carnival, Easter, Christmas, New Year; you name it, there’s a sale for it.
Whoops! Let’s re-examine that last statement: not “there’s a sale for it”. Usually, there are “Sales” for it.
For example, let’s look at the situation that we’re presently in. Just two weeks ago, it was Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. You flicked your TV dial from station to station, and in practically every case, you got the same scenario: a few minutes of program (programme? No. I think it’s program) and heaps of sale-advertisements.
There’s the pre-Thanksgiving Day Sale, the Thanksgiving Day sale, and the post-Thanksgiving Day sale. Get it? Not one sale, but three. Take your pick and you’re guaranteed to save a bundle (I want to talk about that “saving” business later). So whether the motive is “we know that you will need stuff for the holiday and we want your business so we’re lowering our prices so that you come here to buy it”; or “today is the holiday and in order to celebrate it, since we know that you have nothing better to do with your time, we’ll open our doors and pay our employees overtime,, just so that you can come in an pick up whatever you need at lower prices than our pre-holiday sale”; or, “well, the holiday is past and we know that you spent most of your money already.
“However, since you didn’t spend it here, and we’re still overstocked with all the extra stuff we had bought, hoping to palm it off on you in the frenzy of the pre-holiday and the on-the-day shopping, we’re giving you a final opportunity to get it now at an even lower price than the “lower” price in our holiday sales”.