Spring Break
Petty change result of corporate pricing policies
Dan Shaeffer
Issue date: 4/16/04 Section: Ed-Op
- Page 1 of 1
Now is the time for change. It is time to get back to the serious issues
that no one reads about. The long break has given me time to iron out issues about the University that I thought really needed to be looked at. It's apparent that some issues are more important than others, but there is always room for the University to become a better place to live in.
An issue that comes to mind is the problem with professors making you spend two hours online trying to figure out where your homework is. Then there is the problem of the University doing away with anything that has to do with students having fun. However, the most disturbing issue that has been on my mind ever since I took a marketing class is the odd pricing schemes that stores use to lure unsuspecting consumers into thinking that they are saving money when, in the long run, they are actually losing money. This is taking place all over the country and in almost every University-based store.
Yes, it is true that we forget that there is a sales tax on everything, except for necessities like food and clothing. I'm a simple person with simple needs. I enjoy the simple pleasures of life like everyone else. Unfortunately, I don't like to be tricked into buying something every time I go to the store. Yes, the use of a 99 at the end of every price is very enticing and really makes me want to buy the product because it is so far from being the next dollar. What I can't understand is why businesses haven't made the process more user friendly? Why is it that every time I leave 7-Eleven, I have a pound of dirty change in my sweaty palms? The only person who likes this pricing is the guy holding the door for you while he is watching your bike. Interestingly enough, the doorman at 7-Eleven makes more than the doorman at the Hilton due to his tax-exempt status. My intentions are not to make the 7-Eleven doorman broke, but to save everyone a hassle and some change.
This new form of mathematics is what I call the "governing dynamics of change." My theory is that for every item sold there should be a magic price that allows it to come out even. Don't we always like when things come out even? I can't finish a bowl of cereal without enough milk and vice versa. For example, if something is usually $.99 then the retailer would reduce this to $.94 in order to make up for the sales tax. Think about the implications this could have on our community. For swimmers, it could knock precious seconds off their personal best. It benefits those of you that do not want to sound like a janitor with 57 keys in your pocket when you walk down the street. A cell phone ringing is like a cricket compared to the sound of 95 cents hitting the floor in the middle of class.
There is a group of people who do not even go to this or any other collegethat have managed to come up with an answer to this problem, which has been around since Khaki Kutoff invented the pocket less shorts. No, it wasn't a professor at MIT or Princeton that figured out how to keep prices relatively the same while still satisfying customers. The people who figured it out are right here at Drexel. That's right, the folks that serve you those delicious chicken cheese steaks everyday, the trucks outside of the library and across from the Daskalakis Athletic Center. They have allowed me, and students everywhere, the peace of mind that I do not need to grab that extra nickel every time I leave the house.
When I realized that the food carts were on to something called customer convenience, I quickly realized that corporations in America take us for fools. They must think we are really stupid or that we are too busy to pay attention to the fact that corporations remaking our lives a living hell by making us deal with handfuls of change. In my own perfect world, the change would be that there would be no change. Using change is like sending letters through the mail, it's too much work. That is why there is a pile of change cluttering up your desk and weighing down your couch at home. For the most part, the only time that a quarter comes in handy to college students is when they are running low on drinking games and resort to playing "quarters." I am aware that this is a problem that you have been unaware of, but it is my duty to make you aware.
So, the next time you go to 7-Eleven, or any other store that offers these odd pricing schemes, put your foot down; refuse to succumb to their corporate-minded deceitful pricing practices. If you are a Drexel student you should already know what it is like to be ripped off. Let us be known for once, as "The Pioneers of Not Making Change," to make our world a better place.
Dan Shaeffer is a pre-junior majoring in business administration.
that no one reads about. The long break has given me time to iron out issues about the University that I thought really needed to be looked at. It's apparent that some issues are more important than others, but there is always room for the University to become a better place to live in.
An issue that comes to mind is the problem with professors making you spend two hours online trying to figure out where your homework is. Then there is the problem of the University doing away with anything that has to do with students having fun. However, the most disturbing issue that has been on my mind ever since I took a marketing class is the odd pricing schemes that stores use to lure unsuspecting consumers into thinking that they are saving money when, in the long run, they are actually losing money. This is taking place all over the country and in almost every University-based store.
Yes, it is true that we forget that there is a sales tax on everything, except for necessities like food and clothing. I'm a simple person with simple needs. I enjoy the simple pleasures of life like everyone else. Unfortunately, I don't like to be tricked into buying something every time I go to the store. Yes, the use of a 99 at the end of every price is very enticing and really makes me want to buy the product because it is so far from being the next dollar. What I can't understand is why businesses haven't made the process more user friendly? Why is it that every time I leave 7-Eleven, I have a pound of dirty change in my sweaty palms? The only person who likes this pricing is the guy holding the door for you while he is watching your bike. Interestingly enough, the doorman at 7-Eleven makes more than the doorman at the Hilton due to his tax-exempt status. My intentions are not to make the 7-Eleven doorman broke, but to save everyone a hassle and some change.
This new form of mathematics is what I call the "governing dynamics of change." My theory is that for every item sold there should be a magic price that allows it to come out even. Don't we always like when things come out even? I can't finish a bowl of cereal without enough milk and vice versa. For example, if something is usually $.99 then the retailer would reduce this to $.94 in order to make up for the sales tax. Think about the implications this could have on our community. For swimmers, it could knock precious seconds off their personal best. It benefits those of you that do not want to sound like a janitor with 57 keys in your pocket when you walk down the street. A cell phone ringing is like a cricket compared to the sound of 95 cents hitting the floor in the middle of class.
There is a group of people who do not even go to this or any other collegethat have managed to come up with an answer to this problem, which has been around since Khaki Kutoff invented the pocket less shorts. No, it wasn't a professor at MIT or Princeton that figured out how to keep prices relatively the same while still satisfying customers. The people who figured it out are right here at Drexel. That's right, the folks that serve you those delicious chicken cheese steaks everyday, the trucks outside of the library and across from the Daskalakis Athletic Center. They have allowed me, and students everywhere, the peace of mind that I do not need to grab that extra nickel every time I leave the house.
When I realized that the food carts were on to something called customer convenience, I quickly realized that corporations in America take us for fools. They must think we are really stupid or that we are too busy to pay attention to the fact that corporations remaking our lives a living hell by making us deal with handfuls of change. In my own perfect world, the change would be that there would be no change. Using change is like sending letters through the mail, it's too much work. That is why there is a pile of change cluttering up your desk and weighing down your couch at home. For the most part, the only time that a quarter comes in handy to college students is when they are running low on drinking games and resort to playing "quarters." I am aware that this is a problem that you have been unaware of, but it is my duty to make you aware.
So, the next time you go to 7-Eleven, or any other store that offers these odd pricing schemes, put your foot down; refuse to succumb to their corporate-minded deceitful pricing practices. If you are a Drexel student you should already know what it is like to be ripped off. Let us be known for once, as "The Pioneers of Not Making Change," to make our world a better place.
Dan Shaeffer is a pre-junior majoring in business administration.
