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June 20, 2019
Moving Forward By Looking Back
By Pastur Prime
The Bandera Prophet
This is ol' Pastur Prime again, moving forward by looking back. Just here to offer you a little food for thought. The word for today is PIE. Everybody likes pie. Be it chocolate, cherry, apple or even pizza. The great thing about a pie is that you can serve quite a few, based on how many slices you cut it in. The bad thing about a pie, is that the more pieces you cut it in, the less each person gets.
This analogy applies very well to business. Let's say you have a small town, where most businesses are locally owned, providing products and services to their community. Now not every business provides everything, but between them they have most of the communities needs covered. Some of them even competing products. All good healthy competition in their small market. These are people you know and who know you. These are people who contribute to the health of the community in too many ways to count. Then all of a sudden, a big box store shows up and officials tell you how wonderful it is, and how much it will benefit the area with increased tax revenue that will be generated. How great it will be to have the convenience of going to one store instead of several to get all your products and services.
This should make you go hmmmmm. The pie is still the same size. Just another slice has been made in it. You are still catering to the needs of the same people who were shopping at the small business local stores, but now have added another one that by nature of their corporate size can afford to sell at lower prices, even at an initial loss, in an effort to draw all the business to themselves.
Ridiculous you say. Perhaps. Let's for a moment consider a big box supercenter, (not naming names), that builds in the area. They have everything under one roof that you are looking for. You are thinking this is great! How convenient for me to just go one place to get everything I need, and at prices a few cents cheaper that I've been paying. Everyone starts shopping there and pretty soon the little grocery store that was down the street, or the hardware store around the corner that had been there for as long as you remember, are shuttered and closed. Perhaps you have a brief moment of melancholy, but then remember the big box store and all is well in your world. Then the supercenter builds a store in the next town over and a finds that a larger portion of customers migrate to that store. The supercenter determines that it is a better location and closes the one in your town, forcing you now to drive to the next town for your shopping. You have to, because all the small businesses that used to be there for you are now closed, since you weren't there for them. In big business this is referred to as cannibalizing, where they come into a market, drive all small business out and then open in another location fairly close by. Whichever store has better sales they leave open and close the other. This is effectively a way of creating a monopoly.
Now we are back to pies again, just in case you thought I forgot where we started. The supercenter has the whole pie and they don't have to share with anyone. You start to notice their prices aren't so great anymore, and the selections they offer have dwindled. It also occurs to you that the businesses that used to donate to local events at the drop of a hat aren't there anymore and big box has to have you apply a year in advance for donations. This happens time and time again on many levels, because no matter what the pie is, it is finite in size.
If benefits are given to one group, generally, they are cut from another. Whether it is for convenience, altruistic thinking, or just apathy, we are the ones most guilty of allowing the pie to be sliced too thin. So before you complain about the 1 percent, make sure you're not part of the 99 percent that allowed it to happen.
Hope this offered food for thought. Until next time this is ol' Pastur Prime, moving forward by looking back. Go enjoy a piece of pie!
This analogy applies very well to business. Let's say you have a small town, where most businesses are locally owned, providing products and services to their community. Now not every business provides everything, but between them they have most of the communities needs covered. Some of them even competing products. All good healthy competition in their small market. These are people you know and who know you. These are people who contribute to the health of the community in too many ways to count. Then all of a sudden, a big box store shows up and officials tell you how wonderful it is, and how much it will benefit the area with increased tax revenue that will be generated. How great it will be to have the convenience of going to one store instead of several to get all your products and services.
This should make you go hmmmmm. The pie is still the same size. Just another slice has been made in it. You are still catering to the needs of the same people who were shopping at the small business local stores, but now have added another one that by nature of their corporate size can afford to sell at lower prices, even at an initial loss, in an effort to draw all the business to themselves.
Ridiculous you say. Perhaps. Let's for a moment consider a big box supercenter, (not naming names), that builds in the area. They have everything under one roof that you are looking for. You are thinking this is great! How convenient for me to just go one place to get everything I need, and at prices a few cents cheaper that I've been paying. Everyone starts shopping there and pretty soon the little grocery store that was down the street, or the hardware store around the corner that had been there for as long as you remember, are shuttered and closed. Perhaps you have a brief moment of melancholy, but then remember the big box store and all is well in your world. Then the supercenter builds a store in the next town over and a finds that a larger portion of customers migrate to that store. The supercenter determines that it is a better location and closes the one in your town, forcing you now to drive to the next town for your shopping. You have to, because all the small businesses that used to be there for you are now closed, since you weren't there for them. In big business this is referred to as cannibalizing, where they come into a market, drive all small business out and then open in another location fairly close by. Whichever store has better sales they leave open and close the other. This is effectively a way of creating a monopoly.
Now we are back to pies again, just in case you thought I forgot where we started. The supercenter has the whole pie and they don't have to share with anyone. You start to notice their prices aren't so great anymore, and the selections they offer have dwindled. It also occurs to you that the businesses that used to donate to local events at the drop of a hat aren't there anymore and big box has to have you apply a year in advance for donations. This happens time and time again on many levels, because no matter what the pie is, it is finite in size.
If benefits are given to one group, generally, they are cut from another. Whether it is for convenience, altruistic thinking, or just apathy, we are the ones most guilty of allowing the pie to be sliced too thin. So before you complain about the 1 percent, make sure you're not part of the 99 percent that allowed it to happen.
Hope this offered food for thought. Until next time this is ol' Pastur Prime, moving forward by looking back. Go enjoy a piece of pie!