Thrift stores are springing up
As I drive through town I’ve noticed several thrift stores have recently opened up. I’ve gone into them to check out the merchandise, and to be perfectly honest I have not been impressed by most of them. Many of the items that are for sale have obvious flaws in them and are priced higher than you could buy a new one at the local big gray box store. I don’t see how these people are expecting to do a good business if they are selling used items for more than brand new. Don’t get me wrong, these are not antique stores, they are thrift stores. I wonder how many unsuspecting customers will go into these new thrift stores and buy things that they think are good deals but really aren’t good deals!
Marketing lists
Have you ever wondered how you get onto someones marketing list for getting sales calls? I’ve never really even thought about it very much, but ever since I bought my last car I’ve been getting a lot of calls and mail from car insurance companies.
I think that a lot of the businesses that we deal with, where we have to give them our personal information, such as name, address, and phone number (and even email addresses) use that to create a data base that they sell to marketing companies. And then those marketing company affiliates buy those lists from them and use them as sales leads.
I think it is a smart marketing decision, but I also think it leads to a lot of extra junk mail. I wish that these companies that sell our information to marketing companies would inform us that they sell our information to marketing companies and give us the opportunity to “opt out” of receiving these sales calls.
Trick or Treaters
Did you get very many trick or treaters this year? I live out in the country, so we didn’t get any at all. But I did go out to eat dinner in town and saw a lot of people out trick or treating in town. I was impressed by how many adults were out with the young children to supervise them and make sure they were being safe, and the fact that most of the adults were also in costume! I think that was really great. What a fun holiday Halloween is!