No one wants to talk about it but someone has to say it. When buying from a friend or neighbor you should always attempt to pay full price unless they are advertising a promotion for every one, or offering you a standard friends and family discount. Expecting someone to provide a product for you at cost, severely limits the ability for that business to compete with other companies where customers are paying full price.
When a company advertises a deeply discounted item it is usually due to the following:
- They have an overstock of that product.
- The product is past the “use by” date.
- The owner is trying to bring more people into the store on a slow business day.
Think about those Black Friday deals after Thanksgiving. Large corporations compete for your foot traffic on Black Friday by taking a loss on certain items to draw you into their stores. Mom and Pop business in our neighborhood can not afford to take such a hit day in and day out throughout the year. Their regular product pricing is based off of cost, supply, demand and the buying power for our area. Every sale counts.
Business owners build their future into the price. When you pay full price you are helping that business hire employees, provide higher quality products and open more stores.
Bottom line… When we expect a huge discount at every purchase we are putting our neighbors business at risk. We are limiting their ability to provide jobs for our area.