Mrs. R. LOVES to shop at Anthropologie. For those of you who are not familiar with Anthropologie (mom), it is a store that sells clothes and fashion accessories with an inspired French Provencal look. Another way to put it is, they charge a lot of money for faux-vintage crap.
I agreed to go to “Anthro” today because I agreed that Piper’s dresser from Ikea needed better-looking drawer knobs. After finding six knobs Mrs. R. would agree to and spending over $50 (!) on the knobs and NOTHING ELSE, the nice young lady at the register asked whether I preferred my receipt in the bag, or for the store to send it to me as an e-mail. Of course I wanted my receipt in the bag.
As I thought about this, I realized there were only two reasons why a store would offer to e-mail you a receipt rather than print it for you:
- The store is committed to being “green” and reducing paper waste. This is what Anthropologie wants you to believe. I’ve often noticed they have workshops and presentations on green practices you can adapt for your home. HOWEVER, this is total and utter BS!
- The store wants your e-mail so they can send you junk messages about sales and credit card offers; and sell your information to other companies. This is the real reason they want to e-mail you a receipt.
At this point you may be saying, “Mr. R., you’re being too harsh. How can you possibly know that Anthropologie is not committed to being green?”
Well, friend, I know Antrhopologie to be full of it, because not only did they give me a bag in which to carry six drawer knobs, but they also wrapped said knobs in copious amounts of paper. So much for being green. Went in looking for six knobs, and came out with six knobs and a tree branch.
I’m not trying to belittle the whole “green” thing. I believe in being a good steward of the environment. I pay attention to my household energy and water consumption, and fuel mileage is my #1 issue when looking at new vehicles to purchase. But here is the dirty little secret you’ll never hear from a company like Anthropologie: I do those things because they save me money – not because I’m such a great guy.
Likewise, Anthro, and other companies aren’t embracing the green trend because they are good corporate citizens. They’re doing it because they know they can sell “green” products to you at a higher price. They’re selling you a product and charging extra on the self-satisfaction you receive from thinking you’ve helped the environment. This is why I have two general rules about shopping:
- Never pay full price.
- Never shop regularly at a store that has a philosophy.
Well said, Mr. R!
ReplyDeleteMr. R.,
ReplyDeleteI do think you make SOME valid points. I like to describe Anthro as "an expensive hippie store."
However, I think you may be overlooking the idea of emailed receipts keeping one organized in a tech-driven world. I'm not saying this is their main motivation, but I do like to put my emailed receipt in an e-mailbox I have labeled "Receipts" (Genius name, I know) It will sit there for a couple months until I take 10 minutes and delete all old receipts I know I will no longer need. Sometimes they sit there for longer, and that's okay too. If I need to reference the receipt on the go, I can then do so easily using my smart phone and I'm not left wondering where I put that little slip of paper. Nor do I have to figure our what to do with that little slip of paper.
Personally, I don't care if a store wants to email me their deals and specials either. As you said, never pay full price again. If they do become a nuisance, there's always that "unsubscribe" button at the bottom.