I’ve been thinking very similarly. They used to overcharge the poor to buy the cheapest version of something (low cost, low value option, or the medium cost, high value option)
Well these days you can just market only to rich people because they live in their own universe, and not even have to worry about poor people sullying your brand with their sticker shocker and the like. Targeted marketing and online sales means a new brand doesn’t have to market to all people in a grocery aisle or whatever. They just make a luxury version of something. That’s it. The economy has focused away from and abandoned the people with money. Ta da.
Loss of 24 hour stores. It used to be profitable enough to leave places open all night for people to come in all night. Both Target and Walmart (poor people stores) have pretty much dumped it and don’t even do stocking overnight anymore. This leads to the same stores being a mess and feeling difficult to navigate (especially when its actively being stocked and you’re just trying to get past them), pushing more people to order online and pickup because its easier than trying to find it yourself and in the store the price is often wrong or just not listed.
Suddenly its not profitable to give a shit about things like customer service. It just feels like it portends that a certain number of customers now can be considered “acceptable losses.”
I’ve been thinking very similarly. They used to overcharge the poor to buy the cheapest version of something (low cost, low value option, or the medium cost, high value option)
Well these days you can just market only to rich people because they live in their own universe, and not even have to worry about poor people sullying your brand with their sticker shocker and the like. Targeted marketing and online sales means a new brand doesn’t have to market to all people in a grocery aisle or whatever. They just make a luxury version of something. That’s it. The economy has focused away from and abandoned the people with money. Ta da.
There’s lots of little signs.
Loss of 24 hour stores. It used to be profitable enough to leave places open all night for people to come in all night. Both Target and Walmart (poor people stores) have pretty much dumped it and don’t even do stocking overnight anymore. This leads to the same stores being a mess and feeling difficult to navigate (especially when its actively being stocked and you’re just trying to get past them), pushing more people to order online and pickup because its easier than trying to find it yourself and in the store the price is often wrong or just not listed.
Suddenly its not profitable to give a shit about things like customer service. It just feels like it portends that a certain number of customers now can be considered “acceptable losses.”