Hurrah! I won a gift voucher worth Rs. 500 with a validity of 6 months from a leading chain stores owned by a prominent business group! As someone with “limited” wish list, my next thought was “What should I buy”? I searched the chain store’s website for potential products for purchase. Should I buy X or Y or Z or…? After brainstorming (Do I need it?) for a few hours, finally I “zeroed in” (only this word is free!) on “X” which was priced around Rs. 500…sufficient and necessary condition (?!) to exhaust the voucher’s value. I went to the shop the next weekend, travelling a little over 10 km. As I could not locate “X”, I asked the shop personnel on the “whereabouts” of “X”! I was told that “X” is out of stock and I could buy from another branch of the store located just 10 km away. I went to the other branch and found “X”! Alas, my happiness was short lived! Product “X” did not have the specification… that I had seen in their website. I was told that “X” with the specification that I asked for would be available a couple of weeks later! I came back home with a “big nought”! Tired… I… retired to the bed, with the thought that I would be better prepared the next time! With a “heap of work” to do, I forget about the voucher in the next few months! One fine day I found the voucher (lost and found without a notice!) in the wardrobe! Oops! The voucher’s validity period was about to end! I had to rush! (Of course, I cursed myself later for finding the voucher – no prizes for guessing the reason – you will anyhow know it… by reading… the succeeding narrative!)
Armed with my previous experience with the chain store, I became smart, at least on paper! I called the store personnel and enquired about the availability of “X”. I got the confirmation that “X” was available with the specification that I had mentioned. I mademytrip.com to the chain store and found “X”! Hurrah! When I was about to grab “X”, I realized that its price was not around Rs. 500, but it was revised to Rs. 999.90 only! Disappointed, I looked for a product priced around Rs. 500! After a “search mission” lasting 2 hours, finally I settled for product “Y” for Rs. 749 only. Isn’t it a good kill? I came back home with the satisfaction that I have utilized the voucher… fully…keeping my loss to the minimum! Great! Don’t you think I lived “happily ever after” with “Y”? But the story doesn’t end there…
Product “Y” worked….only for a while…one “fine evening” (Why should it always be a morning?) a day after the warranty period – it finally ceased its “yeoman” services to my family! Immediately I got in touch with the customer care personnel to enquire about the “authorized service centres” available near my home! Fortunately (!), the “service centre” was located just a stone’s throw away from my home…if I travel by air…at around 20 km! I called the “service centre” personnel to know the “economic impact” of the product’s break down. I was told “politely”, after much cajoling, that it will set me back anywhere in the region of Rs. 300 to 700 (travel charges extra!), depending on the price of parts and services involved. Good! Should I contact a nearby “unauthorized service centre” instead? I ditched the idea…for reasons best known to me!!!
Now….“Y” lies cozily… in the “loft” of my home…unsung…unheard…err…unseen!
Many people are victims of chit funds, scams, etc. Well, I would consider myself as a victim of self-inflicted wound…due to a small piece of paper called “voucher”! It reminded me about Philip Kotler’s seminal work “Principles of Marketing”, in which he mentions about the types of demand…one being “No demand”! I bought a product in which I had no interest…not even in my “wildest dreams”… There was absolutely “no demand” from me! But the chain stores created a demand from no where (!?) in the form of a voucher…through which I was induced to buy a product… forcefully!
Economic science deals with the problems of satisfying unlimited wants with limited resources. With greater “disposable income” fueled by the desire to own things at will, people are “enticed” to dispose their hard-earned income in “impulse buying” of goods and services that neither satisfy their wants nor their needs…it only helps the businesses to “dispose of” their products, with the least possible cost!! “Crass consumerism” has taken over the world by storm and people have become its puppets! In case, you want to avoid impulse buying, wear blinders…as in horses!!
After the “GYAN”, the story…further…
A few months later, I made a cost-benefit analysis on the voucher! I found that for spending Rs. 500 voucher, I actually spent Rs. 1200 per conservative estimates without using SAS, SPSS, et al. (includes the time of 3 hours and cost spent on internet search, a travelling distance of 80 km for 5 hours with accompanying pollution caused by my vehicle and other vehicles on the road, time spent in the shop for 4 hours, cost of contacting the authorized service centre, opportunity cost of taking rest instead of spending the 12 hours in buying the product, and finally the cost of heartburn – What else? Gelusil®) – a net loss of Rs. 700! Is this called a “pyrrhic victory”? –where the loss is more than the gain from a victory? End of the story? No, read on!
Life went on smoothly for a couple of months… till I won another voucher for Rs. 500 that can be availed of on a minimum purchase of Rs. 5000 only and can’t be clubbed with any other offer! I wondered the reason why God bequeaths me with vouchers…regularly…without any reason or logic! Any takers for the voucher? I can give it for free…but be prepared to “pay the price”!
Signing off…without a voucher
P. Vidhyasagar Arya
NB: 1. This blog is a fictionalized version of true events!
2. If you replace the voucher with any other alternatives such as offers from apps, the story will not change much!!!
3. Don’t pick pot…holes or craters in my narrative…for example, don’t ask me why didn’t I try online shopping! Did you “ever” pick a hole in the Bollywood movies you watch regularly?
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are “purely” mine, and any reflection or refraction (!)… resemblance to the opinion of anyone else is purely coincidental! Please do not sue me…will give you the voucher for free!
Please read other blogs from my stable…you will vouch for it!