Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The McDonalds influence

I reckon there must be half a dozen cans of shoe polish and suede protector in this house, and they would all have been side-purchases , along with shoes or boots. It's like, every time you buy shoes from a non-discount shop (or maybe even those ones too), the sales assistant says something along the lines of "and would you like some shoe polish/leather conditioner/suede protector with that?". And I always fall for it, even if it's 10 bucks a can and ends up filling a forgotten corner of an out-of-reach shelf in the spare room.

I wonder how much of that stuff would get sold if it wasn't always pushed as the only thing to keep your precious shoes from looking less-than brand new.

Personally, it would be healthier on my wallet if they just offered a small bag of fries.

5 comments:

Miss Philipa Bean said...

I know what you mean! My shower shelf is groaning with all the useless & overpriced products I've been persuaded to buy after having a tingly massage or an eyelash tint at a beauty salon. I'm a total sucker if I've spent 30 minutes in a dimly-lit, scented room with surround-sound whale music!

Watson Woodworth said...

Yeah, I have the leather conditioner for the jacket I bought three years ago. Never used it.
They actually get in trouble if they don't push that stuff.
If my retail memory serves.

Violet said...

miss philipa bean: I'm not surprised. It's really taking advantage, when they wait until you're putty in their hands.

nigel: oh really? it's not that surprising, I suppose.

Watson Woodworth said...

Oh yeah, "thou shalt sell".

Anonymous said...

I heard that they get commission on that stuff, which is close to what Nigel said.