Why do you buy where you buy

By Rennie Phillips

It's not been that long ago I heard several college-age kids talking about buying a car. There was one car they described as the perfect car. They went on and on about how great the car was and how they had to have the car. Can you guess the main reason why they were buying the car? It was the stereo. They didn't talk about the age of the car or the mileage or even the condition of the car or how the car ran. It was the stereo and how it sounded.

Dad used to call the bank in Keystone, Nebraska, and tell them he was going to buy a new car. They'd tell him to go ahead and come down later and fill out the paperwork on a loan. So Mom and Dad would go look at a car and then begin to dicker on the price with the salesman. It might take a while because I think both of them enjoyed the process; offer was met by counteroffer till both settled on a price. Probably what sold the car back then was the reputation of both the car and dealer, and I would say the reputation of the dealer was the most important.

This is still important today for many people. Many still rely on the reputation of the seller as the sole reason to buy a particular object. However, many simply are looking for a bargain. I find it amusing listening to some of the advertisements on TV and how people will buy simply because of what I would call sales gimmicks. One is if you buy right now you will save thousands of dollars. You might save that much, but what I'm thinking about is the thousands you will owe. Or the advertisement about zero interest for 72 or 84 months. Once I get the thing paid for it'll be like six or seven years old. I don't think I'll take them up on the advertisement.

What has amazed me is how people buy the most mundane things. One of the most common farmers market vegetables is tomatoes. Some will buy the biggest, prettiest tomatoes with no thought about the taste. Some will buy the cheapest and will actually compare them to store prices with no thought about the taste. Then some will buy the tomato based on taste alone. They may shop different vendors and prices, but taste is the determining factor. If it doesn't taste good, they don't want it. One thing I find interesting is that once they find a vendor who has good-tasting tomatoes they will search them out to buy again. For many, trust in the vendor is a big deal when it comes to vegetables and in what we eat.

Marge and I do the same when we buy bib overalls for me. There are some that I simply won't wear because of how they fit and how they are made. Some I'll wear, but they aren't my favorites. What I like to wear are Big Smith. Lendy, a good friend of mine, used to wear Big Smith. I like how they fit, how they last and how they are made. So we shop at places that sell Big Smith, both locally and over the internet. One large retailer sells Big Smith, but most of the time it doesn't have my size so we have to order them. But we buy based on a brand we know and trust.

One other factor that enters the buy-it-or-not issue is the salespeople we encounter. If a restaurant or fast-food joint has particularly poor service or counter people, we don't go back. We go to one spot in Scott City pretty much weekly because of the food and the service. Both are important. There are other places we have literally stopped going to because of the service and the product. They've lost some customers.

One other factor for us is how clean the business is. One outstanding business in Scott City stands out to me. I sell at a farmers market across the street from it so I notice the effort made to keep the store front clean. From the sidewalks to the store front to the lights, the place is kept clean. Same for places we eat at. If it isn't clean or doesn't smell good, we don't go back.

In the past week I've had different individuals come and buy or shop tomatoes. One stopped by and asked what I sell my tomatoes for and they just left. For them I was definitely too high. Another stopped by and asked what I sold my tomatoes for and they immediately compared them to cheap store tomatoes. Another stopped by and went to selecting which tomatoes they were taking home to eat later. Not a word was spoken about the price.

Next time you go to buy something, ponder why you are buying it. Is it the price or quality or business?