The locals are going to remember exactly who shoved it to them when it was really tough,
Sorry, but the merchant I am going to respect is the one who was able to supply the community when things got rough. The man who sells out his stocks in five minutes and shuts down the store when he it is needed most is no good to me.
The business who will pay whatever it costs to replenish critical supplies is best serving the community. The people who don't understand this principle are the pinheads.
The business who will pay whatever it costs to replenish critical supplies is best serving the community. The people who don't understand this principle are the pinheads.
Oh, you might be surprised.
There seem to be a proliferation of pinheads like nobody's business.
Some time ago, I encountered some folks who lived in a small town (a very small town) a few miles away from the "medium-small" college town where I lived.
They explained to me how proud they were about driving out any new business that came to town. Some guy would come to town, set up shop, "invest in the community", and the locals would intentionally avoid the guy like the plague, just to make sure he went belly-up.
Why?
Because he was an "outsider".
I am not making this up.
You can't make crap like this up.
Needless to say, that town did not -- and does not -- prosper. But, they're damn proud of their track record of keeping "outsiders" from setting up shop in their town.
Yes, they really would rather "do without" than tolerate some "outsider" setting up shop in their l'il town.
If you want to succeed in running a business in that town, rule one is that you gotta be from that town.
No, merely moving there, buying a house, opening a store, and patronizing the other businesses won't cut it. You're an outsider, because you weren't born there. So who are YOU to come to their town and think that YOU'RE gonna (*gasp*) make money in their town?
Now, it's obvious to anyone with the proverbial two synapses that it couldn't possibly have been that way forever, for the simple reason that if it was, they never would have had a town in the first place.
But, the decades of state-sponsored agitprop has taken its toll on rural America. The results are obvious: mass numbers of "po whaht trayush" on "the welfare", a visceral contempt for business -- expressed -- sublimated, if you will -- as a hatred of "outsiders" (not much worry of "insiders" starting a business, since they're for the most part either stupid -- and on welfare -- or, clued, and outta there as soon as they reach the age of majority).
I'm sorry, but I just don't see too much of a happy adventure for this country in the near future. Beyond that, I think it looks kinda bleak.
"The business who will pay whatever it costs to replenish critical supplies is best serving the community. The people who don't understand this principle are the pinheads."
Nothing is preventing businesses from paying whatever price necessary to bring in critical supplies, and state law specifically allows them to raise prices, during disaster conditions, if the cost of acquiring goods is greater.
"Sorry, but the merchant I am going to respect is the one who was able to supply the community when things got rough. The man who sells out his stocks in five minutes and shuts down the store when he it is needed most is no good to me."
Not according to the only one on this forum who actually happened to be a merchant during a hurricane disaster.
Ask him if he's a pinhead.