Off on another tack here...recently we have also had new stores open and old stores try new marketing schemes. So, 2 different places have brought by bags of goodies for me to hand out to guests. Kind of nice of them to do this but... nothing is labeled. The last one a kid showed up at the door and said hi mom wanted us to hand these things out to the guests. As it is an art store I figured it would be something recognizable. No, they also do 'home made' beauty products. So, here I am with a bagful of ? I don't know. It looks like salt with herbs in it. I haven't opened them, I won't hand them out and now I will bring them back and explain why.
Same thing happened with another place. Wanted me to hand out unlabeled bottles of what? As I guest I would assume if that was in my room that housekeeping was slacking off.
BIG name preppy apparel place asked me if I would hand out coupons to their store. Sure, no problem, they've been good to us and the mgr is a nice, helpful guy.
Every guest who has mentioned using the coupon (and buying a nice shirt or sweater for $5!!!) has said the clerks had no idea there was such a coupon out there. This has been going on for 2.5 weeks. So, it seems the same people do not work each week..
I wonder what these businesses are thinking. Not only can you not hand out unlabeled stuff but it also does the business no good as they are not providing the label with their business NAME. Surely they are not expecting you to stand there and hand out this 'stuff' and say that this came from XYZ business and you can find them at 123 Main Street!! On second thought, I think this is exactly what they are expecting!
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It's amazing how many people open a business and have no clue! Next thing you know, the business is closed down and they're blaming the economy. It's just rampant in our small towns.
A couple of weeks ago I specifically went to our local farmer's market which is more of a craft fair, since there's not much farm produce to be found there. I wanted to introduce myself to a local potter who sells at this farmer's market. I had been following him on FB for awhile. Sooo, I introduce myself, tell him I would like to feature/sell some of his items in my gift pantry and/or send guests to his 'shop'. I get a whole long sob story about how he just does this part time but would love to go full time with it, he doesn't have a shop/store and won't do anything on commission. He doesn't offer any wholesale price, so his $20 coffee mug, I would have to buy for $20 and then add some % on top of that. Oh, and he would not create any special item just for us.
WHAT?!?! Are you kidding? There's no way I would do that. So, I'm not going to promote his 'business' and I won't buy any of his stuff. This guy will never be able to be full time with his small thinking.
Do you think they look at the successful businesses and think that they're making it just because they're lucky?
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