Retail Anarchy
A Radical Shopper's Adventures in Consumption
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Why does no one blink when they are charged three dollars for a cup of coffee?
Why do grown men sleep on the street overnight to buy video game systems?
How do Dollar Stores cheerfully charge a dollar for a 25 cent pack of gum?
What are the pitfalls of Brand Name Loyalty?
And how do you get an entire car-full of pudding for free? "Stand-up economist" Sam Pocker delves into these hard-hitting questions -- and the result is a fascinating, wry, and amusing account of consumers' non-sensical habits and the stores that prey upon them. With a dash of vitriol and a dose of sarcasm, Pocker exposes the sheer inanity of marketing schemes, the plague of rude cashiers, and shows how the "little guy" can rise up and beat the system by outsmarting the stores with their overly-complicated rules for rebates. Retail Anarchy is a satirical look at the self-imposed consumer coma that America has fallen into -- and Sam Pocker's mission is to wake readers up!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From condescending ad campaigns to tricky math at the register, consumers may not realize everything they have to be upset about in the tanking economy. Self-trained economist Pocker, for one, is mad as hell, and thinks you should be too. In four wide-ranging "movements," Pocker tackles everything from Dollar General, Target and late electronics retailer The Wiz to Red Lobster and Coca-Cola to women's fashion and brand loyalty. Much of Pocker's observations are highly insightful, such as his story of ordering a Sausage McMuffin without egg and being charged for the egg anyway: "McDonald's would make an extra $95,000 a day simply... because nobody wants to look like a maniac demanding a nineteen-cent refund." Analysis of insulting marketing includes a Dominos Pizza-The Dark Knight promotion that gave pizza buyers online access to a movie trailer ("Apparently, no one at Dominos Pizza ever heard of YouTube"), and simple shopping tips ("complimentary alcoholic beverages... should present an enormous red flag") push back against retailer efforts to quash consumer common sense. Pocker is driven by crystal-clear X-ray vision and no shortage of indignant fury; the anger may not appeal to everyone, but Pocker's canny insight will resonate with any American shopper.
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