It has been a while I graced this space with a topic, I took a well deserved break to fulfill several obligations in order to pay bills as well as retain integrity but all that is done and I refuse to bore you with the details.
Merry Christmas by all means celebrate and be happy, after all its not by any of our doing that we have lived this long to see another festival of avatars with people and entire families becoming something else via role playing and then returning to statuesque afterwards many of them broke, please don’t tell anyone I said so but really, how do I mean? Just Look around you, feel the anxiety and worry of people who forget to celebrate life and other valuable gifts such as peace, health etc but are rather more concerned about what to wear, eat, and drink or even what to buy, where to go, who to hang out with and finally who to impress.
Don’t be surprised some individuals actually save all year round only for them to travel home pretending to be rich all to impress people after which they return broke, what a life. If you think it is none of my business then of course you are right. It is rather the desperation that leads to this charade that concerns me.
I recently attended a seminar of strategic writing and interacted with several people afterwards including writers visiting from Norway, Italy, Australia and other parts, one thing that caught my attention was how cheap goods and services became during festive seasons in their various countries. This is not the case in our local markets, beyond the laws of demand and supply there is the unconventional law of greed which states that “greed is greed and that is all there is to greed”. I made that up.
I remember being part of a team of market surveyors for a period of two consecutive years, our discovery was surprising and unusual, we started by speaking with customers as the first point and every one we spoke to complained about the high cost of regular goods they have been buying all year round, they blamed the festive season for the change. We moved up to the retailers of various products to confirm the situation, the retailers blamed the wholesalers for the jack in prices so once again we interviewed several of them to see if this is true, we quickly realized that it was all a blame game as the wholesalers quickly blamed importers for imported goods, manufacturers for manufactured goods and farmers along with transporters for consumables.
After surmounting protocols and going through rigorous screening my team was able to interview top officers of five major brands representing top blue chip companies in the country. The discovery at this point showed what I personally suspected from the beginning of the survey. All five manufacturing companies did not increase price rather they actually created avenues for rewarding big buyers via raffles and souvenirs inside some of the products. When we informed them of our findings from various open market and how they; the product sources have been blamed they were not surprised at all. One of the directors said his company commissioned a task force sweeping through major markets trying to enforce standard price with the help of the government and adverts on print and electronic media but also admitted that it was an ongoing battle as at that time.
Now let it sink… the traders lied and people who shop during festive season are likely to fall victim while patronising greedy traders. Sounds a little blunt but that’s how truth sounds sometimes. However those who shop from large approved stores enjoy the various discounts and rewards coming from the manufacturers that deal with these stores directly.
To balance this issue I need to say that not all traders are greedy, during our survey we encountered several of them who secretly confessed to being bullied and threatened by fellow trader because they refused to sell at the exorbitant rate others were selling. This is why it is good to move around in the market comparing prices before buying anything, that way you stand to get the best offer on any item you purchase.
It is simple; people who jack up prices for no other reason than greed, simply make unclean profit
— Sunday Imonah
My contract with the private marketing consulting firm expired and I moved on deciding against a renewal however, I kept in touch with my supervisor who happens to be a marketing guru. It was during one of my many visits to him I shared my thoughts during one of our epic conversations. One of his clients complained that no matter how much profit he made, he soon discovered that the money appeared not to have value when spent. My supervisor permitted me to give my thoughts on the matter after listening closely; I simply said it was all part of the Festival of exploitation.
It is simple; people who jack up prices for no other reason than greed, simply make unclean profit and since almost everyone else has also cued in to the fever of greed jacking up their prices it becomes hopeless except one will not spend the money made from such transaction but that is not possible, why make money if not to spend it? Such profit become almost useless because almost everyone else jacked up prices too, this in turn devalues the money due to inflation hence the predator becomes prey at the hands of another predator making it all a Festival of exploitation. By the time I was done analysing the scenario I expected opposition and counter reasoning but none came, rather my ex-supervisor offered me another job which I tuned down again.
It was my ex-boss that asked the question directing it to his client to choose — since it was December he said to him “A festival of exploitation or the saviour child” choose one?
I remember some of his general guidelines when it comes to buying;
- Always research anything you want to buy.
- Be patient.
- Avoid second hand products except you are absolutely sure of their condition but really, how sure can you be?
- Avoid buying what others are buying because you think it is popular; buy things that suit your purpose.
- Compare prices and dealers, there are always cheaper offers with high quality.
- Shop by yourself except the person you are sending knows the product better than you do.
- Do not buy more of a product than you actually need, you will lose money during resale.
- Never pay for a product you are yet to inspect.
If you want your comments and views featured on future articles or have experiences to share just leave your comment below also send a mail to admin@selahafrik.com or Sunday.imonah@gmail.com.
If the season is for LOVE then we all have a role to play to express this concept. God bless you for taking time out to read, those eye of yours will see great things… in your life. God bless us all.
About The Writer:
Sunday Imonah, also known as Lord Sonar because of his good music ears and vocal prowess, is an enigmatic Presenter on Drive Time belt, the Weekend run as well as other belts on Metro FM, He is a voice Actor and writer at heart. He has produced, written, and directed creative works for the Station and beyond. He has voiced Commercials for Companies like Afrab Chem, Cornoil, numerous pharmaceutical and beverage companies as well as religious houses to mention but a few. Sunday is a social critic who uses his writings to proffer solutions for social good.
Connect:
Twitter: @FirstSonar
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