Background

A friend called the other day and said that Thanksgiving was cancelled– she called and told her whole family after many had made long distance travel arrangements to come and join her and her husband. Why was Thanksgiving cancelled?  The refrigerator broke and they could not get a new one delivered until late next week.

Our friend found a “good deal” on a new refrigerator at a big box store in the town in which they live.  They bought the product and had it delivered the next day.  So far, so good.  However, once they got the unit unpacked and hooked up, the refrigerator did not run.  No matter what they did, the machine would not start.  Finally, they called the 1-800 repair number.  After 4 1/2 hours on the phone, the company decided that indeed the unit was bad, and would deliver a new unit.  The snag?  The unit could not be delivered until 10 days from now because the distribution center only had runs to this small town every 10th day.

Recognizing that all of the children, grandchildren and other assorted relatives and friends were invited for dinner, our friend elected to cancel the big, festive dinner because of no refrigerator.  Not sure that was not the correct thing to do– after all, we don’t want all of the guests to get sick from food poisoning.

However, we view the matter differently.  We would have used a local, hometown merchant that probably sold an equal or similar product for about the same price and never shopped at the box store.  .  Maybe the local hometown store is  a couple of dollar higher to help cover the overhead that the big box store can cover with large corporate stores.

Shopping at a local merchant, in the hometown may appear to cost more money.  However, to be inconvenienced for a 10 days with no refrigerator, cancelling Thanksgiving dinner all while trying to save a few bucks appears to be penny wise and pound foolish.  Sure, they saved a few bucks, however, the headaches and lost time trying to get the unit working was not worth the time expended.

Our Adivce

Always shop at home town, local merchants.  Yes, the prices may be higher, however, the service is always better, the hassle factor is substantially less and you are supporting a local home town business.  At the end of this story, I am sure that the lady who had the experience wishes she would have used a local vendor, instead of a big box store.

Shop local, support the home town merchants– they help build the community that you live and work in.;