That would be okay if we all benefited from it; it would just be chalked up to "progress." Unfortunately, once these companies have established themselves as the only game in town, things change. Their prices go up because we don't even notice; they convinced us long ago that they were the cheapest and now we take it for granted. Because a store is part of a big chain, we assume that their pricing will always be the best, but it's not.
Saturday afternoon my partner Joan and I went grocery shopping. After fighting the crowd for an hour (Saturday afternoon, Joan reminded me, is not when you should go to a Wal-Mart Super Store), we finally got out of there and loaded our groceries into my vehicle. We headed for home, but after about a mile I noticed steam coming from the front of my Explorer. I turned around and headed for the nearest auto repair shop I could get to.
I didn't have time to shop as the smoke poured out from under my hood, so the shop I pulled into was one of the many tire store chains that advertise themselves as service centers. After an inspection by a service tech, I was told that the parts for my car needed to come from a Ford dealer, and I'd have to leave the vehicle there for the weekend. I was given a "rough estimate" of around $400, maybe less.
It certainly put a damper on my weekend. No wheels and a big repair bill; how much fun is that?
This morning I received a cheery call from the tire store. The work was now going to cost me $728, and would I like them to get started? After extracting my head from the ceiling tiles, I flatly told him no. I called my regular service shop, owned by a local guy with a superior reputation. After telling him what was wrong, he did some research and called me back. "I'll get this fixed for $500, or less, if you can get it here." I got it there two hours later.
But here's the good part: when I called the tire store to tell them someone would be picking my Explorer up in an hour, my price started dropping. I no longer needed a coolant flush, etc., which was part of the originally inflated estimate; "we can do this for $546 instead. Would you reconsider leaving it?"
What do you think I told him? Yeah, you probably figured it out. Support your local small businesses; they're your neighbors.
Mark T. Bradbury lives on the central east coast of Florida after growing up in Massachusetts. Now, after nearly twenty years, he considers Florida his home ground, but his New England roots are still very much alive. He works in the publishing business and also writes; he's the author of an eBook called "Serpent's Curse," an action-adventure set in Florida and Mexico. To purchase his book go to:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/
http://www.barnesandnoble.
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