Author: Kim du Toit

Scarcity Scare Tactics

Business, Marketing / Advertising, Travels

Via Insty comes this silliness:

Companies in certain sectors use the same behavioral interventions repeatedly. Hotel booking websites are one example. Their sustained, repetitive use of scarcity (e.g., “Only two rooms left!”) and social proof (“16 other people viewed this room”) messaging is apparent even to a casual browser.
For Chris the implication was clear: this “scarcity” was just a sales ploy, not to be taken seriously.

Well, duh.  The oldest advertising gimmick is to threaten shortages:  “while supplies last”, “today only”, “limited to the first 50 customers”, and so on.

I’ve used Expedia quite a bit for my international travel planning (they usually handle cancellations better than the establishments themselves do), and the “only 1 room left” warning elicits a response from me of, “Oh well… if the room disappears I’ll just have to find another hotel.”

You see, true  scarcity can and does work to drive a purchase decision — World Cup tickets being a good example because it’s one event, one time, one place — but all the artificial scarcity (as above) should get just a shrug from the prospective consumer.

Even more, if the establishment uses it constantly (e.g. Expedia), it becomes just white noise:  unless, of course, the customer is a stupid dickhead, in which case they get what they deserve.

The very best reaction to this ploy is to simply say, “Well, if I miss it this time, I’ll just find another vendor or postpone the purchase until the next sale.”  Department stores, who seem only to sell merchandise when it’s “On Sale”, have learned to their cost what happens when you turn discounted shopping into an everyday event:  people only buy during “sale” periods — which is why department stores are dying.

As for the various online travel sites:  if you do find an unbeatable deal for the hotel stay of your dreams at, say, Expedia, check the same hotel’s rates at one of the other booking sites as a backup before making your decision.  (By the way, if the deal “disappears”, try calling the hotel direct;  I once got a rate lower than Expedia’s “Great Deal” at an Edinburgh hotel during the Royal Military Tattoo Week simply by asking for it.)

And ignore the bullshit.

Try This, Snowflakes

Africa, Crime

From the Daily Mail I see that Prince Ginger and Princess Caring-Slut, in a gesture of extreme virtue-signaling, are going to South Africa over the coming autumn:

British High Commissioner confirms royal tour and jokes couple will boost the economy – because there’ll be a ‘hat and frock-buying frenzy’

How precious.

Here’s a suggestion for the new parents:  by all means go to South Africa, but leave your entire security guard detail behind every time you go out.  Oh, and be sure to wear all those expensive jewels you’ve recently acquired.

The ensuing “frenzy” (of thieves going all robby, stabby, shooty and rapey) should be quite educational.

RFI: Bolt-Action .300 Win Mag Rifles

The Gun Thing

Yesterday I mentioned seeing a lovely Browning A-Bolt rifle in .300 Win Mag for sale, and I think the reason I didn’t buy it on the spot was because I’m not really as knowledgeable about .300 WM rifles as I am, say, about WWII-era Mausers or WWI SMLEs.  Having seen how effective the .300 WM cartridge is on small game, I’m thinking of getting myself a rifle thus chambered at some point in the future, but I confess to being somewhat clueless about the differences between the different brands when it comes to how they handle the powerful cartridge.  I mean:  is the A-Bolt as good as the X-Bolt, and  how do they compare with the offerings from Ruger, Remington, Savage or Winchester, to name but some?

My budget will be modest (or else I’d just get a Mauser M12 for $$$$), and I can’t afford to buy twice, if you get my drift.

Hence this RFI.  All experiences are welcome.

Back Home

Travels

Back home from our trip to New England, and New Wife is absolutely sold on the place — not to live, but to spend the odd week Down East during the summer.

I’ve been to New England (both the coast and inland) on many occasions in the past;  in fact, my very first trip to the U.S. back in Fall 1985 was to New Hampshire’s White Mountains and coastal Maine, and I’ve loved the area ever since — hence my desire to take New Wife there as part of my long-term plan to show her around the various parts of the U.S. that are not Texas.

The first couple days were cool and misty/rainy, e.g. this pic taken just outside Belfast, ME:

…and another of the Bass Harbor coastline:

…but the last three days were nothing but glorious.  Here’s one taken from our rental cottage on the Damariscotta River:

And another couple from the bridge at Southport Island:

Right-click on any to embiggen (and feel free to copy and use as wallpaper etc.).  Please forgive the pics’ imperfections:  Idiot Kim forgot his trusty Nikon and had to rely on his phone instead.  Ugh.

Finally:  while we were there, several Readers wrote to me and invited us to join them at their houses, on their boats, or for a meal/drink.  My sincere apologies for not replying to any of you:  I didn’t check my email account until last night (my vacations are pretty much that — a getaway — and much of the time we had zero connectivity anyway).  So please don’t think I was being rude.  Rest assured, the next time we go Down East, we will meet up and socialize, if the invitations are still open.  Invitations to go shooting will, as always, receive priority.

What a pleasure.  The only regret is that we missed the arrival of the tall ships during Boothbay Harbor’s Windjammer Festival.  (I think they’re scheduled to arrive there today, in fact.)

And en passant: at the KIttery Trading Post, I saw a second-hand Browning A-Bolt rifle in .300 Win Mag with a laminate (not the usual composite) stock for sale at a very  reasonable price.  I’m still kicking myself…

Been There, Done That

The Gun Thing

From Knuckledragger comes this admission of low self-control:

“My local gunshop here advertised a [S&W] Model 66-1 for $585 just recently. If I didn’t already have a Model 65, I’d have jumped all over it. As it is, I’m afraid to go in there until I know they’ve sold it because I know I’ll get stupid and put it on layaway anyways.”

I must have done that myself about half a dozen times over the years.  That said, I’ve done the other — bought the damn gun instead — probably about a dozen times.

Actually, I’ve done worse.  I once bought two guns on the same day purely on impulse, but from two  different gun stores.  Which guns?  These two:

1) Swedish Mauser M96  (6.5x55mm)(The Swede came with three battle-packs of the outstanding steel-core Hirtenberg mil-surp ammo, which pretty much sealed the deal.)

2) Inland M1 Carbine (.30 Carbine)

Yeah, like you  wouldn’t have done it if you could…

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

“Why does [US Rep. Ilhan Omar], who fled Somalia and came to the U.S. at the public expense because we’re a nation who is compassionate towards real refugees, then dedicate her life to attacking it?”

Answer:  Africa Wins Again