Why, Lord, Why?
If I actually had a readership, then I'd be able to call this a bleg, but instead it's more of a muted bleat (not a Lileks-bleat, though, I hope) into an uncaring void:
Why do businesses selling items, especially food products, seem so frequently and repetitively unresponsive to obvious supply/demand imperatives? I present you two examples.
(1) There was a time, about a year ago, when I was eating from KFC roughly once a week. I always went towards the end of the day, and I always ordered Extra Crispy. About 40% of the time, they said things like "We're out of the crispy," or "We don't have any more crispy wings, is regular ok?" or "It'll be about a ten minute wait for the crispy chicken." Now, I was in this KFC between 15 and 20 times over a four to five month period, and they never ever said this sort of thing about the Regular chicken. And yet, very frequent shortages on the Extra Crispy. So: clearly, there was some greater demand for Extra Crispy than they were satisfying. Why not just make an extra [lump sum] of Extra Crispy every day?
(2) The dining area downstairs from my office puts out an array of donuts and danishes in the morning. The donuts include both the kind, broadly speaking, that I like, and the kind that I don't like. I can't really articulate the difference, but the kind I like is lighter colored in dough, looks like it's fluffier, and is probably more artificial and even less healthy than the kind I don't like. By about 9:30 or 9:45 they've collected the remaining donuts and danishes on one plate set off to the side while they wipe that area down in preparation for lunchtime setup. Always left on the plate: a bunch of donuts I don't like. Never left on the plate: donuts I like. The donuts I like (whatever the frosting/glazing flavor situation) are always gone by about 8:45, and the bulk of the other kind goes unbought and uneaten (by paying customers, at least). Again: what gives?
Just have more good donuts and then I'll buy them, people. It's not that difficult. I don't buy the other kind. I want to buy your donuts, but you won't let me. It's infuriating.
Why do businesses selling items, especially food products, seem so frequently and repetitively unresponsive to obvious supply/demand imperatives? I present you two examples.
(1) There was a time, about a year ago, when I was eating from KFC roughly once a week. I always went towards the end of the day, and I always ordered Extra Crispy. About 40% of the time, they said things like "We're out of the crispy," or "We don't have any more crispy wings, is regular ok?" or "It'll be about a ten minute wait for the crispy chicken." Now, I was in this KFC between 15 and 20 times over a four to five month period, and they never ever said this sort of thing about the Regular chicken. And yet, very frequent shortages on the Extra Crispy. So: clearly, there was some greater demand for Extra Crispy than they were satisfying. Why not just make an extra [lump sum] of Extra Crispy every day?
(2) The dining area downstairs from my office puts out an array of donuts and danishes in the morning. The donuts include both the kind, broadly speaking, that I like, and the kind that I don't like. I can't really articulate the difference, but the kind I like is lighter colored in dough, looks like it's fluffier, and is probably more artificial and even less healthy than the kind I don't like. By about 9:30 or 9:45 they've collected the remaining donuts and danishes on one plate set off to the side while they wipe that area down in preparation for lunchtime setup. Always left on the plate: a bunch of donuts I don't like. Never left on the plate: donuts I like. The donuts I like (whatever the frosting/glazing flavor situation) are always gone by about 8:45, and the bulk of the other kind goes unbought and uneaten (by paying customers, at least). Again: what gives?
Just have more good donuts and then I'll buy them, people. It's not that difficult. I don't buy the other kind. I want to buy your donuts, but you won't let me. It's infuriating.
Labels: Personal
posted by medrawt at
19:32
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