Shopping Cat

Product Quality versus Product Sales

2012-01-31T20:42:00.000-06:00

In late 1980s and early 1990s, Eastern European countries under communist governments began to open up and convert from central-planned to free-market economy. Western businessmen and analysts were able to travel extensively and look deep into all aspects of Eastern European industries. I saw, on CBS's "60 minutes" show, someone who put out a few points on what he found.

[1] These countries still possess top-tiered knowledge in many areas of industries, from materials science to chemistry, etc.,
[2] They knew how to apply these knowledge to manufacture the best products, BUT
[3] They did not have the market to sell the products, as the market was limited to only among countries with communist governments. Also, since the quality was good, the products had a longer life, thereby canibalizing the sales volume. The person saw a plant which was running only 3-4 months every year because it produced too many good products that did not need frequent replacements.

This story came to play...

A few years later I accepted a job offer and moved to a new region. One day while driving I noticed a store-closing sale was going on. It was a small hardware store. I had never been to that store before as it sold mostly building materials with a small retail room. I was not a home builder, nor was I familiar with these items. But with my experiences of plowing through store-closing sales there MIGHT be some good bargains. So I went there a few days later and stepped into the store.

It was no surprise that most of the store's items could be found in other hardware stores. But I saw one thing that was totally new to me. The store sold boxes of incandescent light bulbs with an unremarkable package design: white with orange background and black letters. It seemed to be designed by a college art student, content to get it out and move on. It was not a brand name I knew: GE, Sylvania, etc.. It did however, state that it was made in Hungary.

The "60 Minutes" report from a few years back resurfaced in my mind. How come I found Hungarian-made light bulbs in a small American hardware store? Were they trying to export to western countries to increase sales? How about the quality? How did they convince the small hardware store's buyer that this would be a good product? These questions quickly ran through my mind. I seldom had such a puzzle to piece together.

Moments later I made up my mind: I would give this light bulb a shot. Its price was, after the discount, a bit better than what I would spend elsewhere. After all it was just a light bulb and did not cost a lot. If it was bad I could just write it off as a little bad investment. If it was good I would have a story to tell (to my guests and to my children). I had very little to lose.

I bought several boxes. Our home's bedrooms all have ceiling fans and multi-bulb lighting fixtures. I put one of the Hungarian-made light bulb in each of my kid's bedroom ceiling fan light set. As a comparison I put in bulbs from other brands in the same set. Over the years, as the kids turned on their bedroom light to read, play or chat, light bulbs from other brands kept burning out and getting replaced, but NEVER from those Hungarian-made light bulbs. They had grown to know that we had a couple of light bulbs that needed no replacements.

Now comes the hard, or heart-breaking part. Over the years I had tried to search for that brand over Internet to see if any stores still carry the products. The answer: NOT FOUND.

很多 Garage Sale! 該去哪一家呢？Too Many Garage Sales! Which ones should we go?

2012-01-22T00:22:00.000-06:00

Garage Sale的廣告來源如下，請先注意住家附近的樹上或公告欄或是放在地上的小看版，還有社區的網頁，有些社區不能自己就隨時辦Garage Sale，要先去登記天數及物品，不然警察伯伯會上門來拜訪喔！

Garage Sale! 該去哪一家呢？很簡單啦：

1。如果廣告上列出銷售的東西，先去有我們需要的東西的地方。

2。去房價高的地區：這些房價高的地區所辦的 Garage Sale通常東西都不會太差。

3。先去開張早的地址：所謂早起的鳥兒有蟲吃啊！好東西很快就被人捷足先登買走了。

4。了解物品的原價：那些 garage sales 不易買得到的東西，就不必殺價殺得太兇。我買了不少名牌的領帶(Christian Dior, Givenchy, Gucci 等等)，一條才五毛。

衣服換季拍賣的時段 season-ending sales for apparels

2012-01-17T00:46:00.000-06:00

住在四季分明的地方，商店都按著天氣換季選衣服賣。不過商店也知道夏天賣不出冬天的衣服，冬天賣不出夏天的衣服，所以等到春天剛開始萌芽，商店就迫不及待要把冬天的衣服降價出清。您如果不是很追求流行的話，正好可以利用這些出清大打折時段去買些衣服來放著。

一般來說，美國通常在每年的二、三月間是商店打折出清冬衣的時間，到了九、十月開始出清夏天的衣服。有些年耶誕節、歲末的購物季節業績不良（例如 2008， 2011年），商店不會等到二月就開始有很多衣物大打折想脫手換現。

最近發現Walmart 賣的衣服和大衣質量都不差，一件羊毛大衣才$25，冬天帶帽子的防寒大衣$18，牛仔褲 $12 ，當然這些衣服在台灣買更便宜又好看，但是台灣的衣服除非是專做外銷的，很少會考慮美國當地天氣的不同，如在下雪地區，出門時衣服是一層層穿上去，到了屋內有暖氣，又一層層脫掉，所以我從台灣帶來的大衣是單薄了些。

如何選購電暖器 (heater)

2011-12-19T20:13:00.005-06:00

我這的暖氣是用瓦斯的，想省點瓦斯費，因為平常都在房間內，很少去客廳，沒必要整屋子開足暖氣，但很怕傳統電暖器風扇的運轉聲音，又怕睡覺看到橘色亮光的那種電暖器。於是小粉絲跑去問購物貓的意見。

以下是購物貓大大給小粉絲選購電暖器的建議~~

I saw a sign in Menards breaking down the heater types into 7 or 8 categories. I could only remember some of them:

Convection Heater

Ceramic Heater

Baseboard Heater

Infrared Heater

Oil-Filled Radiator Heater (這個很安靜又暖，但是請小心暖爐周圍不要有易燃物，我常常會偷懶想把衣服放在電暖器上面，真是要小心！)

See this link http://www.todaysconcept.com/heater-info.html

Most of what I saw at Menards are priced under $50. I have a oil-filled radiator heater and a ceramic heater.

呵呵，我的房間堆滿了Black Friday 的戰利品及箱子和塑膠袋，於是購物貓大大看不下去了，說了些警告我的話如下~~

I am more worried that with all the things laying around in your bedroom, when some of them falls in or around the heater they could catch fire. You should clean out your room before considering putting up a heater.

意思就是我要先整理好房間才開始用電暖器就是了。購物貓怕我引起火災，他想的好多啊！

這是一個新開始

2011-12-13T19:53:00.000-06:00

購物貓~ Shopping Cat 在美國玩 deal 超過20年，至今仍保有收集各家 coupon 的好習慣，有一天和購物貓粉絲說他急著去買一樣東西，結果是一份只賣 $1的報紙內夾一大疊的coupon，雖然 Shopping Cat 很有耐心解答各式在美國生活大小問題，卻懶的寫部落格分享他的心得及血淚史，PS: 這是藏私吧！(逃)

今年黑色星期五 Black Friday，購物貓粉絲跑去Walmart 搶特價品，卻被購物貓恥笑。做為一個購物貓粉絲看不下去了，只好默默幫 Shopping Cat 打理好一切，就等Shopping Cat 大大填文章就好。(迷之音：什麼時候小小粉絲可以拿到薪水啊？)

參考連結：

Black Friday 在Walmart 守夜囉！~~ By 旅美熟姐日記