just doing 'good' business

[bigbearomaha]

I have read a few articles and had some discussions with folks about 'ethical' business practices, particularly where competition is concerned.  Monopolistic practices, etc..

Now me, I am an idealist I guess.  I don't run my business to compete with anyone else.  There are other bee product and equipment stores within a 100 mile radius of me ( 3 that I know of) but I at least am not concerned with removing or eliminating so called 'competitors.  If I want people to do business with me,   I put out the best product, prices and service I can and let word of mouth carry the message for me.  That's kind of how I was raised  I guess. 

To me, wanting to eliminate one's competition shows that someone doesn't care about putting their best foot forward and instead would rather leave customers with no choice but to buy the low quality or less than best items their store wants to sell.

It's all about control and money for them, forget about being a good business and member of the community.

Now,  I must also say that  I am not a practitioner of "the customer is always right" mentality.  I believe their are people out there who have learned to 'game the system' (that seems to be the buzzword nowadays) and instead of being willing to pay a fair price, they try to get something greatly reduced or free by being noisy and threatening with legal action.

I don't play the 'game'  and  I have my employees (read family) back at all times.  I also am one to make sure that everyone who works for me is doing things exactly as  I educated them to do so that everyone is on the same page on what to do.

As long as  I am convinced that my people have done what  I set them to do,  I will not take the customers word over theirs.

If I do find that my people have gone astray,  I will be the first one to land on them with both feet.

I must admit to having been upper store management for a few national retail chains like Rent A Center and Blockbuster Video and others and I practiced the same approach there, but their corporate culture does play the game and I soon found I don' t belong in those environments.

I beleive in fair trade and fair play.  I am not in business to keep others out of business.   I am in business to try to make a living and do the best I can at something I love to do.

again idealistic, but we have to stand on our principles right?

Sometimes though,  I feel like I am a lonesome old bear out in the wilderness with this mindset of mine and that the rest of the world has bought into these ( what I feel are) unethical and low character ways of doing business.

Am I that far out on this?

Big Bear

[Jerrymac]

I am one of those people that do not care about advertisements. I don't know of any that actually affect me. How ever I was just thinking a day or two ago that I have not seen any MacD commercials for quite awhile. I have seen Burger king and sonic and Taco somethings and Pizza somethings, and I have been doing business with MacDs.  Guess those other commercials don't work. ( but I got to tell you, if I saw that King coming towards me I might have to shoot it.) Scary dude.

 If I want/need something I usually just go to the place I know where to get it. I don't spend a lot of time looking for the cheapest prices. After awhile it isn't all that cheap once you find the cheap one.... (all the wasted time looking don't you know.)

If you keep your customers happy, I am sure they really don't care what the other guy is doing.

[luvin honey]

I think your business mentality sounds excellent!

I think small businesses must be excellent. In my vegetable sales, I am literally face to face with the people about to eat my product. Even if I wasn't ethical enough to care that my product be great, that interaction alone would make a person toe the line. I think ethics are easily diluted when customers become this huge mass of unknown people. It might be harder to think about the low-quality product and care when the company doesn't know a single one of their customers...

[bigbearomaha]

It might be harder to think about the low-quality product and care when the company doesn't know a single one of their customers...

Absolutely.  This is one of the things  I meant when  I referred to being part of the community.  a business,  a 'good' business, in my opinion, is one that isn't just there to make a buck off the people in the area, it's about being a part of the neighborhood around you.

yes, I know neighborhood shops are becoming a thing of the past being replaced by malls and now, of all things, retail 'towns'  (the placing a neighborhood sized retail center consisting of nothing but commercial space as if it were a small town in  and of itself.  sheesh

By being located in areas where local folks can walk into the shop , the shop and shop keeper is more than just a retail provider, but can e an asset to the neighborhood/community.  a safe place to go.  a place to bump into folks you might not see a lot elsewhere, there is so much the local small shop can be and mean.

well, that's what this old bear thinks anyway.

Big Bear

[luvin honey]

Exactly. When you (the business owner) is actually part of the community, you have so much more invested in being a really quality business. You aren't going to sell less-than-great product to people your kids' teachers, people you work with, go to church with, etc.

I was reading Wendell Berry recently. He talks about ginormous corporations that produce meat these days compared to the guy down the road who processes your chickens for you. How can you make your needs/wishes known to the ginormous corporation?

I like the part you point out about standing behind your employees. I agree that the customer is not always right. Sometimes they're jerks, and it speaks well of you that you will stand behind your employees if the customer is wrong. I suppose that's another part of being small. If you had 3000 employees, it would be easier to disregard their feelings than a few (especially family )

Thanks for the thought-provoking post.