Scouting The Competition

This weekend is the tax-free holiday in Massachusetts. For those of you not from around here, it's an annual event with two days of no sales tax and many stores go the extra step of having a large sale on top of that. The holiday is basically designed to stimulate the local economy and stop people from driving up to New Hampshire (which has no sales tax) to buy the more expensive items. Saving the tax money on a $20 DVD may not be worth the hassle of dealing with the crush of people who seem to come out of the woodwork for this event every year, but when you start dealing with products which cost a few hundred dollars, it sudden seems worth it. Therefore, not surprisingly, this tax-free holiday has become known as the weekend in which everyone gets new TVs, appliances and furniture.

But, as you can imagine, when everyone shows up looking to buy big-ticket stuff at the same time, it can get a little hectic. Almost every year there is a news story about a fight at some Best Buy because they ran out of flat-screens. To try and avoid this, several smart stores have started their sales early, telling people they can come in a couple days ahead of time, do their shopping now and still save the sales tax. The thinking is that this way they will move just as much product and hopefully save their salespeople some sanity. Like I said, smart. But it's just not as much fun as stores that aren't as smart. You see, even in the stores which are sticking to only participating in the tax-free holiday on the scheduled days, consumers are still doing their pre-sale scouting. That means people are going around, checking out the inventory and deciding what they are going to buy - planning only to come in, pay their money and get out as quickly as they can. For a guy who enjoys people watching as much as I do, it can be a really interesting sight.

Now, I'm not currently in the market for any big items, so I'll be avoiding stores whenever possible this weekend. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy watching the people on their scouting trips. The other day I was out doing various errands and at one point stopped into a furniture store. Inside was a couple I would guess was in their late 50s, checking out leather couches, trying to decide which one they wanted. Right behind them was another woman around the same age, also shopping for a leather couch, who immediately sat in every single couch the couple tried as soon as they stood up. I don't know if she was oblivious to what she was doing or if she was sticking so close because she wanted to hear what the first couple thought of each one, but watching her follow the couple around the display floor you could see she was really starting to bother the wife.

Things came to a head when the couple finally settled on which couch they were going to buy. They stood there, planning out their strategy for the weekend and in no hurry to move to the next couch because this was the one they wanted. All the while this random woman stood a few feet away, patiently waiting for them to get up so she could try the couch. And as soon as they stood up and took a few steps, she swooped in and settled into the middle of the pillows. At this point the wife looked back at this woman sitting on what they had just decided was 'their' new couch and shot her a world-class death stare. Apparently, you're never too old to call dibs.

Look, I've been there. The second I decide to buy something, mentally it becomes my property and I don't like strangers touching my property. But that only happens when I'm actually in the process of buying that item. I know leaving an item in a store with the intention of buying it later comes with the risk that it won't be there when I return (after all, I'm a loyal Marshall's customer). While I do think a random person following you around a store and looking at everything you looked at has a certain stalkery quality to it, you can't get mad at people for sitting on a couch you don't own yet. You can't blame the store for trying to sell it to the person who has their cash in hand, I don't care how creepy she may be. If it bothers you that much then buy the thing today and bring it home now. If you do, just make sure to wipe it down first, because you don't know where else that couch has been.