Great idea for a napkin fold.
Great Napkin Fold
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Monthly Archives: December 2012
January Sales or Huge Con?
People go crazy for the January sales, but that item you’ve had your eye on for a long time will probably never be in the sale.
I used to work in a huge department store many years ago and this is how the sales work:
Firstly, most stores have two seasons, Winter and Summer, hence why you have Winter Sales and Summer Sales. It’s an excuse for the retailer to get rid of excess stock to make room and free up the money to buy the next season’s stock.
Stores only put items on sale that are not selling. If they can’t move it, they have to reduce it.
End of line electrical goods, to make room for the newer improved feature rich product, that new Sony TV will NOT be in the sale, the old model that you don’t really want will probably be in the sale, but only because they want to get rid of it to make room for the new one, often the discount will be more the longer the item is on sale, if the store can’t sell it at -10% then towards the end of the sale they might reduce it -30%. The store is desperate to get rid of it (but it’s an old model remember.)
Stores use the sales to get rid of stock that is slightly imperfect or has packaging damage. So when you buy something in a store and get it home then realise you don’t like it anymore and the store refunds it, they can’t sell it as new, as the packaging is damaged etc, these kind of items will go in the sale.
When I worked in that department store we would be paid double money to come in on Boxing Day and clear out the China Department of all the good stock, pack it away and send it back to the warehouse. Then the pallets would turn up with all the sale stock. Slightly damaged stock, slight imperfections, printing errors where the pattern wasn’t quite perfect. All the good stuff was safely packaged away ready to be brought back out once the sales were over.
Same with shoes, all the shoes would be sent to the warehouse and all the imperfect ones would be brought out and thrown on the shelves in a jumble. Stitching errors and badly glued fabrics, look carefully at your bargain shoe, I bet the quality is poor. At the end of the sale, what’s left would be shipped back to the warehouse and the good stock sent back to the store.
All sale stock is “Sold as Seen”, you still have the same statutory rights, but if you’re aware it’s “seconds” or slightly imperfect you can’t return it. The shops normal “good will” to customer returns goes out the window during the sales.
If you buy something in a sale such as that old model new Sony TV, you still have all the same legal rights to a refund/repair as if it wasn’t in the sale. Stores that say NO REFUND on sales items are breaking the law. You can still get a refund if the item is faulty or doesn’t match the description or is not fit for purpose.
The other sales trick, is to put the price up a few weeks before Christmas only to bring it down in the sales. Sounds like a bargain, but it was just as cheap a month or so away.
Stores also package and group items together to make it sound like more of a bargain. Put three lotions and potions in a basket wrapped in cling film and throw it in a end of aisle bin dump and the customers can’t buy enough of them. They wouldn’t dream of buying these items normally.
Lastly the biggest trick for retailers is to have one big discount item that sounds too good to be true. For example a £5000 TV for £599. This item does exist, but only one of them and it’s probably already reserved by the store manager. These kind of items are used in promotional adverts and TV news stories to make the sales sound so amazing, this gets the people queuing over night. But I guarantee you won’t get that big name bargain and guess what, because you’ve queued over night you have to buy something, or you’d have wasted your time, and you’ll believe yourself that you have got lots of bargains, but really, you probably haven’t.
You may get some items at discount in the sale, but probably none of the items, you really wanted or needed, but “we can’t resist a bargain” even if it’s not a genuine one.
Items neatly on a shelf don’t attract our attention. Put a big sale sticker on it and mess them up in a basket and people can’t get enough of them.
Fools and their money are soon parted.
How to handle Christmas Shopping (The stress free way)
Aria on Air – Malcolm McLaren
Bond and Helicopters – 2 of my favourite things :)
Sticky Toffee Pudding (The best ever)
One of the best Sticky Toffee Puddings I’ve ever tasted. Once you’ve tried this, nothing else will come close.
Ingredients:
For the Date Purée:
375g Stoned Dates
375ml Water
For the Toffee Sauce:
640ml Double Cream
340g Caster Sugar
130g Liquid Glucose
130g Unsalted Butter
For the Sponge:
130g Unsalted Butter (at room temp)
375g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
3 Medium Eggs Lightly Beaten
Sift these together:
450g Strong Flour
10g Baking Powder
3g Bicarbonate of Soda
First prepare the date purée. Simmer the dates in the water over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until they are soft and the water has almost evaporated. Process them in a blender until they are smooth.
Preheat the oven to 175°C – Gas Mark 4.
Now make the toffee sauce. Pour half the cream and the other toffee sauce ingredients into a thick-bottomed pan and mix well. Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring with a wooden spoon, and continue to boil until it is golden brown. Remove from the heat, allow it to cool slightly, then whisk in the remaining cream.
Grease and line a baking tin, measuring approximately 30x24x6cm deep, with greaseproof paper.
Now to make the sponge: In a food processor or mixer, cream the butter and sugar with the paddle on a medium speed until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly, taking care that the mixture does not separate. (If this does happen, add a little of the flour and continue mixing for a minute or so.) Then fold in the sifted flour mixture slowly until smooth. Finally, add the warm date purée and mix well.
Spread the mixture in the prepared tin and bake and bake for about 50-60 minutes or until the sponge is firm to the touch. Allow to cool – it can be left in the tin. Remove the sponge from the tin and trim the outside edges. Cut it horizontally into three, then reassemble it in the baking tin, spreading two- thirds of the sauce between the layers.
Once you have assembled the pudding, reheat it in the oven at 175°C – Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes, then cut in into eight equal servings and top with the remaining toffee sauce. Serve Sticky Toffee Pudding with Ice Cream, soured cream or crème fraiche.
Thanks to The Ivy Restaurant in London for this recipe.