“Convenient” doesn’t always mean “convenient”

(Originally posted on my other blog, http://thementalrambler.blogspot.com/ )

We’ve all seen the ads on tv and heard the rhetoric, “support your local business” and “support main street, not wall street”. But what does all this mean for the average person? How is it beneficial to them? Is not not more convenient to go a big box store that has everything you need? Small businesses and local businesses bring opportunities and vibrancy to a community. They support local events and organizations, and in many ways are much more convenient with location and familiarity. But some would argue that the big box stores and online retailers are even more convenient because they have everything in one location, and in the case of online retailer, you don’t even have to leave your chair. But are they really more convenient?

When you go to a big box store, you are likely to meet a different person each time you go in (and in the case of online stores you will meet no one). This doesn’t the people working there are bad, some of them can be quite knowledgeable, but they have so many people that it’s hard to have a relationship with any one person there, when you come back for help, you may get lost in the system. At a small business, however, there is a sense of familiarity, the same people are there each time you visit. You establish a rapport with the people there, they know what you like; the way you like your hair cut or your coffee order.  Here at the print shop we save all your files, so that when you come back to business card after five years, we can can get it done faster and exactly he way you had it before, without having to recreate the wheel. Unless, you really want to.

Ask yourself, is it really worth going through all the hassle of “recreating the wheel” each time to get a job done at a big retailer, just because you think it might be cheaper? Is it not better to have a sense of familiarity rather than having to deal with someone new each time? If you think about it, “convenience” doesn’t always mean “convenient.”

The Gateway Printing Co.
174 Main Street, Wareham, MA

http://www.gatewayprinting.org/