The Homa Files

A microcosm of life in Bidenland
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Motivated by a leaky dishwasher and Black Friday ads, my wife and I ventured out to do some appliance shopping.

First stop: Best Buy … where we were “greeted” by a police car strategically positioned in front of the entrance … apparently a company self-defense reaction after the looting (err, a Psaki coined “pandemic reaction”) at one of their stores in Minnesota.

Slithering past the police car, I spotted the now commonplace “We’re Hiring” sign… an attempt to lure some government-supported couch- potatoes into the work force.

Entering the store, there were rent-a-cops prominently stationed to reassure people who might have thought that the police car outside wouldn’t stop a gang of flat screen and iPhone snatchers.

Note: I’m sure that the police presence was intended to give shoppers a (false) sense of security.  All it did for us was raise suspicions and our anxiety level: “What are they expecting to go down?”

We haven’t had to buy an appliance in years, so I was unpleasantly surprised by the price tags on the appliances. Transitory inflation?

But, not to worry … Black Friday discounts will fix that right?

There was only one dude (err, “blue shirt”) working in the appliance department … the ratio of shoppers to “blue shirts” was about 20 to 1.

While browsing, I overheard the lone blue shirt tell another shopper: “None in stock … at least a 4-month wait”.

That seemed to apply to everything … even the stuff that was in the Black Friday ad.

Note: Decades ago, I worked for a retailer.  The laws at the time were clear: If we advertised something that we didn’t have in stock, we got fined.  I guess that practice went out the door with cash bail.

Enough for shopping!

When we walked out, there were 2 police cars out front — facing each other.

Note: I’’m told that’s a standard “pincer formation” that allows the police to quickly close off an entrance.

We couldn’t wait to get home

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Bottom line: We had the full Bidenomics experience: (1) police presence (privately contracted by the owner) to protect against mostly peaceful looting and thuggery  (2) skeleton crews of store personnel (3) high prices, and (4) no inventory.

Am I better off than I was a year ago?

Nope.

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P.S. I’m not trying to dump on Best Buy.  They’re doing what they have to do given the Biden-induced challenges they face.  In fact, BB is probably doing a better job than other stores…

This entry was posted on December 2, 2021 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Behavioral Economics, Bidenomics, Economics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.