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| Evil Grocer |
There was once an evil Grocer in a kingdom that had only two grocers to supply the hungry peasants. This grocer was greedy and a bully and frequently stole from his suppliers while jacking up his prices to the peasants. He laughingly would tell them “ go to my competitor if you think you can get a better deal” knowing full well that the competitor was doing the same thing. The peasants felt squeezed but as the competitor was actually born in the kingdom they often favoured him more than the evil grocer who was from a distant kingdom. This made the evil grocer mad so he hired equally evil crows as servants to put more pressure on his suppliers. One day an honest supplier who had been selling the evil grocer amphorae of wine thought that it would be a good idea to reward the peasants with extra quantities of wine at the same price as the normal sized amphora.
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| Honest Supplier |
He said to the evil crow servant “As you buy a lot of my wines I wish to offer you this deal first. I will sell you amphorae that are half as big again as the normal size but at the same price as the normal sized ones. You can make your profit and the peasants will get a good deal as a reward for their loyalty to you and to my brand” The evil crow servant said “Nah. I don’t care about rewarding the peasants and I think that it is a stupid idea. Take it to my competitor if you like but don’t bother me again. And by the way, I’ve just put up the compulsory ‘marketing’ levy to you” Feeling dejected the honest supplier went to the competitor and offered him the same deal. The competitor was excited and said “Thank you honest supplier. This will reward my customers greatly and I can see an opportunity for selling even more than normal of your wonderful product. I will take all the larger amphorae that you have”. The honest trader was happy but said that as the larger amphora was more difficult and costly to make he could not get any more made in time for the harvest celebrations but as what he had and that the competitor was taking was 10 times the normal sales volume anyway he didn’t see that there would be any problem. In due time the larger amphorae arrived and the sales were as predicted ten times the normal. The competitor was elated. The honest supplier pleased and the peasants excited. It did not take long for the evil grocer to notice and so he had his evil crow servant summon the honest supplier and said “ Why have you sold that good deal to my competitor? I want the same deal immediately” The honest supplier presented proof of the evil crow servant’s refusal of the offer and was reminded that he had been given the offer first but it fell on deaf ears. In exasperation he explained that no more of the larger amphorae could be produced in time for the harvest celebrations.
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| Evil Crow Servant |
The evil crow servant then threatened that unless the honest supplier paid him the amount of profit that he would have made if he had sold all of the amphorae to the evil grocer then the evil grocer would send back all of the other produce that the honest supplier had supplied into his store and would never trade with him again. This was devastating news for the honest supplier as this would mean that he would lose half of his business and would not be able to provide employment for his own trusty servants. The honest supplier sought an interview with the evil grocer and explained to him what his evil crow servant was doing. The evil grocer said “ My crow servant is following my wishes and I cannot counter that. Begone and think yourself lucky that we will still consider your product. Pay us the money and do not make complaints to the highest tribunals in the land. If you do so even if they find judgement in your favour we will no longer purchase your products. Away with you” The honest supplier had no alternative than to bow down to these outlandish demands and give away hard earned profits to keep the evil grocer happy.
The moral of the story? In a duopoly honest suppliers get screwed, consumers rarely benefit and fat bastards get fatter.
3 comments:
You have twisted one of my bloody parables to suit your own end. If I wasn't so bloody busy trying to sort out paedophile priests, I'd send a plague of locusts.
You're a litle bit upset about this duopoly, aren't you. I'm sensitive about things like this, I'm a teacher, I can tell.
By the way, this is a true story in parable form. The 'evil grocer' did just that to a major company with a major brand. The company paid up to prevent a boycott of its total product range at prime selling time.
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