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(1)In this summary you will learn
- How the discount retail industry developed
- What deceptive pricing tactics many discount retailers use to reach into your wallet
- How discount stores have changed the U.S. and global economies
- How cheap merchandise carries hidden costs
Why you should read Cheap
Science journalist Ellen Ruppel Shell offers many insights in this terse, but engaging overview of the discount industry, starting with the image of shoppers browsing mindlessly through discount store aisles filled with shoddy merchandise. Her mix of history, economics and psychology delivers a disturbing portrait of the discount industry from the industrial era to the present day. Some of her examples and arguments are repetitive or simplistic, but after reading this book, you’ll think twice about every price tag or special promotion. Shell, who acknowledges that she’s a bargain hunter, too, never gets preachy. Instead, she prompts you to examine the hidden financial, political, environmental and global costs of discount culture. Many so-called bargains are not good value, and shoppers pay extra tolls in wasted time and resources. getAbstract recommends this book to shoppers, economists and executives in the retailing and manufacturing industries.
About the Author
Ellen Ruppel Shell is a contributing editor for The Atlantic. She is a science journalist, professor and co-director of the science journalism graduate program at Boston University.
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| Joey Espinoza | December 1, 2011 |
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Not much retail information that I didn't know about, however from a historic standpoint it's interesting. |
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