Vanilla Creamer
I’ve figured out what’s wrong with the economy – vanilla creamer. Well, maybe vanilla creamer isn’t solely responsible for all of our economic problems, but the bad economy is definitely tied to vanilla creamer.
Let me explain. Dedicated foodie that I am, I really enjoy drinking my morning coffee with fat-free vanilla creamer. I buy the Coffee-mate brand every time because it tastes much better than the International Delight variety. That is, when I can get it. You see, 9 times out of 10, my local Publix will be out of the Coffee-mate brand so I have to buy International Delight.
What’s that got to do with the economy? The Coffee-mate brand costs nearly 50¢ more. Yep, I actually want to spend more money, but my local Publix won’t let me. If it happened once or twice I could understand. But almost every time I go to the store, it’s out of stock. Now, multiply that times all the other shoppers who want the more expensive brand of an item, times all of the stores in the country, times shopping 1.5 times per week and it adds up to some serious money that’s not being put into circulation.
Okay, so maybe it’s possible that this issue is limited only to Publix and maybe it’s only the store near me. But, I bet it’s not an isolated case. I would wager you can find some form of this issue in nearly every company in America. It’s a matter of accountability. Someone needs to hold themselves accountable for knowing what their customers like, knowing their buying patterns, and maintaining inventories to satisfy demand. Then they need to hold their employees accountable for embracing the corporate vanilla creamer philosophy, and making sure their actions support it.
The sad thing is the training that could make the vanilla creamer philosophy happen is usually a front-line budget casualty when the economy is bad. Companies will spend money on hiring warm bodies who throw any old item on the shelf just so they can get their eight hours in.
It’s usually not catastrophic circumstances that cause big financial problems for most businesses. It’s the small things. If a company has the vision to fix their vanilla creamer problem, they might just excel in this shaky economy.
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