Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Do you think it would be ethical to go to a B&M store and ask a sales assistant to spend an hour demonstrating, let's say, different models of televisions to you, and then go and buy your preferred model online?
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Sure (or perhaps more accurately: I don't believe ethics enter into it at all). The cost to the B&M store (for the sales assistant's hour) is the same whether I buy it there, down the street, online, or not all. It would be just as "ethical" as asking the sales assistant to spend an hour demonstrating and then deciding not to buy anything, no? Intent doesn't enter into it. I see the salespersons hour as a perfect example of a sunk cost--it's incurred whether he/she is demonstrating things to you, someone else, or picking their nose behind the counter.
If it's unethical to use up a salesperson's time without purchasing something, then surely that applies across the board right?