[TechniSol]

The real question here should be: "Is it ethical for someone that we grant some standing based on their relationship(author) to an industry(book selling) to make a case so nonsensical that others waste time debating the ethics of it?" ;-)

There is no understood contract, written, unwritten, assumed, scribed in goat's or other's blood, etc., that anyone who walks into a book shop or any shop is in any way obligated to buy anything. If you waste someone's time at some point they will make the decision to either inform you or make themselves unavailable for continued torture. Such is the nature of retail, and everyone has their breaking point and level of acceptable time wasted on someone who is obviously tire kicking. Frankly, if you've nothing better to do, it can sometimes at least provide the opportunity for entertainment.

What we're seeing is a paradigm shift in commerce, and trying to fix it by attempting to shame the consumer, even with the best of intentions is not the solution... So long as one is free to enter an establishment and browse, avail themselves of assistance and leave without spending a dime there is NOTHING unethical about doing so. There is no social contract involved, though a retailer might certainly like you to feel that way.

One of the basic tenants of sales since time immemorial has been the concept of "put it in their hands and it becomes real, not merely an object of desire -but now an object that can be acquired immediately." That's why B&M with stock and inventory exists, so that the customer will not pass up an opportunity to acquire it NOW -that and because if you don't have it and the competition does you've lost a sale. You usually can't sell what you don't have, unless the customer can wait and you can provide it at a better price than the alternative vendor(s) -unless you're a really good salesperson and the customer is confident you can offer service that no one else can or will. It also depends on how much time they've spent evaluating and whether they are the point where they can be persuaded to pull the trigger. You can't sell anything to anyone who cannot be moved to that point.

The paradigm shift is the offering of the same or similar products with a short enough wait time to make the customer consider the cost differential vs. the added wait time to acquire the object of their desire. With overnight, two day shipping, and extremely cheap three day services the paradigm shift has become a reality. Even more so with the availability of nearly instantaneous electronic delivery.

Part of what I do involves the selling of equipment & services to the general public. We provide free on-site quoting services and I do intimately understand the notion of having one's time wasted, but until "the competition" starts charging for those services we apparently won't be either. We face the same conundrum with online services and do-it-yourself systems, etc. While I can understand intimately how people might feel the ethics involved, until we implement a policy of charging for an evaluation and quote based on it, we can't really take the stance that anyone is doing anything wrong, but we do feel the sting on a personal basis as we are commission only and incur the cost of the wasted time and gas.

In my mind, at least a partial fix is to "qualify out" those who will never buy based on even the most basic offering being beyond what they are willing to pay, but it is not my call policy-wise and may only be my call should I decide to move on. Management, of course, feels the opportunity of being able to convince someone outweighs the risk. They, of course, are not paying the freight for those who have no intention of buying, or at least buying from us, and hope only to receive free guidance or whatever.

So, despite my intimate connection with this sort of thing, I still cannot in good conscience say that these people have any obligation to buy anything so long as we choose to offer a free evaluation and in-home quote. Would I prefer they do? You betcha, but that is the way the cookie crumbles.

Frankly, were I granted a wish, beyond the Midas touch of closing every opportunity, I'd just be happy that if people are shopping around that they inquire about price up front and save us the wasted time if there is no way they are going to do business with us based on our minimum price. This might be equated with refusing assistance if you've no intention of buying in a retail environment -one might consider it common courtesy not to waste another's time. Though, I am forced to observe that there is, in fact, nothing so common about courtesy -a stance I have concluded has likely ever been so, but simply made more obvious the longer one observes. As a company, we are always going to be more expensive than alternatives that are self-installed because we are value added integrators who provide a turnkey solution and before and after services and support.

Cheers to anyone who got this far, for this was a long one! ;-)