Customer first is Boomer business ethic, while no rip-offs or tech wanted
by Dave Masko, huliq.com
July 9th 2011
VENETA, Ore. -- David Thormahlen, a musical instruments vendor at the “Oregon
Country Fair” shows a young boy the fine points of making a guitar by hand;
meanwhile, other craftsmen – at this annual retro-hippie event that features
over 1,000 artists and crafters selling stuff – note that good business means
“the customer first, no rip-offs and no need for technology.”
Social networking -- here in a deep wooded outdoors Woodstock looking annual
festival known as the “Oregon Country Fair” – “means talking to people,
face-to-face, and with joy in your voice. There’s no hustle because we simply
want to share our goods and, yes make a profit, but in a good way. The way my
dad used to at his hardware store up in the Seattle area. It was all about your
word and your hand-shake,” says Scott, a hand-made jewelry salesman who “does
the Fair each year” and a “circuit” of like businesses up and down the West
coast, from British Columbia to San Diego. “We’re on that crafters, Renaissance
and fringe circuit of outdoor summer time events where we can do business our
way,” adds Scott who doesn’t take credit cards, doesn’t use the Internet and
doesn’t think technology works for his type of business.
In fact, there are tens of thousands of other “Baby Boomer” business men and
women just like Scott who work on the fringe of U.S. business doing it their
way.
For instance, Scott calls his mode of business “personal,” where he “connects
to customers” who like his jewelry as an art form, and are willing to spend
hundreds for a necklace woven from deer hair with a bone carving hanging at the
end.
In general, the view from these summer festival circuit crafters and business
people is to “market” their goods without the Internet.
Baby Boomers selling their goods the old fashion way
“Technology is everywhere. It’s in your face! It’s too much, and our customer
base of Boomers and others, are just tired of someone giving them a dot com to
go to. I tell them to go to me, man, to and see me at the Oregon Country Fair
or a Renaissance Fair down in Frisco or wherever. That’s our niche, no tech, no
need because we’re doing just fine without it,” explains Oregon Country Fair
shoe maker Jarvis who, along with his wife Brenda, decided to pack it in after
retiring from 30 years in the retail clothing business down in nearby Medford,
Oregon.
At the same time, Brenda admits that “life is short,” and who wants to rip
customers off for that legal tender. Who cares if you make another 10 grand
this year? I mean really, how many pairs of pants or expensive bottles of wine
do we need? I think people are turning away from consumerism due to this weak
economy. There’s looking for a better way, and that doesn’t mean kneeling down
to praise the almighty Internet.
Internet’s impact exaggerated, while washing machine does more for people
When it comes to all the hype about the Net and using tech-gadgets to market
stuff, the view from a Nobel Prize nominee Ha-Joon Chang -- one of the leading
economic advisors to the United Nations -- that “the washing machine has
changed society more than the Internet."
Such a view has not raised eyebrows here at the annual "Oregon Country Fair"
outside Eugene -- and linked with the University of Oregon’s famed “Wearable
Computing Lab” -- that was founded in 1995 at the dawn of the information-era
when people were able to transfer information more freely. Members of the
University of Oregon's brain trust take a weekend break during this 42nd
edition of the famed "hippie" Fair in nearby Veneta to enjoy what "can be done
without the aid of a computer."
At the same time, University of Oregon "Fair" volunteers play a huge role, say
Oregon Country Fair organizers, in helping with the "Energy Park" exhibits that
feature -- among other things -- a washing machine that runs on bike pedal
energy. The Fair's Energy Park also features other non-modern tech displays
that "remind visitors that there was life before the Internet," says one Fair
volunteer who's a retired professor.
Still, there are still those digital-age fans here at the Fair and nearby
University of Oregon who view the Internet as revolutionizing just about
everything.
“Not so,” states Ha-Joon Chang, a University of Cambridge, England, economist
who presents his views on the washing machine in the spring edition of Ode
magazine. Chang argues that the Internet’s revolutionary is pretty harmless,
noting that “Instead of reading a paper, we now read the news online. Instead
of buying books at a store, we buy them on-line. What’s so revolutionary? The
Internet has mainly affected our leisure life. In short, the washing machine
has allowed women to get into the labor market so that we have nearly doubled
the work force.”
Moreover, Chang questions all the hype about the good stuff the Internet is
doing for the poor. “Charities are now working to give people in poor countries
access to the Internet. But shouldn’t we spend that money on providing health
clinics and safe water? Aren’t these things more relevant? I have no intention
of downplaying the importance of the Internet, but its impact has been
exaggerated.”
The digital revolution takes a back seat to the washing machine
While the digital revolution has helped make the shift from traditional
industry, the clothes washer technology also has been revolutionary, says
Chang, because it reduce the drudgery of scrubbing and rubbing clothing.
“Like other household appliances, it has liberated women from doing household
work or doing tedious jobs as a domestic servant. A century ago, 10 percent of
the labor force worked in other people’s households. Today, very few people do.
Apart from the Industrial Revolution, which decreased the number of farmers
substantially, I don’t know of a technology that has almost abolished a whole
profession on such a scale, in such short time,” said Chang in a recent Ode
magazine interview.
Chang is viewed as one of the foremost thinkers on “new economics and
development.” His new book, “”23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism”
also details his interest in how the washing machine was more revolutionary
than the Internet.
Chang has taught at the Faculty of Economics and Politics at the University of
Cambridge in England since 1990. In addition to numerous articles in journals
and edited volumes, he has published seven authored books. His most recent
books include “Kicking Away the Ladder - Development Strategy in Historical
Perspective” which won the 2003 Myrdal Prize. His writings have been translated
into 13 languages.
Moreover, Chang is credited as working as a top consultant for many
international organizations, including various UN agencies such as UNDP (United
Nations Development Program) and UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and a number of
governments on development policies. He was awarded the 2005 “Wassily Leontief
Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought,” and has been nominated
for a Nobel Prize in Economics while also serving as a consultant to the
European Investment Bank.
Chang gets clean on the power of the washing machine
Chang likes to think outside the box, that’s why computer experts here in
Eugene and other parts of the world are intrigued by this South Korean
economist who points to the power of the simple washing machine as doing more
for society than the sacred Internet.
Thanks to washing machine technology, “women started having fewer children,
gained more bargaining power in their relationships and enjoyed a higher
status. This liberation of women has done more for democracy than the
Internet,” states Chang in a recent Ode magazine interview. “The washing
machine is a symbol of a fundamental change in how we look at women. It has
changed society more than the Internet.”
As one of the top economics professors in the world, Chang likes to challenge
his students to looking at things in a different way. For instance, he notes
that “people like you and me have no memory of spending two hours a day washing
our clothes in cold water.”
“People always think they’re in the middle of a revolution while they tend not
to realize the enormity of a change that has happened in the past,” adds Chang
in the Ode interview. “The telegraph was a revolution, but who looks at it that
way these days? The telegraph sped up the transportation of messages over long
distances by a huge factor. The fax machine made it even quicker, and the
Internet has made it a big quicker again – but really, not by so much.”
Chang also takes on capitalism with his 23 propositions
A recent review of Chang’s new book -- “23 Things They Don't Tell You About
Capitalism” in London’s Guardian and The Observer newspapers and online news
sites – not only points to the washing machine changing the world more than the
Internet, but also Chang’s view that “more education does not of itself make
countries richer; financial markets need to become less, not more efficient;
and – perhaps most shocking to Chang's colleagues – good economic policy does
not require good economists.”
Each of Chang's 23 propositions may seem counterintuitive, even contrarian,
states the Guardian, “But every one of them has a basis in fact and logic, and
taken together they present a new view of capitalism.”
"If we are really serious about preventing another crisis like the 2008
meltdown," Chang writes, "we should simply ban complex financial instruments,
unless they can be unambiguously shown to benefit society in the long run."
Oregon Country Fair puts proper business in its place as customer and not tech
based
Capitalism is not only about creating wealth, it is also about power – and
western power is waning. Economic energy is shifting to the emerging countries,
while in the west economies stagnate and politicians continue to worship at the
altar of the free market, adds Chang.
In fact, there's a plaque at the Oregon Country Fair's energy park that reminds
visitors that real business is about "serving the customer" and not about what
tech platform you're using.
Meanwhile, vendors at the Oregon Country Fair note that “people are getting
wise to technology,” stating the “wow factor is gone, and now the Internet is
viewed like a hammer. It’s a tool that we can use when needed. That’s all,”
adds Scott who sells hand-made jewelry at various retro-hippie and Baby Boomer
fairs up and down the West coast.
Original Page:
http://www.huliq.com/10282/customer-first-boomer-business-ethic-while-no-rip-offs-or-tech-wanted
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