Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 10:36:54 -0500
From: “John Dykers M.D.”
Subject: Pittsboro PTA Thrift Store
Trashing a damaged item priced at $3 instead of taking an offer of $2 is prima facie absurd.
This reminds me of Siler Crossing losing Food Lion as an anchor store by demanding a rental high enough that Food Lion just built their own store! So we have a shopping center that is largely idle.
The PTA store is losing money with such a policy and the person responsible is violating every principle of a free market as well as their responsibility to maximize revenue for the Parent-Teachers Association. Maybe the management just does not want to haggle over price. Price point and contract law provide for “a willing buyer and a willing seller”. So the seller also has to be “willing”. And has the right NOT to be ‘willing’. I am trying to think of a neutral way to say that this. If the seller is not ‘willing’, on its face this is either laziness, buttheaded, corrupt, stupid/ignorant; I guess ignorant is the best face one can put on this, as ignorance is correctable.
I hasten to add that I have never personally been in the Pittsboro PTA Store and do not know any of the persons working there. Thus I have no personal axe to grind. I am relying entirely on algums63079’s account as it appeared in the Chatlist. If any person knows a more valid explanation, I would hope so, and apologize for butting in a derogatory opinion. Otherwise, corrective action would seem appropriate. The school budget is supposed to be helped by revenue from the PTA, so there would seem to be a taxpayer interest that the revenue from the Thrift Store be maximized. The “decider” in this case would have to make the argument that ‘haggling’ would be costly and drive down revenue. Does not seem to hold water in the case as described.
John Dykers