What is the Real Cost of the Low Cost?
Think next time you buy something cheap
30 years ago the price of a plane ticket to fly from New York to Rome cost the same as the entire salary of a government employee. Today we don't want to pay more than 30 euros for a domestic flight. Some companies offer to ship a package for free or for a few euros. There are industrial machines that cost proportionately less than 30 years ago.
World Trade Organization (WTO) reads: "a country should not discriminate between its trading partners and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals." I asked a dear friend who works for this important organization "how can we compete with companies that do not respect the rules written by the WTO? Since I have found myself in the same international fairs with companies that do not respect the labor rules and those for environmental protection". The answer was very simple: "we are sheriffs without the gun".
Today, the challenge is not just for products or services that are created in countries where it is allowed to violate the rules, but also in industrialized countries where they are moving towards a low cost culture.
Let's ask ourselves the question "how much does low cost cost?" The large multinational Amazon declares that the workers who make deliveries do not actually have time to pee. While we pretend not to see the hostesses on board of low cost planes who are forced to clean the toilets and throw away the garbage, with the same hands they take care of food and, the most important thing, we forget that they have to take care of safety on board.
If a company that manufactures machinery or services cannot reduce the quality, I ask myself: "what does it have to cut to make this crazy rush towards a downward price?"
Don't pretend you don't know, look at the balance sheets of companies, a company with little margins will not be able to invest in the future. Everyone is looking for solutions to reduce costs, unfortunately often the solution is to outsource large projects to small companies that pay very low wages to make low prices. By doing this, professionalism is lost and often many companies do two things to create a low-cost product: either they do not pay taxes or they engage in illegal practices.
Next time they tell you that the price of your product is high, answer firmly and decisively: "my product costs fair, you can choose. Dear Customer You are the boss, you can take your money wherever you want; if you think my price is high means you don't need a product like mine. Make your choice. I wish you good business and remember that an entrepreneur who only thinks about money and turnover is just a shark!”
