Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Upsell

The upsell is driving me insane.

A few days before Christmas, I was in line at a Target, but I couldn't check out because the cashier spent (literally) 10 minutes explaining how a loyalty card worked to a customer in front of me. It didn't matter that there were half a dozen people in the same line with me--the upsell was more important than customer satisfaction.

Checking out at a grocery store? The cashier will ask you if you want to buy a toothpaste, or breath mints, or spend a minute explaining that your receipt entitles you to 2c a gallon off gas.

Now, though, it's gotten worse.

We went to a restaurant on Christmas Eve, and when the waiter came to greet us, he said, "Before I take your drink orders, I want to tell you about the special New Year's Eve event we're having here."

Holy shit--restaurant upsell!

I see no positive end game here, because clearly it's profitable for all these retail businesses to do this. So it's not going to stop.

Do they upsell at funeral homes? If not, they will soon.

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