But the neighborhood coffee house, locally famous for its siphon coffee and, you know, actually giving people a tangible product, loses their lease in the same building.
Beyond the obvious business-school answer that this visionary into the world beyond was also simply more successful at controlling expenses and driving revenue, how is this possible? How is it possible for them to drive any revenue at all?
What is it about fortunetellers? They must have to charge fairly significant fees just to pay for their rent, lights, taxes, and whatnot. Then they have to pay much the same things for their own homes. Add in car expenses, or transit passes, and it must add up to quite a bit indeed. How do they do it? How is it that their customers feel they are getting value for all the money they are shelling out?
Many people might liken this to organized religion, and point out that the U.S. is also the one developed country which has extensive religious participation. But, the church or synagogue doesn’t charge you $50 a visit, and you don’t have to pony up money if you’re inclined to pray or to read whatever scripture is applicable. You can’t say that about the palmist who is still holding forth in the same complex.
But how fortunetellers do it?
Selling tangible products is a tough business. There are suppliers to be paid, workers to be paid, inventory to be kept, competition from other businesses selling pretty much the same thing.
Telling people what they want to hear is easy the trick is doing it with a straight face. I know I would not be good at it.
Fortune tellers have very little overhead compared to something like a coffee house, and they can charge whatever their customers are willing to pay. If they’re good at what they do (convincing the gullible that they can actually do anything), they can charge a lot for doing little but talking. I understand that Sylvia Browne (an admittedly extreme example) charges $850 to talk to you on the phone for 20 or 30 minutes.
Cost of good sold (variable cost) is effectively zero. Once their overhead is covered, everything’s profit. And there are a LOT of gullible people out there.
The church or synagogue, however, is not telling you what you want to hear about yourself or claiming to be able to predict your future (or telling you what you want to hear about your future). A palmist or fortuneteller who is good at what they do is doing those things.
Some Christian churches require that you tithe 10% of your income to be a member (as instructed in the Bible, after all.) And while most churches don’t require it, you will quickly find yourself ostracized if you don’t donate.
And charismatic/fundamentalist Christians frequently make predictions about the future, though it’s mostly about when Armageddon & the Rapture will happen. Of course, the flock doesn’t seem to care when the predicted war between Russia & Israel doesn’t happen by 1996, but people are gullible like that. I think it’s because most people want to be deceived – they’d rather believe the comfortable lie than the cold hard truth, and they’ll pay any price for the illusion of an orderly world ruled by a kind, loving God. :rolleyes: