Rosetta Stone - I hear and see their ads on the radio and television I see their booths at every terminal of every airport. I just can’t imagine that there would be that much demand for learning foreign languages to warrant that type of marketing expense.
You only need like two customers to fund the entire operation, with the prices Rosetta Stone charges.
I keep expecting to hear that Batteries Plus has gone bankrupt. I know everyone needs batteries of some kind, but I really doubt many people make a special trip there just to buy the common AA’s, C’s, etc. that are available in every grocery and convenience store everywhere. It wouldn’t seem like enough of us need the remaining types often enough to support a nationwide chain. Apparently I’m mistaken.
There’s a store near my office, the name of which I don’t remember, but it sells pinball parts and supplies. I can’t believe it’s still here.
Also, I haven’t used them myself, but I’ve heard great things from everyone I know who has used them. If I did want to learn a language, and couldn’t take a real class, they’d be my first choice.
Maybe they do most of their sales online these days.
Shoe repair. I see these places in the mall, do the math in my head, and wonder how they make any profit or even manage to pay the lease.
Places like 7-11 that are open 24/7. Do they seriously make enough in sales at 2 or 3 in the morning to justify paying even minimum wage to staff the place?
Actually, it isn’t as expensive as it sounds in all liklihood. They are most likely buying air time on a "remnant "basis, not on a scheduled or prime time basis. This means they are purchasing very cheaply unsold air time. The production costs for producing the TV ads is in the $200,000 range and can be used indefinately, spreading that cost over thousands of ads and years of time. So, any ad you see on cable, is probably costing somewhere between $200 and $400. Make a couple of sales of a high margin product like this per airing and $profit!
I am moderately decent at Spanish, but wanted to brush up for a trip to Peru. I mostly wanted to go over high school Spanish two level stuff-- you know, verb tenses, stuff like that. I picked up RS, thinking it’d be great, cut to me screaming at my computer, “WHY IN GOD’S NAME ARE YOU JUST SHOWING ME PICTURES OF WINDOWS AND CATS? I WANT TO LEARN THE CONDITIONAL TENSE, SHIT.” So, while I suppose it might be helpful for a total n00b (and fwiw, I had both levels of their Spanish program), I was just pissed off.
They don’t make their money off AA batteries. They sell large or specialty batteries into corporate accounts.
I worked graveyard at a Chevron a few times. More people would come in during the night than you’d think. Usually folks came in between 11 and midnight after parties or whatever. It’s also a good time to restock the freezers and clean the place up, and if the pumps run 24/7 (no reason they shouldn’t) it’s a good idea to have an employee on hand in case someone tried any shenanigans.
But yeah, I could go hours between midnight and 5 am without talking to someone.
For me, it’s free to play MMOs. Sure, they push their paid stuff on you all the time, but it surprises me that there’s enough people willing to buy the premium stuff that not only do they break even but they actually make a decent profit. Dungeons & Dragons Online has benefited enormously from going F2P, which just baffles me.
I’m talking about places that don’t sell gas. I know of at least one 7-11 near me that doesn’t (do any?).
I do get the point about restocking, etc. That’s something you’d want to do during quiet times, and as long as you have someone there doing that then why not make the occasional sale if they happen to come in? Even so, it strikes me that you could do all of that maintenance stuff and still be able to close at maybe 2 or 3 am.
Yeah, some 7-Elevens sell gas.
I’m getting into WAG territory here, but convenience stores are ripe for break-ins given the amount of liquor and food they have, usually guarded only by large glass windows. May as well pay someone to be a cheap security guard for a few hours.
In SE Michigan, it’s very rare for 7-Eleven to sell gasoline. I can only think of one that does, and it’s a newer one, so maybe we’re going to start to get more.
Free to play works a lot better than any other model I’ve ever seen. It allows a large community to form, which is vital for the success of any online multiplayer, and it also allows a continuous profit from those who want a better gaming experience. Once you’re hooked on the game, of course. Who’d keep paying for a game that they weren’t already drawn into and invested in?
There’s like one every two blocks on the upper east side of Manhattan. I can’t figure it out either. Must be some grandfathered-in something or other because businesses come and go around them within months.
There’s no liquor in convenience stores in Pennsylvania, yet we have them, with no gas, open 24/7. Maybe people would break in for the microwave burritos? I don’t know, maybe they would.
The whole premise of Netflix is utterly absurd. “You’re going to send movies to people in the mail? And there’s no late fee? O-kaaaaaaay.”
The crafty, nick-nacky stores that are in malls and small towns and stuff. They sell scented candles, hand-painted napkin rings, dried flower wall hangy things, jars of home-made pickled albino asparagus, and toothbrush cozies. You know the ones. Do they really sell enough of this cheap crap to even pay the electricity bill? Let alone wages, taxes, rent, heat, and telephone? I just don’t get it.
I’ve got two:
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Video arcades. With everyone owning a computer or console system, who frequents these places anymore? What few games they do have at places like a “Dave and Buster’s” or random pizza place usually now want a dollar a play and are broken 50% of the time from a kid breaking the controls or spilling their drinks on them. I haven’t played a real arcade game in close to a decade. Somehow though, they manage to hang on.
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Big Lots and other close out $0.99 type stores. These are a marvel of crap and while their prices are low because everything is an overstock of some kind, they tend to be large stores with lots of square footage that translates to lots to pay in rent. Their inventory is constantly changing, and is, by definition, stuff that no one would buy at a normal store. So, you have a constantly rotating supply of junk. Even if I was in the market for junk, I wouldn’t drive down there because I wouldn’t know whether they might have the particular junk I was looking for. If they do have what I’m looking for, they might occasionally make a sale of …$0.99. What kind of business model is that? About the only time I will go into one is if I am shopping at a store in the same area where one is located, and I need to kill some time.