# Why do parents stop buying? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873 "2012-05-23T20:25:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/81 "2012-05-24T18:51:50Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Others have given good rationales as to why this is not true. I’ll just say this: you are grossly oversimplifying the purchasing model and I can’t tell if it’s purposeful or if it’s because you just don’t understand the material. But people don’t buy something just because they like it. So go back to your textbooks and figure it out. I guarantee you an expanded rationale is in there. Sounds like **Diamonds** went to school but didn’t get an education. Perhaps he took an introduction to marketing class. He did well in that class. The next semester he took the same class. Again and again. Anyway, I asked Johnny’s parents why he didn’t get chips and a soda. Most of us already know what his parents said: “BECAUSE I SAID SO!” ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/82 "2012-05-24T19:47:15Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I’m so curious…because this type of behavior goes against everything I’ve learned about marketing and sales. The overall model I’ve learned is Product —\> Consumer Likes Product —\> SALE! And it goes in a cycle. The cycle is only broken when the consumer stops liking the product or if the product is too expensive. Or poor customer service. Your teachers suck. Look into taking classes in [Behavioral Economics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economics) instead of the old school “[rational actor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_actor)” style [Classical Economics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_economics). The rational actor theories are terrible at predicting the behavior of actual humans in a microeconomic sense. Start by reading the works of [Daniel Kahneman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman) and open yourself to understanding people as more than dollar signs and robotic decision-making processes. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/83 "2012-05-24T22:39:31Z")
A better question may be, based on the one-time-ness of the hypotheticals, why the anomalous purchases were made, rather than wondering why they did not continue. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/84 "2012-05-24T23:53:48Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Sounds like **Diamonds** went to school but didn’t get an education. Perhaps he took an introduction to marketing class. He did well in that class. The next semester he took the same class. Again and again. Are you saying that her questions about why you can’t sell things you just find and don’t own are part of an independent study, then? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/85 "2012-05-25T03:41:14Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I’m so curious…because this type of behavior goes against everything I’ve learned about marketing and sales. The overall model I’ve learned is Product —\> Consumer Likes Product —\> SALE! And it goes in a cycle. The cycle is only broken when the consumer stops liking the product or if the product is too expensive. Or poor customer service. You’re missing an obvious component. You have another agent involved - the Buyer. Your Consumer (little Johnny) likes the Product but he’s not the one making the decision. The Buyer (Johnny’s parent) makes the decision. So what was being offered to the Buyer to cause them to purchase the Product for the Consumer? ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/86 "2012-05-25T04:51:31Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Are you saying that her questions about why you can’t sell things you just find and don’t own are part of an independent study, then? That would be an ecumenical matt.. Wait, what? Her? They are letting women in school now? That explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/87 "2012-05-25T07:08:44Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I’m so curious…because this type of behavior goes against everything I’ve learned about marketing and sales. The overall model I’ve learned is **Product —\> Consumer Likes Product —\> SALE**! And it goes in a cycle. The cycle is only broken when the consumer stops liking the product or if the product is too expensive. Or poor customer service. Can I hazard a guess that you haven’t been in sales or marketing in the real world for that long? I don’t sell consumer products like pop or potato chips, but there are a jillion reasons why people stop purchasing products they like. Human behavior is complex, and while they have to start by teaching the basics, you quickly find out the real world is nowhere like the text books. As **Little Nimo** pointed out, the buyer in the OP isn’t the one consuming the products, and thus is much more likely to factor in other considerations such as developing habits. For adults, you can get people like my wife who likes food and candy, but likes staying thinner more, so she will buy some chocolate, eat one piece and let the remainder sit forever. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/88 "2012-05-25T10:59:51Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I’m so curious…because this type of behavior goes against everything I’ve learned about marketing and sales. The overall model I’ve learned is Product —\> Consumer Likes Product —\> SALE! And it goes in a cycle. The cycle is only broken when the consumer stops liking the product or if the product is too expensive. Or poor customer service. But the product is bought only when needed/wanted. I always have a certain brand and variety of shampoo at home, but I don’t buy shampoo every time I go to the supermarket, because I don’t need it. I only buy shampoo when I go to the supermarket _and_ the bottle at home is running out. If I bought shampoo every time I enter a store that stocks that brand and variety, I wouldn’t have room in the house for me, it would all be filled with shampoo bottles… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/89 "2012-05-26T00:46:42Z")
Joey Joe Joe Shabado Jr (name changed to protect the guilty) used to buy $30 of comic books every week. Then one day Joey Joe Joe stops buy comic books and never buys another one again. Yet he still watches TV shows and movies about comic book characters so clearly his tastes are not too different. Why did he stop buying comics? Well, he could no longer afford them. The price of comics continued to rise, while his own income was taking several hits in this mess of an economy. Not only were prices of comics rising, so was the cost of everything else, some things Joey Joe Joe could not live without (such as food), so something had to give. That something was his comics. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873/90 "2012-05-26T07:45:13Z")
I don’t waste my money on frivolous temporary pleasures like chips and sugar because heroin is damn expensive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-parents-stop-buying/622873.md?page=4)