By Paul Pannone
Over the weekend news reports that proclaim America is yawning at the possible collapse of the nation comes as no surprise to most. According to ongoing discussions apathy and indifference to the troubles facing the nation is a natural progression to how Americans view the problems after continuous coverage and nothing really extraordinary ever happening.
(yawn) An asteroid falling from the sky; another bomb explosion in the Middle east…. Zzzzzzzzzz. When’s the new I-phone coming out?
Members of the Wedding Water Cooler say the view of the world has distorted claiming half the people in America have less in savings in the bank than they spend on the newest I-phone. To prove our point we tweeted the statement while writing this story and got relatively little response back, other than the usual voices who are passionate about how they feel.
A year after eWedNewz reported Dessy selling products online, direct to consumers, the outrage quelled into an apathetic stance– along with many other issues that plague the wedding business.
More of the discussions in the cooler point to the people who just muddle through life instead of picking and choosing what really matters. The usual laments revisited several topics including the online sale of products by Dessy to consumers. The original story and follow-up showed overwhelming opposition to the practice.
An update still shows 76% of replies say manufacturers should not sell goods direct to consumers.
Similarly, opposition to manufacturers opening stores to compete with accounts was also struck down in a poll:
An update shows 78% oppose this action.
Over time similar polls that asked if it matters where products are made favored buying American if prices were about the same as products made in China or elsewhere. One poll in particular overwhelmingly favors support to a wedding industry organization if it offered good benefits, was properly run and didn’t break the bank to join. Yet the show of support falls short of financial commitment when it comes time to make good on promises or to reach into the pocket and pull out the money.
The story was picked up by The New York Times. Reporter, Stacey Solie, asked us why more people aren’t talking about this. Stacey’s story gives one account of hundreds-of-thousands of online transactions happening every year affecting the wedding dress business.
“What’s frustrating about that is it’s just another news story that people breeze over. But to our business it’s the difference between keeping the lights on in lean months,” according to Steve Lang, President and Founder of ABPIA.
Lang and other WWC members say they’re interested in the principle behind why these issues exist. As the CEO of his own company Lang has more latitude to express his feelings freely when compared to other members who work and must rely on their means of support above giving their opinion.
“Thank God I am not interested in winning a popularity contest; I’ll just continue to do what I’m doing and hope that sooner or later people realize this is for the good of their business and in their best interest to support the efforts in whatever way they can,” says Lang.
How apathetic are you?
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I have a niche here in Lansing, MI where I sell wedding invitations, it’s a side business, thank goodness. I give great service, have great lines. But I believe you are seeing a faltering of the wedding industry because of the economy. Young people are being especially budget conscience these days They are having difficulty landing good paying jobs, leave college with lots of debt (most of them) and they struggle. unlike we did in the 80′s when jobs were plentiful for us in the yuppie crowd.
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