Trading Places

Quote of the day: "What I told you was the truth - from a certain point of view..." - Sir Alec Guinness, Return of the Jedi

Song of the day: "Good Vibrations" - The Beach Boys

Website of the day: http://wwf.com/forums - A wrestling E-Fed of which I am a member

Pre-rant notes: I've added a 'website of the day,' as the more astute amongst you will have already spotted. This first one was mentioned in one of my early posts. Its a place where lots of strange people like me pretend to be wrestlers. Check it out.




Over the last few years, entertainment shops have developed a brilliant knack of getting us to pay for something twice - trading in.

I think it was something that started in videogame shops. If they didn't start it, then they definitely perfected it. When i worked in such a shop two years ago, there was a huge emphasis on pre-owned games. A brand new game, let's say, for instance, GTA San Andreas, as that's just come out, sells for £39.99 full price. If a customer wishes to trade it in, they'd get, at the extreme most, 20 quid for it. The shop will then put it back out, with a pre-owned sticker, for £34.99 Five pound off full price. And the thing with pre-owned games is that they don't have to give a cut to the manufacturers, as they already got their money in the original sale. And because most of them give value off other goods rather than cash, the customer then has to add money to what their trade-in is worth in order to buy something new.

So shops encourage trade-ins as it's a win/win situation for them.

Just recently, its a fad that seems to have spread from game shops to bigger entertainment shops selling DVDs and CDs. Again, this will improve their profits no end, but surely it will envoke anger from music and film manufacturers?

Since the boom in game trade-ins, the larger games companies such as Nintendo have been complaining that it is as bad as piracy, what with them not getting a cut. With all the uproar about file-sharing on the internet with regards to music and films, surely trade-ins will be attacked next?

To be honest, I actually think trade-ins can be a handy thing. Just the other day i was clearing out my shelves, and took a pile of DVDs i haven't watched for ages and turned them into a brand new Quantum Leap DVD box set. And i'm amazingly poor at the moment, so there was no other way i could have got it. So yeah, I personally think trade-ins make sense, but I just get the feeling that they ain't gonna be around forever.....

The Monster Mash

Quote of the day: "We must all have waffles forthwith!" - Tom Hanks, The Ladykillers.

Song of the day: "Friday I'm in love," - The Cure


Last night was Halloween. Halloween is, essentially, another money making American marketing idea, albeit based on a Pagan ritual, that is aimed at having hordes of kids roaming the streets begging for sweets and egging your front door.

I can remember trick-or-treating when I was a kid, usually not overly successfuly. My mum always went to a lot of trouble to create me a really good costume, be it a vampire, zombie or whatever, but no matter what day of the year it is, people don't tend to be happy when a gang of pre-teen lads in funny clothes appear at your door demanding feeding. And if there was some sort of fancy dress party organised, at school or some other place, it was always the girls who one prizes for best costume.

But girls always go as witches!

It's only really in the years since I've discovered alcohol that i've really begun to appreciate Halloween. When you're in a pub full of people, you don't care what you're dressed as, or how many women are there as witches. Last night, my wife and I went to a charity thing at a nearby health club, mainly because we knew people involved with the organising of said event. Whilst it was also aimed at children, the beer was cheap, and most people got into the spirit of dressing up (I went as a zombie, in case you're interested).

So yes, Halloween is another commercial event, but it's a good excuse for people to get together and act daft, and that can't be a bad thing.

Not that I've ever needed an excuse......