New Discount Strategy

Last week, Angel wrote about a Chinese amusement park that offered a discount on its admission fee for women over 18 who wore miniskirts. This concept could be considered discriminatory, as there was no equivalent discount for men over 18 who wore miniskirts; on reflection, however, the image of most men in miniskirts would argue against the visuals, if not the fairness, of such discounts.

This leads me to a consideration of the use of various types of discounts to encourage economic activity.

As an officially acknowledged old geezer, I'm getting used to the idea of the senior discount, which is widely offered in restaurants and theaters to those of us living on fixed incomes. Various businesses also offer minor discounts for "paperless billing," in which one agrees to receive bills by e-mail (it supposedly saves the business money on postage), or offer a discount for those who agree to pay their bills by a direct debit* of their bank account.

And, of course, there are the standard "happy hour" discounts at bars, in which the discount is based on the time of the customer's visit; an additional discount is sometimes offered for unescorted ladies, to encourage a higher female-to-male customer ratio.

But let's get back to Chinese discount philosophies for a moment ...

I call your attention to this article from the BBC earlier this week: Chinese Restaurant Offers Bra Size Discounts.

Yes, Dear Readers, the Trendy Shrimp restaurant in Hangzhou offers female customers discounts based on their bra cup size ...

The advertisements for this discount first appeared on August 1st, but have apparently since been removed because of complaints from some local people. The restaurant's manager, Lan Shenggang, defended the discounts, however, stating that, "Once the promotion started, customer numbers rose by about 20%." He also noted that "some of the girls we met were very proud - they had nothing to hide."

When your cup runneth over, it really runneth over ... at least at the Trendy Shrimp restaurant.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for the naming of our Right-Cheek Ass Clown for August. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* I don't trust this at all. I pay many bills online, but in a way that allows me to schedule the dates and amounts of the payments ... nobody gets the right to reach into my account and pull money out on their own.