Originally Posted By Pinecone
This is related to my post below. Let's say that there is only one gear store near you. Naturally you go there to see what they have. You try on a few packs, ask lots of questions, end up taking up lots of a salesperson's time.

Unfortunately this is an expensive store. So you go home and find your pack at Campmor for 40% off.

So what is our obligation to buy from our local store?


I'll try to answer in terms of the ethical question you raised. What it boils down to is that you are consuming services that you are not paying for.

Ethics is not about some ethereal, other-worldly approach to life -- it is about what is best for everyone over the long haul. The situation you describe is a short term advantage to you (until the store goes out of business) and both a short and long term loss to the store owner/employees and a long term loss to you.

I realize there are nuances that affect how this plays out -- maybe the store doesn't have/can't get your size/color/etc. Or, they are truly ignorant or have done something else not to deserve your business. Maybe they just don't have what you want. There are all kinds of good reasons not to spend you money at a particular store. I just don't think the scenario you have proposed is one of them.

FWIW my $.02 happy
_________________________
Human Resources Memo: Floggings will continue until morale improves.