Commercial culture

Recently, I bought a lot of stuff, both in-store and online stuff, including snow boots, a piano, headphones, jeans, etc. Therefore, I think I am quite used to the commercial environment in the United State, which is quite different from what we have in Vietnam.

On the surface of the iceberg, I can look for best prices and best customer satisfied stores on the internet. It is all transparent with reviews and rating systems everywhere. We have Google Certificated Stores, Ebay Top Rated Plus sellers, Amazon Prime, and many other super-branch retailers that is trusted by reviewers. After finding the right stores, I can go to theirs physical locations or their websites to find the items I need. Usually, the online stores are cheaper while the physical stores are more convenient, and it is a known fact so I will not brag about it. However, if you want to buy from an online store, you can just ignore the listed prices and make a call to their customer service for a discount. Most of the items listed are available for a discount, so there is no need to immediately purchase for the higher price. I saved 200 dollars for my piano and accessories that way. More over, since the market is so transparent, you can also tell a store about a better deal from another store to see if they can beat that. They want to sell their stuff, so if they can lower the price to beat a competitor, they will. Most of the time, I walked away from a shop with satisfaction all over my face.

That is totally different from how we shop in Vietnam, or in many other Asian countries. Most of the time, you cannot find the item you need online, because the options are not that many. People are too lazy to post their stuff online and maintain a payment system with it. Usually, if you need something, there will be a specific market/street that sells those stuff in your city, and you will have to go there yourself to see and to try. You never know who is honest and who will try to cheat, so you will have to be careful all the time. The good side is, after a while of training your bargaining skill and hardening your classification skills (for fake products), you will be someone called the Bargaining Warrior! Your friends, your cousins, your family members and girls you know will worship you and always want to go with you when they shop. I have yet to achieve that title but I know some people who are already at that rank. For example, my dad can talk to a seller and make him discount 80% off a wooden table that originally costs 800 dollars. The best I have ever done in my life was 20% off a $700 violin in Vietnam.

The hidden part of the iceberg is how people manage business here in the US and how we do business in Vietnam. In Vietnam, China, Phillipines, etc everyone can do their small business without having any legal issue. They do not have to be a company entity to do that, and government collect tax from them in a specific way. Everyone with a small building, house that faces the road can sell their things. Therefore, most of the small businesses do not have to invest much money and the consequence is, they do not have online stores. The online stores are for big and serious businesses that can make sure to customers that they will not send them a red brick instead of their iPhone 6 Plus. Meanwhile, in the US, the law requires you to be a business entity in order to open a shop, and selling your stuff over Ebay, Amazon is relatively cheap. That is the reason why you can find most of things you want on the Internet without leaving your house. However, the things you see on the Internet is just pictures with descriptions, and you have no way to know if your iPhone 6 Plus that is on the way to your home is actually an iPhone-shaped rock or not.  So the reviewing websites/ rating systems were born for that sole purpose. All the stores are now considering their online rating is a crucial factor of their business, so they try their best to satisfy customer, naturally. These systems build a hidden bond between consumers and suppliers in a straight forward way. That is the difference.

Not only retailers, this culture of rating is applied for many other aspects of an US citizen. You have history on your driver license for insurance companies to check, you also have credit history for bankers, auto-sellers, T-mobile, Verizon, etc to check. If you did anything wrong, like forgot to pay your monthly credit statement, or hit someone's dog with your car, then you will have a serious mark in your history for at least 7 years.  Third world countries do not have those systems, so no one care about driving carefully, or be on time with your payment. Of course, we have solution for that. If you hit my dog, my men will beat you up or you will have to pay. Or if you 'forgot' to pay the bank, some random guys 'might' show up from somewhere and beat you up for 'some random reasons', until you finally pay in full. Life finds its own way.