Customer Reviews

Retail Anarchy: A Radical Shopper's Adventures in Consumption

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Sam Pocker delivers an easy to read, enlightening, eye opening, and humorous look into the way Americans shop, the experiences all of us have had at one time or another with bad customer service, and an interesting look into what I like to call "hard core" coupon shoppers, of which I would like to consider myself a part of that group. Hard core meaning we dumpster dive for coupons, take road trips across state lines for money making deals, get so much free stuff that we don't know what to do with it and cupboards, closets, drawers, garages and attics start to look like a grocery store threw up in our homes.

This is the first book in a long long time that had me laughing out-loud and forced to read aloud passages that were just too funny to keep to myself to my uninterested husband, who eventually told me to knock it off and go in another room...well guess who ended up going upstairs to watch TV? Him, not me.

In the beginning of the book Sam tells us that the book will read much like a blog, and he is correct. I was a tad bit disappointed in that part, but once I got into the meat of the book, I took it for what it was worth and was able to follow along pretty well and the blog style of writing did not bother me too much in the end.

My only question is why could I not have been one of the lucky unexpected shoppers to find Sam and his fiances shopping carts of Kikkoman teriyaki sauce that was left behind because it was a money maker but no room in the car? Man, my family loves that stuff!

Although I never found myself as angry at the book as Pocker claims a reader will get, it did start off on a sour note for me. As a marketing professional, his sharp criticism of marketing as being this evil entity rubbed me the wrong way and felt lacking in a complete picture. But as I pushed on and got into the rhythm of the book, the missing pieces I was looking for came together - lack of critical thinking, herd mentality, taking in everything at face value, being a passive participant in our own consumerism, general mis-education of our youth that leaves them uninspired and unmotivated... these are all things our society is guilty of. It feeds a vicious cycle that is not just bad for individuals and communities but is bad for our economy and our environment.

Pocker offers his solution to these issues (which may or may not be right for you), and his points are all well taken. and ultimately, he achieves what he tells you is his purpose from the start... to make you think differently about what you buy and how you buy it. I found myself reading the ads on the subway differently, double checking my receipts before leaving stores (only to find that the second time I did so - at Whole Foods - they had rung up two identical items with two different prices - one as marked, and one $0.61 higher!), signing up for a pharmacy frequent shopper card to take advantage of 1/2 price vitamins even though I'm not thru the ones I have now (I'll get there eventually, and they don't go bad anytime soon), and even (gasp) clipping a few coupons. All left me with a sense of empowerment, and, frankly a sense of fun as well.

Yes, sometimes there is an incomplete picture of the entire "value chain" required to get products to you, and sometimes Pocker seems to declare what's a "fair" versus "outrageous" price without much evidence to back it up. But isn't that what sharpening your critical mind is all about? catching those things and thinking through what is right for you and your family - NOT just blindly taking in what everyone (yes, even Pocker) tells you?

Even without being a tree-hugger, how can you deny that our society churns out more useless junk than items that actually improve lives? By shining the spotlight on these bizarre and inane practices by large faceless organizations, Pocker is in his own small way trying to make the world a better place.

And he's doing so in an entertaining way that was a really enjoyable read. Now that, I call value.

Retail Anarchy is an easy read that makes you feel like you are listening to road trip stories over a cup of coffee with the author. I swear I've had some of these same experiences while in college but it didn't involve coupons and pudding.

Sam Pocker makes you laugh when he writes about shoppers/consumers and you soon realize, "Hey, I've done that. Boy that was stupid."

After reading Sam's book, you'll be a more informed shopper that looks at purchasing/consuming from a totally different perspective.

Read Retail Anarchy and find out what NASCAR, a Funkadelic concert, pudding, CVS, Target, and coupons have in common.

I'm as much a cynic as anyone, but this guy just rambles on (which he found the need to forewarn us that he's going to do), bitter about how the world of retail works and without proper respect to opposing thoughts as a good journalist knows how/needs to do.

For instance, he complains about walmart's every day low price strategy and how you could find the same thing cheaper when another store has a sale and you use a coupon. Yes, that's probably true, but who's got the time to read circulars, clip coupons and run around to every store each week buying to save $1 on cereal (we dont get the benefit of double coupons here in nor cal.) You're going to spend more money on gas than you save on the best deal.

His material is better left to a blog, not something that consumes valuable paper, dye, production and transportation energy. Thankfully, I bought the second-hand thru amazon and only paid $4 for it.

I could only read 49 pages of it. If there was something worthy at the end of it, I didnt have the patience to get to it.

The information in this book is impressive and inspiring. It stops short of being a "how-to," but provides plenty of easy to understand information, while, at the same time, being extremely entertaining and funny. The conversational style of writing is easy to read. The sections do flow into one another, making finding a place to take a break a little more challenging than I thought it would be... but this is the kind of book I finished -almost- all in one sitting.

Retail Anarchy? More like full scale Retail Guerrilla Warfare! Sam Pocker, "stand-up economist," is an angry man. At least that's his shtick. Channeling Sam Kinnison and Don Rickles, he rants and insults his way through the shopping mall. I started Retail Anarchy looking forward to a James Twitchell or Paco Underhill-type examination of consumer culture. But after a few chapters of vitriol, I put the book on the donation pile. Sometime that night, I woke up thinking "What did he say about laundering Disney dollars?" The lure of a scam, especially a legal one, made me retrieve the book and try again.

When Pocker is talking about the mechanics of getting a deal, even a steal, he's good. But you'll have to wade through his comedy routines and pet peeves and irrelevant interludes into the history of funk, rock, and doo-wop. He excuses the disorganized nature of his book on the fact that he intends it for people who rarely read books. I don't understand that logic, but then, I read a lot of books so I am not his target audience. And yet I still managed to learn a lot about couponing, refunding, and rebates.

I enjoyed Pocker's explanations of scoring carloads of bottled teriyaki sauce, kitty litter, and Sunny Delight. Often, he actually makes money by buying in bulk. A combination of coupons, a store sale, and refunds can mean he gets cash back for buying a freezer load of frozen waffles. When he can't use a product, he donates to the local food banks and homeless shelters. And there's nothing shady about what he's doing -- for the most part, he's just taking advantage of the sales and deals the stores or manufacturers are offering to get people to try their products. He just does it on a larger scale than most people do.

Occasionally, Pocker lets his take-no-prisoners persona get out of hand. His description of dealing with an immigrant cashier who questions his coupons borders on racism. And his method of getting free batteries is downright cheap - he gets his money back from the manufacturer by claiming the batteries don't work. But maybe these are exaggerations intended to make the book more entertaining.

In any case, there is plenty of legitimate information here: websites and newsletters, and explanations of different kinds of deals and promotions and how to maximize them. Even if you don't make couponing a full time job, as Pocker has, to his profit, you can pick up a few tips that will save you far more than the cost of this book.

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond

One Nation under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping

Living It Up : America's Love Affair with Luxury

The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need

I picked this up at my local bookseller because it was on the staff recommendation shelf and touted to be funny. I actually enjoyed the intro but as I read further, it became clearer and clearer that this guy is really pretty angry, that the world revolves around his needs, and that everybody else is pretty stupid. As of page 38, I've had enough. This is going to the donation pile. I guess if you like Rush Limbaugh's style (as opposed to his politics), you may like this. For me, I can work off my anger (at having wasted my money on this book) by writing this review.

RETAIL ANARCHY WILL HAVE YOU ROLLING ON THE FLOOR WITH LAUGHTER, WITH ITS BRILLIANT OBSERVATIONS ON THE INSANITY DISHED OUT TO CONSUMERS, WHILE, AT THE SAME TIME, IT WILL HAVE US QUESTIONING OUR PART IN KEEPING THE INSANITY ALIVE.

NOT SINCE ABBIE HOFFMAN HAS THERE BEEN SUCH A HANDS ON GUIDEBOOK TO WINNING THE WAR BETWEEN BIG BUSINESS & THE PAYING PUBLIC. THERE ARE TONS OF TIME & MONEY SAVING STRATEGIES TO LEAD US THRU THE COBWEB THAT GETTING OUR MONEY'S WORTH HAS BECOME.

THANK YOU, SAM POCKER. RETAIL ANARCHY ROCKS!

Retail Anarchy is definitely good for laughs in the current economy! The stories about making money on bottles of Kikkoman and Sunny D and then giving them away (or not) just had me shaking my head and wondering if I could do that. The Back to School stories have me anxiously waiting for the sales to start this year so I can stock up on free stuff!

Sam's book must be read in the spirit in which it was written since it is definitely a satirical look at American shopping habits. I will be ordering multiple copies to give as gifts to all of my shopping addicted friends.

I approached reading Sam Pocker's RETAIL ANARCHY with some trepidation. The jacket notes and the forward present him as a "stand-up economist" which, I assumed, implied he's a comic with a financial slant on consumer affairs. I read it and found both assumptions to be incorrect. I found him to be a snarky and opinionated advocate of consumer rebellion, a commercial anarchist, and about as comical as Che Guevara.

I found a lot to dislike about his book. He admits that his writing is "a sprawling mess" that meanders all over and I readily agree. It's hard to follow. Pocker claims he wrote it for "people who rarely read books." He also wants his reader to get mad, throw the book across the room, then scurry over to pick it up and start reading again. These are smart-alecky attitudes that got the book off to a poor start with me.

He continued his attempts to get me to chuck his book by being horribly critical of the attitudes and behavior of sales people, calling them "stupid and lazy," and comparing them to the "mentally handicapped" and "mentally retarded." Next he compared a slut with a popular girl. He further proclaimed that a loud-mouth Jewish man from New York is a triple negative in the minds of "average stay at home" moms living in the South. If he's talking about himself he's probably right. He maintained a constant assault of similar insensitive remarks throughout the book.

He has lots of opinions, most of them distasteful. He tells of an incident where he watched in horror as people making minimum wage paid full price for large quantities of Pepsi. He contends that "these people shouldn't be drinking all that soda...they simply can't afford it." And he takes banks to task for requiring customers to notify them when traveling out of country creating "a massive population of stupid people, many of whom have now been trained to call the bank and tell them (sic) about their travel plans." Call me stupid because I always call the bank when I travel. It has proved helpful a couple of times.

He talks about ripping apart shrink-wrapped gift baskets to get gourmet coffee because he was mad that it was out of stock on the shelves. He also tells of stripping housekeeping carts of high-end soaps and lotions in a luxury hotel because he liked them. But, he claims, he does nothing illegal or unethical. I'm not a lawyer but it seems to me that if he hasn't paid for the items, they don't belong to him.

He does get some things right. He argues that eating consumables from a dollar store is not a good idea and backs it up with some credible research. He also dislikes edible products imported from China and cites FDA figures that it catches less than two percent of these imports that are unfit for human consumption. Count me on his side here.

Most of us would agree that prices in retail and grocery stores are too high. The service is also abysmal, as he contends. However, the procedures he recommends to combat these cultural miscarriages are long, convoluted, and time consuming. I leave it to you to read the book and determine if you want to go to the trouble to save a few dollars.

And, finally, he scoffs at Carrie Underwood giving tips on being glamorous, saying she's " about as glamorous as a tow truck driver." He lost a star on my review for that one.