Umbrella theft in Japan is ubiquitous. Fortunately there always tends to be an umbrella in the stand to replace the own you had. Umbrellas have a wide price margin from 100 yen for a small clear plastic umbrella to several thousand for a retractable. The ones typically found in a convenience store range from about 300 yen (large clear plastic) to 1000 yen (vinyl with an automatic opening button).
When someone is caught in the rain without an umbrella they will typically do one of three things. The first being suffer the rain (though Japanese people tend to be far less willing to to this than Canadians), take an umbrella from a nearby stand or buy a new umbrella (likely the cheapest one available since most people already have more umbrellas than any individual ever needs. Since Japanese society tends to frown on all crime, petty or otherwise, taking an umbrella must be done in the least visible way possible. Although I have seen people walk by and outright grab an umbrella or place a broken umbrella in a stand and grab one in pristine condition this is not the usual ritual. One must enter the convenience store and make a purchase, then leave and grab an unsuspecting umbrella so it appears that they are merely taking the umbrella they placed in the stand moments before.
Now how could a shopkeeper with no scruples take advantage of the above information to increase sales?
What if the shop keeper had one of the employees steal umbrellas later in the rain storm when someone may be inclined to just buy a new one. If there is heavy rain and the person does not want to get wet they may buy a new umbrella upon exiting to find their umbrella stolen. That would mean the customer would effectively make two purchases and assume some random person snagged the umbrella.
Then when the rain is just lightly falling the stock person could put the umbrellas back in the stand. A light drizzle is unfortunate but someone may not feel inclined to spend a few hundred yen over a light rain. They may however want an umbrella enough to take one for free if possible. Therefore having a full umbrella stand at the beginning of a storm may drive the sales of everything else.
Since I often see very full umbrella stands at empty stores, I imagine this is one of the reasons.
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3 comments:
I've been anti-umbrella for a large portion of my life. It's water- why are people so afraid of water? Even here in Vancouver where it rains 8 out of 7 days a week, after finding an umbrella on the bus, I refuse to use it.
For a place like this, there are a surprisingly low amount of people who don't use them either. Except for the Asian population. Like 70% umbrella users. And sometimes you've got this big businessman walking downtown with a dainty little umbrella. It rains, you get a little wet, suck it up.
Discuss.
That's some interesting economics for the real world. Makes sense.
I feel the same way about water in Ontario but here it rains constantly and I wear a suit everyday. I don't want to be wet and since I don't own a car I tend to be outside a lot more.
Thank you Mr. Wren
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