{"id":2200,"date":"2023-10-06T10:19:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T10:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/?p=2200"},"modified":"2023-12-06T14:15:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T14:15:20","slug":"class-exercise-self-hardware-shopping-symbolism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/class-exercise-self-hardware-shopping-symbolism\/","title":{"rendered":"Class exercise: Self, hardware, & shopping symbolism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part 1: The store entrance puzzle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Big hardware stores, at least in the UK, often have two customer entrances. One is the big glassy door for you and me:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Front<\/a>
You know what those look like (credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And then also, often, a smaller one off to the side that is only for ‘trade’ – people who work in the building industry. Inside, an area caters to industrial-scale needs: big bags of cement, enormous boxes of nails – the type of things you need if you are building day after day, and not just fixing your garden shed on the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"two
This is as close as we could find to the right atmosphere there (credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So here is a story about a thing that purportedly happened. One UK chain (not the one pictured above) decided that this was an inefficient use of space. Why not just put the big boxes of nails and bags of cement next to the rest of the nails and cement, and let everyone just pick out what they want – and maybe sometimes the tradesperson would even want just a few of something, and an occasional normal person might want a vast quantity of nails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they simplified their operation by getting rid of the extra side door and putting all their merchandise into one unified, organized system. It was a clever solution that matched efficiency for the store with flexibility for the customers. What’s not to love about that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out the thing not to love was that it was a total disaster. They quickly had to backtrack and reinstate their separate trade entrance and area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 1: Why did it fail?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 2: Use at least two of our organizing principles from this chapter to help structure your explanation of why it failed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 2: Product symbolism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are some products (feel free to bring your own as well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For each:<\/p>\n\n\n\n