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A review by stevenyenzer
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell
3.0
I enjoyed Cheap for the most part, in particular the details about the history and current state of discounting and the odd, counterintuitive way these stores work. I did not enjoy Shell's hit jobs on Ikea and Whole Foods, which seemed to stem more from the popularity of those stores than any particularly bad practices. She criticizes Ikea for the disposability of its products, which is fair enough, but she discounts (no pun intended) the value of their environmental initiatives in a sentence or two without much evidence.
Similarly, she criticizes Whole Foods for being expensive, but as an example cites the fact that the salad bar is $7.99/lb and contains lettuce, tomatoes, and hard-boiled eggs. As though that price was particularly high, or there was nothing besides lettuce at the Whole Foods salad bar.
These issues particularly irritated me because the rest of Cheap is very evidence-based. But coupled with the paean to Wegman's that occupies the entire final chapter, it was an annoying bit of hypocrisy.
Nonetheless, most of the book is quite interesting and it's definitely worth a read.
Similarly, she criticizes Whole Foods for being expensive, but as an example cites the fact that the salad bar is $7.99/lb and contains lettuce, tomatoes, and hard-boiled eggs. As though that price was particularly high, or there was nothing besides lettuce at the Whole Foods salad bar.
These issues particularly irritated me because the rest of Cheap is very evidence-based. But coupled with the paean to Wegman's that occupies the entire final chapter, it was an annoying bit of hypocrisy.
Nonetheless, most of the book is quite interesting and it's definitely worth a read.