Monday, October 12, 2009

TVs at the Point of Sale Make no Sense

At our local Texaco Shell (thanks for the correction, Dean) stations, they have TVs at the pump. At our local Albertson's grocery store, they have TVs in the produce section and at the check out counter. They look like this.


This makes no sense to me at all. The TV distracts you from all the goodies they have on display for impulse buyers right at the checkout stand. There's no time to peruse the magazines to pick one up with a TV blaring at you. At the Shell station, it makes even less sense. There's nothing to buy at the pump except the gas you were going to buy anyway, so why put the TVs there? I would think you would want the pump area to be boring so the customer would zip into the minimart to get a Coke and some chips.

What am I missing?

3 comments:

Jeff Burton said...

You obviously haven't seen the movie Idiocracy.

Dean said...

Not only are they a distraction, they are downright annoying. I purposely avoid Shell filling stations and Albertson's (although there painfully long checkout lines are enough of a disincentive) because of it.

And I further resent the notion that I am unable to cope with merely the ambient stimuli happening around me and must be engaged in something on their terms.

K T Cat said...

I completely agree, Dean. I hate the things and I deliberately avoid Shell stations because of the TV. And thanks for the correction, too. I struck out Texaco and replaced it with Shell.