Zemedelec wrote:
I had a totally differnt experience at a New Orleans nursery...the one
on
Airline drive. I was heading for the cash reg. with half a dozen
pansies when
I saw a cart full of depotted, HUGE clumps of what I thought could be
agapanthus or clivia. But there also were some working tools, etc.
with them
so I wasn't sure if the plants were just being relocated or dumped. I
asked
the store manager and she said dumped, so take all you want! Several
of the
plants are now basking in my back yard, but they may have been so
traumatized
they won't bloom and solve the mystery for a year or so.


It's not uncommon to find a situation like that at a small retail store.
When the owner shows up often, the manager answers directly to the
owner, and the business is small enough that the owner knows the drones
by name, and even knows a little about their personal life, you'll find
a higher level of trust afforded to said drones. Human nature is that in
a situation like that there is more trust between the owner and the
drones, and it's less likely that the drones will rip-off the owner.

On the other hand, at least once a month there is a story in the
newspaper about some trusted drone who ripped-off the owner of a small
business. And those are just local stories, and involve big enough
rip-offs that they're newsworthy. While it may be less likely that a
drone at a small retail store will rip-off the owner as compared to what
happens at a large, faceless company like Home Depot, it does happen.
And it's so much easier to do it at a small business because they don't
take safeguards like destroying unsaleable merchandise, locking
dumpsters, or aiming a security camera at the dumpster. (And often if
they do aim a camera on the dumpster, the thieving employee also has
access to the tape!)

That said, while I don't bother to dumpster-dive, when I'm in a store
that has a place where merchandise stops for one last super-discounted
try at selling it, I always check it over for things that I could use,
and really are still usable. I've found that the bigger the store, the
more likely I'll find things that probably could have been left on the
shelf, while at a smaller store I'm more likely to get something that's
still on the shelf marked-down for being imperfect. And I'm not just
talking nurseries here. Retail is retail.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug: Spend your Amazon gift certificates he
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/associateshop.html