“It was really an accident,” says the economist Catherine Tucker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the study’s authors. “We looked in the data and saw there were some customers who were really good at picking out failures” — so good, in fact, that a newly introduced product was less likely to survive if it attracted these buyers. (And if they bought it repeatedly, its chances of survival were even worse.) Professor Tucker called these people harbingers of failure because, statistically speaking, their fondness for a product heralded its demise.Golden Corral ham steaks (the most delicious in the world)? I ordered one practically every week for two years back in the late 70's. Discontinued, now, for almost 40 years. Planter's potato chips in a can? Far better than Pringle's; vanished from the shelves a year or so after I grew addicted to them. Lock, Stock and Barrel restaurant (home of the amazing Hawaiian burger, marinated in teriyaki sauce and served with a pineapple slice)? Disappeared maybe two years after I became a regular customer. Flamenco Las Palmas, an absolutely fabulous cigar manufactured in the Canary Islands? Gone (along with almost the entire cigar industry of the Canary Islands).
Well, there's still the Bojangles smoked sausage biscuit. Wait, what?!?
8 comments:
No Bojangles out here in CA I'm aware of. "Restaurant Row" along I-15 in Victorville has about every chain restaurant I've ever heard of, though, except Whataburger and Waffle House (there's even the only Cracker Barrel west of the Rockies).
As a "harbinger of doom", I've been a "check-out line jinx" for years. I literally tell other customers not to get behind me in line, because there is always, always, ALWAYS something or someone ahead me in line that brings the whole thing to a screeching halt (price check on some obscure item the boxboy can't find, a debit or EBT card that won't scan, some crazy Karen arguing with the checkout clerk, demanding to speak with the manager, you name it).
By the way, Carl's Jr used to sell a teriyaki burger that was very much like what you describe, that was, as Samuel L Jackson said, "That's a tasty burger".
They don't anymore, of course.
What's that old story about sailors who survived a few shipwrecks and other sailors refused to be on the same ship with them? Oh yeah, and Catch 22's 'crazy' Orr:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orr_(Catch-22)
(and they all wanted to escape to Sweden, how'd that work out?)
Kind of story of my life too. But it's been fun.
...I've been a "check-out line jinx" for years.
Well, you're not the only one, I'm the same way. But, now that I'm old..er and retired, I'm not in as much of a hurry, so it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. And, self-check lanes help too. There's usually one or two open, so I can be master of my own fate.
I never had much brand loyalty, but I have noticed that restaurants seem to be shrinking their menus. My luck seems to run toward getting behind women in the supermarket who decide to park their carts in the middle of the aisle so they can peruse the offerings they might want to buy, or else behind two women going in opposite directions who park their carts so they can chat for a while. I've tried and tried to be good, but I've been rude on occasion. Disclaimer: Mr. H does most of the food shopping (I think he thinks I might end up in jail one day).
A dear (now sadly departed) friend of mine was the fastest supermarket shopper I have ever seen. He hated the places, ever since he was a kid. His mom, an emergency room nurse with a wicked sense of humor, and who wore her scrubs all the time, used to tease him when he complained about anything by putting on a very convincing 'tard act, begging him not to leave her there, or some such, just to embarrass him. Having met his mom, I laughed my ass off, knowing how funny it must have been. He didn't think it was funny at all.
Kerns Apricot Nectar, Nabisco Bacon Chips, Ruffles Mesquite Grill chips. All gone.
As far as the supermarket checkout lines, I've learned to make time to look at car magazines while keeping an eye on the checkout line.
Nabisco Bacon Thins (AND the equally-delicious, and equally-lamented Swiss Cheese) are available in Canada under the Christie brand. At $8 a box from Amazon, it's not worth the risk of receiving a box of crumbs by the time it arrives.
Kerns Apricot Nectar is still available here in SoCal (I prefer the Kiwi-Strawberry, but YMMV). As yummy as it is, one is reminded that one can of it contains more sugar than a can of Coke.
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