How do shop girls afford all that stuff?
I finally did it.
I used a 25% coupon at m0851 and purchased my dream leather jacket — the Perfecto for $678, taxes included.
The original price was $830 before taxes, and I’ve been eying this baby since… I saw it about 3 years ago.
Then I tried to hunt down alternatives for cheaper, and kept coming back to this jacket because of its simplicity, perfect fit, cut and buttery soft leather.
I asked for them to make it for me in a brown (they only had black or ink blue, but neither one appealed to me), but until I get the jacket, I won’t be able to take pictures of it, so you’ll have to settle for this photo for now:
The more you wear it, the better it looks, and it’s SUPER LIGHT for a leather jacket.
Anyway, enough about my jacket. Let’s get to the point of this post.
HOW DO SHOP ATTENDANTS AFFORD SUPER EXPENSIVE STUFF ON THEIR SALARY?
I know I wrote shop GIRLS, but I wrote it thinking of that movie with Claire Danes and Steve Martin named ‘Shopgirl’…However I am well aware there are spendaholic shop GUYS too 🙂
As I was in the store, I was hemming and hawing over the DISCOUNTED price of the jacket, and I finally said: Okay. Well. It’s the only leather jacket I’ll probably ever buy or own, so it might as well be amazing since I’ll be wearing it to death.
This (college-age?) girl looks at me and says: REALLY? I own 3 Perfecto leather jackets from M0851 in various colours — one for spring, autumn and winter..
Me: .. uh… *brain explodes doing the math*….
$830 x 3 jackets = $2490 (before taxes)
Let’s assume they are super generous and give a 50% discount to employees.
That is STILL $1245 BEFORE TAXES!!!!
I was dying over the price of $678 in total for ONE jacket that was 25% off, and here she was, owning 3 Perfecto jackets.
It wouldn’t be so shocking, if she wasn’t working for what I am assuming is minimum wage.
Let’s face it, employees in stores make about $20,000 – $30,000 depending on their level (guessing here)….. which works out to be about $1552 a month.
They would have spent a whole month’s worth of a net paycheck on jackets. 0_O
..or two, if they don’t get a generous 50% employee discount.
Broke my PF mind, to be honest.
It makes me think of all those other people working in luxury retailers wearing luxury clothes on not-so-luxurious salaries — HOW!?
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Update: So apparently “NYC’s Manhattan has the highest geographic concentration of household’s whose lifestyles are heavily supported by Other People’s Money.” (Read: Thomas J. Stanley).
There you go. Answered.
18 Comments
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Mochi & Macarons
True 🙂 could be a whole host of things but it sure makes me have a mini heart attack.
P.S your email is spelled wrong!!
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B. (Below Her Means)
During college I worked in a shop that sold the likes of Betsey Johnson and Nanette Lepore. The owner of the store, who was MY AGE, expected all of us to wear the clothes in the store while we worked. We only had a 30% discount and I made $8.00 per hour. Needless to say, I only lasted one summer there.
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Mochi & Macarons
Those are some pricey brands.
Maybe it is the pressure to buy and wear their clothes but even so, they’re jackets not actual pieces.
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Bridget
ooh that looks like my favourite Mackage leather jacket I own <3 http://i36.tinypic.com/snkspi.jpg actually, like you, it's the only leather jacket I own! It was around $600.
I think it's a combination of parental support and debt, and just no understanding of the real cost of things. I spent way more money when I had way, way less of it. I still own a $475 purse I bought when I was 22. Why the hell did I buy a $475 purse when I probably made $10,000 in all of that year because I was a student?? But I didn't really understand money the way I do now. I had no perception of the cost of an item in the context of what I made.
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Mochi & Macarons
Great point. I was somewhat like that although I never dreamed of $830 jackets.. I was just wasteful with little expenses which may amount to the same thing.
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Dr. Akiyo Kano
staff discount can be as much as 75% in some stores so it’s probably more like $600 for the three jackets. Shows you how much they mark up the price doesn’t it?
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Mochi & Macarons
I feel sick!!! 🙂
I know clothing is marked up 300% if it comes from China but these leather jackets are handmade in Montreal under Canadian labour laws… Or so they say
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Amy Nievera
Credit cards, student loans/scholarships, parents, boyfriends. The expensive stores tend to pay commission, too. I know people who have gotten their loan disbursement for the semester and gone shopping with it. These are the people who will read your blog for help in a couple of years. 😉
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Amy Nievera
Yeah, my ex used it to buy game consoles and games and whatever. I was once in a dressing room and overheard a girl telling her friend how she goes shopping with her grant money.
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Kandice
That’s horrible! When my I was in school and got student loans, there wasn’t much left over for living expenses. We could barely afford groceries, let alone an expensive wardrobe.
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Mochi & Macarons
Well I guess the grant info makes sense…. That they use their tuition money instead
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Cassie
Debt.
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Mochi & Macarons
If they will drop that much money on leather jackets I don’t even want to know what else they buy
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