Are You Out of Order?

June 16, 2008 · Filed Under Change, Culture 

Gumball Machine Out of OrderMy daughter and I had to make a quick trip out to the store to pickup some groceries. As we walked in, the store had a rather large collection of gumball machines. I have always thought this about as devious ploy as putting toys on the diaper isle, but it is one of the best placement techniques I’ve seen.

Before we even got in the door, my daughter began informing me that she was going to stop and look at the gumball machines (boy is her future husband in trouble). Needless to say, I didn’t see the harm because I didn’t have any quarters - so I could say no without any guilt whatsoever.

In the mix of these 10 machines, there was one that had an “out of order” sign taped on it. As my daughter walked down the line jiggling handle after handle, I informed her one of the machines was broken.

She looked back at me and told me she was going to try it anyway.

I protested, but she insisted once again. Shrugging, I figured, “What could it hurt?”

Click, click, click went the gumball machine and then I heard the most interesting thing - the plop, plop of what sounded like 2 gumballs.

She clapped her hands together in delight, and reached to open the trap door as she cupped her other hand underneath the trough… and sure enough there were 2 gumballs.

So I gave it a whirl: Click, click, click went the gumball machine and then - plop, plop. Yep, the gumball machine was broken, alright. But not in the house’s favor.

Lessons learned:

  1. Never quit ‘jiggling the handle’.
  2. Do not trust the labels life puts on things.
Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

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      ChangeForge is a place where business and technology collide with a desire to alter a paradigm and improve how we perceive those things around us. This site is built upon the premise of offering a platform to share ideas and start conversations. This site focuses upon change and shifting paradigms, offering perspective on how technology can be applied to business problems while maintaining a people-friendly perspective. ChangeForge covers a wide variety of topics, but will primarily focus on strategies revolving around bridging technology and business, hosting authors from different walks of life and offering brain-fodder on many different fronts.

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