Paying Customers facts
While investigating facts about Paying Customers, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Marriott was fined $600,000 by the FCC in 2014 for blocking customers' personal Wi-Fi so customers were forced to pay for internet.
The British Rock band Radiohead released their album "In Rainbows" under a pay what you want pricing strategy where customers could even download all their songs for free. In spite of the free option, many customers paid and they netted more profits because of this marketing strategy
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Paying Customers I managed to collect.
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Tipping became popular in the US during the decades following the Civil War, when some US employers began encouraging their customers to tip, thereby avoiding paying African-American employees a decent wage
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Early one morning in 2014 a Starbucks drive-thru customer decided to pay for the next customer's order, which ignited an 11 hour long pay-it-forward chain that lasted from 7 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m. later that evening when customer No. 379 declined to participate.
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Vans' original store didn't have any shoes for sale when it opened in 1966. Still, 12 people ordered shoes based on the samples on display, but when they returned to get their shoes, the owners couldn't make change. The owners said to take the shoes and return later to pay. All 12 customers did.
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Progressive once hired a lawyer to defend a driver who killed their customer in an attempt to avoid paying out liability coverage.
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France tried stop Amazon offer free shipping to its customers by fining them €1,000 per day. Amazon continued to pay the fines instead of ending its policy of offering free shipping. After law was created banning free shipping, Amazon effectively snubbed it by charging one cent for delivery.
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From 2005-2010, Prague had a brothel where men paid a one-time $23 fee, and women and couples entered for free. The catch was that their exploits were filmed and streamed online to paying customers.
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There was a record called "Three Minutes of Silence" which was placed in juke boxes. Customers would pay for relief from the music.
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The first taxidermied blue whale was made on a beach where spectators would pay to watch, then brought to a museum, where it was modified to become a cafe. Customers would walk in through the mouth, until it closed when a young couple got frisky in the belly of the beast.
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The Persian social custom of Taarof, where every business owner is obliged to refuse payment, and every customer is obliged to insist on paying anyway, sometimes going back and forth up to 3 times
What is true about paying customers?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
To increase profits without increasing price, Coca-Cola intentionally sold empty bottles to full-price paying customers
Bon Jovi owns a restaurant where menus never list a price and paying customers are encouraged to leave whatever they want in the envelopes on each table - source
The Gastein Healing Caves, where customers pay to be exposed to high radon gas levels for the alleged healing effects. - source
Magnum and Magnum XL condoms are no bigger than standard size trojan condoms. It is a psychological method of getting customers to pay a premium.
Despite his growing writing career it did not pay the bills steadily and Nathaniel took a job at the Boston Custom House, where he weighed and gaged coal and salt for $1500 a year.
The Cold Weather Rule, a law or regulation that prohibits public utility companies from disconnecting customers who are unable to pay for the energy used to heat their homes during the winter. Making arrangements with utility companies could save many people from being cold this winter.
If a person is a customer at a gas station in California, they are obligated to give you free air and water upon request. One should not be paying the $1.50 charge.
In the 90s when WinZip was spreading as shareware, the creator Nico Mak made over a million dollars per year from it, even though customers had to physically mail a check to him to pay for it.
Three people were convicted of taking part in using phony diplomatic credentials. They charged customers between $450 and $2,000 for a a diplomatic ID card, which will grant the holder immunity status from paying tax, stopped or arrested by polices. Those 3 are "Sovereign Citizens"
About “The Cabinet of Curiosities”, a precursor to modern museums from the 15th-19th centuries, they were collections of “weird and wonderful” objects intended to shock and awe paying customers. They often included the remains of “mythical creatures” like “mermaids” and others.
The first day shoe company Vans opened, the owners forgot to have cash to make change. The first dozen customers that purchased Vans on the first day were all asked to return tomorrow and pay for their new shoes. All of them showed up in their new Vans to pay.
