It must be getting near Christmas as the frenzy about securing the hottest game, gift or sexy new technology is upon us as people literally shoot each other in order to secure a new Playstation. Over the years we have seen irrational behavior in search of Cabbage Patch Dolls, Tickle-Me-Elmos, Rubik's Cube, iPods and on the list goes. Does anyone remember exactly what a Furby was? The recently reelected Governor of California even appeared in very poor film on the subject (Jingle all the Way).
The advent of Ebay has added further fuel to the fire by creating a lucrative "grey" market for hard to get items. This is a trait of human behavior that continues to fascinate me - its not as if these items are perishable commodities. I can understand getting all worked up over securing tickets to events that may never be repeated, although as The Rolling Stones continue what must be the 37th "farewell" tour it becomes a little harder to justify the "this maybe the last chance" excuse, but these toys will be in plentiful supply for years to come but somehow waiting until January is unacceptable.
Of course the manufacturers of these "hot" items always seem unable to meet demand, again this intrigues me in these days "globally integrated supply chains", "just in time manufacturing" and "real time information". It must all be hype as apparently it takes over 90 days to get the latest reincarnation of Elmo from Mattel to a customer and Sony does not expect supply to catch up with demand for the Playstation 3 for many weeks. Both companies are airlifting product to the US which must really screw up the margins!
Returning to Mick and the boys for a minute, apparently Mick's father died last week at the age of 93 so it looks like we could have another thirty years of Mick wailing "Satisfaction". The key question is will Keith still be around for the solos as he already looks to be 93?
