I'm doing sales at the moment and although I'm not that great I do alright at work. I'm not a good liar so I'm never selling people things they don't want or need. I may suggest a product over another because it makes me more commission but I'm lucky in that I work at a company that only really stocks good products so the choice is rarely wrong.
I know I better than some of the others in the company that are only there to get as much as possible.
I'm still relatively new but if I can earn anything from 1,000 to 2,000 a month although the higher scale is only if you're an exceptional sales person, of which I am not. I think I'll be more around the 1300-1500 mark if I'm lucky.

Depending on if I stay here or not I will probably start looking at more permanent job choices here or I will go home and work for my uncle for a bit as he offered me a job that, if I do well, could earn me five figure bonuses a month. That wouldn't be for a while but the idea of it is nice. I know money isn't everything but at the moment it kind of is for me as I just want to travel as much as I can and I'm not very good at doing it on no money.

I do understand and agree with that. It's obviously quite naive to say its 'just' information. With a lot of this anti-capitalist rhetoric though, the practical implications of dispensing with the current imperfect systems are forgotten, or not explained. 

Reduce all company marketing down to bog standard information dumps, and the press become more powerful. They're as driven by profit as anywhere else. 

With Apple as well, the marketing is the product. The iPhone isn't just marketed as incredibly easy to use. It is incredibly easy to use. But a large chunk of the investment in making a phone with that UI is knowing that they'd be able to make a song and dance about it after release.

The worse kind of marketing are the folks that befriend you to name drop products they're being paid to name drop.

Fentonizer wrote:

“…surveys of the 12.6 percent of Americans living bellow the federal poverty line … show that 80 percent of them have air-conditioning, almost 75 percent own at least one car or truck and around 33 percent have a computer, a dishwasher or a second car. What this means is that when people lack money for essentials such as food, it is usually a reflection of the strength of their desire to live up to the prevailing stands. You may, for instance, feel it more important to maintain appearances by spending on clothes while stinting on food. We knew of a young man who was unemployed and had spent a month’s income on a new mobile phone because he said girls ignored people hadn’t got the right stuff. As Adam Smith emphasized, it is important to be able to present oneself credibly in society without the shame and stigma of apparent poverty.”

From this book what I read: http://www.structuralviolence.org/book/the-spirit-level

That is utter horse shit - there is no way you can infer that without a whole load of additional study. Can't stand these big procolmations made apparently based on some study or other, that in no way show causation. It's just data manipulation.

For example, in this case, it could just as easily mean that "poverty" in the US, a developed nation, is very different to "poverty" elsewhere. Good luck getting airconditioning and an iphone on $2 a day (the international standard for poverty) in Uganda.

monkey wrote:

equinox_code wrote:

It doesn't really shift whose in charge of progress. Technology still gets developed, and people still determine whether that technology is desirable, rather than simply being told it is. Plus, it gives people nicer jobs.

Isn't it just market research that you're proposing though? Market research minus the final marketing. If you take away a company's ability to communicate what's different about their products, what's the point in developing a different product?

I know it's a utopian idea, but i think you're misunderstanding it.

There's not some army of state employees deciding what everyone wants. Rather, everyone gets paid as a part time as a researcher to figure it out themselves. Like effectively being paid to shop.

Anecdotal i realise, but I'd guess maybe half the people i know work in sales, marketing or advertising. Most of them full time. Take their roles and salaries out of the equation, and instead pay everyone else to find the things they like. New, useful things will still be desirable to some.

Carbon_Altered wrote:

Fentonizer wrote:

“…surveys of the 12.6 percent of Americans living bellow the federal poverty line … show that 80 percent of them have air-conditioning, almost 75 percent own at least one car or truck and around 33 percent have a computer, a dishwasher or a second car. What this means is that when people lack money for essentials such as food, it is usually a reflection of the strength of their desire to live up to the prevailing stands. You may, for instance, feel it more important to maintain appearances by spending on clothes while stinting on food. We knew of a young man who was unemployed and had spent a month’s income on a new mobile phone because he said girls ignored people hadn’t got the right stuff. As Adam Smith emphasized, it is important to be able to present oneself credibly in society without the shame and stigma of apparent poverty.”

From this book what I read: http://www.structuralviolence.org/book/the-spirit-level

That is utter horse shit - there is no way you can infer that without a whole load of additional study. Can't stand these big procolmations made apparently based on some study or other, that in no way show causation. It's just data manipulation.

For example, in this case, it could just as easily mean that "poverty" in the US, a developed nation, is very different to "poverty" elsewhere. Good luck getting airconditioning and an iphone on $2 a day (the international standard for poverty) in Uganda.

I appreciate that the quote is rather out of context, and the example anecdotal, but I can assure you that the studies in the book are very thorough.

I don't share what I earn with others as it induces acute apeirophobia.

Ha.

Boston strangler.

XTC_NRG_4_DARKRAVER wrote:

Boston strangler.

Shush...  i might just get away with it

fullspectrum wrote:

What were you selling, Jelly Belly?

Computers, phones, tablets...

It was mainly because I started helping an in store business team, so rather than sell a few things to a few customers, I would be helping with some bulk orders. Did love working for them though. People there were lovely. Also, looked good on a CV after a year of helping with bits and pieces of everything.

Its a shrewd investment to leverage up to gamble on some equity investments that are near historic highs due to being artificially propped up by the amount of cash that governments are pumping into the markets?  Was 2008 really that long ago?...

---Unrelated---

After looking at the cost of the most expensive University on my Year Abroad list, using their guidelines for the most they expect to pay, I'm looking to make or save an extra £6k by August next year. I think I've worked out If I get this job, I can get £3k from that by then, and have a little left over to spend on new clothes and such. Guess the rest has to come from selling everything I own.

---Carry on---

Gamermike wrote:

I've never ever taken out a loan before but that does seem a stupidly low amount of interest.  We were saving for a wedding, up until little man made an appearance last December. All savings are now going towards the deposit for a house which is of far more importance now. We've done well in 18month of saving, but since the mrs maternity pay has now dried up, it has made saving far more difficult. All of a sudden a loan like that becomes far more attractive, even though I hate the idea of borrowing money. i've always been a bit of a worrier - don't buy what you can't afford - kinda chap.

They won't give you that loan at that price for a mortgage related investment. It'll be written in the rules somewhere. That doesn't mean you have to tell them, but you might need to lie.

Tempy wrote:

---Unrelated--- After looking at the cost of the most expensive University on my Year Abroad list, using their guidelines for the most they expect to pay, I'm looking to make or save an extra £6k by August next year. I think I've worked out If I get this job, I can get £3k from that by then, and have a little left over to spend on new clothes and such. Guess the rest has to come from selling everything I own. ---Carry on---

I still can't believe English students have to pay fees, which are free to all other EU members. Fucking disgrace actually. Living here for a year beforehand would have qualified you to "free" education.