Are we being told the truth by some of our most trusted retailers? The answer is no.
In the Bible you will find many business ethics. “The requirement of accurate weights and measures” is one of the first and the “prohibition of monetary deception” is another.
Consider the requirement of accurate weights and measures according to the Book of Leviticus (19:35-36) that states you shall not falsify measures of length, weight or capacity. You shall have an honest balance, an honest weight.
The prohibition of monetary deception (Leviticus 25:14) teaches that when you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from your neighbor, you shall not deceive one another.
LUMBER
I went to buy some wood for a project I am working on.
I went to a lumber store and asked for a 1”x10”x 8”™ of cherry wood. The proprietor wrote my ticket 1”x10”x8”™. I paid for it and then went down to pick up the wood. The man in the yard pulls out a piece of cherry and it looks thin to me. So I measured it. It measured exactly ¾”. I had been familiar with 2”™x4”™s being sold at less than their stated dimensions, but not hard wood. The 2”™x 4”™ is now 1¾”™x3½”™. I began to feel cheated. With the cherry I was paying for a 1” piece and I got ¾” and it wasn”™t 10” wide. It was 9.5”.
Why do they do this? It”™s simple. They make more money. It is being sold as 1” but they”™re delivering ¾”.
As an example, let”™s assume that you are buying four sheets of wood. If they are all cut back by a quarter-inch, in essence you should get the fifth board free. But they don”™t do this. They”™ll sell you the fifth board. This goes against both codes of ethics.
BANKING
You”™re looking for a mortgage or a loan and you read in the newspaper 5% interest. I think we have all learned that to determine the interest payment, you multiply the interest rate by the amount you have borrowed: $1 million at 5% and it equals $50,000 per year.
Right?
Wrong!
The banks, virtually all of them, are very clever. How many days are there in a year? We all know it”™s 365. So why does a bank charge 5% over 360 days. The answer is because they are getting the $50,000 over a shorter period of time. So who is paying interest on the other five days? You are. This means they are charging more than 5%. It”™s misleading, it”™s wrong and it goes against the second code of ethics of “prohibition of monetary deception.”
LEASING A CAR
You are interested in leasing a car. You pick up the paper and see that one car is leasing at $299 per month and the same car at another dealership is leasing at $350 per month.
Where do you go? The answer is obvious. Same car for less money.
If it were me, I would take my wife and my children and make an activity of it. Let”™s go get a car!
So what”™s the problem?
When we get there we find that we have to put down $3,900 in cash and then make these monthly payments. I don”™t have that kind of money so my wife and my children and I go home having been misled.
They could have said, “come to our dealership, we will lease you a car at $1 per month and all you have to do is put down $20,000 in cash.”
There is a saying: Truth in advertising, where is it?
Who is protecting us?
I hate it when I am misled or deceived and waste my time, effort and money only to find out that I have been duped.
Robert L. Friedland is chairman of Westrock Development, Sensible Auto Lending, Shleppers Moving and Storage and KIA of Old Saybrook. He can be reached at bob@wrdev.com.
