Some Assembly Required
It appears to be the fate of every father this Christmas morning to sit down and figure out how to put together the toys his children received overnight from Santa Claus.
Speaking of gifts, one of the more unusual presents I received from one of my company’s suppliers was a remote-controlled toy submarine, instead of the usual planner, bottle of liquor, or food hamper. They surely know the best way to be in the good graces of a curmudgeonly CEO is through his children, and believe me their gift was a roaring success.
If truth be told, I consider umbrellas to be the best corporate Christmas gift ever. One can never have too many umbrellas!
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this fact before, but many Philippine department store executives consider the movement of sales revenues of toys and children’s apparel during the last two weeks of November and the first week of December as an accurate barometer of how the rest of the store will perform during the rest of the Christmas shopping season. The earlier business picks up in these two critical departments, the better business will be.
Speaking of radio-controlled (RC) toys, one of the more heavily promoted playthings this 2007 Christmas shopping season are RC helicopters like this one pictured above. True, this toy is still rather expensive – the example above costs about PHP 1,500.00 or so – but there was a time that they cost at least 10 times more. We can all thank Chinese manufacturers for cheaper – but not necessarily safer – toys.
RC toy cars are still popular with kids and parents alike, and not only for the pleasure of driving them hither and yon. Look at the misspelled sponsor logos on this rally racer and count how many they are.
Merry Christmas!
