Ken: I am at the store. Here is what they have for the class party.
| SUN MART · Wednesday Sale |
|---|
| Noodles, box of 30 540 |
| Buns, pack of 10 180 |
| Water, box of 24 240 |
| Free bag if you spend over 1,000 |
| Christmas cards and contact lens water also on sale |
May: We have 1,000 in total. Thirty students, so we need enough for everyone.
Ken: One box of noodles and one box of water is 780. That leaves 220 for buns.
May: One pack of buns is only ten. Get two packs and we go over 1,000 by 140.
Ken: Then one pack. Not everyone eats buns anyway.
Saturday · 9:00 to 15:00 · On the playground
Each class will run one shop. You may sell food you made at home, things you no longer need, or a service such as washing a bicycle. In general, think ahead about what people will want. All money goes to the library.
Please do not shout to bring people to your table. A sign is enough. If it rains, the fair moves to the hall, and each class gets a smaller space, so pack only what you need.
Dear Sir,
On March 2 I made an order on your page for two sweaters, order number 44812. The money left my bank the same day, but nothing has come. That was three weeks ago.
I wrote to your shop twice and got the same short answer both times: the pack has been sent. If it has been sent, could you tell me the day and the name of the company carrying it? With that, I can look for it myself.
If the order was never packed, I would like my money back this week. I have bought from you before without any trouble, so I hope we can fix this quickly.
Sincerely, Hu Ling
A shirt for 199 dollars looks like a win. Somebody, however, has already paid the difference.
To sell at that price, a shop must buy at a lower one. The maker then pays less for the material, gives the worker less time for each piece, and sends the shirt across the sea in a way that costs little. None of this appears on the sign in the window.
This does not actually mean a cheap thing is wrong. It means the price you see is only the part of the story that reaches you. When we ask how a shop can sell so low, we are not being difficult. We are asking the one question the sign was made to stop.