Demand and supply

The concept of demand and supply is certainly one of interest in more areas than that of economics from where it originates. It seems fairly simple, right? High demand and low supply equals to value and vice versa. It is one of the most basic principles in the school of profit, and seems to have worked perfectly, of course with a few glitches here and there, throughout history. I do not understand, however, the necessity of making cooling fans a valuable status product in Perth, Western Australia, and it is from this my argument arises. In fact, I cannot grasp the concept of moving simple contraptions that are designed to cool a state in sweat up the ladder of status goods to sit on the top shelf next to worldwide desired products such as diamonds and oil. It remains a mystery to me why thousands of people should be forced to fall in love with the cold water tap in their bathroom shower because of demand and supply. Because honestly, making more cooling devices and shipping them to WA would not be a work of importation art; it would be a work of logic that even my basic level of comprehension in this mathematical branch can manage to grasp fairly well.

Apparently, my argument is beat by the annoyingly simple counter claim of basic concepts such as climate and seasons. Running around in the soothing air conditioning of Myer, Perth I eventually found the cooling section, and finally discovered a grand selection of three products staring up at me, only two of which were actually cooling devices. One of these again, was put on hold for a Mrs. Elizabeth Gold till the end of the day, and hence I was left with a portable air conditioner, the option of which would cost me 700 Australian dollars. I looked in desperation around the appliances section, knowing too well the horror of 36 degrees Celsius waiting for me outside, in search of someone who might guide me to the more interesting advertisement for a portable cooler situated at 120 dollars. I worked my way to the counter and asked politely a woman named Grace whether she could offer me any other cooling contraptions than those three situated in the surprisingly limited product sections, particularly considering the weather we were experiencing. Though polite, Grace laughed at my request when I asked what time to expect the next batch of products coming in. “My dear,” she said, “it’s March; officially, autumn’s already here, so we won’t be receiving any more fans until the end of the year for summer 2011/2012”. My heart dropped to my feet and beyond, I said “Thank you”, and started slowly working my way down the levels to #1, which leads to the train station. Well onboard the Fremantle line I breathed in the wonderfully air-conditioned oxygen, looking not so much forward to the 30 degree heat of my bedroom. I could hence conclude that even with cooling fans, the good old profit concept of demand and supply benefits only the product provider rather than the customer. I would also like to raise the question: Where the hell are they hiding all the cooling fans of WA?