{"id":5468,"date":"2016-07-06T18:18:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T12:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468"},"modified":"2016-07-06T18:18:38","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T12:48:38","slug":"dump-the-coupons-why-discount-culture-needs-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=5468","title":{"rendered":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

remember this one time in our office when I watched a <\/span>colleague<\/span><\/a> spend close to two hours trying to find a way to discount the price of his phone, using every coupon site and bank hack he could think of. A few hours of scrounging later, after which the company probably had to pay him to buy the phone, I caught him arguing with a potential client. From what I gathered, he couldn\u2019t understand why the client wanted him to do the same work at a lower cost. I thought that was poignant.<\/span>\n\nThere used to be a time when the <\/span>discount<\/span><\/a> was an aberration rather than the norm. It was genuinely meant to drum up sales in the low season, or leverage on times of spending. Firms would grow (or die) sustainably, leaving a healthier economy all round. Companies would make better products and more money, allowing them to hire better people who would make better\u2026 You get the idea.<\/span>\n\nContrast this with headlines over the last few months, in India and abroad. Thousands of restaurateurs have logged out of <\/span>Zomato<\/span><\/a> over what the head of the National Restaurant Association call Indian\u2019s <\/span>\u201cdiscount addiction\u201d<\/span><\/a>; WeWork has withdrawn an IPO after investors had the guts to ask probably the only question they should be asking, \u201cHow do you expect to make money?\u201d. And of course, how can we not talk about the poster boy of discounting and inflated valuations, Uber, which made a <\/span>loss<\/span><\/a> of five billion dollars in a quarter, compounding the headaches already caused by driver strikes, lawsuits, and general bad PR?<\/span>\n\nI\u2019m not saying the above companies or their in-the-red brethren are inherently bad or evil, and in some cases, their mission is truly admirable. But it\u2019s when the goal becomes to \u201ckeep getting bigger, no matter how much we\u2019re losing\u201d that you know something must eventually break.<\/span>\n\n

There used to be a time when the discount was an aberration rather than the norm. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nVenture Capitalists \u2014 who are to thank for all our <\/span>freebies<\/span><\/a> \u2014 mandate millions of users in a remarkably short span of time. They don\u2019t care how these users acquired, or whether they\u2019ll even use the product again. So the users are enticed with freebies, discounts, loyalty programs, you name it.<\/span>\n\nIn the show <\/span>Silicon Valley<\/span><\/i> there\u2019s a telling scene in which a newly-instituted CEO explains his job to the young idealistic founder: It\u2019s not about making money, but getting a better return for the company\u2019s investors, by ostensibly driving up the \u201cperceived value\u201d, and selling it off to a bakra who will carry the chain forward. That hilarious scene is a sad reflection of so many companies today that are valued in the billions, but have no clear path to making money. An average vada pav stall in <\/span>Mumbai<\/span><\/a> is theoretically more profitable than Uber, Ola, Swiggy (the irony), OYO, and hundreds more.<\/span>\n\nThis can\u2019t last forever, surely. Eventually, investors will need to see returns. Which means either customers will need to pay more, or the cost of operations will need to dramatically fall. Or both. Companies that would normally focus on the latter are pushed to expand, expand, expand \u2014 formulating an untenable model for more places that are ever-so-happy to partake of an investor\u2019s largesse. If rapid expansion doesn\u2019t happen, a competitor can come and pull the rug out from under them. As it\u2019s been made clear, people care about discounts, not brands. Everyone loves Swiggy and Zomato now, but it\u2019s only going to take another name to come in with a slightly better deal to take all the <\/span>discount-seeking moochers<\/span><\/a> away.<\/span>\n\nNow, before you label me as a economics-hating commie, I should clarify that what I\u2019m saying here is capitalism at its purest. Let the market decide what products and services are worth (this is something the father of free-market economics, Adam Smith, himself, espoused in the 18th century). What if the cost of your \u20b9300 Uber ride was actually \u20b9600? What if you needed to pay your delivery guy thrice what you are used to? Surely this is not unreasonable. Just the fact that you would think otherwise is a sign of how much discount culture has preponderated.<\/span>\n\n

Venture Capitalists \u2014 who are to thank for all our freebies \u2014 mandate millions of users in a remarkably short span of time. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nDiscount culture gives us temporary conveniences and sidelines long-term solutions: If a vocal elite can get a cheap cab, there will be fewer demands for efficient <\/span>public transport<\/span><\/a>. It also devalues actual human effort: There is a person braving the rain to get you a pizza at 2 AM, not an automated programme. We may say it\u2019s magic that you can order something today and get it tomorrow at no extra cost. But that\u2019s simply not true. Someone needs to foot that bill.<\/span>\n\nThink about your own job. Let\u2019s assume you\u2019re a graphic designer. How would you feel if your employer sold your designs at a massive discount, promising you that this would be only to get the client hooked, and create more work later at the regular cost? There are two immediate things to worry about. For one, the client will not know how much the actual work costs, and will use the discounted price as an anchor. Then what happens if when your rate goes up, someone else offers work for cheaper? This is exactly what\u2019s happening now \u2014 and there are millions of drivers and <\/span>delivery guys<\/span><\/a> unable to understand this, getting as enamoured of initial high returns as we all are of cheap prices.<\/span>\n\nDiscount culture leads us to expecting cheaper rates everywhere we go, for any new service that might come up. This is best exemplified by the recent horde of entitled pricks wondering why <\/span>restaurants<\/span><\/a> aren\u2019t honouring Zomato Gold. Let me clear it up for them. The management couldn\u2019t get their chef to take a salary discount. Imagine that!<\/span>\n\nLet\u2019s face it, this VC-fuelled party can\u2019t last much longer. At some point, we\u2019re going to have to get back to paying the actual price of these products. What a world that would be. Where Uber drivers are paid what they deserve, companies grow steadily but profitably, and my colleague can close a deal without hours of negotiation, on a phone he paid the\u00a0 actual price for.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":5469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6984],"tags":[1537,8592,9297,9298,5382],"class_list":["post-5468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-matters","tag-capitalism","tag-discount","tag-freebies","tag-sale-season","tag-shopping"],"yoast_head":"\nDump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-06T12:48:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deepak Gopalakrishnan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deepak Gopalakrishnan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deepak Gopalakrishnan\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7bf507d99d3b0cbe8a99df30bfee2b2b\"},\"headline\":\"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-06T12:48:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468\"},\"wordCount\":1082,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1569501794.png\",\"keywords\":[\"capitalism\",\"Discount\",\"freebies\",\"sale season\",\"shopping\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Money Matters\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468\",\"name\":\"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1569501794.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-06T12:48:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7bf507d99d3b0cbe8a99df30bfee2b2b\"},\"description\":\"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1569501794.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1569501794.png\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5468#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7bf507d99d3b0cbe8a99df30bfee2b2b\",\"name\":\"Deepak Gopalakrishnan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ef907f80a39f40a0389b6397ebf75640ffc30e880c2fffeb52ceb26df466b617?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ef907f80a39f40a0389b6397ebf75640ffc30e880c2fffeb52ceb26df466b617?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ef907f80a39f40a0389b6397ebf75640ffc30e880c2fffeb52ceb26df466b617?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deepak Gopalakrishnan\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?author=362\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die","description":"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die","og_description":"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-07-06T12:48:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Deepak Gopalakrishnan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die","twitter_description":"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deepak Gopalakrishnan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468"},"author":{"name":"Deepak Gopalakrishnan","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7bf507d99d3b0cbe8a99df30bfee2b2b"},"headline":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die","datePublished":"2016-07-06T12:48:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468"},"wordCount":1082,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png","keywords":["capitalism","Discount","freebies","sale season","shopping"],"articleSection":["Money Matters"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468","name":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png","datePublished":"2016-07-06T12:48:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7bf507d99d3b0cbe8a99df30bfee2b2b"},"description":"There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today\u2019s \u201cdiscount-addicted\u201d Indians need to realise that, at some point, we\u2019re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5468#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dump the Coupons: Why Discount Culture Needs to Die"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7bf507d99d3b0cbe8a99df30bfee2b2b","name":"Deepak Gopalakrishnan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef907f80a39f40a0389b6397ebf75640ffc30e880c2fffeb52ceb26df466b617?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef907f80a39f40a0389b6397ebf75640ffc30e880c2fffeb52ceb26df466b617?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef907f80a39f40a0389b6397ebf75640ffc30e880c2fffeb52ceb26df466b617?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deepak Gopalakrishnan"},"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?author=362"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1569501794.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}