An interesting tidbit from that poll I posted yesterday
on December 14th, 2007 at 11:11 am“Moreover, the three groups seem more trusting of whites than of each other. The poll found that 61% of Hispanics, 54% of Asians and 47% of African Americans would rather do business with whites than members of the other two groups.”
I would have to do a little digging for the post, but I do remember addressing this a while back on this site. I said something to the effect that for Blacks at least (and I would imagine the same for the other two ethnic groups), I think it comes down to expectancy by both the business owner and the customer. In my experience, REGARDLESS of cost of the product or service, there are many of us out there that expect an automatic (insert race here) discount just because the business owner is your same race. Nevermind the cost the business owner has to eat for giving you the ‘hook up’ (There is a Black plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills [not the one caught up in the Kanye West thing] who stated that at times he is asked by his Black patients for a ‘hook up’ in price. Yep, even in Beverly Hills). As far as owner goes, I have also seen many of times business that cater to Blacks that could do a whole lot better in both the pricing, presentation, customer service department. Yet it is this feeling that because you are serving your own, they’ll understand. (here is my clause for the racially sensitive in the room: No I am not saying that this is a reflection of all Black-owned businesses or that all White businesses are great–sheesh). Again, I would imagine the same thing happens in other communities as well. As far as White businesses go, well their target group is EVERYBODY. So making sure customer service is on point, quality of product is up to par, prices are reasonable (that is a biggie right there–I’ve heard a Jewish man complain that other Jews will try to overcharge each other–someone out there can verify that one for me since I am not Jewish) is a must if they are going to make that money.
There are other things I found pretty interesting in this study that I might comment on later.
