I just got screwed.

I made the classic first-time-to-China-and-I-have-no-idea-where-my-hotel-is-so-I’ll-believe-the-taxi-driver mistake. Since I wasn’t sure where my hotel was, how to get there, or what to pay to get there, I trusted the taxi mob (even though I felt like I was about to get screwed). And sure enough, I way overpaid. Leaving me pretty miffed.

But consider the transaction from the point of view of the taxi drivers. White guy, clearly American, and looking rather dazed from 20 hours of traveling. Chances are, this is a rare trip for me to China. And they are right. I’ll probably never come back to Guangzhou, China after this trip. So why not get every penny they can from me in this one transaction? It’s not as if they are building a brand or relationship. They are a one time service provider.

I understand their business model – screw the customer because we’ll probably not see him/her again. So let’s talk about your business for a second. Do you have to care about one time transaction-ers? Two thoughts.

  1. Word of Mouth – I may not come back to China, but I can almost guarantee that someone from my company will be back. And guess who I’m telling them to avoid.
  2. Ethical/Human Decency – I’m a free market capitalist who likes to make money and believes in the invisible hand described by Adam Smith. But that does not mean I have to be indecent, even if there are no repercussions.

I don’t believe you can build anything meaningful if you ever knowingly and willfully screw the customer, no matter how small and insignificant he or she is.