Q Talk

[Spurt]

QVC will be airing its 26th Klondike Gold Rush event, there are some very eerie simularities between the original Klondike Gold Rush and QVC's Klondike Gold Rush Day...yes, it's QVC's own version of the Twilight Zone....As Rod Serling used to say, "you are about to enter another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... QVC's Gold Rush days....

Put on your maxi dress, boots, and bonnet as we journey back into time ......you are back in July 1897 .....two ships have docked in San Francisco and Seattle.....carrying miners who returned from the Yukon with bags of gold......is it my imagination or do one of the miners resemble QVC's own David Markstein, the gold buyer......today's TMZ has nothing on yesterday's press as word gets out about the gold. Soon 100,000 gold seekers are on the march to the Yukon.....much like 100 million potential QVC customers in today's market.....

Few knew anything about where are they going or what they are doing, so pamphlets were available along the way.....but the pamphlets contain no real information and made outrageous claims of wealth to be had by everyone....Why that is so much like today's QVC programs...with little or no information about the gold jewelry or any merchandise for that matter, although their are also outrageous claims about how you will receive the latest style and design made by artisans and you will be so totally "on trend" and you are urged to purchase one in every color!!! ...Yep BOTH the pamphlets and QVC's programming tell you virtually NOTHING and a lot of HYPE!

Now outfitters sprung up overnight to sell the miners whatever they needed to get started...clothes, tools, camping, and mining and transportation equipment.....Now ladies doesnt that sound so much like what has sprung up around QVC's jewelry shows---why there are clothes (D&C and Graver---wonder if liquid knit wore well in the long journey to the Yukon).....there are tools (gardening, spray washers, battery chargers).....and camping means food and rest....wonder if there was a happy dance around the ole camp fire, and rest certainly brings to mind Sleep Number Beds....Towns such as Seattle made a fortune off the miners, much as West Chester, makes a fortune off QVC customers....

The Chilkoot Trail was steep and hazardous some miners gave up here, discarding their unneeded equipment on the side of the trail. Much like today's jewelry buyers discard (RETURN) their merchandise BACK to QVC due to poor quality and overpriced products, or discard QVC's jewelry programming altogether.

Those that survived the treacherous journey mostly found disappointment, locals had already claimed the gold bearing creeks and "gold for the taking" was grossly exaggerated. Much like today's QVC's customers who are also disappointed in the supposedly "gold" jewelry offerings filled with resin, wire wrappings, and exaggerated prices....other jewelry retailers have claimed the gold while the network that once claimed to be the nation's top gold buyer languishes far behind with poor offerings....

So the biggest boon, turned out to be the biggest bust, the only ones to "strike it rich" were the merchants and profiteers who took advantage of the miners.... Much as QVC does to today's customers with a decline in quality, high shipping and prices and spotty delivery

Strange, how QVC would choose to honor an UNSUCCESSFUL and DISAPPOINTING event as the Klondike Gold Rush.....but then things are indeed different, in another dimension, of shadow, substance, of mind and ideas...afterall it is the QVC Zone....

Check out this photo---Why could this be a photo of QVC hosts and gold buyers on their way to get the latest in gold design and style....and it appears they are wearing the latest in Our Lady Of Liquid Knit fashions too.....