Yet another article posted on www.Newser.com has now caught my attention. I refer to Evann Gastaldo's July 21, 2024 piece titled “One Terrible Amazon Review Ravaged A Small Business: Bloomberg Looks at the Sad Story of A Once-Thriving Swim Diaper Business”.
The story goes on to share how just one terrible Amazon review ravaged a small business. According to the article:
Paul and Rachelle Baron's small business, Beau & Belle Littles, quickly reached $1 million in sales after the couple came up with a reusable, easily removable, and washable swim diaper based on their experience with their own baby during his first swim class. They were featured in Forbes and on Rachael Ray's show and had come up with a plan to triple annual sales to $3 million in 2020.
Then came a one-star review that “tanked” everything, according to Bloomberg, which takes a long look at the Barons' story. The problem? A customer left a terrible review after ordering one of the diapers and receiving a used one that had been returned—still encrusted with feces. But that was on Amazon, not the Barons; Amazon employees are supposed to check every returned item before clearing it to be resold.
But sources tell Bloomberg that it's not uncommon for Amazon to restock returned items without thoroughly examining them. The Barons asked for the review to be removed since they weren't at fault, but it remained up for years (until Bloomberg published its story, in fact) and, because of the pictures of the stained diaper that it contained, it received a lot of views. As a result, the Barons say, they are $600,000 in debt and barely making a living from their once-thriving business; Paul has a side job and Rachelle is looking for one.
The article’s last sentence is the most alarming. It reads:
Meanwhile, the person who left the negative review says that after the Barons reached out to her, replaced the diaper, and explained what happened, she meant to revise her review—but “life got busy and I never did.”
My strong suspicion is that you, like me, are greatly alarmed after reading this. One feels for the couple whose business was ruined through no real fault of their own. Especially when they went above and beyond and did everything humanly possible to reach out to the customer and make things right.
But the most troubling thing of all is found in that last sentence. The disgruntled customer whom they reached out to could so easily have set the record straight, but apparently just couldn’t be bothered! How truly sad!
Of course, we all live in this brave new world where much of our shopping takes place online. And purchasing choices are often driven by reviews. Add to that the fact that social media dominates everything. And with social media comes the opportunity for individuals to sound off at every turn about every pet peeve they happen to have.
And the sad truth, as this story illustrates, is how people do this with relative immunity. They hide behind usernames and proffer opinions, blissfully unaware of the real damage their words do in the lives of other people.
We all grew up with the little ditty: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” Well, sticks and stones can hurt people. But, truth be known, so can names! And so can words, particularly when they employed intentionally as a means to hurt others! We all know this to be true.
After all, most of us have suffered at the expense of someone else’s words. I know I have. But if we would be honest, most of us (including me) would have to admit that we ourselves have periodically hurt others with the words we have uttered. Ouch!
No wonder the Bible puts such an emphasis on the power of the tongue. The Apostle James speaks to this in his New Testament Letter when he writes:
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
Wow! How true!
We were given our minds and our mouths by the Heavenly Father to glorify Him and uplift others. And whenever we use them in ways that undermine these two purposes, we are being, at the least, duplicitous, and at worst, outright antagonistic to the purposes of Almighty God!
The next time you feel the desire to sound off on this, that, or the other person or episode or issue, take a moment to ask what the consequences might just be. For, as James well knew, a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And make no mistake about it, the damage and devastation done to a once beautiful forest that has been burnt to a crisp is very hard to undo!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.newser.com/story/353018/one-terrible-amazon-review-ravaged-a-small-business.html.
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/nlt/james/3.htm.
The story goes on to share how just one terrible Amazon review ravaged a small business. According to the article:
Paul and Rachelle Baron's small business, Beau & Belle Littles, quickly reached $1 million in sales after the couple came up with a reusable, easily removable, and washable swim diaper based on their experience with their own baby during his first swim class. They were featured in Forbes and on Rachael Ray's show and had come up with a plan to triple annual sales to $3 million in 2020.
Then came a one-star review that “tanked” everything, according to Bloomberg, which takes a long look at the Barons' story. The problem? A customer left a terrible review after ordering one of the diapers and receiving a used one that had been returned—still encrusted with feces. But that was on Amazon, not the Barons; Amazon employees are supposed to check every returned item before clearing it to be resold.
But sources tell Bloomberg that it's not uncommon for Amazon to restock returned items without thoroughly examining them. The Barons asked for the review to be removed since they weren't at fault, but it remained up for years (until Bloomberg published its story, in fact) and, because of the pictures of the stained diaper that it contained, it received a lot of views. As a result, the Barons say, they are $600,000 in debt and barely making a living from their once-thriving business; Paul has a side job and Rachelle is looking for one.
The article’s last sentence is the most alarming. It reads:
Meanwhile, the person who left the negative review says that after the Barons reached out to her, replaced the diaper, and explained what happened, she meant to revise her review—but “life got busy and I never did.”
My strong suspicion is that you, like me, are greatly alarmed after reading this. One feels for the couple whose business was ruined through no real fault of their own. Especially when they went above and beyond and did everything humanly possible to reach out to the customer and make things right.
But the most troubling thing of all is found in that last sentence. The disgruntled customer whom they reached out to could so easily have set the record straight, but apparently just couldn’t be bothered! How truly sad!
Of course, we all live in this brave new world where much of our shopping takes place online. And purchasing choices are often driven by reviews. Add to that the fact that social media dominates everything. And with social media comes the opportunity for individuals to sound off at every turn about every pet peeve they happen to have.
And the sad truth, as this story illustrates, is how people do this with relative immunity. They hide behind usernames and proffer opinions, blissfully unaware of the real damage their words do in the lives of other people.
We all grew up with the little ditty: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” Well, sticks and stones can hurt people. But, truth be known, so can names! And so can words, particularly when they employed intentionally as a means to hurt others! We all know this to be true.
After all, most of us have suffered at the expense of someone else’s words. I know I have. But if we would be honest, most of us (including me) would have to admit that we ourselves have periodically hurt others with the words we have uttered. Ouch!
No wonder the Bible puts such an emphasis on the power of the tongue. The Apostle James speaks to this in his New Testament Letter when he writes:
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
Wow! How true!
We were given our minds and our mouths by the Heavenly Father to glorify Him and uplift others. And whenever we use them in ways that undermine these two purposes, we are being, at the least, duplicitous, and at worst, outright antagonistic to the purposes of Almighty God!
The next time you feel the desire to sound off on this, that, or the other person or episode or issue, take a moment to ask what the consequences might just be. For, as James well knew, a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And make no mistake about it, the damage and devastation done to a once beautiful forest that has been burnt to a crisp is very hard to undo!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.newser.com/story/353018/one-terrible-amazon-review-ravaged-a-small-business.html.
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/nlt/james/3.htm.