Jul
Stale Fehu
Stagnation is death. Circulation is life. This is true of living bodies and so many other things.
I remember when I worked in a hobby shop. The shop had been there for years, but was in decline when I was hired. The current wner had taken over for her parents. She counted every penny. We might say, “Penny wise, pound foolish.” There is an amusing image in monotheistic lore that illustrates it well: “Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.” Indeed, in her penny-watching ways, the woman ignored the whole idea of circulation.
On several of the shelves were items that had been there for years. They were shopworn, to say the least. The owner refused to sell them for anything less than full price. She wanted every penny. The problem was that customers were unwilling to pay her price. That is why the items lay on the shelf for years. Had they been sold, the money could have been used to buy items that were in higher demand. I would say that at least a third of our inventory were products that had languished there for years.
When the shop closed, those items were packed up and shipped to one of her other stores. I recently heard that the same items we had are still sitting on shelves in the other shops. That means they have squatted there an additional three years. It all boils down to stagnant money.
A smart shopkeeper would have sold them at discount and used the money to stock items that were in high demand. The constant flow of merchandise and money creates financial health for a shop. Stagnant items take up space and create a financial log jam.
Sometimes you have to take a temporary loss to make a permanent gain.
Another shop story involves a friend who had a spiritual shop many years ago. He had no sense of inventory. One of the first sets of items he stocked were small statues of ancient Egyptian deities. They sold briskly. Anyone else would have restocked them immediately. Instead, my friend used to money to buy other items that were not as popular.
The worst move involved a set of odd statues which he really treasured. These were kept on a very visible shelf behind the counter. My friend really liked those statues. He liked them so much he refused to sell them. The man let his personal whims interfere with his business. The result was stagnation until he decided to sell them.
Merchandise, like any other kind of Fe, must flow. Bottlenecks and log jams need to be cleared, less they lead to stagnation. Just as unmoving water goes foul, so it is with resources that never move. Circulation is life.
