The Gift You Really Needed This Year – Or Maybe Not « The Washington Independent
Jul 31, 202051.6K Shares1M Views
Guess what turned out to be a popular gift this holiday season? Piggy banks. Retailers reported that sales of the old-fashioned way to save flew off the shelves, Reuters reports:
“„“We have been selling coin banks really well,” said Laura Kellner at Kikkerland Design Inc. in New York City, whose stylish chrome pig is priced at $31.
Another retailer also said the pigs were popular:
“„“We definitely noticed a trend with the piggy banks,” said Erin Mara at Homebody, a design store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC. ”People were very upfront about the need to save…the pig is very symbolic of that sentiment,” she said.
It’s certainly evidence of financial responsibility to save, something Americans haven’t exactly been doing over the past decade, with consumer spending climbing to record levels while the savings rate plunged. I guess increased sales of piggy banks could be seen as a new frugality among consumers.
Except… $31 for a chrome piggy bank? Are you kidding me? If you need a designer piggy bank to save you’ve got deeper problems. You could put that money in an envelope, store it in a drawer, and be $31 ahead in your savings goals.
If we’ve resorted to buying buying designer piggy banks from stylish boutiques to change our spending habits, I don’t think we’ve gotten the message yet.
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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