Shop 'til ya drop!
The Telegraph (UK) astounds with Minister threatens to ban 'bargain mania' shop sales:

Germany's consumer affairs minister wants to ban bargains from the shops, arguing that low-priced products have caused a drop in quality and are confusing customers.

Renate Künast, a member of the Green party, plans to take legal action against shops that practise "price-dumping", or who lure consumers into their stores with fake discount offers. Similar sales tactics are common in Britain and America.

I've always wondered why all oriental rug stores are going out of business.

The minister's announcement amounts to a reversal on the part of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government, which last year scrapped a 70-year-old law that prohibited shops from offering reductions of more than three per cent. They were also barred from holding sales more than twice a year.

The abolition of the law has turned Germany into a nation of frenzied bargain-hunters and has led to the introduction of "money-off" coupons and store cards with names such as Payback and Happy Digits.

A trend has sprung up of so-called Schottische Wochen or Scottish Weeks, when customers are "encouraged to be thrifty". One electronics chain is even using the slogan: "Thrifty means sexy."

A new spirit of entrepreneurship has also emerged, with one fashion shop owner in Oldenburg, northern Germany, offering customers a discount of £13 if they do a headstand on entering his shop. A total of 200 people took up his offer.

Something is the matter with my screen, it says this is happening in Germany.

But Ms Kunast, who has the backing of several consumer groups, has argued that things have gone too far. She said: "The fact is that quality and safety have their price.

"We don't want to decide on behalf of consumers what they want but the consequences of their shopping habits must be made clear to them."

Now that's more like the Fatherland! Except that it has a bunch of Green wackiness thrown in which I won't quote.

This week's Stern magazine dedicated its cover story to discount shopping.

The magazine said: "Success stories of the hunt for bargains are being relayed at parties and in the works canteen." Ingo Hamm, a consumer psychologist, said Germans were latching on to the new idea of being able to buy cheaply and of playing shops off against each other in the search for the lowest-priced goods. He added: "The thing is it's no longer about owning things, rather about having bought them as cheaply as possible and trumping your friends in the process."

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, Renate?