Disloyalty card

I’ve been going to Dave’s in Morpeth to get my hair cut ever since I moved to the town. That was nearly thirty years ago. Dave reminded me that I was one of his first customers when he had his first shop on the main road North. He’s seen me go from black to grey and known me through the beard years.

I think I have been disloyal to Dave a couple of times in the last three decades but have always gone back. I like the skill of the barbers and I like the local gossip.

Everyone knows that things have not been great on the high street and Dave and I have often talked about the ups and downs of my home town’s fortunes. Other barbers have opened up in Morpeth and so a year or so ago Dave introduced a loyalty card, the size of a business card with six squares on the back. Every time you get a haircut a square is filled in and a full card entitles you to a free rug rethink.

At first I took up his offer enthusiastically and have had a couple of freebies.

This year though I have changed my mind and decided to throw away my card. My thinking is that rather than being a recognition of loyalty it was in fact the opposite, a disloyalty card. By using the card I was getting every seventh haircut free. That is equivalent to a 14% discount for nothing. I haven’t increased the number of cuts on the back of it nor have I transferred my business form somewhere else. I am getting a discount on something I was prepared to pay for anyway.

I would rather that Dave’s business survives and still graces the high street for many years to come. As long as I can afford it I will pay full price for his and his team’s services. Yes, I may be a little out of pocket and my action may not make the greatest of differences but I am hoping that every little helps.

Dave has been there for me and my town. I am only repaying that loyalty.