As I strolled the stores on Black Friday and sought the deals on Cyber Monday, I marveled at the pact I’d made with my cousin to not buy any non-sale item during the infamous after Thanksgiving sales. For some this may not have been such a marvel, but for an 18-year old college student to make this commitment with me, a 30-year old convenience shopper, it was quite monumental. Of course, I couldn’t help but appreciate how different her buying habits were from me at the age of 18 when I embarrassingly enough just bought because I found “it” and not because “it” was a good deal. It made me wonder if I’d gone through a natural progress of appreciating every dollar more, or if there’s some silver lining of a recession that has helped every generation become savvier with their dollars and cents?
As I thought more about the changes I’ve made in the last couple years, I couldn’t help but reflect back on the changes I’ve made professionally. I’ve given more emphasis and priority to research prior to deployment and sought more affordable and efficient ways to source talents and complete duties. In accomplishing these tasks and looking at what we do through a different lens, we’ve developed more partners, expectations and processes that may not have initiated without the need to address our economic environment. As a graduate student, I’ve witnessed more students networking to share books and finding sites to purchase them for a fraction of the cost. Although that may be common in undergraduate programs, I’ve noticed this shift even amongst the students that are funded by their companies to ensure they’re managing any costs they can control to keep their education funding. While seeing these changes in business and education, I notice more of the recession silver lining as I reflected back on building a home late in 2009.
While I honed my skills of finding deals in the building process, I found very affordable, quality work available from many companies. Many of the poorer quality or managed businesses may have even exited leaving the market full of those that are the best at their trade. This alone was a testament to their abilities, and helped me as a potential buyer find them more easily.
As we continue through the slow economic times, there’s more positive to be said for the changes we’ve all endured over the past couple years. As I reflect just for a few brief moments, I notice members embracing the ideas and values of credit unions, credit unions being more diligent in their operations and staff having a renewed interest in making the most of everything. To tag on to a fellow CUNAverser’s post, the recessions silver lining may be one more deposit to our “thank bank.”
