I just bought one "Coffee Maker" online, sold in Amazon.com. I wanted to proof that Online stores are really cheaper than the online that is sold offline in the store. I deliberately chose coffee maker that is commonly available in local store here.
I asked one of the tribesmen to sit on the computer with me, browsed through the coffee machines on offer at amazon.com. Some days before, there were coffee farmers who came to the Baliem Arabica Cooperative Office and were looking for coffee maker. One of them said, "We plant coffee, we grow coffee, we harvest coffee, we sell coffee, but we do not enjoy coffee as those white people." Then another person replied, "We already enjoy our coffee, because we know coffee from seeds to cups, they don't" But the other person who started the topic replied, "I am not talking about who knows more about coffee, but just about coffee in the cup." I watch TV and movies, I see people in the west enjoy their coffee very much, but we are not here. I have been thinking about this for long time now, since I started planting coffee five years ago, but so far I have not yet got the answer. I think the answer is on "the coffee machine". They have a better coffee machine that we have. They boil and serve coffees in specially designed equipments for coffee.
I noticed the conversation can go on and on without any conclusion, or if they conclude it might be a wrong one. I stopped them and said, "Excuse me, can I join?" One of them said, "My son, sit down and please teach us what should we say about this topic."
I sat down and did not say anything, but asked them to ask Mr. Internet. I know that they do trust Mr. Internet. When I started opening my laptop, they started another topic of discussion, particularly about the Internet. One of them said, "Ssssst, shut up. Internet will record anything you will say in front of him, just shut up. They watched how the browser takes in the words I typed and how it replies with the links. The words I typed in at this time was, "Best Coffee Machine" in Malay word "Mesin Kopi Terbaik", and "Cheapest Coffee Maker", in Malay "Mesin Kopi termurah". I then mentioned the name of place where we were searching.
Just in a second, or even less than a second, the answers, i.e., URLs or list of websites, articles and news came out. One of them shouted, "I told you, Mr Internet was watching when he was typing in the words, that was why the answers came out very instantly." Another person replied, "No, Mr Internet knows things inside your mind, not after you type in. He knows in your mind that you want a coffee maker, the best one, not the cheapest but the best one, as we know already."
I then offered them to buy one coffee maker that is online and the other one offline, at nearby store. "Nearby" means some hours to fly from our base. I told them clearly, that if we bought one online, we will save money, energy and time. However, if we buy offline, we need to pay air tickets, accommodation and foods costs, time and energy (people) to go and get it.
They discussed for about 10 minutes, without even looking at me, or even behaving that I am nearby them. They totally forgot that I was nearby them and that it was actually myself that asked them the question that they are discussion. I was sitting there thinking, "Why are they talking and talking?" In fact here was a debate among them, with the topic, "Should we trust Mr. Internet at this time for coffee maker that he offers?"
The the answer was "Not Online? We want offline, the one in the store."
( I will continue this one story in the next entry)
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