Where a Kirana would score significantly over a big Bazaar

There have been scores of studies done on how the likes of Big Bazaar would be a threat to local kirana shops.
My experience with one Big Bazaar outlet seems to show that my locality’s Kirana shops are better than this one Big Bazaar outlet. Here is why –
1) In reality, there are no discounts on the quality branded products. E.g. Surf Excel would cost the same in Big Bazaar as it would in the Kirana.
2) Discounts are only on the internal Big Bazaar products (e.g. Big Bazaar ghee is INR 1 cheaper than Amul ghee) – which are anyway not great on quality.
3) Or on products where prices are difficult to determine e.g. if you buy some local brand of facial tissues, you do not know if it is worth INR 30 or INR 20 per packet. If you buy it from the roadside boys selling them at a red-light, you can bargain for the same at INR 10 a packet (while the printed price will continue to say INR 30).
4) Quality of Big Bazaar packaged food products is particularly bad. For that INR 1 or INR 2 per kg of savings, the quality compromise is not worth it. Packaged pulses and rice frequently have loads of insects in them. I get better quality in my local Kirana store at more or less the same price.
4) There are products that a local Kirana will have which a Big Bazaar does not because there is not ‘adequate’ demand in Big Bazaar for them to make the effort to procure such products. E.g You will never find Til oil in this Ambi Mall outlet.
5) Contrary to popular belief, even local Kiranas give discounts. If you shop for INR 1,000 or more, why wouldn’t he?
6) The local Kirana does home delivery on as little as an INR 100 bill.

Among other things that have changed, making shopping at Big Bazaar, Ambi Mall not worthwhile –
7) When this Big Bazaar outlet was still in the ‘newly opened’ stage, each time you shopped for INR 1,000, INR 2,000 and so on, there was a free gift for each amount of shopping. E.g. for INR 1,000 worth of shopping one would get 1kg sugar and 1kg of powdered wheat free. With INR 2,000 of shopping, one would get a mixer and so on. This practice has been stopped once the mall gained some popularity.
8) Moreover, since the rest of the mall was under construction, parking was easy. One could park right next to Big Bazaar and there were no security queues or billing queues.
9) And finally, any savings that one makes on purchases from Big Bazaar get more than offset with fuel bill (INR 200), the Delhi-gurgaon toll (INR 17) and the high parking charges (INR 30).

What is our education worth?

For those of us who do an MBA; believe in self-interest, the end game of MBA is to get a better job. 'Better' is merely a euphemism for 'more money/pot loads of money'. Lets face it, why does (or did) a job in Morgan Stanley command a position of day '0' rather than a marketing job with P&G?

I am not trying to argue how as MBA students we rate companies internally so that they are accordingly assigned their day-status. But since money is the motivation for MBA and choice of job, why don't the same type of people become clerks in Customs or Municipalities? I have heard of multiple stories of MCD employees earning anything between 1-2 lacs a week. And if one can crack the CAT to get into an IIM, one can easily take the MCD/customs exam and become a employee of the Indian govt. and earn significantly higher than a better educated MBA. And the work hours would be more comfortable. Not to mention that one would not pay any tax on the additional income.

Wish a Career Launcher or IMS would start programs oriented towards 'getting into MCD/customs' and then have course-work for 'how to make more money than your predecessors in your MCD/customs job'.

Of course, a lot of people would not justify this on 'moral' or 'ethical' grounds'. We are more comfortable when we do similar jobs in a corporate that has justified the same thing e.g. if a Lehman sells junk to a clients, it s justified. After all the client is willing to pay a price for the shit Lehman sells. (I think enough has been said on Lehman so lets skip a Lehman example). Take HLL instead that sells Sunsilk. Now if HLL were to claim that the shampoo makes your hair silky/kills dandruff in 15 days/doubles the hair density on your head.............., never mind the claims are never justified. Never mind that the shampoo may work only on certain hair types and under certain controlled conditions, but no one will sue HLL for making false claims. Their sales/marketing guys will continue to believe in peddling these false-claims products to innocent consumers but will not once feel the the moral dilemma that could come (initially) in an MCD/customs job.