Why it's always good to queue in line...

... even if you don't know why you are there!

Last week, when doing some (window)shopping, we dropped by Macy's and Bloomingdales - two of the mandatory department stores on every tourist's "to do" list. I know that these stores can get very crowded but when we arrived we saw a huge queue of people - no, women - outside the store: waiting to get in???

No, not waiting to get in... Phew! We could just walk past them inside the store. They were waiting however for some free cosmetics handed out by the store. Not just any free stuff (like the sample mini deodorants or shampoo they sometimes hand out in Belgian train stations or on the street, which you keep in case they ever may come in handy, which they never do... so they just collect dust in one of your closets and years later, you find them and ask yourself why in the hell you've kept them but still don't throw them away, because you never know....) Anyway, I'm drifting off... no, they were giving away real designer cosmetics: perfumes, lotions, and the like. So who was behind this? Marketeers? Santa Claus? A non-profit organization supporting the cause "every woman has a right to cosmetics"? Nope! ... Lawyers!

Apparently, in 2003, a huge class action was filed in California claiming that retailers and cosmetics manufacturers violated anti-trust laws by fixing prices on cosmetics. The latter denied any guilt but decided to settle anyway. As part of that settlement (*), the retailers and cosmetics were required to give away $175 million worth of cosmetics! All customers who between 1994 and 2003 purchased a product from the manufacturers named in the suit could receive one free cosmetic product. However, no receipt or proof of purchase was required so every lady patient enough to face the long queue just waited in line to get her free product.

Only in America? We'll see... maybe I gave the Belgian female lawyers among us a good idea?

PS (*): The other part of the settlement was to pay $24 million in attorney fees...