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The Pottery Barn rule is an American expression alluding to a policy of "you break it, you bought it" or "you break it, you buy it" or "you break it, you remake it", by which a retail store holds a customer responsible for damage done to merchandise on display. It generally "encourages customers to be more careful when handling property that's not theirs". It is an analogy often used in the political or military arena to suggest that if an actor inadvertently creates a problem, the actor is obliged to provide the resources necessary to correct it.
Origin
The phrase "If you break it, you've bought it" was reportedly first used in 1952 by a Miami Beach gift shop, who posted the message over their fragile merchandise.
Individually operated furnishing stores selling fragile goods (art, pottery, and sculptures) often post a "you break it, you buy it" sign. According to legal experts, 'If the sign is big enough, and prominently displayed, it can be argued that you were given what lawyers call "sufficient notice"' and 'In this case, just by entering the store you agree to the terms of the sign, even if you didn't read it'. In addition, it is the customer's responsibility to be careful in a premises with many fragile valuable goods; so careless behavior such as an untied shoelace or horsing around can be regarded as negligent. However the rule is rarely enforced, as the establishment cannot detain a customer for non-payment of damages and instead would have to file a civil suit against that customer. In actual practice even a civil suit is unlikely if the patron lacks the means to pay, such as damaged artwork in a museum that could be worth millions.
In reality,
Pottery Barn
Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
The company is headq ...
—a chain of upscale home furnishing stores in the United States—does not have a "you break it, you bought it" policy,
but instead
writes off broken merchandise as a loss, as do most large American retailers.
Legal doctrine also holds that a retailer incurs the risk that merchandise will be destroyed by placing it where customers can handle it and not doing anything to discourage them.
Political usage
''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' columnist
Thomas L. Friedman
Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global tra ...
claims to have coined the term, having used the phrase "the pottery store rule" in a February 12, 2003, column. He has said he referred to Pottery Barn specifically in speeches.
According to ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' journalist
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor.
While a young reporter for ''The Washingto ...
,
U.S. Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
cited the rule in the summer of 2002 when warning
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
of the consequences of his planned
military action in Iraq:
"You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people," he told the president. "You will own all their hopes, aspirations, and problems. You'll own it all." Privately, Powell and Deputy Secretary of State
The deputy secretary of state of the United States is the principal deputy to the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state. The current deputy secretary of state is Wendy Ruth Sherman, serving since April 2021 under United States Secre ...
Richard Armitage called this the Pottery Barn rule: You break it, you own it.
Powell confirmed the quotation on
Jonathan Dimbleby
Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby.
...
's ''Jonathan Dimbleby'' program on April 30, 2006.
Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
cited the rule and attributed it to Powell in debating Bush on policy on the Iraq war during
the first debate of the 2004 Presidential election:
KERRY: Secretary of State Colin Powell told this president ush
Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...
the Pottery Barn rule: If you break it, you fix it. Now, if you break it, you made a mistake. It's the wrong thing to do. But you own it. And then you've got to fix it and do something with it. Now that's what we have to do. There's no inconsistency. Soldiers know over there that this isn't being done right yet. I'm going to get it right for those soldiers, because it's important to Israel, it's important to America, it's important to the world, it's important to the fight on terror. But I have a plan to do it. He ush
Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...
doesn't.
Powell denies using the term "pottery barn rule", but stated:
It is said that I used the "Pottery Barn rule." I never did it; homas
In the Vedic Hinduism, a homa (Sanskrit: होम) also known as havan, is a fire ritual performed on special occasions by a Hindu priest usually for a homeowner (" grihastha": one possessing a home). The grihasth keeps different kinds of fire ...
Friedman did it ... But what I did say ... s that
S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''.
Histor ...
once you break it, you are going to own it, and we're going to be responsible for 26 million people standing there looking at us. And it's going to suck up a good 40 to 50 percent of the Army for years. And it's going to take all the oxygen out of the political environment ..."
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pottery Barn Rule
Causes and prelude of the Iraq War
International relations terminology
Political terminology of the United States
Williams-Sonoma
Property law
Hypothetical laws
Legal doctrines and principles
Adages