Thinking outside the box is one of those phrases that has become a truism. Have a problem? Think outside the box. Facing declining sales? Think outside the box. Your team isn’t winning? Think outside the box. Personal problems? Think outside the box.

The phrase has become so ubiquitous that it is now a cliché. And the problem with a cliché is everyone hears it and thinks they know what it means–so they don’t think about what it really is about.

I don’t like boxes when they become pigeonholes. I do like them for storing things and for moving things around with relative ease. They have great entertainment potential–as any parent has discovered when they bring home one with the latest toy in it–and discover the child finds playing with the box far more interesting. And in a pinch a good size box can provide shelter from the elements–as too many Americans have had cause to learn far too well in recent years.

Sometimes staying inside the box is a very good thing. Ask any scientist about staying inside the box when it comes to adding acid to water rather than the other way around. Ask any carpenter about staying inside the box when it comes to wearing safety glasses.

So sometimes staying in the box is a good idea. Sometimes it is a bad idea. And sometimes you just don’t know until you try.

I went on a scouting expedition today to look at a different way of marketing Walking with Jane merchandise. We’ve sold items at yard sales, at basketball games, at school in the cafeteria, at Relay. Someone suggested two ideas last summer I never quite managed to make happen: farmers’ markets and flea markets. It’s a bit early in the season here in New England for the first, but there are three indoor/outdoor fleas markets within easy driving distance so today I went to check them out.

In my youth, flea markets were like massive yard sales. Someone rented a giant parking lot and then sold table size lots for the day or two of the event to anyone with merchandise to sell.

Things change. The first two I walked into today were indoors and it was clear the vendors were semi-permanent residents. The booths were more like small storefronts than tables. And given what was there, people don’t pack up everything they own at the end of the day and take it home.

The third was more like what I remembered–much of it was outdoors on long tables–but even there I sensed a semi-permanence to much of what I was looking at. But it seemed like a better match. Still, I am afraid Walking with Jane items won’t sell very well there. What t-shirts there were sold at a third of what I have to charge for the classic shirt–and half of what I pay for those shirts. The less expensive items might do well though.

Sometimes a thinking-out-of-the-box idea is a clear winner. Sometimes it is instantly clear the standard pull-it-out-of -the-box idea makes more sense.

But this is one of those times the answer is just not clear.