Mike and Ploy

Everyone loves saving money – that’s why we love sales.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to pay less for something that you were going to buy anyway?  The issue arises, however, when you purchase more than you originally planned or budgeted for.

When I was a bit younger, there was this idea that when at a sale, the more you bought = the more you saved.  My counter argument at the time was that you ended up paying more overall though, than if you had just bought the original item at full price.  How overboard you were depended on the levels of self-control. This is blow out of the water, however, by the Woot Effect.

If you’re not familiar with Woot – it’s a one-item a day sale at a bargain price.  All they sell is one different item per day – and it’s available until they sell out.  It varies widely from day to day: computers, monitors, lawnmower, steel skewers for the BBQ, picture frame, potted plants, etc.  To some people, these constitute a good deal.  To other’s, however, it fosters a different feeling.  It’s no longer, “I’m saving money on something I want” but rather “I’m getting a good deal on something cool”.  That’s the money maker.   You weren’t even remotely thinking about that item, until it loaded up on the webpage.

Did you really need a 6 pack of HDMI cables for $15 + $5 shipping and handling.  Do you have that many things to plugin?  Do you even know what HDMI is?  Probably not, but everyone throwing this name around so I must need it.

How about that underpowered PC that you just bought for $300?  Or a 4GB USB thumbdrive that doubles as a flashlight?  What even goes through someone’s head about the mysterious “Bag O Crap” for $3.

Woot’s not the only site that does this.  Slickdeals.net or Steam Sales are other offenders to whom I’ve fallen victim.  (I wasn’t thinking about that 5 year old game until it was $3.  Blu-Ray movie – I just saved $10 on a future purchase!!!!)   A purchased based on the idea of just being “a good purchase”.  Sure it’s cool – but is it saving me money?  It it making my life better?  Maybe, but at the very least, I can take comfor in the good american consumer that I’m supposed to be.  *sarcasm*

The impulse buy – the need to get in before the bold “sold out” sign appears.  This started with Ebay years ago, the whole auction environment, the thrill of winning – but at the expense of sometimes paying higher than retail price for an item.   That’s the trick – woot has a sale, but is it even a good buy?  That computer you’re buying – sure it’s cheap, but it’s going on 3 years old…are you ok buying this lower quality item at a cheaper price?  But heck, if it’s low enough, I’m not losing much.  Morning Coffee costs 3.50 for a frappachino, while that iPhone app?  99 cents.  Not much to one person, but if your market is millions of users – that’s a big profit.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think there’s value in Woot.  I’ve bought a few things that I use every day (TV Tuner).  It’s just that I wonder at what cost.  Are we going to see “Shoppers Anonymous” in a few years?  Could you interact with a website enough (mouse click) to have the same behavioral conditioning that affects alcoholics (reaching for the bottle) and gambling addicts (slot machine arm)?

I’m probably overreacting, there’s plenty of times were people have declined purchases or “Just said ‘no’” – Indeed.  We still have choice and self-discipline.   There’s that other addage, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I guess that’s true.  Maybe it’s just that the Internet has made it easier to advertise and send our trash around.  Go ahead and take a look.  I’ll pass…

I’m still looking at Woot everyday though.  Don’t want to miss a good deal. *looks at iPhone app*