Price To Pay @ MindSay 
I had been looking for a two-drawer metal filing cabinet, but all ones I saw were $50 to $70 - too much for a piece of crappy office furniture. I'd do better getting a used one at a thrift store.
Then I saw Office Depot was advertising a two-drawer Office Depot Value™ Brand 2-Drawer File With Caster Kit available in silver, putty, charcoal and stone for $29.99.
I was willing to pay $30, but didn't want to drive all the way into town and back - an hour's trip including shopping time. Since Office Depot offers free shipping on purchases over $50, I went online. Odd thing was that while I could find the product, it wasn't listed for the price on the flier. I wondered if it was an in-store special.
Off to Office Depot I Go
Even though I suspected the sale flier had a misprint, wasn't it within my rights to ask for the advertised price? Since I already had to drive part way to the store to drop the kids off at karate, I thought it was worth my time to go by and check it out.
When I got there, the young man in the furniture section couldn't find the file cabinet on the floor. When he looked it up in the computer, he didn't see it listed at the sale price. (I had brought the flier with me.) He got his manager who told me there was only one left in the back. He reluctantly gave it to me for the price on the flier even though he pointed out that the flier was incorrect.
Not the Bargain I Hoped for
I added a few other things to my cart, and checked out using a $10 off coupon I had as an Office Depot rewards member. I drove home thrilled to get a file cabinet for $20 that would normally go for $70 full price.
A couple of days later I unpacked the file. It was damaged! Not only was I ticked off, but I had a dilemma to deal with. Should I be happy with a banged up bargain? Or should I take more time out of my busy schedule to return it? CRAP!
Putting a Price Tag On My Time
A friend of mine, Millionaire Mommy Next Door, tells you to put a price tag on your time.
So far I had expended an hour's worth of time to save $50. In my freelance writing business, I aim for a $20 per hour minimum net. So I did pretty well there. But if I returned it, I would lose money:
- 1 hour to get the original file - $20
- 1 hour to return it - $20
- 1 hour to get a new one from a rain check (there were no more in the store) - $20
TOTAL = $60 worth of writing time to save $50 - NOT WORTH IT!
I ended up keeping the cabinet. It was functional, and the damage wasn't noticeable since it's in the closet. I'm still pissed about it though.
What would you have done, kept it figuring you took advantage of a mistake and got a pretty good deal? Or would you have returned it, insisting on a perfect cabinet at the flier's price?
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| I know what you're doing, I see it all too clear | ||||||
Are You Ready Kiwi? Are you feeling it? Yeah, you know what's happening tonight.
You have goten all the Kiwi lovin' that you are likely to get this year last Tuesday and it's time to pay the price.
You know there's a Test Match on tonight
AND YOU KNOW WERE GONNA KICK YOUR SORRY ASS!!!!!
There aint no way that you can stop the Aussies again like you did in the Tri-Nations last year.
You are goin' DOWN Kiwi.
The ANZAC Day Test Australia vs New Zealand Tonight.
Come on Aussie, Come on!
For one, no longer can I bear the knowledge that my daily routine includes studying. My patience for the year to cease is waning. The wait for freedom, dreams and ideals is sufferable. What more, it has a price-tag; a fiasco at the GCE's equates to an extension of the wait.
You read on, perhaps thinking that I would present to you, a miracle. Not happening...
Further introspection, reveals to me, or at least, reminds me that everything has a price. You are forced to buy almost everything (yes, I am playing on the pun); either pay up or continue living hell. It is brutal and yet, it has its rewards. Such is the power of karma.
Think of it this way -action is taken; if it is good, you are rewarded; if it is bane, sufficed to say, 'good luck to you'. Thus, good luck to me! I am due to pay for not sufficiently preparing for the mid-year examinations.
Ciao
It didn't actually sound
Anything like this song...
Being that I was born and raised in a mostly capitalist society, it is amazing to me that there are so many people who I come in contact with on a regular basis who have no grasp of the concept and what it entails...
Take for example, I am selling pens, and you are in need of one to do your job. I am selling my pens for $157.32 and you have a choice to either buy them or not to buy them. What would most people do? Firstly, they would bitch and moan about my prices, and then they would drag me before the Senate and have me explain why the price of my pens are so high, and then they would want me to pay a capital gains tax on my profit to punish me for charging so much. And this in turn would make the politicians' mouths water over all the extra money they would have to spend on socially redeeming projects like parks or grants to defense contractors in their districts. Being that I have to pay this additional cost to do business, I in turn raise my prices again to recoup some of my lost revenue...
And so on...
Which brings me to the price of gasoline and the companies that are producing it. As far as I know there is no one out there in this world forcing anyone to buy gasoline. There is no one who forces someone to buy a house or rent for the sake of argument to live 30 miles away from his or her place of employment. There is no one threatening humanity to continue urban sprawl so that folks can live further and further away from industry or the business they are in...
If you are unhappy with the price you pay at the pumps don't buy, take the bus, ride a bike, carpool, move closer to work or find a job closer to where you live. The Constitution of this country does not have a provision therein that says anyone has the right to have gasoline for next to nothing so get over it. Most of the problems that you are now facing are of your own creation so you have no one to blame but yourself...
I know that there will be those who feel I'm mean spirited about the plight of those who must pay so much for so little gasoline. Well to be perfectly honest, I am sick and tired of all the whining about the price of gasoline from people who should know better. Don't tell me the evils of business and "big oil", do something so that you do not have to be so reliant upon them for your life. If everyone used less, the price would lower just so that the evil oil companies would have to sell more to generate the same revenues. Drill in this country and you would rely less upon the prices set by folks who may not have the best interest in this country in mind. Develop your alternate fuels, engines, whatever - don't complain about why someone else isn't doing so, you do something about. Get over your co-dependence and heal thyself...
Taxation is not the answer and never has been for ye shall pay for it in the long run, one way or another. Businesses do not operate free of charge for your benefit, they are in the business of making money, and they will find a way to do so or they will find something else to do...
Thus ends this Sermon on the Net. Thank you so much for listening to this long-winded bastard and do stop by again...
This is the Word of the AntiCrust...
Praise be the Word and the Fact that it has ended for the day...
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