Have you seen those lines that form at stores when they have some big sale going on? * People waiting for hours, traveling great distances, and jumping through hoops to get 75% off something they don't really need?
I always thought I was above that until Dell lured me with a couple of computer bargains recently. * I took pride in not having upgraded my computers in a couple of years (I used to upgrade every six months or so). * My old computers were perfectly functional in every way, except one -- they couldn't play the latest games.
I don't even like playing computer games, and I haven't played one in 8 years or so. * But I found the need to upgrade very compelling -- I wanted the option to play these stupid games even if I had no need.
And then came Dell. * Offering coupons and their refurbished outlet. * *I found last year's desktop model in their outlet equipped with a powerful graphics card and a kick-butt CPU. * Only $300. * Would have cost me at least $800 at a computer store. * Sold! * $300 gone, but my itch finally satisfied.
And then I found some more Dell coupons. * $750 off any $1500 laptop. * I've got a bunch of laptops, all perfectly good for how I use them, but hey, I could play the latest games on these new laptops, and I've never seem them this cheap before. * Sold!
Oh, look, another coupon. * I guess I should get a new laptop for my wife too. * Sold!
And so it went for a week or two. * A few grand later, I had three new laptops, a new desktop, two new laser printers, a photo printer, and a few other gadgets to boot. * All for about 50% of what I thought was fair market value. * Some of them justified by ideas of either selling them on eBay or by selling my old gadgets to offset their price, making them effectively free.
In short, I went temporarily insane. *
And I know it's not just me. * I see thriving sites with 100,000's of members who are just as compulsive about finding value.
If these things were readily available at the prices I paid, I wouldn't be the least bit interested. * It's the idea that I bought low with the opportunity to get out even or better that compelled me to purchase. * And I'm really impressed by the sales and marketing tactics used by Dell -- they feed off this bargain hunting impulse by artificially raising their list prices and giving you the opportunity to game their system in an effort to find/create the best bargain you can.
Why am I telling you this? * Mostly as a cathartic act, to purge this compulsion from my system. * But also because I think a lot of us hit ER through a compulsion for value, and I thought it'd be nice to share the dark side *
