What we pay for thing, and what we get out of them.
 

Lookin at strupgolfs drink thread brought me back to a thought i had the other night. Same deal, sitting in a bar unable to believe that i was paying $6 for a beer.
$6 for something i'm going to get about 10 mins enjoyment/use out of then walk to the bathroom and piss it out.
Just think of the outrageously stupid prices we pay for certain things. Whether its disgustingly expensive food or drinks, clothes, objects, etc etc. and how much we actually get out of it. Was it really worth the price?

Then i look at something as simple as say the Craftsman screwdriver that I bought 25+ yrs ago, for $4.00 and have gotten hundreds if not thousands of uses out of , and probably will for yrs to come. most likely till i croak.

Good thread started here...

Makes me think of how being pretty damned monogamous with cars, paying cash for all, has allowed me to save thousands to invest.

bought my bmw for $400 over 2 years ago. drove it for over a year, then drove it across the country, and still drive it. the day i bought it, i figured id get a few months out of it. i actually love that car.

The whole 'conspicuous consumption' thing is the biggest crock since the invention of the crock itself.

My x/g/f had a huge trunk full of $1200 purses, some with the tags still on them. ProTip: do not engage a woman on the merits of a $1200 purse vs a $120 purse vs a $12 purse. I don't care if you're Clarence f*cking Darrow, you will lose.

My wife laughs at Imelda Marcos. She makes Marcos closet look like Pay-less shoes. I can shoe my self for life for whats shes paid for a single pair.

God forbit we get the amount of government we pay for ...

I try to look at diminishing returns. Last week for example, I needed a new tennis racket. Will I see a noticable performance gain buying a $100 racket over a $12? Yes, most likely. How about a $300 racket over the $100, not so much. I bought a $100 racket from CL that looked brand new for $20.

I've been looking for an appropriate thread to post this: :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1310064637.jpg

If you use it every day, it is definitely worth it.
Plain and simple.
Appreciate a nice quality faucet or door handle? Travel mug? Organizer? Buy it.

This debate goes on constantly on the pool board...the "is a custom cue worth it?"
In pool, "It's the indian not the arrow"....but then, I've seen some very top of the heap indians play with very expensive arrows.

On the flipside, Shane Van Boening (on anybody's top 10 players list) plays with one of the cheapest production cues made...a cuetec. Of course, that cuetec butt probably has a $$$ shaft hooked to it. He gets paid to do so.

Me? I play with a lower priced Custom...a Keith Josey. $1,000 or so...but I do/will get many hours of use out of it. Plus, I no longer pay the "Porsche Tax". ;)



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1310065359.jpg

Yeah but how many times over 25+ yrs did that Craftsman screwdriver get you a piece??:D

I've seen this played out when it comes to golf clubs too, people who can't play have to have the best equipment money can buy.
My attitude is this:
if your equipment is allot better than you are, you're a poser.
If you're allot better than your equipment, you're a fool.
If you're just a little better than your equipment, you're cool.


I also get a kick out of people who say "you get what you pay for".

I have a screwdriver I'm willing to sell for $1 billion. For that price it must be the best ever!

That is an activity on which we do not want to do cost/benefit analysis.

the good thing about a craftsman screwdriver is it's good for ever. Break it or bend it, bring it back get a new one, for free. Not many other things like that. Well Dillion reloading press has a no BS warrenty, mine went underwater during Katrina, (like everything else I owned) they replaced it, for free.

You sold your '72?

I paid $200 yesterday to have the front tire on my bike replaced. The old one was 11 mos. and 8000 miles old. I think I should have gotten another 1000 miles out of it, but it wasn't holding pressure. I'm riding to LA on Sunday, returning on Wed. I'll get $600 in mileage reimbursement for the trip, which is twice what gas and that tire will cost me. Plus I have the peace of mind of knowing that tire won't leave me stranded in the desert or give me any problems for a long time.

I paid $600 in 1995 for a new SIG P220. I could probably sell it for the same money today. The difference in inflationary value is more than offset by the 10k plus rounds I've put through it and years it's spent in my nightstand as my main home defense gun.

What we pay for thing, and what we get out of them.
 

I have wasted a lot of money on beer. I can't deny it. I saved a ton of money by fixing almost all my own "stuff" and driving the cars I own for 20 years. Ok the 911 I have only owned for 16 years but I have no real plans to sell it.

Oh boy.... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...s/a_frusty.gif


Cue the "well set up 944/Bullit Mustang debate"...

angela

I'm going to Kappa Kabana on Friday. I'll let you know if what I paid was worth it...

By starting this thread, you might be implying that this razor that costs $100,000.00

(yes, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!)

is probably not good value, yes?

Portland entrepreneur flouts convention with $100,000 razor | OregonLive.com

I gave up booze in 1982, can't imagine how much money I've saved. My liver is probably in better shape as well.

Guess I might as well stop development of my ink fueled engine.... It probably wasn't going to get 30000 mpg anyway.

That ink stuff is irritating. I had a problem the other day where the printer refused to print not because the ink was low but because the cartridge had expired. It was still ~half full. I started using my old Panasonic laser printer a little more instead.

As for the tools I have never regretted buying an expensive quality tool. I have regretted many times buying a cheap poorly designed one.

I had a high school economics teacher who broke it down to "cost per use" for us one time in class, I've never been able to look at a pair of pants, tool, beer, or TV the same way since then. It was a good lesson.

He's just doing his bit to "keep Portland Weird"...

When I had this PC built in late 2000, I got a 19" AOC monitor to go with it. CRT, of course.

The PC has been gone through and updated once, but the monitor is still knocking it outta the park. I think it cost $150.

There's a philosophical problem here. When you buy a tool, you're purchasing a physical product. When you buy a beer at a bar, you're paying rent on the atmosphere. It's not a tangible thing: the physical evidence of your visit to the bar is wholly transient. However, some people find the social scene of a bar well worth the $6 per drink you've got to pay to spend time there.

(shrug) I went to a beer tasting last night, spent $8 on a pint of beer, hung out with friends, met some new people, discovered a great new local band, and generally had a great time. Was the beer worth $8? Well, that's debatable. Was the experience of the evening worth $8? Yeah, I'd say so.

While we're on this ... do you ever eat out? That's totally transient too. You're paying $30 for a steak dinner that you could have made at home for half that, and you s*** it out a few hours later. Aside from slightly larger love handles, the evidence of the meal is gone within 24 hours. Is eating out a complete waste of money? (Granted, it's not an efficient use, but is it heinous?)

Maybe a better example in this group: how about track time? I'm looking at spending $250 for a day at the track, before spending any money on the maintenance items, gas, or anything else. You do the day at the track and it's all gone. You've done it, now it's over. Is that a complete waste? (Again, I'll grant that it's an unnecessary luxury, but is it heinous?)

Let's go crazy: If I have to buy stuff that lasts, that really rules out food, actually. I can't buy groceries under this philosophy, because I can really only get one use out of any food item. Toilet paper will be off the list too, because that's definitely not something that lasts.

(shrug) Just trying to provide some counter-perspective. :)

Dan

On that note ... I bought a 19" CRT 10 or 12 years ago. It was all I could do to afford it back then. But it won't die now. My friends still mock me for it, but it still gives me more pixels than their expensive LCD displays, and I can't justify replacing it until it actually breaks.

Most everything I buy comes out of my trust fund. Whatever the purchase, I trust it to be a useful expenditure of my funds. If it flies, floats or fuchs, rent it.

Toilet paper is obviously not on everyone's list as evidenced by our towelhead brethern trying to kill us.

E30? Post a few pics of it? I've been looking at them for awhile.

I think there's a point of diminishing returns with most of the stuff we buy, whether we're talking cameras or cars or guitars or shotguns or Scotch or whatever. My strategy is to buy used, when possible, and to try to find the point, new or used, where additional money buys stuff I don't need - like fancy engraving and wood on a shotgun (which won't help me break more clays), fancy inlaying on a guitar (it's pretty, but it doesn't make it sound any better), 18-year-old Scotch rather than 12-year-old Scotch, and so on. I also think, that for me, anyway, it's worthwhile to buy good stuff and just keep it. Your results probably vary. But that's how I approach things.