I mostly use this for after-purchase evaluation. If I spend $80 on a pair of shoes and at the end of their life they’ve cost $10 per use, I’m not happy. If I spend $500 on a couch and by the end of its life it’s cost $0.25 per day, I’m pleased. I don’t decide beforehand exactly what value I expect to get out of it, but I know it when I see it.
Dont think of price, think of cost per use
111–120 of 185 posts
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you're necessarily disagreeing. There's a factor that neither you nor the author are considering: value/$. Author is implicitly assuming that the higher cost equates to a higher value (clearly this is never a linear relationship). So my friends call me the cheapest person they know, but I also think like the author. If there is something I am going to use a lot and the added value helps me, then I'll sh…
I see so many people talk about the Boots theory, and while I don't disagree, there's another side to the story. What if you buy a really nice pair of boots that will last a lifetime and then a couple years later you move to a beach town where you wear sandals all day? Or what if you get paralyzed and have no need for durable shoes? The point is that life is unpredictable and both your circumstances and preferences c…
Additionally, what if all you carry is a swiss army knife? It does everything you need and want it to do. Yet, when you lose or break that SAK, you're left with nothing to do your tasks with.
If my laptop, tablet, Garmin GPS or phone break, I am inconvenienced. As opposed to, completely dead in the water.
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#113This is completely backwards. Always think in absolute dollars and not in rates. $1000 is $1000 whether the cost per use is pennies or tens of dollars. Thinking in terms of rates is how people would fall for predatory installment purchases in the old days (you can have a new computer for just $2.5 a day!) The other obvious problem is looking at cost absent of a market. It's not just how much it is worth it to you, bu…
Actually the installments are a great way to think about purchases. I have a budget of 500€ for sports per year. I use this on gyms, running shoes and what not. I wanted to get into skiing so I bought some skis this year. It was about 700€. Normally this doesn’t fit my budget. But I’m gonna keep these skis for at least 4 years. Now the price is 175€/year. And I still have a bigger portion of my budget left for other…
This only works if you subtract 175 from your sports budget for the next 4 years. The problem with this thinking is that in 2 years you'll forget this commitment you made to yourself and end up giving yourself that full 500 again. Thus spending more money
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> With your phone, if all you care about is texting and making calls, yeah, you're not getting any added value paying more. If all you care about is texting, making calls, playing the occasional game[1], browsing the web, doing mobile banking, listening to music, watching videos, using social media, responding to work emails, viewing the occasional PDF, word processed document or spreadsheet sent over email, screenca…
iMessage is a legitimate significant value add to my life. Such a high percentage of my associates have iPhones that having an android is a legitimate harm for interactions (makes you less likely to be added to group chats) I’m speaking as someone who has used both full time as well
You can get an iMessage capable phone for $429 (the iPhone SE). And for much cheaper than that if you're willing to buy second hand (I'm currently using an iPhone 6S that cost me £100 a couple of years ago will still run the latest version of iOS until September when iOS 16 comes out)
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you seen what has happened to the market for fuel inefficient vehicles lately?
> Have you seen what has happened to the market for fuel inefficient vehicles lately? I have not. What has happened? Have SUVs stopped being the most popular class of passenger cars being sold?
The demand for the big diesel SUVs that get about 9 miles to a gallon has gone away, and people are trying to sell them for 20% of what they'd bring a year ago.
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you're necessarily disagreeing. There's a factor that neither you nor the author are considering: value/$. Author is implicitly assuming that the higher cost equates to a higher value (clearly this is never a linear relationship). So my friends call me the cheapest person they know, but I also think like the author. If there is something I am going to use a lot and the added value helps me, then I'll sh…
> With your phone, if all you care about is texting and making calls, yeah, you're not getting any added value paying more. If all you care about is texting, making calls, playing the occasional game[1], browsing the web, doing mobile banking, listening to music, watching videos, using social media, responding to work emails, viewing the occasional PDF, word processed document or spreadsheet sent over email, screenca…
what it gets you is iOS and hence access to the iOS/apple only apps.
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#117I mostly use this for after-purchase evaluation. If I spend $80 on a pair of shoes and at the end of their life they’ve cost $10 per use, I’m not happy. If I spend $500 on a couch and by the end of its life it’s cost $0.25 per day, I’m pleased. I don’t decide beforehand exactly what value I expect to get out of it, but I know it when I see it.
You're pleased with 2000 uses for a couch? Imagine paying 25 cents each time you sit on the couch.
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#118My spending habits changed considerably when I started to include the cost of real estate required in my calculations.
I encountered this first in a forum discussion about boilers - someone pointed out that the largest cost component isn't even the unit itself, but all the space it takes.
Anyway whenever I think of buying a treadmill, I remind myself that the actual cost is an additional €4500 just for the real estate and perhaps a gym membership would have been cheaper, but since I still haven't gotten one, perhaps it's less important to me than I think.
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#119Aaah yes .... "cost per use".
Its not the favourite unit of measurement of the cloud salesmen for nothing.
"Come to my cloud" harks the salesman .... "look, X is only $0.000000001 a go, Y is only $0.00095 a go .... its so CHEAP".
I think we know how it all pans out. You / your company ends up with an eye-watering cloud burn rate.
Beware the double-edged sword as they say, "cost per use" is not the panacea ... apart from for the seller, perhaps.
Re: Dont think of price, think of cost per use
#120Here is another take, when I compare two things on price, I take the price difference and apply 5% compound interest on it for 30 years. That about how much I would save if I put the money on my mortgage instead. Or when the mortgage was paid off how much it would earn in my retirement savings. Also, now I have two kids, I always think how much its going to cost my kids. Sure I could buy a $1000 phone now, or I could…
From what I recall, Warren Buffet thinks about things in the same way, which is one reason he’s famously stingy.
It’s a blessing and a curse, because it leads to wealth but can end up in some weird end states. Like having an uncomfortable lifestyle that the money-controller can tolerate, but other members of the family chafe at.
Be careful to value the compounding interest in your own happiness and the compounding value of the happiness of those around you. Through that lens, a marginal $10k (on top of an already secure retirement fund) might be worth far less than a marginal $1k investment in the happiness of yourself or your friends and family.
Money is not a goal in itself after all, it exists to further our true goals in life. In this day and age it’s all to easy to get distracted by the money game, and forget what our true goals are.