Squeezing the last drop....

djw1cked

hi there.

i like your way of utilizing your products.

my last big buy was a £350 television, with a three year warranty if ever it breaks (for free included in the price).

How would one applying those techniques get the most out of the television?

mark55man

Zazen999 wrote: »

I believe a fellow called Martin got there a few years before you...

I think Mr Ian has a different slant than Martin although both pointing in the same direction.

The techniques mentioned have been good for business old and new (in newspeak its about designing flow of web pages to maximise our spend).

The trouble these business techinques do not always sit well with our consumer urges. However, we normally focus on reducing purchase cost of expensive to buy items and worry less about how expensive they are to run (including getting rid of them).

I will try to think about these suggestions - although at the moment no big purchases planned (everything deferred until at least next year) and my OH gets cross when I start analysing smaller purchases

Grass_Stained_Feet

moonrakermagpie wrote: »

And your point is................

*pushes imaginary slap button*

misspixierocktastic

* both confused and puzzled by this* its too much for one girls brain

ianmr65

misspixierocktastic wrote: »

* both confused and puzzled by this* its too much for one girls brain

Pixie at it's simplest - its really easy:

Take a simple toaster : It's really easy to say what's the cheapest - but you could also ask what's better value?

A cheap toaster that lasts a year or two and you have to chuck when it breaks down. Say Argos Value £4.99

Or one 10 times the price, that can be easily repaired if it breaks down - and will last for 10 -15 years, if you look after it.
And that you can sell on if you don't want it anymore: Say a Duallit duo - £50

The only person that can answer that is you.

Depends how much toast you make.
How you want you kitchen to look.
How much care you'll take of the toaster.
Wether you'd actually get the expensive toaster repaired when the element failed.
And if you could be bothered to sell it if you didn't want it.

People do this almost automatically when they are buying really expensive stuff like houses or antiques, and expensive cars.

Rarely for toasters, or cans of beans. But the same principles apply.

ianmr65

djw1cked wrote: »

hi there.

i like your way of utilizing your products.

my last big buy was a £350 television, with a three year warranty if ever it breaks (for free included in the price).

How would one applying those techniques get the most out of the television?

If the tv is lcd or plasma, it's very likely to breakdown within 5 years, so i would extend the warrenty, after the 3 years. Becuase repairing these is very expensive.

If the tv is traditional crt, then it is very unlikely to ever break down, just get dimmer over the years -so i would not extend the warrenty. They are also very cheap to repair (unless the tube goes).


Before you bought it you could have considered:

Market for second hand tvs is weak, so i need to live with this for a long time.

HD ready - Am i ever going to use this? (Sky HD £299 + £10 a month? Blue ray DVD Player? )

How big is the room so how big does the screen need to be?

LCD - cheap to run, can be used as a monitor. Expensive to repair.
Saves space, If i hang it on the wall (can i do this?, or will i have to pay)

Plasma - Better picture, expensive on electricty to run, expensive to repair
Saves space, but very heavy - If i hang it on the wall, will the wall take the wight?

CRT - Old tried tested technology, Great picture, much cheaper, but takes up much more space, cheap to repair, cheap to run.

Once you've decided it's then a question of choosing the make and model. Reading reviews, and opinions on forums
and scouring the internet for the best possible price, and voucher sites, for a further discount.
Many on line stores do 'last' years models much cheaper than this years.
And (like me) getting another £20 off after it arrives, as the hanging kit didn't look anything like the one on the website.
(still worked fine for hanging tho. probably better if anything)

The worst choice you can possibly make is to go to Curry's or Comet, and just buy one you like the look of. You have no real way of telling what the quality is going to be like, what features it contains, nor how the prices compare.


NB hanging a tv on a wall is pretty hard, unless you're a diy buff, or a professional.

steven767

Wow. That is one hell of an indepth analysis.

I can't help but wonder tho how much time/effort will go into all of these constant decisions/research. Probably best to find a second job or start a home business than worrying about your long term toaster and kettle needs.

ianmr65

steven767 wrote: »

Wow. That is one hell of an indepth analysis.

I can't help but wonder tho how much time/effort will go into all of these constant decisions/research. Probably best to find a second job or start a home business than worrying about your long term toaster and kettle needs.

Well the thinking through can be done when you are doing other things. And i've been doing this for years, so it doen't take me very long at all.

The tv one took far longer to type out, than it did to work out.

ianmr65

Here is the example i am most proud off.

20 odd years ago i spent £150, on a specialist hi fi turntable, and arm. To play my vinyl albums. That was a lot of money in those days. Especially as i only had a saturday job.

The turntable has had 2 new motors, one free under warrenty, one upgrade which i paid for. Two new belts. And is on it's second arm. Sounds like Trigger's Broom LOL. But a great deal more of it is original, than not.

It's still as good as ever, and you can still buy it today for £400, in more or less the configuration i own.

http://www.soundgallery.co.uk/rega_p3.html

All in i've spent less than a couple hundred quid over the years for the motors ect.

And if i ever sold it i recon, i'd get my £150 back, going by e-bay prices.

Now a great many people probably spent a great deal more than £150 on a turntable deck from their local electrical store on the same day i bought mine, from a hi-fi specialist.

I wonder how many still have there's, still going strong, working perfectly and playing music beutufully, much better than my much more expensive speciaist hi-fi CD player can.

In fact i wonder how many got rid of all their vinyl, and bought the cds instead. And wether they have checked the prices for rare vinyl on ebay these days, compared to the price of second hand cds.