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Guest Column

'It' leads to our bad buying decisions

By MARY PARTINGTON
Published November 24, 2006

Today, of all days, in the frantic frenzy of shopping, you might find yourself buying "it."

This happens more often on this Friday after Thanksgiving than any other day of the year. It's 6 a.m., you're running on caffeine and there is a long line. When you get to "it" you convince yourself "it" is the perfect gift. At this point you aren't sure to whom you are going to give "it," but surely someone will love "it."

Last year my "it' was a neon-pink stick vacuum. When the time came to wrap "it" there wasn't a person on my list who needed "it." Besides, an electric stick broom does not have much class.

Errant buying can happen in a crowded store, but beware: You can succumb to bad purchases in the privacy of your own home. eBay now has a big flashing sign that says, "Wish for IT."

There are times in a day when I have a few minutes to myself and I will just glance through my favorite eBay searches. On one of these mindless searches, I just bid a little for "it." I won "it' and even though I didn't need "it" I smiled because I wanted "it."

Now, where can I find a place for "it" in my already-at-capacity home?

We can all relate. For women, it may be a pair of shoes, a set of dishes, a collectible bear or any number of items that grab your desires. For men, it may be a car, a monster driver, a really big power tool or an electric train. You name it, we all have fallen prey to those items that speak to our hearts and not our brains.

I bid on "it" because I loved "it" and I told myself I could use "it" for storage. I measured and re-measured as I studied the image of "it" on my computer screen. My finger hovered over the key that would finalize the bid and I figured, What the heck. I won't win it.

Things you buy on line are not as easy to return as the items from a concrete and mortar store. I have a tendency not to want to pay the additional costs to ship an item back. In this case, it was a heavy item and I put "it" together so returning "it" would involve dismantling. If there is any doubt about returning the item, you have to save all the original shipping materials the thing was packed in. So in the final decision, I kept "it".

"It" has never fit anywhere. "It" is not big enough to store the books I wanted to store in "it". Now that I have my heart's desire I feel guilty that I gave in to a whim. The monetary cost was not much, but I am filled with remorse for the purchase.

How many times do decisions we make bring us remorse instead of the happiness that was intended? This is the concept of "unintended consequences," and you would think that by a certain age we would get over making the wrong decision.

This is also a truism of big and small governments. When they make laws or spend our tax dollars, how many times does it lead to "unintended consequences"? The one that speaks the most loudly to me is the state of Florida allowing insurance companies to set up entities of their companies that reflect only the claims in Florida. Insurance is intended to share the risk. If the loss ratio is based on just the experience of one state and not 50, the need to raise rates in that state is much greater.

There are many glaring examples of governments, businesses, individuals and teenagers all making decisions with consequences that no one ever thought about. I always told my children, and now my grandchildren, that they will make mistakes, but with the grace of God they will be learning experiences and not life-ending.

I am not alone in my wrongheaded decisionmaking process, and on this day more than a few of you will wonder, "Why did I buy it"?

If you are interested, I have a dollhouse I would like to sell.

Mary Partington lives in New Port Richey. Guest columnists write their own views on subjects they choose, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

[Last modified November 24, 2006, 06:47:38]