Monday, August 22, 2011

What is good value?

Here is an excellent article which I'd like to rehash. The article is called "Factoring Value", written by Mike Johnston in The Online Photographer. The link to this article is: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2011/08/factoring-value.html . 

Here it goes. The value of something depends on:

Use—the more you use it, the greater the value. Ladies know that a handbag that goes along with any dress get more use, hence is more value-able, than one that is hard to match clothes.
Results— anything that enables you to obtain the results you want will have some value.
Longevity—durability of an item is good value only if you keep on using it. Unfortunately, the things we dislike most tend to be proportionately more durable than those we like.
Payback—replacement batteries always cost a lot more at tourist hot spots. The retailers know that when you are out of battery, you are out of luck. An item will immediately have a heightened value when we urgently need it!
Pleasure of ownership—the writer calls it the opposite of "a fool's economy" ("...you buy something cheaper than you wanted because it's more "responsible" or a better deal, but you don't get any pleasure out of owning or using it. In that way, a smaller, less costly, more "sensible" purchase can actually be more of a waste of money"). Unfortunately, too many people use this to justify spending more than they can afford.
Resale value—car salesmen frequently use this in their sales pitch.
The deal—I recently passed up an opportunity to buy a Panasonic GF1 on clearance at half the usual price. I was not shopping for a camera, but on hindsight this was one good value that I should have grabbed.

Think of something significant you have just bought. What value did you see in justifying the puchase? If you hit three of more of the above, you're on the dollar!

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