THAT'S A BARGAIN !

Here's a funny thing about how we perceive 'value'.

To illustrate what I'm thinking can I ask you to imagine having come across an online source of the best shirts you have ever found.  You sent away for 2 and both fitted you exactly how you like them to.  You examined their construction and noticed the care with which the material had been cut and sewn together.  And their material felt both strong and smooth.  In summary, the shirts were of the best quality and were worth every penny of their price.  You have bought shirts before from elsewhere which cost you double and were, by comparison, much inferior.

More than that, the shirts draw forth flattering comments.  And you love the deep green of the two you purchased.  So you return to the online seller and buy 4 more, in two new colours.  For some reason, the individual price of each shirt has gone up by a lot of money, but you confirm the order anyway because they are very fine shirts.  They arrive;  you now have 6 beautiful shirts, two in each of three colours. 

A few weeks later you have a quick look on that retailer's website and see your exact shirt at an astonishingly lowered price.  The price is half what you paid for your first 2 shirts !  You are a bit miffed, but then you realise the reason.  This lowered price is only for ones in salmon pink !

Here's the quandry.  You simply love your 6 shirts and quite fancy increasing your stock of them.  I mean to say, who wouldn't want a ready supply of excellent shirts in a wide range of colours ?  You'll always need shirts and you have now found the very best.  So it makes sense to purchase two more at this 'give-away' price;  it might be an offer you'll not see again.  Okay, pink would not be your first choice but, hey, what a bargain !

The two pink shirts arrive.  You now have 8 truly excellent shirts hanging in your wardrobe, two of each of four colours.  You are set up for years.  Shirts galore !

Now comes the maths.  The two pink shirts cost you half the price of the first two green ones.  The next four had gone up in price, quite considerably.  Which sort of reflected their obvious quality.  So you have acquired 6 shirts and attribute to them the latest price you paid - the higher price.

Then come the latest two for which you paid an amazingly low price.  They are of exactly the same construction, material and cut, albeit in pink. Thus your 8 shirts present you with a conundrum.  In a weird way, you now have 8 shirts where their value has been diluted ... almost as if the Lowest Common Factor [  er, should that be Denominator ?  Long time since double-maths classes ! ]  is that give-away price.  Instead of thinking you have 8 classy shirts hanging in your wardrobe, each worth top-dollar, you have 8 cheap shirts !  You may think this because you can't get that give-away offer price out of your mind.

All of a sudden your shirts become 'devalued' because of the value dilution I have described.  This is my theory of value dilution.  You have discovered it here first !

Now just think what a 'life' is worth, and what 500 lives are worth. Do we dilute the value of life in our minds when it is taken away from so many so cheaply these days ?  That's a thought I will leave you with while I take my briar pipe into the sunshine for some puffing !

[ Written originally on 21/8/2014 ]