A Small Loan of A Million Dollars

"PS9" (PS9)
12/23/2015 at 14:05 • Filed to: None

Well, you got me. Brick and Mortar stores:1, PS9:0. It’s my fault. I could have brought it from amazon a million years ago for a dollar or whatever, but it’s fine. No really, I love paying Porsche Performance Parts prices for cables that probably don’t even have any real gold in them. Really. It’s cool.

Maybe next time instead of getting an HDMI cable, I’ll do something cheap. Like put a down payment on a 488 GTB, or pay down 1% of the national debt.

DISCUSSION (27)

Leon711 > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:10

But how much was it?

d15b > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:10

This is why I have an extra one, just in case for moments like this. Sorry!

PS9 > Leon711
12/23/2015 at 14:12

$30.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:12

No lifetime warranty?

Nibby > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:16

You should sue for rape.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:16

For future reference:

http://www.monoprice.com/search/index?k…

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:17

dafuq?

Did they have a gun to your head?

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:20

$30? Hope they used some lube.

At least you could have saved yourself $20 and went to Walmart. Unless it’s like some 50 foot long cable or something.

PS9 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
12/23/2015 at 14:21

Kinda. I needed them right now. One end is a Micro-HDMI (BECAUSE WE CAN’T PUT A FULL SIZE HDMI PORT ON THE SIDE OF A LAPTOP NO SIR, IT’S A SMALL DEVICE SO IT NEEDS A SMALL PORT! GRRRRRR) and nobody around here had it except for one computer parts store in town. I couldn’t wait. I needed it today.

PS9 > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated!
12/23/2015 at 14:24

It’s a special micro-HDMI cable because the special fucking snowflakes at HP thought it would be a good idea to put a special snowflake port on their special friggin laptop. Grrrrrr

I looked everywhere, only one local place had it. Lube would have been $10 extra so I had to let them go in raw.

DrScientist > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:25

porsche perfomance parts?

Kinja'd!!!

this, my friends, is what we call a good old-fashioned ass-raping.

PS9 > DrScientist
12/23/2015 at 14:27

...

I am never buying a Porsche.

Leon711 > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:29

Holy Shitsnacks.

DrScientist > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:35

note: i was in a pinch and needed to replace this bulb before a state inspection. the bulbs can be had from online suppliers for ~$4.

trust me though... i take full advantage of the espresso machine and fruit bowl and wander around the showroom putting my greasy fingerprints on that turbo S and targa if i’m going to buy a goddam $20 lightbulb the size of a kidney bean. hell i even took a bottle of water for the ride home.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:37

I’m just going to go home and plug a normal size HDMI cord into my 17” laptop and my 13.5” hp mini

Thomas Donohue > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:38

Supply and Demand. You paid extra for the ‘Demand’ part. That’s on you, because ‘you couldn’t wait’ — not the store.

PS9 > Thomas Donohue
12/23/2015 at 14:39

Yeah, yeah. We all know how the mechanics of price gouging work, that doesn’t mean it isn’t shitty.

Takuro Spirit > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:45

When I got my first HDMI device I saw int he stores the CHEAPEST cable was $60.

Went online that night and found that WalMart, although they have the $60 cable IN STORE, offered a $10 cable online. With free in store pick up.

So I ordered that. Took two days to come in. When I picked it up the guy at the desk also worked in electronics and he was like “Whoa. We sell those here for THAT MUCH?!?!?”

DrJohannVegas > PS9
12/23/2015 at 14:53

The cost of having one waiting for you on a shelf is rent, utilities, and employees. Its a more expensive product.

gawdzillla > PS9
12/23/2015 at 15:08

you know how you get back at them

buy one from amazon now and return this when amazon knocks on your door

PS9 > DrJohannVegas
12/23/2015 at 15:10

Do you think an online retailer pulls it’s product out of the ether? They have ‘shelves, rent, utilities and employees’ as well, plus the additional task of extending their logistical chain of delivery all the way to your doorstep. They should be $30 everywhere then, if this is a fair price justified by those reasons.

Ash78, voting early and often > PS9
12/23/2015 at 15:17

I hope you made the clerk talk to you about the weather for about an hour and a half :D

It happens. You’re not the only one who’s ever paid 2x+ for something because they needed it fast. Low-cost items are the worst, though, because most people aren’t very price sensitive below some absolute threshold...let’s say, $30 or so.

DrJohannVegas > PS9
12/23/2015 at 16:28

Online retailers have one or a handful of warehouses. Brick-and-mortar retailers have warehouses AND retail locations. Economies of scale, my man. As far as shipping goes, take that out of the cost of the in-store version, if you like.

I’m not saying Big Box Retailer doesn’t enjoy some pricing power because they are the only show in town for folks who want to come in right now, or that they don’t add some profit on top for the convenience. I’m just suggesting that you have incentivized the behavior by purchasing from that retailer at that price, so complaining about “gouging” rings really hollow because you ignored all the aspects of that particular variety ( it was on a shelf waiting for you nearby when you wanted it ) which made it appealing to you.

PS9 > DrJohannVegas
12/23/2015 at 16:53

Online retailers have one or a handful of warehouses. Brick-and-mortar retailers have warehouses AND retail locations.

The place I went to isn’t a national chain and definitely doesn’t have or need it’s own warehouse and logistical system like Best Buy or Walmart would have. In that it was a single location, it’s business model will be closer to that of Amazon.

As far as shipping goes, take that out of the cost of the in-store version, if you like.

Not sure who you buy shipping service from, but it’s not going to cost $20 to ship a sub-1lb item to somewhere within the contiguous lower 48.

I’m just suggesting that you have incentivized the behavior by purchasing from that retailer at that price, so complaining about “gouging” rings really hollow...

No. That is a load of bullshit. Exploiting a particular set of circumstances to extract a 1000% premium on a niche item is not the product of ‘incentivized behavior.’, and consumers are not at all responsible for the business models retailers and other construct around their products.

People are not obligated to charge fair market prices for things. Okay, sure. But if someone has you in a pinch and can leverage you for the maximum, you get to be responsible for not only your choice to buy, but their shitty behavior as well? Nope. Absolutely not. GTFOutta here with that.

Thomas Donohue > PS9
12/23/2015 at 18:54

A single local store has a business model ‘closer to that of Amazon’???

Wow, you are delusional. And clearly have never owned, run, or likely worked at any kind of retail business. You weren’t shopping for last-minute medication or water. You ‘needed’ a freakin specialty HDMI cable and you’re crying because it was $30?

You should be glad they even had the cable in stock. And that it wasn’t more expensive.

DrJohannVegas > PS9
12/23/2015 at 20:40

Kinja'd!!!

DrJohannVegas > Thomas Donohue
12/23/2015 at 21:05

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/front-page-log…

I am drowning in the irony over here...