It Will Eventually Add Up
A couple of decades ago, when Compuserve and AOL dial-up were still fairly big, we had a deal that would give people a $400 instant discount on our computers. Most of our PCs were between $400 and $550, so it was possible to get a computer for very little money — sometimes, for almost nothing.
There were two catches. One: It required signing up for a Compuserve account. Two: You had to be locked into a multi-year contract. I’m hazy on the details; it was a monthly fee for three years, I believe, but I forget the monthly fee amount. I do remember that the EXACT amount paid over the course of the contract was $790.24, which was just about double the original discount, meaning you would be paying back TWICE as much as they took off the price.
Now, we weren’t required to give the full details of the “catch”, but we would still tell our customers upfront, so they’d know EXACTLY what they were getting into. Nine times out of ten, they would go through with it anyway.
One old codger came in with his wife. He was determined to show me that he was no sucker.
Customer: “I’ve seen your little ‘deal’ here on the computer discount, and I did the math!”
Me: “Of course.”
I was actually impressed because most of our customers DIDN’T “do the math”, hence the upfront heads-up we gave them.
Customer: “When being locked into a contract for all those months, the money adds up.”
Me: “Yes, to $790.24.”
The old man kept going as if he hadn’t heard me. (Maybe he DIDN’T?)
Customer: “After adding up the monthly fee over that contract—” *looks at his notes* “—it’s quite a big amount!”
Me: “Yeah, I know: $790.24.”
He kept rambling, once AGAIN, as if he wasn’t listening, even though I KNEW he was looking RIGHT AT ME as I spoke!
Customer: “You guys are actually expecting me pay—” *Pauses to look at his notes again*
Me: “Like I said, sir, $790.24.”
Customer: *COMPLETELY ignoring me* “$790.24! That’s nearly double!”
Finally, the codger’s wife sympathetically spoke up.
Customer’s Wife: “Honey, he knows that.”
Customer: “Of course, he knows. I just told him!”
Oh, good grief… The funny thing is, he went through with the sign-up, anyway! I just LOVE time-wasters…