Jan 2nd, 2009
The Pressure of a Sale
As I write this, it’s the last day of 2008. In a few hours, fireworks will be lighting up the skies in Kane’ohe as well as all around the island (as well as much of the world). In the meantime, I look on and off at eBay because a bicycle crankset I want is on sale–until the end of the day.
The kicker on sale prices isn’t the discount as much as it is the limit on how long the discount will be in effect, which is why phrases like, “prices good until Tuesday,” “while supplies last,” and “no rainchecks,” increase pressure on the consumer to spend; the point being simply that the price reduction is temporary. After all, if you could always get the item at the discounted price, your urgency to buy it would be close to nothing.
Even someone who thinks about (and blogs about) frugality like me feels that pressure. “Can I get that price again? And how quickly? Do I really need to get this now?” Those are some of the questions that run through my mind. After all, if it really is something that’s high up my priority list and it’s discounted, that’s a lot better than it being high up my priority list and regular price.
I’m still not sure if I’ll pull the trigger on this eBay purchase (this blog post is forcing me to think about it hard, fortunately or not!), but it’s pretty clear that deadlines are one of the things that help to add pressure on the consumer when something’s on sale; it’s happening right now!
