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Ongoing Thoughts Six:
By William E. Steinman:
Grossly Overpriced:
I’d like to discuss the
problems of overpriced merchandise. For sure, we may as well begin with
gasoline. When we think of things that are grossly overpriced, my mind springs
to gasoline. I don’t suppose I am that much
different than most of the rest of the rabble. I‘ll assume gasoline is on
the minds of most of us. However, I don’t see
why you should be surprised.
I recall telling you almost a year ago, the worst is yet to come. I made the point that you will see five
dollar a gallon gasoline sooner than you think. Now the price in
For sure, the oil companies are gouging, but don’t expend all of your breath blaming those crooks.
There is plenty of blame to go around. This is a profound failure of our
government and our business community. There is no doubt that our government
has sold out to the oil cartel. They have made no attempt
to support real research into real alternatives. We can also lay part of the
failure to find alternatives on other industries. Certainly, the auto industry
had a vested interest in finding a better way and they
did not. They failed in the beginning to comprehend the problem. Then when they
did act, they came up with mostly hare brained ideas and silly products, which
said, in effect, hunker down.
Don’t try to blame it all on
Bush either. The failure can be traced all the way
back to Carter and probably further. I recall visiting my sister in
The point is we should have known there was an energy
problem at least forty years ago. In fact, we did know. Even then, some
scientists were warning about a worldwide shortage of oil. Now, with
Mrs. Gaffer’s Cushions:
Gas is not the only thing in our market that is grossly
overpriced. Sometimes, with a little though and effort, it is possible to win
at this grossly over priced game. A case in point is what we did about cushions
for our deck chairs. We have eight deck chairs that we don’t
use much. Mrs. gaffer uses one and the rest just wait
until we have company. Once per year, with our clan reunion we use them all and
more.
However, Mrs. Gaffer was not pleased with the one she used
regularly. It seems she was kind of disappointed about
having slat marks on her butt. I agreed it was not a good thing and suggested
we get some cushions for the chairs. It was then we discovered the price of
those pitiful things. We found the best price on a very thin, hard, rather ugly
deck chair cushion was twenty-five bucks. Recoiling is stunned disbelief I
suggested to Mrs. Gaffer that we think about this a while. Mrs. Gaffer readily
agreed. Neither of us could get our mind around the idea of spending two
hundred bucks for eight not-so-nice cushions.
I am kind of a slow study, so about two hours later I said
to Mrs. Gaffer, “Why don’t we just get some cheap bed pillows like
the ones we get for the doghouse.” (Contrary to some people’s
claims, I have never had to sleep in the doghouse. The pillows really are for
the dog.)
Mrs. Gaffer, who had gone on to other thoughts replied,
“What for?”
I explained it was to use as deck cushions.
She frowned and said, “That would work of course, but
it is not very elegant.”
“Yes, but it is cheap,” I countered.
A little later, Mrs. Gaffer had her own solution. We could
buy the pillows alright, but she would go to a store
and buy some yard good to cover them. She expected to make them look like very
expensive deck chair cushions. She did just that. She made eight lovely
cushions for our deck chairs and another one for my task chair. We got nine
luxurious cushions for less than the price of two ugly cushions. She was
justifiably proud of her effort and I was justifiably proud of my choice of
life mates.
Sock Puller Uppers:
I suspect everyone who is alive is aware of the gross
overpricing of everything medical. This is about one such case and it was
anther win for us. I don’t know the official
name for these so I just call them sock puller uppers. Several years ago, I was
so severity crippled that I could not put my own socks on. Mrs. Gaffer was
happy to do that for me, but I did not like the idea of her helping me dress.
It is not that I am particularly macho, but I did not want to take her time for
stuff like that. She was doing enough for me already. At that time I fully expected to die soon and I was leaning on her
quite heavily.
I decide to find a solution and I went to a medical supply
outlet store. I explained to the woman what I wanted and she had it. She brought
out a pair of these devices and showed them to me. They were just what I
wanted, but the price was not just what I wanted. I
was stunned when she quote me a price of forty some dollars for two pieces of
wire with a couple of clips on them.
I looked in disbelief and said to the woman, “Hell, I
can buy two pairs of Channel Locks™ to do that. At least when I die, my
some will have some useful tools. She looked at me and realized I was serious,
about dying and the pliers. Then, she readily agreed with what I had said. I
thanked her and left.
I did not buy the Channel Locks because I had a better idea
on the way home. Instead, I bought a pair of skirt hangers with those little
clips on them. Then I got to work with my side-cutters and pliers. When I
finished I had a decent pair of sock puller uppers for about two bucks and a
little time. They worked just fine and I still have them, just in case.
Now, as my age increases and my strength and stamina
decrease, I am more inclined to pay the outrageous prices, but not always
— not always.
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