As part of my job, I open a lot of envelopes from people. What soon became apparent is the annoying extremes people will go to to save a few cents on an envelope. A lot of people send in birthday card envelopes. Or window envelopes they salvaged probably from bills they received. One guy takes it to an extreme by like taking paper or maybe an old envelope and taping a bunch of old bits of ads to it. Then he writes "cut here" on one end. But guess what? No one ever cuts there. Because we have a machine that opens the stupid things. And I have a letter opener. The people who use window envelopes often spend time cutting their payment coupons and sometimes taping them so the address shows up.
When you think about it's pretty pathetic. I mean, a box of envelopes costs a buck at the dollar store. Even at Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc they're around a dollar. And security envelopes too, which would be good for the guy who every month sends in a check between two strips of black construction paper. But to save like two cents, they go to all this effort.
I think though everyone has something they get miserly about. I mean when I go to the grocery store I'll stand there for five minutes debating which brand of tuna is the best value. Or I'll save myself a whopping twenty cents by buying store brand Atkins bars even though I don't like them as much.
The really dumb thing is then I'll just throw in some candy or Shrimp Chips or a Son of Zorn Pop Vinyl on clearance. I worry so much about saving a few cents and then waste whole dollars.
I think the gas pump is a place where miserly behavior takes hold. If gas goes up twenty-thirty cents a gallon, you get people who drive off or get pissed off and break stuff. Or people lining up for a mile at the station that's like ten cents cheaper. But have you ever done the math on it? My gas tank holds 13 gallons but obviously I never buy the full amount, so at most it's more like 12. So even if gas spikes 30 cents, I'm paying $3.60 more. That's barely a coffee at Starbucks! It's not exactly going to wipe me out. Maybe one less coffee.
Yes I know it all adds up. Still, like I say, I waste way more than that without thinking about it. As I'm sure most people do. We're miserly about some things and splurge on other things. But really, can't you save yourself (and me) some hassle and just buy a box of number 10 (or the smaller size) security envelopes for a whole whopping buck? I mean with like 40 in a box you're covered for almost 4 years! That's about a quarter per year!
Or you could pay online and not need any fucking envelopes. Think about it.
1 comment:
I do a lot of those loyalty cards for clothes and food...like Panera Bread, and it pays off. I also do Mperks. However, I won't buy the store brand if it's the brand name is better.
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