Lifetime cost vs purchase cost

[what4]

From NY Times article by Teresa Tritch on behavioral economics, "Helping People Help Themselves," Feb. 14:

"Might it be useful to require companies to show the full estimated cost of owning a product, rather than the cost of buying it? Take the Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 3747 Color Inkjet printer, for example, which retails for $29.99, The Harvard economist, David Laibson, recently calculated that the printer's four-year cost is $2,400, when you include ink for about 20 black and white copies a day. Should that information be prominently disclosed?"

[Jem]

Yes. It would be nice. And while we're at it, how about publishing what percentage of rebates are actually fulflled for products that are listed at a given price "After rebate."

Or better yet, what the average amount of time that is required for a consumer filling out, documenting, sending in and following up on rebates.

A lot of business and marketing is smoke and mirrors. Smart consumers are able to see past this, but not without considerable effort.

[spearmint]

If you are making 40 copies a day what are you doing with an $29 dollar printer? Also I do not believe those use numbers but it is a lot of use. The answer is a high end laser. 29 dollars?

[davester]

There's plenty of such information out there for anyone who takes 5 minutes to research a purchase. However, there is a large fraction of the buying public out there who will never see past the "initial purchase price", no matter what information you give them. There was a guy at work a while ago who was sticking with his 12% mortgage rate because the period of a refi loan was longer than his original loan so he thought that it MUST cost more (even though I pointed out to him that he could pay it off at any time. Some people just can't understand even very basic arithmetic.

[mattkime]

truth in advertising could tear apart the cultural fabric of this country.

[Chupa Chupa]

Yeah, seriously, if you are printing 20 b/w copies a day you'd be better off with a $99 laser printer. That is just common sense. If people can't figure that out then they deserve the empty pockets they are headed for. But I don't think most people print out 20 b/w copies a day. As usual a professor has to make an outlandish theory to get to the conclusion he wants to get to. Moreover, I don't know too many $29 ink jets that last 4 years of that kind of use.

[Carnos Jax]

[quote mattkime]truth in advertising could tear apart the cultural fabric of this country.
Ditto. How about all those credit card/finance offers w/0% or hella low interest rates?

[Carm]

Lifetime cost would be difficult to estimate. The lifetime cost would either be under or over inflated, with the under inflated cost being put on the package if it was required.

and what Chupa Chupa said.

Carm

[mikebw]

I think the truth could destroy a lot of things.