Comments on: Shopping When You Need an Immediate Replacement

By: John S

John S — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:35:45 +0000

Also, regarding the cell phone use as the primary phone: If Trent regularly has conference calls, this is not a feasible alternative. Just a few conference calls per week can easily add up to 1000 minutes in a month by themselves. Therefore, cell phones aren’t usually a good alternative for people who work at home.

That said, I use my cell phone as my primary phone, and I work at home. I use Skype for all my daytime calls, though. Why not? I’m right here at the computer anyway. I suppose Trent could adopt this practice too.

By: John S

John S — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:46:46 +0000

For those of you who can’t understand why it’s worth spending 30-60 minutes researching a telephone purchase: This avoids some risk of buying a crappy phone that either a) isn’t ideal for your long-term needs, or b) is poorly manufactured and might break again soon.

The reason Trent can not compute the exact savings from the research is that he does not know if/when the new phone might break. For example, if his research steered him away from buying a phone that reviewers say broke within the first year 75% of the time, then his projected “savings” would arguably include 75% of the purchase price of the theoretical replacement for *this* new phone in a year or less,(which he now, theoretically, does not have to purchase.)

Or are you suggesting Trent should build into his calculations the assumption that any new phone, of any brand, will never break? Or that they will all experience the *exact same* failure rate? If that were true, then yes, product research would be somewhat pointless. But we all know that isn’t true, so once again, we are back to the point where I fail to understand your objections to doing the research.

Isn’t it enough to just acknowledge and accept that doing a modicum of product research is nearly *always* advisable, when purchasing something over X dollars that you want to last? (Everyone can define X for herself.)

If you still can’t get behind that concept, then to each his own, I guess. Some of you are asking Trent to quantify the unquantifiable, which seems more argumentative than helpful.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:52:45 +0000

@Mel — I also just don’t see how it’s possible to spend 30 minutes trying to pick phone in the store. Walk in, read a few boxes yourself, and pick. 5-10 minutes, max. And how is it “stress” to have a salesperson attempt to help you? If you don’t want the help, just tell them you’re fine on your own.

Maybe I’m just coming from a different perspective than many other people, but I don’t think these very small choices need to take much effort or thought — and they certainly don’t rise to the level of stressful.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:34:19 +0000

I disagree about 45/50 minutes being too long to spend on research. The last time I bought a cordless phone, I spent at least half an hour deciding in the one shop I had easy access to – not to mention the frustration and stress of having the assistants offer to ‘help’ (they basically read the boxes to me), and having to make a decision on the spot.

That was maybe a year and a half ago, I’m now looking for a new one. I will definitely invest the hour in research this time around!

By: Karla

Karla — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:36:28 +0000

@Johanna (#4)

My thought exactly!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:06:47 +0000

This will sound incredibly old fashioned but we still have a couple of corded phones. They are not as tempermental they still work when the electricity is out, and can be found at yard sales. My daughter recently moved and her phones quit working right after she moved. We gave her a corded one until she had time to get a new phone. Granted we use cordless phones 99% of the time but they are great as a backup or in a lesser used part of the house.

By: Hope D

Hope D — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:47:48 +0000

I bought a new phone in November. I did the research. The phones I bought were well reviewed. They are awful. We have a corded rotary we use in emergencies, and I agree having a corded phone is smart.

I think Trent was smart in the time spent researching the phone, because He probably got a good one. He hopefullly won’t have to replace it real soon. He also did not have to go stand in the store and try to pick one out. He will also have a phone with the features he wants and no buyer remorse.

I agree with another poster about the spread sheet. I wouldn’t have done that. But Trent does them often, so it’s probably like making a list for me.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:04:58 +0000

Won’t you only know what a good decision you made after several years? How can you make sure you got the best deal? Really, we still use the same landline we’ve had for years (another plus..they DO last for years, ours is 20 years old!)We’ve bought other models for different places we’ve lived, but they all seemed to die, except the good old-fashioned kind.
Do a report on this after your new phone been in your home for a decade or more.

By: Whirlmind

Whirlmind — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:58:26 +0000

It would have been better if you had put up your background material collected during your research also, with the links, brands and the spreadsheet. I know this may be out of place for the flow and style of a blog post of a lay user. Which is why I suggest, may be you should have a separate section linked from your blog, (may be a Google Sites page ) where you put up your “scrapbook” contents that lie behind a particular blog post. At the end of the post, you can say, to know more detail, click here to go the scrapbook page. Obviously, the scrapbook would be something that wouldn’t need any embellishment, writing style etc and can just be a notepad file or a spreadsheet.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:01:52 +0000

Not to be rude, but researching a phone replacement is absolutely NOT worth 45 minutes (or more) of my time. If you go to Best Buy, most of the phones will be of a sufficient quality and decently priced for anyone’s needs. While I agree with this approach for bigger items where you might be able to derive a few hundred or thousand dollars in savings (large TVs, stereos, cars, etc.), the time trade-off doesn’t seem worth it for smaller items.

By: David/yourfinances101

David/yourfinances101 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:31:12 +0000

This is exactly how it should be done. There is a huge difference between an emergency buy and an impulse buy.

When this happens, do what research you can, and make the best (quick) decision you have with the info available.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:18:16 +0000

I agree about the corded phone. When the power goes out it’s the only one that works! Now that the crisis has past, keep your eyes peeled for a cheap one at the thrift store. Doesn’t your house have extensions in various rooms?

By: J

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:43:45 +0000

Also with the corded phone, you always know where it is. No running around the house trying to find a handset!

By: Rosa Rugosa

Rosa Rugosa — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:47:29 +0000

Yes, three cheers for the inexpensive landline that lasts forever! In fact, we only replaced the rotary dial phone because it had yellowed so, and it looked awful after we painted the kitchen. So now we have the basic $11. touch-tone phone. We also have the three handset cordless deal, but those things just aren’t built to last . . I would never rely on one as our primary phone, and we are happily cell-free.

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:08:49 +0000

A great point made above is that the most important thing to first calculate is how much your time is worth because for some people spending 50 minutes to research is a great money saver while for others they would in fact lose money and probably give themselves a headache to boot. Great tips though!

By: sandra jensen

sandra jensen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:06:13 +0000

So what did you get – I also need a new phone!

By: Bill in NC

Bill in NC — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:01:22 +0000

Private mail boxes (PMB) are also popular here in the U.S., and give you a street address for package delivery.

And I keep my cordless phone base (multiple remote handsets) on a large UPS (which also powers a DSL modem) for use during power failures.

By: jgonzales

jgonzales — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:41:30 +0000

You can now buy postage online if you know the weight. Personally, I don’t use many stamps so when I do need one or two (about once a month) then I simply run to the post office and buy/mail out stuff directly. While I know I can buy a book of stamps, I never do because I can’t justify to myself spending X number of dollars now when it will cost the same amount buying them individually over time.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:41:15 +0000

Yes, you should always have a corded phone for emergencies. Plus I find that they last forever, even the cheap ones. We actually only have the old-fashioned phones, since we live in an old house and don’t have phone lines that close to outlets. Darn those people in the 1920s who didn’t anticipate cordless phones and answering machines that would need electricity!

Trent had me up until the spreadsheet, which I thought was a little much. I might do that for a larger purchase to comparison price, but not for a small purchase.

By: Robin Crickman

Robin Crickman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:28:25 +0000

Rural mail routes have pickup of letters and
packages (with appropriate postage attached).
Carriers will even bring stamps if you order
them (and prepay via credit card). On our farm
the rural carrier will even bring large packages
up to the house; sometimes its nice to live rural.

Trent, I hope you ailing relative is better soon.