The Cost of Convenience

Looking around I see intelligent, industrious people. Usually being intelligent and industrious means being very busy. Life is moving so fast that anything that saves time and money is welcome. We are all looking for convenience. According to Ted Gladson in an article written in 1990 and still remarkably relevant today, "Consumers expect to pay for convenience." We do pay for it, sometimes we don't realize just how much we pay.

The cost of convenience is expensive. Marketing strategies include making us feel the pain of having no time to deal with whatever situation that they are going to save us from. Then they solve our dilemma and behold a light from heaven shines down and we have more time/money. Hallelujah! Three examples of expensive convenience are;
1. The convenience of not thinking for yourself.
2. The convenience of prepackaged preprocessed favorite foods
3. The convenience of avoiding late fees to pay your credit card by phone.
According to Mr. Gladson, we evaluate individually whether or not the cost is worth pursuing.

Some of the hardest work we do is thinking. My goodness everyone expects me to have an opinion on everything. Thinking takes time. I know how to avoid weighing the pluses against the minuses. I really do not need to think at all when I can google or yahoo or even bing any subject. I will get the top ten reasons to... or three ways to ...(You fill in the blanks). I can be told how to think thus saving me time and energy to apply somewhere else.

I searched for opinions regarding:ECONOMICS, PET CARE, GOVERNMENT ISSUES and GLOBAL WARMING. The average amount of opinions available was 84,525,000. I will have to decide between the top three listed because I am trying to save time. I hope those opinions make me look intelligent.

The most popular result regarding the cost of convenience search was in the realm of nutrition. An article from the Arizona Republic called, oddly enough, "The Cost of Convenience" explained that the general public was essentially unaware of what convenience actually cost us. It was unclear by the posting who actually wrote the article, which is too bad because I learned a thing or two from reading it. For example sliced apples cost $74.84 per hour for someone else to cut them. Did you know that cooked frozen sausage costs more but required the same preparation time as fresh sausage? I didn't.

The article went on to explain the differences in cost versus time ratio when comparing prepackaged prepared items to items made from scratch. The results were mixed but the bottom line showed consumers were willing to pay greater than three times more for the convenient versions of their favorite items. These prepackaged items had less nutritional value and less flavor. The cost for this convenience was in dollars, taste and nutrition for more time.

What else takes time? Paying bills takes time. This isn't even enjoyable time. We already established that we are way to busy to think or cook, let alone pay our bills. There is no time to waste. Luckily for us, the credit card companies have found a way to make paying them convenient, especially if you are going to be late. These fine companies have found a solution for instant gratification, the over the telephone payment option.

Imagine that you have waited until the last minute to pay your credit card bill. If you send it now, it will cost another $40.00 in late charges. You can avoid that by calling in your payment. It will cost you only $15.00. You will save $25.00, isn't that wonderful? Your creditors going the extra mile to make life a little bit easier for you. For more information regarding creditors and fees visit billshrink.com .

The question is, Is convenience cheap? No way, we pay a very high price when something comes with the label convenient. Most of the time the true price of convenience is hidden in the consequences of not paying attention. We are drifting aimlessly and reacting to life instead of planning appropriately. As long as we are distracted the marketing of convenience will be effective.

It is not convenient to think for yourself or prepare your own food or even plan your finances. It is up to you to decide whether the cost of convenience is a fair price to pay.