City life isn't for everybody. Neither is rural, exurban, or suburban life, or living in a town or a village. All these choices have their own costs and benefits. I'm just suggesting that people look ahead at how those costs and benefits are likely to shift in the near future.
I love all things Mac and considered the new iPhone for it's lower price tag UNTIL I realized I'd be spending nearly $1700 minimum in cell phone bills over the next two years.
Right now I pay $25 for air time every three months with a Pay-As-You-Go phone. Works for me.
A phone is a tool. An iPhone or a Blackberry or similar type phone all have features that make them more usable than a bottom of the line freebie phone. None of this explains why someone would torture themselves by wasting hours of their time standing, waiting to buy a product. They were not saving any money by standing in line or reaping any other great benefit. This just seems like people who are so manipulated by marketing and consuming that they would willingly abuse themselves in some manner for a product. People walked in and got one a day or so later without standing in line.
A phone is a tool. An iPhone or a Blackberry or similar type phone all have features that make them more usable than a bottom of the line freebie phone. None of this explains why someone would torture themselves by wasting hours of their time standing, waiting to buy a product. They were not saving any money by standing in line or reaping any other great benefit. This just seems like people who are so manipulated by marketing and consuming that they would willingly abuse themselves in some manner for a product. People walked in and got one a day or so later without standing in line.
It's not Apple hate he's talking about. I don't think anyone cares if the iPhone could wipe your ass for you, it's still not worth waiting in line hours/days for a "product" that will be readily available in another week or two.
I didn't even mention in my first comment all the families I saw in line with very young children. That's just ridiculous.
Thank God someone else pointed that out. It was driving me crazy... but excellent point overall and ol' Chuck is always good for these sort of eye openers :)
Just as an FYI, I've had this argument before... the perception his character's name is Jack comes from the lines about the Reader's Digest articles, but he's not saying Jack literally as his name... it's just a play on the articles.
I don't consider this post "whining". Ranting, maybe, but we're all entitled to our own opinion and that's what blogs are for, you know?
I quite like the iPhone and would love to get one, but I have issues about standing in line. It definitely offends my sense of dignity - it's not that some things aren't worth waiting for, it's just that the lines themselves are a marketing ploy from these big companies, and I refuse to take part.
I was surprised to learn that retailers don't have to accept my change... not that we ever have much, mind you, my husband is a FANATIC about giving exact change.
One note, I've found that rolling coins and then using the whole roll at a time is frequently a fast way to get coins off your hands (from before I was married!) by giving them to retailers who can easily process them.
The iPhone isn't really a phone. Yeah, it can be used to call people, but that's not the point.
The iPhone costs me $1.40 per day more than my old basic nokia candybar phone, which didn't have internet access, camera, etc. ($300 + $30/mo * 24 months)/(365*2). $1.40/day is 50% more than the NY Times costs, less than a cup of black coffee costs, less than what driving 3 miles at current IRS reimbursement rates costs.
This is an unexaggerated rundown of my iPhone use over a 3 hour period this morning. What follows reads like a fanboy rave, but I assure you I have tons of gripes about the device and no brand loyalty whatsoever. I am not making this up, even though this is exactly the sort of crap you'd expect out of an apple tv ad.
I left my office and went to the bus stop to catch a ride across town to a meeting. I was at the bus stop, and decided I wanted coffee, but didn't want to miss the bus. I looked up real-time bus location data, and figured out I didn't have time to get that coffee. Sigh....I'll just drink the swill at the meeting.
While on the bus, I read your post, snorted out loud at your angst, and marked it to come back to. I got to my meeting, sat down, and realized that while I was in the building I should pick up some posters I had printed a few weeks ago. I emailed the guy in charge of those and arranged to get them after my meeting.
Meeting ends and...oops, I forgot where poster guy's office was. No problem, because the office directory is instantly available. Got to his office, grabbed the posters, and headed back over to my office across town via bus. While on the bus, I emailed reminders out for a meeting tomorrow. Email complete, I called my wife to chat, hung up, then listened to some music while reading boingboing.
Almost none of those things are "phone activities". Some saved time, some killed it. However, the overall experience is like having most of the world's information always with you, in a pretty box that is ridiculously well designed and fun to use. To me, that's worth way more than $1.40 a day and yeah, worth standing in line for a couple hours with a bunch of enthusiastic people all just as stoked as I was.
Sorry you don't get it, but that doesn't make iphone owners idiots or suckers.
"It's pointless to complain about stuff like this because priorities all over the place."
You might have meant everyone has different priorities. Yes, some people's priorities are messed up.
He never said he didn't LIKE the iPhone. The point was wasting a day waiting to be one of the first to have it is ridiculous. If there is nothing else you would rather do than use a day off waiting for an iPhone then you should check your priorities. Using a little thought and creativity can lead to a world of activities and experiences more rewarding and fulfilling than waiting in line for a new gadget.
Writing (as in a blog) is a form of expression. Despite one's opinion of the blog, it takes thought and creativity. How does this compare to lining up like a sheep for a phone?
I'm betting he gets the fact that a computer is just a computer. I'm also betting he didn't waste a whole day waiting in line for his.
I'd add to your list, teach your children how to give money as well- both by instruction and example. This was a lesson I didn't learn until I was an adult, but when I learned how to give I also learned how not to live in a mentality of scarcity, which is the biggest value to planned giving- no matter your income level.
Yes, it is pointless to wine about someone standing in a line to get a phone .... it's definitely prorities. If standing in a line for an phone is rediculous, then one could feel the same way about someone standing in the line, all night to get their hands on a new Harry Potter book, all those who stand in a line for hours to get into a concert or a ball game. Makes sense? It doesn't, right?
It is all about priorities. What feels important to you might look rediculouos to someone else and vice-versa.
And I would not even get into the discussion of comparing iPhone with Blackberry. Both of them have their pros and cons depending on what the primary intent of use is.
I don't get it either... and yes, I do own a Mac...and a few PCs. They're tools to get things done. Nothing more. Maybe it's that sense of common experience/community that people are craving?
Also, what's the fun of having something when everyone else has it? Once it goes on sale to the general public, it's too late for me. Getting one "off the dock" in Hong Kong several weeks/months before they're available to the masses = cool. Then again, I drive a prototype car. To me, individuality = the person, not the material items. BUT, if you're going to focus on material items, you might as well find rare things that everyone else doesn't have / isn't doing. Don't even get me started on people getting tattoos "to be different." A little late now that a substantial amount of the population has them.
After I finish Sun Tzu's books I will read this book. I am not very interested in investing in the stock market, but I will see if this books sparks some interest.
Like your bannanas, but no work required! Simply rinse grapes, dry and pop the whole bunch in the freezer. They're like little drops of delicious sweetness when they're frozen. Also, no mess and no special equipment required. I was even able to do this with my TINY freezer when in college. They also make neat ice cubes to put into watter for a little bit of added flavor.
The photo was taken at Shades State Park in Indiana. (I fear I have a weakness for pictures of forest stairways like this--I've got dozens of such photos, mostly from parks in Illinois and Indiana.)
I have a friend that just waited all night for the phone.
I asked her why she would do this for a phone.
She said "'Cause it's the new 3G phone!".
Again, I asked her why she would do this for a phone.
Exasperated, she said "You don't understand, it's just exciting to part of something new. I'm just excited to part of the Mac community.".
Something new? Mac community? She's right. I don't understand
Other than the fact that it's from Apple, I don't see what makes this iPhone (or the previous one) worth the hype. There's plenty of other phones out there which are far more advanced, less expensive, and aren't tied to probably the 2nd worst carrier in the nation. I look at my Blackberry and other than it "only" holds 8GB of music/videos, I can't see anything the iPhone has over it. I can type 60-80 words per minute on the Blackberry, even touch-type, which isn't something that can be done on a touch-screen. When I'm on the road, my Blackberry connects up to my laptop and provides me with a nice EVDO internet connection. GPS w/Garmin software on my Blackberry as well. And yes, when the battery starts to get weak, I can buy another for <$20 and just slide it in there. Every morning my PC automatically downloads and transcodes BBC World News & the local news and dumps it onto the Blackberry's memory card for me. No extra fees.
Seriously, if someone came up to you and promised that they could give you an extra hour, 2, or even 6 extra hours this week to use any way you wish, how much would you pay for it? There's how much your time's worth then.
In my case, between my salary & how much I value my time, there's no way in hell I'm going to stand in any line. I've only got a set amount of time left in this life and I plan on enjoying every last scrap of it while I can. Life's short...even shorter when wasting it in lines.
It's pointless to complain about stuff like this because priorities all over the place. You may spend time and money on something that I think is a waste of both. It's okay to question the determination but to talk down to someone just because you don't like the same things? That's just pointless.
I have an iPhone 3G. I waited in line because I wanted to. I didn't have anything else to do that day that was of any importance and when I got home I spent the rest of the day fiddling with the settings and downloading apps.
And guess what? I know it's just a phone. You know what? This is just a blog, and what you use to write this blog is just a computer and so on and so on... If you like it, then it's not a waste of time.
I am a huge fan of this store called Susie's Deals!
They carry clothes for everyone, men's, women's, and kids too. I always know that I can walk in to one of their stores a come out with a big bag of really cute stylish stuff for $25! Everything in the store is sold for $5.99 or less and you can even find things that are 2 for $5.99!
I have bought some really nice name brand things at this store and given them to friends and family for Christmas. People have NO idea that these nice items only cost me $5.99 each .. It's Awesome!
I urge you to check them out, because you only have one store on your site that carries clothing and this store appeals to everyone! And they have a web site where you can also shop online or snatch an e-coupon to use at the store, and if you spend $50 the shipping is FREE which is a definite plus!
Their web site is http://www.susiesdeals.com they have store in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah too.
1- Good idea from a mail-order-marketing standpoint. You opened the letter, so the packaging did it's job. Ingenious if you ask me.
2- However, in the current climate with our growing concern as a society about our impact on the world, this is a HORRIBLE environmental responsibility message to send to potential customers.
Seriously, I'm always out buying gadgets, a new PC every year or two to speed things up (which often are cheaper than the 1st gen iPhone), I have a Samsung blackjack and a Blackberry from work, Wii, etc. But what I do not get is spending hours in line to SPEND MONEY on anything. OK, Maybe back in the day concert tickets were worth waiting for, before the Internet came along. Or a midnight sale of a new CD, also before the Internet, big movie blockbuster.
But is the phone going to be any different next week when there isn't a line?
I actually hit a line on saturday a.m. in Skokie, IL because my wife really wanted one and I felt bad she had a crappy Moto razr 1st gen still. I had actually bought her a 1st gen iPhone after the first price drop but she returned it. Now she says she really wants it.
Anyway, the line was ridiculous. An hour into the sale and only 12 people left with phones. I had to leave for a baseball game but I'd bet I wouldn't have gotten the phone until at best noon being 50 deep in line. Opening at 9 a.m.! And the line stretched at least 100 behind me. Those folks would be waiting 5-6 hours my guess. Your whole Saturday, for a phone.
It turned out to be a great day. The Cubs won. My wife and I spent time together, I spent a lot less than $199 at the ballpark too.
Philip-
To echo the comments ahead of me... your posts are always such a breath of fresh air among all the personal finance blogs. My husband and I are talking about moving "into community" (read: a christian activism community) and we're really struggling right now about how much we would 'loose' for doing that. For all we want the lifestyle change, its still very hard to break away from old patterns of 'want want want' and into the pattern of 'live!'
On Saturday, the Apple store in the west village stopped the sales of the iPhone because the line got too short. Then on Sunday the line was down the block again. It's cool that Apple is doing what they need to do to keep the excitement alive, but c'mon!
I got my first-gen iPhone on the third day by walking into the soho store at lunch. No line, no fuss. I don't do lines. And I won't this time either.
City life isn't for everybody. Neither is rural, exurban, or suburban life, or living in a town or a village. All these choices have their own costs and benefits. I'm just suggesting that people look ahead at how those costs and benefits are likely to shift in the near future.
I love all things Mac and considered the new iPhone for it's lower price tag UNTIL I realized I'd be spending nearly $1700 minimum in cell phone bills over the next two years.
Right now I pay $25 for air time every three months with a Pay-As-You-Go phone. Works for me.
A phone is a tool. An iPhone or a Blackberry or similar type phone all have features that make them more usable than a bottom of the line freebie phone. None of this explains why someone would torture themselves by wasting hours of their time standing, waiting to buy a product. They were not saving any money by standing in line or reaping any other great benefit. This just seems like people who are so manipulated by marketing and consuming that they would willingly abuse themselves in some manner for a product. People walked in and got one a day or so later without standing in line.
A phone is a tool. An iPhone or a Blackberry or similar type phone all have features that make them more usable than a bottom of the line freebie phone. None of this explains why someone would torture themselves by wasting hours of their time standing, waiting to buy a product. They were not saving any money by standing in line or reaping any other great benefit. This just seems like people who are so manipulated by marketing and consuming that they would willingly abuse themselves in some manner for a product. People walked in and got one a day or so later without standing in line.
It's not Apple hate he's talking about. I don't think anyone cares if the iPhone could wipe your ass for you, it's still not worth waiting in line hours/days for a "product" that will be readily available in another week or two.
I didn't even mention in my first comment all the families I saw in line with very young children. That's just ridiculous.
Thank God someone else pointed that out. It was driving me crazy... but excellent point overall and ol' Chuck is always good for these sort of eye openers :)
Just as an FYI, I've had this argument before... the perception his character's name is Jack comes from the lines about the Reader's Digest articles, but he's not saying Jack literally as his name... it's just a play on the articles.
I don't consider this post "whining". Ranting, maybe, but we're all entitled to our own opinion and that's what blogs are for, you know?
I quite like the iPhone and would love to get one, but I have issues about standing in line. It definitely offends my sense of dignity - it's not that some things aren't worth waiting for, it's just that the lines themselves are a marketing ploy from these big companies, and I refuse to take part.
I was surprised to learn that retailers don't have to accept my change... not that we ever have much, mind you, my husband is a FANATIC about giving exact change.
One note, I've found that rolling coins and then using the whole roll at a time is frequently a fast way to get coins off your hands (from before I was married!) by giving them to retailers who can easily process them.
-Suz
The iPhone isn't really a phone. Yeah, it can be used to call people, but that's not the point.
The iPhone costs me $1.40 per day more than my old basic nokia candybar phone, which didn't have internet access, camera, etc. ($300 + $30/mo * 24 months)/(365*2). $1.40/day is 50% more than the NY Times costs, less than a cup of black coffee costs, less than what driving 3 miles at current IRS reimbursement rates costs.
This is an unexaggerated rundown of my iPhone use over a 3 hour period this morning. What follows reads like a fanboy rave, but I assure you I have tons of gripes about the device and no brand loyalty whatsoever. I am not making this up, even though this is exactly the sort of crap you'd expect out of an apple tv ad.
I left my office and went to the bus stop to catch a ride across town to a meeting. I was at the bus stop, and decided I wanted coffee, but didn't want to miss the bus. I looked up real-time bus location data, and figured out I didn't have time to get that coffee. Sigh....I'll just drink the swill at the meeting.
While on the bus, I read your post, snorted out loud at your angst, and marked it to come back to. I got to my meeting, sat down, and realized that while I was in the building I should pick up some posters I had printed a few weeks ago. I emailed the guy in charge of those and arranged to get them after my meeting.
Meeting ends and...oops, I forgot where poster guy's office was. No problem, because the office directory is instantly available. Got to his office, grabbed the posters, and headed back over to my office across town via bus. While on the bus, I emailed reminders out for a meeting tomorrow. Email complete, I called my wife to chat, hung up, then listened to some music while reading boingboing.
Almost none of those things are "phone activities". Some saved time, some killed it. However, the overall experience is like having most of the world's information always with you, in a pretty box that is ridiculously well designed and fun to use. To me, that's worth way more than $1.40 a day and yeah, worth standing in line for a couple hours with a bunch of enthusiastic people all just as stoked as I was.
Sorry you don't get it, but that doesn't make iphone owners idiots or suckers.
"It's pointless to complain about stuff like this because priorities all over the place."
You might have meant everyone has different priorities. Yes, some people's priorities are messed up.
He never said he didn't LIKE the iPhone. The point was wasting a day waiting to be one of the first to have it is ridiculous. If there is nothing else you would rather do than use a day off waiting for an iPhone then you should check your priorities. Using a little thought and creativity can lead to a world of activities and experiences more rewarding and fulfilling than waiting in line for a new gadget.
Writing (as in a blog) is a form of expression. Despite one's opinion of the blog, it takes thought and creativity. How does this compare to lining up like a sheep for a phone?
I'm betting he gets the fact that a computer is just a computer. I'm also betting he didn't waste a whole day waiting in line for his.
I'd add to your list, teach your children how to give money as well- both by instruction and example. This was a lesson I didn't learn until I was an adult, but when I learned how to give I also learned how not to live in a mentality of scarcity, which is the biggest value to planned giving- no matter your income level.
Thanks for the great list!
-Suz
Yes, it is pointless to wine about someone standing in a line to get a phone .... it's definitely prorities. If standing in a line for an phone is rediculous, then one could feel the same way about someone standing in the line, all night to get their hands on a new Harry Potter book, all those who stand in a line for hours to get into a concert or a ball game. Makes sense? It doesn't, right?
It is all about priorities. What feels important to you might look rediculouos to someone else and vice-versa.
And I would not even get into the discussion of comparing iPhone with Blackberry. Both of them have their pros and cons depending on what the primary intent of use is.
I don't get it either... and yes, I do own a Mac...and a few PCs. They're tools to get things done. Nothing more. Maybe it's that sense of common experience/community that people are craving?
Also, what's the fun of having something when everyone else has it? Once it goes on sale to the general public, it's too late for me. Getting one "off the dock" in Hong Kong several weeks/months before they're available to the masses = cool. Then again, I drive a prototype car. To me, individuality = the person, not the material items. BUT, if you're going to focus on material items, you might as well find rare things that everyone else doesn't have / isn't doing. Don't even get me started on people getting tattoos "to be different." A little late now that a substantial amount of the population has them.
aha. interesting. I am a former Illinoisian but I've never been there.
After I finish Sun Tzu's books I will read this book. I am not very interested in investing in the stock market, but I will see if this books sparks some interest.
Like your bannanas, but no work required! Simply rinse grapes, dry and pop the whole bunch in the freezer. They're like little drops of delicious sweetness when they're frozen. Also, no mess and no special equipment required. I was even able to do this with my TINY freezer when in college. They also make neat ice cubes to put into watter for a little bit of added flavor.
-Suz
@Jenny:
The photo was taken at Shades State Park in Indiana. (I fear I have a weakness for pictures of forest stairways like this--I've got dozens of such photos, mostly from parks in Illinois and Indiana.)
I have a friend that just waited all night for the phone.
I asked her why she would do this for a phone.
She said "'Cause it's the new 3G phone!".
Again, I asked her why she would do this for a phone.
Exasperated, she said "You don't understand, it's just exciting to part of something new. I'm just excited to part of the Mac community.".
Something new? Mac community? She's right. I don't understand
Other than the fact that it's from Apple, I don't see what makes this iPhone (or the previous one) worth the hype. There's plenty of other phones out there which are far more advanced, less expensive, and aren't tied to probably the 2nd worst carrier in the nation. I look at my Blackberry and other than it "only" holds 8GB of music/videos, I can't see anything the iPhone has over it. I can type 60-80 words per minute on the Blackberry, even touch-type, which isn't something that can be done on a touch-screen. When I'm on the road, my Blackberry connects up to my laptop and provides me with a nice EVDO internet connection. GPS w/Garmin software on my Blackberry as well. And yes, when the battery starts to get weak, I can buy another for <$20 and just slide it in there. Every morning my PC automatically downloads and transcodes BBC World News & the local news and dumps it onto the Blackberry's memory card for me. No extra fees.
Seriously, if someone came up to you and promised that they could give you an extra hour, 2, or even 6 extra hours this week to use any way you wish, how much would you pay for it? There's how much your time's worth then.
In my case, between my salary & how much I value my time, there's no way in hell I'm going to stand in any line. I've only got a set amount of time left in this life and I plan on enjoying every last scrap of it while I can. Life's short...even shorter when wasting it in lines.
It's pointless to complain about stuff like this because priorities all over the place. You may spend time and money on something that I think is a waste of both. It's okay to question the determination but to talk down to someone just because you don't like the same things? That's just pointless.
I have an iPhone 3G. I waited in line because I wanted to. I didn't have anything else to do that day that was of any importance and when I got home I spent the rest of the day fiddling with the settings and downloading apps.
And guess what? I know it's just a phone. You know what? This is just a blog, and what you use to write this blog is just a computer and so on and so on... If you like it, then it's not a waste of time.
I am a huge fan of this store called Susie's Deals!
They carry clothes for everyone, men's, women's, and kids too. I always know that I can walk in to one of their stores a come out with a big bag of really cute stylish stuff for $25! Everything in the store is sold for $5.99 or less and you can even find things that are 2 for $5.99!
I have bought some really nice name brand things at this store and given them to friends and family for Christmas. People have NO idea that these nice items only cost me $5.99 each .. It's Awesome!
I urge you to check them out, because you only have one store on your site that carries clothing and this store appeals to everyone! And they have a web site where you can also shop online or snatch an e-coupon to use at the store, and if you spend $50 the shipping is FREE which is a definite plus!
Their web site is http://www.susiesdeals.com they have store in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah too.
1- Good idea from a mail-order-marketing standpoint. You opened the letter, so the packaging did it's job. Ingenious if you ask me.
2- However, in the current climate with our growing concern as a society about our impact on the world, this is a HORRIBLE environmental responsibility message to send to potential customers.
Thank Goodness for the recycling can!
-Suz
Seriously, I'm always out buying gadgets, a new PC every year or two to speed things up (which often are cheaper than the 1st gen iPhone), I have a Samsung blackjack and a Blackberry from work, Wii, etc. But what I do not get is spending hours in line to SPEND MONEY on anything. OK, Maybe back in the day concert tickets were worth waiting for, before the Internet came along. Or a midnight sale of a new CD, also before the Internet, big movie blockbuster.
But is the phone going to be any different next week when there isn't a line?
I actually hit a line on saturday a.m. in Skokie, IL because my wife really wanted one and I felt bad she had a crappy Moto razr 1st gen still. I had actually bought her a 1st gen iPhone after the first price drop but she returned it. Now she says she really wants it.
Anyway, the line was ridiculous. An hour into the sale and only 12 people left with phones. I had to leave for a baseball game but I'd bet I wouldn't have gotten the phone until at best noon being 50 deep in line. Opening at 9 a.m.! And the line stretched at least 100 behind me. Those folks would be waiting 5-6 hours my guess. Your whole Saturday, for a phone.
It turned out to be a great day. The Cubs won. My wife and I spent time together, I spent a lot less than $199 at the ballpark too.
Philip-
To echo the comments ahead of me... your posts are always such a breath of fresh air among all the personal finance blogs. My husband and I are talking about moving "into community" (read: a christian activism community) and we're really struggling right now about how much we would 'loose' for doing that. For all we want the lifestyle change, its still very hard to break away from old patterns of 'want want want' and into the pattern of 'live!'
Thanks for the reminder.
-Suz
On Saturday, the Apple store in the west village stopped the sales of the iPhone because the line got too short. Then on Sunday the line was down the block again. It's cool that Apple is doing what they need to do to keep the excitement alive, but c'mon!
I got my first-gen iPhone on the third day by walking into the soho store at lunch. No line, no fuss. I don't do lines. And I won't this time either.