Fuzzy mathematics.
posted by Norm on January 12th, 2008 • filed under Furniture, Gaming, MovingI don’t normally do a lot of furniture shopping, but the prospect of moving to an unfurnished space next week has compelled me to do some browsing. After bouncing among a few websites and physical storefronts I was struck by what seems (to me) to be a completely ridiculous industry practice: displaying vastly higher prices that I should “expect to pay” or “compare at.”
For example, one of the things I’m in the market for is a queen bed. According to this listing (chosen at random) on a local retailer’s website, this mattress that they sell for around $700 is apparently worth somewhere closer to $1400! There’s no indication of where I would expect to see this higher price and, in fact, all of my browsing leads me to believe that $700 is the average price for this product. So why the prevarication? Are some customers really credulous enough to look at that and think they’re getting a phenomenal deal?
At least in the case of this retailer, all it did was cause me to almost dismiss them as an option when my cursory glance revealed that they were (it appeared) way over priced.
I also dropped by Circuit City to make use of various Christmas gift cards. In an incredible stroke of luck I managed to pick up a pristine copy of Okami for less than $10 and, equally surprising, a copy of Puzzle Quest for only $20. Both of these are excellent titles that I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I haven’t yet partaken of, but getting such good deals on tough to find games makes me feel just a teensy bit better. There’s still some money left over on my gift cards that I’ll likely use to grab a wireless router for the new apartment – I’m leaning towards the tried-and-true Linksys WRT54GL, but if anyone has any other suggestions I’d love to hear them.
Finally, I couldn’t let this heart-wrenching trailer slide by without comment. I know, mentally, that this is hardly the first time Soul Calibur has included unlikely, non-canonical guest characters but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m witnessing the final gasps of this series.
I think that here, listing prices like that to compare to would be considered false marketing and at least mildly illegal (I seem to remember that a couple of years ago a few retailers got in trouble for claiming their sale prices were more reduced than they actually were, which is sort of similar). I’m pretty sure it still happens though and that some people actually fall for it.
Anyways, congratulations on your new job!
congrats on the new job, and as a wireless luddite desktop user with no need for wireless, i can wholeheartedly recommend plugging your ass into your router and enjoying the benefits of a stable, secure line to the ineternet rather than dealing with the memory/processing overhead of a wireless connection and the constant dropouts and reconnects that i suffer now that i switched over.
seriously, you have a 1 bedroom apt. and i bet you have at least 2 cable connectoins in the apartment. just plug it in and everything will be gravy forever. forever. fuck wireless i hate it in the face.
also for reference i have the wireless usb ethernet adapter that is a companion to the linksys router and its a massive peice of trash, not to mention the software that accompanies it.
the more you know.
I just picked up Okami when I went home for xmas, and started playing it 2 days ago. Through Amazon I paid $30, but the game is worth much much more. I can’t believe I waited this long to pick it up. Once you start playing you won’t be able to put it down, so make sure you don’t have any responsibilities for the next several days after you start.
Also, I agree with darryl. Wireless to me is synonymous with disconnects. TCP throttling protocols were not built to deal with packet loss on that scale. Save yourself the hassles of setup and security and just run a hard line.
@Pontus: I think that sort of thing is illegal here, too, but the key (in this case) is that they aren’t claiming it’s a sale price, just that some mysterious competitor somewhere is way more expensive. Stupid, but I believe that’s why they can get away with it.
@Darryl: we are in complete agreement on this point. My desktop has been connected via wireless at my parents’ place for several months and it makes me want to commit murder on a daily basis. I fully intend to hard-wire my desktop at the new apartment – the wireless is for my laptop, because I consider the ability to browse eBay while taking a dump to be a seldom-used but absolutely critical capability.
@Jeff: I’ve heard Okami praised all over the internet and I don’t have a good excuse for not picking it up until now. Luckily, I haven’t had a spare moment to play it so I haven’t shirked any major responsibilities yet.