Price versus Cost Revisited

As part of the evolution of an ongoing Mercury Retrograde set of rituals, I was looking for coffee. I’ve read this two ways: don’t buy big box warehouse coffee, and do buy big box warehouse coffee.

To be fair, I go through a lot of coffee when Mercury is in apparent retrograde motion, so the point becomes moot.

I’ll go through a couple of the two-pound bags in a single week. Grocery store, chain store, or, my current preference, Costco? Sure, that works.

It’s plentiful, it’s “good enough,” and it’s cheap. Relatively speaking, really cheap.

A while back, as part of this discussion, I bought a nickel-bag of artisanal coffee beans. Little baggie cost upwards of $15. Had enough beans for a single pot and then two pour-over cups. Mugs. Big mugs, but still, just a mug, so that was about four, maybe eight cups of coffee. Expensive beans.

Worth it?

Price versus Cost Revisited

Last summer, I’m thinking, I bought an add-on piece of software, an extension to the basic WordPress backend that I’ve been using, a database that drives the graphic display. Simple enough piece of software, and an interesting developer I’ve used, over the years. Ten years or more, now, I think.

The software itself wasn’t too pricey, just $37. Price versus Cost — revisited.

The first part of the installation was simple enough, and it lead to a long list of ‘read me’ sections on the development site, plus questions, answers, and then, the software “revved.” It went through two-three iterations inside of a 24 maybe 48-hour time frame. Each was an answer to question that hadn’t been asked yet, and each revision did exactly what it was supposed to do, in its way, and software re-writes addressed new problems, and compatibility issues.

The “price” wasn’t too much. The cost, in terms of labor and ongoing development support? I don’t know, but it looks like a losing proposition, from a strictly business — pluses and minuses — point.

For me, the price clearly outweighed the cost. As that software, I eventually abandoned it, but for a while, it worked well, and the developer had to add a bit of code to make it specifically compliant for my site, which in turn, cost more effort and why it was good example of “Price versus Cost,” as I got more out of it than that initial price.

That was definitely worth it.

Price versus Cost Revisited

When Mercury is Retrograde, I get stuck in a negative loop about what is best, and then, the definitions of words, and wondering what is best, and what’s the more correct form. In the situation where it’s “price versus cost,” I get confused about meaning, definitions, and what the real cost is, as opposed to what the price might be advertised as.

I make a sincere effort to stay clear of any kind of “barter” economy, not for philosophical reasons, no, but because, early in this career, I amassed way more in potential trades than I ever garnered in actual goods delivered. As an example? A massage therapist. I would accumulate a half dozen promises for a full a message and receive nothing in exchange for my time and expertise. So I kind of stopped with the bartering. Didn’t work out for me.

Price versus Cost Revisited

Previously, price versus cost.

The pitch? astrofish.net/about.

the Portable Mercury Retrograde

Portable Mercury Retrograde – Kramer Wetzel

#Mercury

#Retrograde