The other day I was logged into my Amazon account to request a return for an item that had arrived damaged.  It was the first time I ever had to return anything to Amazon which is a testament to their service.

Anyway, while I was browsing to the specific order number to request the return I realized I could go back in time and view my entire order history.  Here’s a few things I found interesting:

My first Amazon order was placed way back on August 23, 2000.  I had purchased a software package with a bunch of games for my PC.  I remember most of the games were a disappointment (Beast Wars) but Worms 2 was really fun!

The total amount I’ve spent on Amazon is $2703.59!  Damn!  They must love me.

I’ve placed a total of 63 orders.

The average order size was $42.91.

The smallest order was $16.97 for a cd collection I bought for my girlfriend (now wife).

The largest order was $229.99 for a digital camera.

I buy a lot of books through Amazon, and some hard to find dvds and cds.  I find it cheaper to order from amazon with free shipping than to go to the mall or Barnes and Noble and pay full price.  Plus some items you can get gently used for a huge discount.

A lot of my orders are in November and December…I dread going anywhere near a store during holiday season.

A few of the orders were for things I could have lived without or disappointed me.  But most of them were for books or other items that I really enjoyed or learned from.

How closely do you pay attention to the cashier at your local supermarket? Do you check your receipt to make sure you’re not being overcharged?

Sunday evening I ran to Shoprite to pick up a couple of things. While I was trying to explain to my daughter that no she can’t have the giant, overpriced Blue’s Clues balloon I was overcharged for 2 bags of cheesy popcorn.

They were supposed to be on sale for 2 for $3, which would be $1.50 each. But when I got home I scanned the receipt and they had rung up at the full price of $2.99 a bag. Because I was distracted with my daughter I was overcharged $2.98.

Now…what to do?

My wife said I should go back and complain and get my money back. But is it really worth it? Let’s let some basic math decide for us.

The Shoprite I went to is about 6 miles from my house. My wife’s minivan gets about 18 miles per gallon in city driving, so the 12 mile trip to Shoprite and back would burn about 2/3 of a gallon of fuel. At $2.58 per gallon (which is what I paid to fuel up this morning) that little trip would cost me $1.72 in fuel costs.

It would cost me $1.72 to get back my $2.98 so in reality I’d only be ahead $1.26.

If you want to get technical you could factor in wear and tear on the car too. Twelve miles is pretty insignificant in the long run but for laughs let’s work in the cost of an oil change.

If I get the oil changed every 3000 miles and it costs me $26 at the local garage, each mile driven costs $0.0086.

26 / 3000 = 0.0086

Multiply that number by 12 miles driven and it adds a little over 10 cents to the trip. Now it’s actually costing me $1.82 to get my $2.98 refund. I’d end up ahead a measly $1.16.

Is it worth it?

What about the time I’d waste trying to get my refund? I figure it would take me about 30 minutes to drive to Shoprite, park, walk inside, stand on line, explain what happened, get my refund and drive home. Thirty minutes for $1.16.

That’s an hourly rate of just $2.32. If someone offered you a job for $2.32 an hour you’d probably laugh in their face yet you’ll gladly give up your time for the same amount?

My time is valuable to me. I’d rather take that half an hour and write a post for this blog, or work on another site that can earn me far more than $1.16. Or I can take those 30 minutes and spend it doing something fun with my family. Or reading and learning something new. Or pretty much anything other than stand on line in Shoprite.

Yes, I know if I had been paying closer attention in the first place I would have spotted the mistake and had it corrected immediately. But I’ll accept the small loss in exchange for teaching my daughter a small lesson about the difference between “wants” and “needs.” Plus it gave me material for this post…so it wasn’t all bad.

PS – I do realize I could ask for my refund on my next trip to Shoprite but we don’t usually shop there. It’s an inconvenient location and I only stopped there because it was on the way home that evening.

If you’ve got a high definition TV in your home or you’re thinking of upgrading then you know you need some HDMI video cables to take advantage of the high-def signal.  But take a walk down the aisles of retailers like Best Buy or Radio Shack and you’ll see sticker prices of $50 to $100+.

Are they kidding?  You can buy hdmi cables cheap online through Amazon.  In fact when we purchased our new tv I went to Amazon and got these hdmi video cables for about $6 each.  I use one to connect the TV to my FIOS box and the other when I want to connect my laptop to the big screen so my kids can watch their favorite music videos like Single Ladies.

The truth is there is no significant difference between a $6 cable and a $50 cable.  Both CNET and Popular Mechanics agree that premium hdmi cables are just not worth the cost.

Why are hdmi video cables so expensive??

Because electronics stores think we’re all a bunch of suckers, that’s why.

Retailers mark up hdmi video cables ridiculously high because they know most people won’t know any better.  Particularly when the salesman who just sold you the 52 inch flat screen goes on and on about how much better the picture will be if you get the premium cables.

They’re counting on your ignorance to help them make the sale.  And hdmi video cables have a huge profit margin which helps the retailer pad their bottom line.

Plus they know you’re dying to go home and check out the picture on your new HDTV and you probably don’t want to wait until cables arrive in the mail.

But you can outsmart shady salesman by ordering you hdmi video cables from Amazon.  Isn’t it worth waiting a couple days to save $40 or more?

Well my wife and I have agreed that it’s time to replace the TV in our living room.  The old one was breaking down for awhile and finally died about a month ago.  We’ve been getting by with a small 22 inch TV but in a room that size it’s just too small.   My wife was having difficulty reading the menu on the smaller screen and even I found it hard at times too.

I’m more than a little annoyed that our old television died after only 8 years, but I guess they don’t make them like they used to.  And we did look into getting it fixed but realized it just wasn’t worth the trouble.

We had to call half a dozen places just to find someone who could fix it (most wanted to charge $45 – $60 just to look at it…no thanks).  And the guy who did come to check it out basically said it isn’t worth fixing.   Even though it’s only 8 years old it is one of those old style tube tvs that you don’t even see in stores anymore. 

The repairman said it would cost about $200 to fix and it would probably break again in a year or so.  I appreciate his honesty as he could have easily taken us for $200 if he said it would last for 5 years. 

But $200 to fix an old tv is like dropping $2000 into a 1993 Chevy Lumina.  Just doesn’t make sense.   So I shopped around and found a Vizio 32 inch LCD TV for just $358 at Costco.  That’s the one we’ll go with.  It’s just about the same size as our old model and with this one we’ll be able to access the HDTV channels that we already receive through Verizon Fios.

Again, I’m not thrilled with spending the money on a new TV but it is something we’ll get use out of.  We don’t go out to the movies very often…instead we rent movies ondemand or borrow dvds from the library.  So I figure instead of spending the money most people would at the movie theater we’ll have a new TV for years to come (hopefully!).