Beware of Being Prejudiced Against Cheap Things
You may be a bargain hunter, but chances are you still have a bias against cheap stuff, just like the rest of us. We have a tendency to rate products according to their price, even if the price tag is not related to value.
In a video explaining why we hate cheap things, School of Life uses pineapple as an example. Hundreds of years ago, pineapple was an insanely expensive fruit reserved only for the royal family and the super-rich. Over the years, it has become easier to transport and grow pineapples, which has brought down its price. In the video, they explain:
The pineapple itself has not changed, only our attitude towards it has changed … When we have to pay a lot for something good, we fully appreciate it … when its price in the market falls, passion has a habit of fading away.
Of course, supply and demand are probably more related to this than price. Pineapples are everywhere now, so we take them for granted and don’t value them as much. But the idea is this: when a product is cheap, we assume the demand is low, so we don’t value it that much. They continue:
It is allowed to be very agitated over sturgeon caviar. A hundred pounds for a small pot. But we have to be very limited in terms of human enthusiasm for chicken eggs: twelve for two pounds. Lurking in the background is a terrifying hierarchy … Price tells us that something special is happening here. But it can also happen in cheap things.
Stores often use this bias against you by showing you the “original price” of a product. While looking through Marshall one day, I saw a wallet that was selling for $ 80, and the original price was several hundred dollars. I don’t need the wallet and I wasn’t interested in buying it until I saw the original price and then I thought, ” Wow, this must be a really good wallet.” Maybe I should buy it! I thought there was “something special” going on, simply because I saw such a high price tag.
To combat this bias, do not use price as a benchmark for estimating the value of an item. Assign your own value to something, and then buy according to that value, not just the actual price of the item. Do you appreciate a beautiful, high quality leather handbag? There is nothing wrong with that, but there is little point in pricing a wallet just because it costs $ 300. If you assign your own value to purchases, you will be more aware of your spending. To get a better understanding of this concept, watch the full video.
Why We Hate Cheap Things | School of Life