Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tuesdays are the slowest day of the week at Pegasus, since unlike the rest of the modern pop world (cds, dvds, games, toys and books), our industry insists on releasing product on Wednesdays.

I 'm sitting at the computer, and discover that Diamond is offering it's annual "Summer Sizzler" sale.

Nuh, huh. Doesn't fit my budget. Pass on by.

What would hurt to take a small glance?

Oh, look at that! 25% off that title I've been wanting to get! Oh, a Speed Racing die-cast set with the movie about the come out!

O.K. I'll just order the very best stuff with the biggest discount.

Oh, that title used to be one of mainstays. I didn't even realize it was back in print. Only a 10% discount, though. I'll just add it to the list and delete it later.

Oh, there's another one. I've always wondered what that one looked like, and someone was asking for it the other day. Oh, that's a bestseller for me...getting another copy at a higher discount just makes sense.

To make a long story short, I ended up with a 1000.00 worth of stuff.

I'm an absolute sucker for 'sales'.

But most of it was marginal material that I had passed on before, or had let fall out of the rotation because of slow sales. Most of the stuff was only 10% off.

Only the other hand, at worse, I'd probably break even.

I've been a good boy. Haven't had a drink....I mean, an order.....in weeks. What harm could it do?

So I start to press the "Confirm" button. No, wait. I left something off. I go back.....

....and somehow lose the order.

I sit there looking at the screen, thinking, this is a sign. You want to feel virtuous? Walk away.

Thanks, but no thanks, Bartender.

I'm very proud of myself. It may have happened because of an accident, but I could've got the page back, I'm pretty sure. Or even re-entered it.

But in the end, it didn't happen, and that's all that matters.

Whew....

5 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

Cash is King.

I keep trying to remind myself.
Cash is King.

Cash can always be turned instantly into inventory.

But inventory can't always be turned into instant cash, except by taking a loss.

There's a entry over on Financial Armeggedon, supposedly by some who works in one of the Big Three retailers (Walmart/Target/??).

Interesting reading, if true.

Easy to get suckered back into spending money.

dkgoodman said...

"Relapse is part of recovery." :)

Duncan McGeary said...

Dave,

I really appreciate your coming to writer's group last night.

I was very nervous about reading again. Sometimes, if the critique hits wrong, I just stop writing.

But I felt pretty good about it. Rough, but there might be a story there.

Anyway, thanks again.

dkgoodman said...

Your story's a souffle with several ingredients you hope will set up nicely, but subject to collapse if jarred too hard. :)

Keeneye said...

At the risk of sounding very AA as well --

I find myself shopping Shopping SHOPPING constantly, yet, only actually buying 5% of the time.

In my spare time, I'll spend 30 minutes shopping on Overstock or Smart Bargains or eBay, pretending as if the money I'm about to spend will make me that-much-more in the future. Then, I'll view my "watch list" or "shopping cart" and end up trashing it. 30-minutes wasted, yet zero dollars.

Yet, if time is money, then I guess I just wasted quite a few bucks.