Frugal Tip — Don’t Buy Things on Launch Day

When I came back from my honeymoon I had a lot of news to catch up on, and the headline that made me laugh the hardest is that a lot of consumers were angry over the $200 iPhone pricecut. At first Steve Jobs responded “That’s technology” and then offered a $100 Apple store credit. This event made me reaffirm my belief that if people want to save money they should never buy things on launch day, and especially don’t buy a new product on launch day. Here’s why:

1. The Kinks – Most of the time technology products are shipped with bugs. If it’s a good company making your desired product they will try to make sure the bugs are minor, but the sheer number of bugs a product could ship with may astound any consumer. The problem with first generation products is that they haven’t be mass-tested in the field, so uncaught problems are more likely to surface. When bugs are caught in the “production environment”, or by consumers, they’re considered especially bad, and the company will issue patches and new versions of the product. So it’s best to let the first generation of the product be a field test before you buy some horrendous bug and waste your time with recalls or refunds.

2. The “Scalpers” — I call the resellers of popular products on launch day scalpers because they are basically feeding on the fanaticism of people who want their stuff right away. Some crazy examples include PS3 consoles selling for over $6000 each on eBay. Apparently a large percentage of launch day purchases for PS3s were made by these scalpers. Do you really want these people to make money off of you? I certainly did not. Now several months later, the PS3 console also went through a price cut and is more widely available.

3. The Discounts – Discounts happen to all products. Most stores have seasonal sales where they give out percentage off coupons or just have specials on items. If a product is not selling as well as intended then pricecuts happen (i.e. the PS3 & iPhone). If you’re not a fashionista and don’t care about the newest line or brands you can buy last season’s clothing for huge discounts in clearance. The point is that if you buy something on launch day there’s a very slim chance that there is a sale or discount.

So how long should one wait until getting that super awesome gadget or sweater? My answer is, well, as long as you don’t need it don’t get it. The longer you wait the more likely you’ll lose your itch for that splurge or maybe you might get it for free or discounted. Basically, if you want to be frugal, be steadfast and don’t get into the hype for anything. And if you are one of those angry customers who bought an iPhone before the price cut, don’t feel so bad because it’s not as bad as the pain suffered by one of those folks who bought a new home in the last couple years only to see the builders offering huge discounts of six digits and above now on unsold inventory. I’m not against buying new things, but it’s always best to wait and watch the market a little bit.

Share This

Related Posts