I purchased the following siphon the other day to drain some liquid from a fish tank. The irony is I wanted to buy it from Supercheap Auto previous Friday, but arrived one minute to 8pm after being at the shopping centre. Never thought they'd have different hours so decided to wait another day.
The price at Supercheap Auto was $6.99
I decided to check the internet over the weekend and found the same item at BCF for $4.99. When I was on the road I was near a BCF so dropped in. Next door was an Autobarn so decided to check the price there and found the price was $9.96. This isn't a plug for BCF as one of the items I'd noticed in Autobarn for $3.99 was $7.99 in BCF. But it does show quite a price variance from $4.99 to $9.96.
This really is also a reminder that just because a business has cheap in their name, doesn't make it so. You really do need to shop around. Although at the same time do keep in mind driving around costs money too and researching on the internet takes time. I was once at the local Bunnings store and they'd run out of the length of curtain wire I wanted and only had the more expensive longer length. I was about to go to the another Bunnings store but first decided to do a quick check of the fuel cost using my web app the Petrol Cost Calculator (www.petrolcostcalculator.com.au). I quickly realised the cost of petrol alone (let alone the wear and tear on the car) would have exceeded the extra cost of buying the longer length curtain wire, so I went back into the store and made the purchase. I found this was a very useful and enlightening lesson.
You really do have to shop around to make sure you're getting a good price, but you also need to keep in mind travel and time costs if you make a specific trip. I built JustLocal to make it easier for people to shop locally, but also with the belief that people shouldn't have to pay more to support local. Sometimes however it's important to not just look at the straight out price, but also consider any other costs you may incur from shopping around.
As a side note I found this particular siphon wasn't very good. The secondary tube is not much longer than the main tube and I believe this resulted in the siphon not working as it should. Quite frustrating really.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
The price at Supercheap Auto was $6.99
I decided to check the internet over the weekend and found the same item at BCF for $4.99. When I was on the road I was near a BCF so dropped in. Next door was an Autobarn so decided to check the price there and found the price was $9.96. This isn't a plug for BCF as one of the items I'd noticed in Autobarn for $3.99 was $7.99 in BCF. But it does show quite a price variance from $4.99 to $9.96.
This really is also a reminder that just because a business has cheap in their name, doesn't make it so. You really do need to shop around. Although at the same time do keep in mind driving around costs money too and researching on the internet takes time. I was once at the local Bunnings store and they'd run out of the length of curtain wire I wanted and only had the more expensive longer length. I was about to go to the another Bunnings store but first decided to do a quick check of the fuel cost using my web app the Petrol Cost Calculator (www.petrolcostcalculator.com.au). I quickly realised the cost of petrol alone (let alone the wear and tear on the car) would have exceeded the extra cost of buying the longer length curtain wire, so I went back into the store and made the purchase. I found this was a very useful and enlightening lesson.
You really do have to shop around to make sure you're getting a good price, but you also need to keep in mind travel and time costs if you make a specific trip. I built JustLocal to make it easier for people to shop locally, but also with the belief that people shouldn't have to pay more to support local. Sometimes however it's important to not just look at the straight out price, but also consider any other costs you may incur from shopping around.
As a side note I found this particular siphon wasn't very good. The secondary tube is not much longer than the main tube and I believe this resulted in the siphon not working as it should. Quite frustrating really.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
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