We all learn from our mistakes. Well, from my experience I must confess that I try to do so. Earlier this summer we needed new cordless phones and we knew we didn’t want to spend a fortune. So off to Sam’s Club I went to save money. Thrifty Cas and I thought we had received a great bargain, bought a reputable brand and immediately started having problems. The cordless handsets would lose reception to the base – within two feet of it!! Later, when I was doing some browsing on Amazon.com, I noted (well remembered) their Customer Reviews. After a few minutes of searching, I found a phone system that was cheaper, had over 700 great reviews, and ultimately resulted in my purchasing (with free Prime shipping of course) at a cheaper price than the price in the store.
I’ve come to learn that packaging and seemingly great deals in the storefront don’t tell you anything about the product. Any company trying to sell their product is going to put their best face on. However, its those Customer Reviews that will really let you know whether the product is worth the price, whether you should pass on it, and let you compare many similar products in just a few quick minutes. Besides, I imagine many of you guys can relate to preferring shopping at home, quickly, reliably, and not having to take all afternoon to find the best deal.
So what exactly am I referring to in “learning from my mistakes”? We needed an electric pencil sharpener about a month ago and decided to pick one up at the store. It was after the third sharpener purchase (the first two were not worth the plastic they were made from) that I should have considered the above example. Well, after the third sharpener I again checked on Amazon. I found a sharpener, amazing reviews and sure enough its been just as good as the reviews.
The morale of the story is if you need to make a purchase for something you care about, research it and make sure its what you want before you buy it. And, of course try to learn from your mistakes but don’t kick yourself too hard when you don’t.
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