Great Deal? Think Again

Oh, so you got a good deal........

Heinlein wrote the most profound theory of economics for the rest of us, the 97%, when he wrote: “There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch,” or “TANSHAAFL”. You, dearies, are the free lunch for the upper 3%. The rich get richer off the backs of the poorer. So, tell me about the great deal you got and I'll LMAO.

I got a letter in the mail today from an insurance company. It is the annual Medicare round up of gullible sheep for the shearing. They are going to give me, not just medical, but vision, dental and hearing, PLUS medications AND MONEY BACK in my Social Security Check not to mention, and they won't, a 23 Million Dollar Bonus for their CEO this year. REALLY?????? Are they printing money in the back room? Who is really paying for this windfall? Well, it's not the CEO, he's getting bonus. It's not the doctors and pharmacies because they always make money. That sort of leaves you and I. Anyone starting to think maybe there is something they aren't telling me. Sorry MAGA hat wearers but someone always pays and it is always you and I, either through denial of service, postponement of service until it is no longer medically necessary, i.e. you are dead or too far gone to save, over charging you for cheap things you really have to have, and have to get from them, or some equally nefarious trick like charging the government (which is you) for things you (which is you) never got like our dear Senator and ex-governor did Medicare when he was CEO of a hospital.

What about those great deals on brand names that aren't from the manufacturer or authorized dealers? Get ready to not like what you got.

Let's take shoes and clothes. The machine cuts a six foot tall by 54 inch by 6 foot stack of pressed leather or fabric. That's it folks, it has to cut that much. For each pattern, the computer laser must be calibrated which means they have to check to see if the finished product actually fits together and the person. So they make one, just one. Then the computer is calibrated to the mm to correct any mistakes. Another pallet of material the same size is placed in the machine and another cut and test is done. Usually, like 99% of the time, this one is correct and all the material goes to the people assembling the product BUT are you wondering what happens to the first pallet of material? Reputable companies destroy it, good companies send it to be recycled and really bad companies sell it out the back door. So when you get that great deal, the material was either sold out the back door or bought off the recycle truck and then assembled, without correction in a sweat shop somewhere to be sold to a not-so honest seller and that person is in your local flea market or online with the big auction or cheap resale companies like but not only, Ebay and Amazon. Do they know this? Of course they do and they even encourage it. That is why you can go and examine the product at a real retailer, try it on, nibble on it and then go save money on line and get something that is off, won't fit or falls apart. You got the real test parts, that's all. You may even get the real label.

When I first started out, after two experiences I learned quickly as a retailer, you get what you pay for. Want an awful smelling shampoo, that doesn't lather or clean but has the manufacturer's label on it at 2/3's the price....shop at the great W. You may never know what was added to or missing from that bottle until your hair falls out in 10 years and then, oh my, you can't sue the manufacturer because you bought nice clean product that was sent to the dump and never made it.

A man offered to sell me glass enclosed candles out of his trunk for half the wholesale price. I knew the manufacturer and bought from them. The color was off, was why he got a great deal on them and then the stores that bought them started getting the complaints. They burned forever or down in a couple of days and some of them exploded. You see, the manufacturer had to produce 6 dozen candles at a time. Then they test burn time, too hot the glass blows up, too cool they burn forever. They adjust the oil to wax ratio. This guy's great buy was out of their dumpster or rather beside it because the forklift driver was getting a couple of dollars not to drop them in the dumpster and break the glass bottles.

The one I fell for was at a very legitimate trade show when I bought a load of discounted books from a dealer carrying books by printers not at the show. Two months later I finally got my books. They weren't even returns to the publisher that didn't sell in bookstores. They were returns to the book stores and purchases from secondhand bookstores, filthy, marked up and unsalable. Then I say my copy of the invoice was marked no returns, sale merchandise. His wasn't and the invoice I saw. Mine was the carbon not exact copy under it.

There is no such thing as a free lunch and if you think there is, you are about to be fleeced.