What Cheap Stuff Really Costs Us

What Cheap Stuff Really Costs Us

A viscous cycle is occurring today. We buy cheap because our wages are low, but when buying cheap, we keep others wages low as well. Add in the fact that we don't live in a bubble but instead in a world wide economy, and the implications of buying purely based on price will start to make you think.

The impulse buyer has really taken hold. In Ellen Ruppel Shell's book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, we read how spending on almost every aspect of our lives have gone down, with inflation factored in. BUT, we are spending more on things we don't need and the so called "sales" are driving the impulse industry we live in today.

Shell even challenges us to think about outlet stores and the products they sell. Does Puma or Tommy Hilfiger make merchandise that actually will be sold at outlet stores to in fact use the brand to sell you the item, or are you buying a generally great product? Isn't the fact that it is on sale, at a seemingly great price, the major factor in many of our purchasing decisions?

She covers this and more in this thought provoking book. My interest has been piqued, so I'm probably going to skim the book a bit and see if this is worth a purchase, perhaps even at, GASP, full price...