The 14 Pound Rule.
Let’s be as blunt as a Louisville Slugger. When it comes to spending, we are overwhelmed by exhortations to buy. There are many things working to coerce us into buying. Everything from spot ads and coupons to carefully-placed “impulse buy” items are arranged to encourage spending. And if you buy these things, half the time you regret it later. That is called “buyer’s remorse.” That brief but strong impulse to buy overrode your common sense. It is as if one part of you says, “I do not need this” while another says “I want it and must have it.”
Even things arranged near the cash register are done to invoke spending. It is all carefully arranged to separate you from your money.
Invoke the 14 Pound Rule! The rule is an amusing analogy.
“ Unless it hits you with all the impact of a 14-pound maul on the bridge of your nose, do not buy it.”
That is a silly but powerful statement. Try it the next time you are tempted to buy something that you had not planned to purchase. You will be surprised how many impulse buys you will avoid. Buyer’s remorse will be a thing of the past.
The Three Day Rule
Another rule is the Three Day Rule. If I am offered a product, service or other thing that is very expensive, I give myself three days to consider the transaction. No matter how much they pressure me, offer me a discount or threaten that it will not be available if I don’t buy immediately, I stick to this rule. It has saved me from bad deals.
For instance, I was getting estimates for a job in my yard, Several contractors offered estimates. In order to encourage me to jump on an offer, a contractor might tell me that if I signed immediately, I would get a discount price. I said I’d like to think on it, but he said I had to sign now or pay more later.
Why? What was the rush? If he really wanted the job, he would be willing to keep the lower price open for a few more days. Naturally, I fell back in the Three-Day rule every time. And you may have guessed that I found a contractor who offered a lower price without demanding I sign immediately. Patience helps!
A friend had a time-share in the Poconos. As the company was promoting sales of time-shares, they made a deal with customers. They could bring friends up for a weekend to enjoy the place. The catch was that on Sunday, they had to attend a sales pitch to sell them a time share.
Sunday came and I went to the sales pitch. Several people were in attendance. There was a film about the place. It made it sound like having the time share opened up whole new world of travel and vacations. Then they had a little fellow in a “Uncle Floyd” jacket take me to a cubicle where he tried to “seal the deal.” I let him know from the start that I preferred to think things over a few days before committing to a contract. He told me that my time share slot might be gone by then. He said I could make a deal right then and there and still have time to back out in three days.
By the way, they only held these sales pitches on Sundays. Nobody was going to buy “my” share during the following week.
Backing out is not that easy. It takes sending a certified letter and sending a well-worded letter that may or may not arrive in time. Better not to sign at all than get entangled. I stuck to the Three Day Rule, assuring the little fellow that if I decided to buy, I would call him.
Of course, I saw that this time share was like a racket and was pretty sure I would not buy one.
Suddenly, the little man closed his briefcase and got up. He acted as if I had punched him in the nose or deprived him of one of his Constitutional rights. He was about to a walk away rudely. I believe in being polite, even if a transaction does not happen. The little man’s handshake was like a dead fish. It were as if I did something to intentionally harm him.
Of course, I did not call back.
As for the little man, he was a time-share owner. The folks who owned time shares could get money shaved off their cost by selling time shares to others. That little fellow wanted my money to pay for his time share. He wanted it so badly, it was as if he had his hand in my wallet. In his mind, my money was already his.
Even if I thought the time share was a good idea, I would have waited three days before signing. The Three Day Rule is a defense against high pressure sales. Think it through for Three Days before you sign, and sign no sooner!
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A few years ago, my wife and I were passing a Sleepy’s mattress shop across the parking lot from our local supermarket. We decided to browse and get an idea of the cost of mattresses that we might like.. The salesman descended on us like a hungry hawk. Instead of letting us look around, he was at our side constantly. He never stopped talking. The man guided us from one bunch of mattresses to another. We told him we only wanted to look, but that did not stop him.
At one point he said, “This isn’t high pressure .It’s high practicality.”
My wife and I just rolled our eyes.
Instead of browsing, we were guided to the ones he wanted to show us. That only made us more resistant. Finally, he said, “What can I do to get you to buy a mattress from me today.”
“We only wanted to browse and look at a few mattresses.,” my wife said. “We are not ready to buy right now.”
The man’s face changed from a smile to a frown. Like the little man in the previous story, he acted as if we had done something mean to him. Without another word, he turned his back and walked away from us. My wife was irked by this, but I had seen it before. That man thought for sure he had his hand in my wallet.
Audrey and I did not like the way it felt. We never had a chance to browse because that salesman was so busy trying to tell us what to buy. Of course, we will never buy from that Sleepys or its new rendition, Mattress Firm. High-pressure sales for a mattress? Then again, the salesman was just like the man at the time-share.
This was one time it did not get to the point where we invoked the Three Day Rule.
If you enjoyed this article, please take a look at the other articles on this blog.
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