It's Just Money

I'm not participating in the Coinstar Promo

I have never used one of these Coinstar machines.  My thinking was always along the lines of "Really?  You want me to pay you 9% to count my change?  Am I really that lazy?"  I may actually be that lazy in a lot of other ways, but not this one.  I'll count/spend my change, thank you very much.

But a couple of weeks ago, a friend posted the new Coinstar Promo on his Facebook status.  Here's how it works.  You redeem $40 of change for  a$40 gift card, and you get a free $10 gift card as a bonus.  Sweet deal, right?  I figured I would go to the bank and ask for $400 in quarters, and go claim my free $100 in gift cards.  Gift cards include major retailers such as Amazon, iTunes, Starbucks and Old Navy.  All merchants that I am likely patronize anyway.

So, how come I'm not participating?

Infomercials fascinate me. And I just bought something from one for the first time.

I actually really love infomercials.  From the early infomercial days of Tom Vu, Carlton Sheets, and Tony Robbins, I have always loved infomercials.  It's really fascinating to me that marketers create a half hour long commercial with the expectation that people will sit through the entire thing, and some of them will even pick up the phone to order what they are hawking.  It's even more fascinating that people actually do.

So, now I'm one of them.  A few weeks ago, I ordered the P90X workout program.  I'll give my review later.  First, I'm going to ramble a bit.  This is the first thing that I have ever bought from an infomercial, despite hours of watching the early personalities of the craft.  Of course, infomercials of the 80s and 90s were a bit of a different animal.  Back then, you only caught infomercials at 2am, when you couldn't sleep.  The airtime was cheap, and the marketers must have figured that the sad folks who were watching TV at 2am were prime targets for "get rich quick" schemes, "lose your gut in 7 minutes a day," or the coolest cooking device that lets you "set it and forget it."

Don't get me wrong, the products haven't changed.  Sure, they're more modern and there's more of them.  But at the end of the day, they help you get rich, lose weight, cook, or feel better about yourself.  No, the real difference between infomercials of yesteryear and today is the internet.

In 1986, you called the 1-800 number, gave them your credit card number, or ordered COD, and agreed to pay your five easy payments of $19.99.  All you had base your decision on was whatever the silver tongued salesman said on the infomercial, and the paid actors providing testimonials.

I'm totally obsessed with the e-book readers

Seriously, am I just a big kid who gets suckered into every slick new must have toy of the season?  "Oooh, shiny new toy!  I want it! I want it!"  Yea, don't ask my wife, I think I know the answer.

It seems like it was about a year ago this time that I was totally yearning for a Kindle.  The biggest drawback to me was being a captive Amazon user.  Not that it really matters that much.  I mean, almost every book that I have bought in the past five years has been from Amazon.  I just don't like the idea that I would not own my books, and wouldn't be able to move them to a non-amazon device in the future if I decided to leave them.

There was one other thing that bothered me.  There is no built in reading light.  One of the reasons that I want it is to be able to read in bed after my wife has fallen asleep.  I know that I can buy a $5 clip on light that will do the trick.  But, in my mind, if I am going to spend nearly $300 on an electronic device whose sole purpose is to make reading easier, more convenient and even more enjoyable, reading in the dark MUST be part of the design!

So, I punted.  I didn't put it on my Christmas list.  Didn't go out and buy it for myself, like a big boy.

Then we travelled to Thailand this past summer.  I had along with me two fairly weighty books.  You know, one that I was in the middle of, and another just in case I finished the first one.  And I saw a woman on the airplane holding a slim, elegant Kindle 2.0.  And there it was again, "Oooh, shiny new toy!  I want it! I want it!"