4 ms·

I don't get this. Is there really so little room in her budget for her to do this? It doesn't make sense to me.

• reaperducer 7y ago
  It sounds like you've never been poor.
  • dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    Speaking generally (not about this unnamed medical device): Poor people can scrape up $15 if it means the difference between 6mo and 2mo. Sure there's some times when the purchase falls on a week between paydays and you buy the cheap (cheap up front, more expensive on a per day basis) version but the next time (or maybe the time after that) the purchase will need to be made at a more convenient time and you will have the extra $15 to spend on the one that has a lower overall cost. Having experience with the $25 model is the barrier to entry, not the $15 difference in cost. It's not hard to justify $15 when the overall cost is lower and the expense is less than monthly. It's very hard to justify the $15 when you don't yet know if the product will last long enough to make the overall cost lower. And lets be honest here, products where +X% the cost gets you >X% the utility are microscopically rare compared to products where that is not the case. They're poor, not stupid. They can do basic math and determine which product satisfies their needs more cheaply on an ongoing basis. For low dollar amounts
    • reaperducer 7y ago
      When you receive $x in income each month, and $25 would put you over that $x, then spending $10 makes sense. There are tens of millions of people in America on fixed incomes.
• dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  I'd bet big bucks that the situation includes details that are omitted for the sake of brevity and narrative. And I say this as someone who has a few hundred of the highest end Bosch and lowest end mystery manufacturer Chinese sawzall blades within arms reach.