Another two weeks on and Unisuper still haven't transferred me to the defined contribution scheme. Will I need to send in the form again?
Yesterday, I managed to lose a DVD we'd borrowed from Civic Video. I tripped over in the street and it ended up flying out of my coat pocket and down a storm drain! I phoned the store immediately and they told me to go buy one at JB HiFi in the next two weeks and bring it to them, "because that will be cheaper". There is something weird there economically, that it is cheaper for me to buy one in a retail store than for them to replace it themselves and charge me?
Luckily my wallet and keys were inside zipped/velcroed pockets on my cargo pants :)
5 comments:
It makes sense to me actually. They might be able to get discount wholesale pricing that gets and edge over the retail shops. However, the cost in time, administration and freight of putting through a special order for a single DVD is probably greater than the small wholesale/bulk discount.
I thought of that, but then I thought that they still need to do the admin of dealing with my account and entering the new video I bring in into their system, giving it the appropriate labels etc....
The reason is that video/DVD rental shops have to buy videos/DVDs that are licenced for public rental - they cost around $100 each. (I found that out when talking to a store owner about a second hand DVD I was buying off them for $8).
So, they would have to charge you $100 or so to 'replace' the lost hire DVD. If you buy one retail it will cost you a lot less - obviously they shouldn't really be renting out that DVD, but they probably figure tht no-one will ever check the actual DVDs on hire - they still have the original purchase documentation for the 'legal' copy...
I sort of assumed it'd be cheaper from another source because they'd charge you a premium price if they replaced it. I didn't realize they got special rental copies since I thought they routinely sold off their used DVDs for $10/each.
It's nice they recommended that you do that, though, instead of just charging you an arm and a leg.
EW: I see, so it is an intellectual property fee for multiple use? But don't libraries just pay the same price for books as other people? On the other hand, I do know there are institutional and individual subscription rates for academic journals.
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