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My recent trip to Best Buy to purchase a laptop got me thinking on a few things. In order to explain them, I’ll have to tell you about my ordeal.

So I showed up at my local Best Buy at around 4 pm, and wandered straight over to the laptop section. Along the way, I was greeted by about 2 or 3 associates who were plenty friendly and eager to help me make a selection. I told them I was just browsing, to which about half of them responded with something like, “Let us know if you need anything.”

The other half thought they knew better, and proceeded to tell me that they just received the new 3-billion gigabyte ultra razor-thin 3-trillion core smart thingy-majig with a picture of some piece of fruit on it for a logo.

They told me this with the expectation that all of the sudden my eyes would glaze over, I would start salivating like a dog, and would beg to be led by the hand to the aforementioned product, and then immediately taken to the checkout counter for purchase… on store credit, of course.

Eventually I had to take the bait, as I had found the laptop I wanted and had to ask for an associate to take it out of the case. Turns out they didn’t have the one I wanted. When I asked if the other Best Buy store about 10 minutes away had one, I received the answer of “No” about 15 minutes later… apparently a quick phone call to the other store includes setting up the phone service as well.

Strike 1…

They then offered to check the warehouse, which they promptly told me was out of stock. Purchasing the display model was of course out of the question. So I began to look around again and found another comparable one. I told them I wanted this one instead.

The guy with the key came back around, and, even though they clearly had the correct laptop for sale stacked right underneath the display, told me there was an “issue.”

Strike 2…

“Well, all of these laptops cost $100 dollars more that what that price tag says because they’ve been pre-configured by our Geek Squad.”

Now, I get that some people genuinely need this service, and for them that’s okay, but considering I’m a guy that makes a living working on computers, they couldn’t have given that service away to me.

He headed to the back to see if they had any that weren’t pre-configured. Just guess what their answer was.

So again, I asked if the other store had any that weren’t pre-configured. As I waited for the answer I decided that if the other store didn’t I was done. I would go without a laptop until I was ready to brave the commercial behemoth that is Best Buy once again, however long that took.

They got lucky, as the other store had JUST ONE in stock. I was told I could pay there and then go directly to the other location to pick it up. I agreed, and I and my pimple-faced 17-year-old Best Buy associate meandered over to the Geek Squad counter… because you can’t simply buy a computer through their regular checkout.

After shooting down about 13 things they offered to sell me in support of my new laptop (Geek Squad 1-year service, anti-virus, 1-year extended warranty, 3- year extended warranty, wireless travel mouse, travel bag, and a subscription to something even I had never heard of before), it came time to actually pay for the dag-gum thing, when I was given a tip buy the gal at the counter that was actually rather useful.

She knew I had a Best Buy credit card (I know, credit cards are bad, but it was paid off and I had cut it up months ago. I actually had forgot that I even still had an account), and she also knew that I just wanted to pay cash. She told me that if I used my credit card, and chose the “double reward-zone points” option, instead of the 18 months no-interest option, then I would get a gift card in the mail based on how much I had spent. I asked if I could just then turn right back around and pay off my credit card balance, thereby avoiding any interest payments, to which she replied yes.  

It was a done deal. All I had to do was head across the store to customer service to pay off my balance, because heaven forbid I be able to pay it off at that particular register, and then head to the other store, show them my receipt, and be on my way home with my new laptop.

Strike 3…

The other 17-year-old at the customer service counter then told me that they only accept check or cash to make credit card payments in-store.

Who carries their checkbook on them anymore? And who walks around with $912.04 in their pocket?

I think I just stood there for a moment with a pair of suddenly dilated eyeballs and a dumbfounded look on my face.

I pulled myself together, calmly told the girl thank you, and quietly walked out. I had to make another trip back home now to grab my checkbook, and then up to the OTHER Best Buy to pick up my laptop and pay off my credit card.

 Fortunately there were no issues picking up my laptop, and at this point if there had been, I’m pretty sure I would have just broken down in a fit of psychotic laughter. 

Throughout all of this and during the days after, I kept asking myself why they had made it so difficult for me to give them money. That’s exactly what it all came down to; it was like pulling teeth, me trying to give them my money. 3 separate times I could have walked away disgruntled.

1.       The first laptop I wanted, they didn’t have, but they couldn’t sell me their display model, simply because it was their display model. Why have display models if you have no product to sell?

2.       I wouldn’t buy the next laptop because it was $100 more for some trumped –up service I didn’t want, so because they wanted to make a sale of $1012.04 instead of 912.04, they almost made a sale of $0.00.

3.       To top it off, instead of allowing me to pay my credit card off with my debit card, they thought they would rather run the risk of me not making any payments on that credit card whatsoever (for all they knew, I could have planned on defaulting on that card)

To be fair, I know enough about retail business to understand why they do some of these things. For example, the $100 for their Geek Squad service is probably 50% pure profit for them, as opposed to a much smaller profit margin on the sale of the laptop alone, due to the company that actually made the laptop getting money from that sale.

Still though, I often wonder how much more giant retail stores could possibly make if they operated more like a small, intimate local store, one that really does put customers first and makes their purchasing experiences easy and straight-forward.

 One thing is for sure… there’s no way a smaller retail store could pull all the stuff that Best Buy pulled and  stay in business long.

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So today I took a little trip to my local Best Buy to purchase a laptop. The ironic thing about this is that I owned a laptop no less than 2 weeks ago. No, it didn’t break or need replacing, I just realized that it had set in the same exact place for around 3 months without receiving any use (I just used my desktop computer), so I figured I’d throw it on Craigslist and see what I could get for it.

I made out pretty good, getting $535 dollars out of something I had paid about $700 for about a year ago (you’ll all come to learn that I LOVE Craigslist).

And then I was told I would be traveling for work for a duration of 2 weeks.

Not only had I just sold my laptop no less than 2 weeks ago, but I also recently started a little blog on the internet you might have heard of called Go Be Rich, which is something that needs lots of daily nurturing and support in its current infantile state .

I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a nice, powerful laptop, to replace my desktop. This leads me to a money-saving/productivity tip…

Replace your desktop with a laptop:

If you already have a desktop and a laptop, chances are you only use one at a time. The entire purpose of a laptop is its mobility. Why not simply plug your laptop into your existing computer screen, keyboard, and mouse and use it as if it were your desktop? By doing this, you have a stationary computer at a desk that you can use just like you would use your desktop, and when you need a laptop to say, travel with, take to the couch with you, or lay in bed and watch Hulu on, all you have to do is unplug it from your screen.

The process becomes even easier if you have a wireless mouse and keyboard.

Additionally, you’ll no longer have to swap files back and forth between desktop and laptop, thereby preventing that inevitable realization that when you finally get to the bookstore with your laptop, you didn’t grab the right files from your desktop.  

Some of you may be wondering why I am recommending purchasing expensive electronics when this is a blog that espouses the frugal, minimalistic lifestyle, and my answer to that is this: as long as you at least break even, there’s really no harm, and in fact, having the necessary skills to work deals like what I’m about to explain is an incredibly useful one to have that can save you lots of money over the long run, while allowing you to accomplish what you need to do.

For example, I stated that I sold my old laptop for $535 Dollars. Now, I know I bought it for more than that about a year ago, but that’s already a sunk cost, we’re not concerned about the past right now.

The laptop I bought today I paid $912.04 for. Don’t worry; I can actually do the math… I realize I’m still $377.04 in the hole. It’s only when we add in the last part of this equation that it begins to make sense, that last part being the fact that I still have a desktop computer to sell.

What do I do when I have electronics to sell? I throw them on Craigslist. I should be able to get about $450 out of it, meaning that not only have I covered the entire amount that I spent today on my brand-new laptop, but I’ve made an additional $72.96, once my desktop sells of course.

Now while some may call this profit, I’m not so quick to label it as such. Remember how I said don’t worry about the past? Well, now's the time to worry about the past. I bought my old laptop for $700, and sold it for $535, resulting in a loss of $165. Apply the “profit” of $72.96 to that deficit, and after all is said and done, after the purchase of two laptops, the sale of one laptop, and the sale of a desktop, the total amount of money that was lost and can never be recouped is $92.04.

 Not too bad really, especially over the course of a year. I suppose we could have figured up the loss on the desktop by comparing what I bought it for versus what I will get out of it, but I bought that thing years ago for an amount I do not remember… besides, we can only go back so far before it  becomes a mute point.

Something else to consider is that the longer you own something, the less significant the cost of that item becomes, as it can be looked at as being spread out over that entire length of time.

The moral here is that if you must make purchases like these, at least think about how to mitigate the cost as much as possible by selling the old equipment you’re upgrading and/or replacing, and try to not go too crazy with the purchase of the new item.

Of course, you could simply save a lot more money by not making any of these purchases at all.

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Rarely do I spend money on something, be it a product or a service, and feel more than satisfied with every dime I’ve spent.

Every once in a while though something comes along that I do in fact feel this way about. This time around, it’s Hulu.

For those that don’t know, Hulu is a service similar to Netflix that allows viewers to stream recent episodes of television shows and movies online, through a PS3 and Xbox 360, or an internet-capable TV.

There are two routes to take to the Hulu experience, the free route and the subscription route. The free route has a ton of content available, as this is how Hulu began life, and it’s only recently launched the subscription service in November of 2010. The subscription service however, dubbed Hulu Plus, is really where it’s at.

Comparable in price to Netflix (in fact, exactly comparable to one of Netflix’s pricing options at $7.99 a month), it blows Netflix out of the water in my opinion. While I know a lot of people who like Netflix quite a bit, I for one had these two services at the same time. Once I subscribed to Hulu Plus, I never used Netflix again, for three reasons.

The first reason is that it seems Hulu Plus has more current, up-to-date content than Netflix does. Keep in mind that my focus is more on the available television shows rather than the movies. Whenever I was perusing Netflix’s content, I came away with a feeling of being detached from mainstream media and entertainment, especially concerning their movie selection, which seemed to cater more towards those with a taste in old B-rated sci-fi movies.

The second reason, oddly enough, is the interface. I streamed both Netflix and Hulu Plus through my PS3, and every time I got Netflix going I found myself thinking about how bland and unexciting it looked. Whenever I turned on Hulu Plus, I enjoyed a much more aesthetically pleasing experience, with its bright green logo and loading screens against a black background.

Lastly, the third reason is that Hulu Plus has nothing to do with DVDs. I can remember many times when I came across something on Netflix that I really wanted to watch, only to realize I would have to wait for the DVD in the mail, at which point it didn’t seem so important to watch anymore.

As far as functionality goes, they both seemed to be just about the same, with the streaming capabilities similar enough to not notice any difference. I do recall one afternoon though where I received an error on Netflix stating that the service was currently unavailable.

On the business side of things, there’s one little tidbit about Hulu Plus I’ve noticed recently that makes me think more advertisers will take an interest (meaning more money and growth for Hulu Plus), and that’s the Ad Tailor feature. This feature allows a user to click on a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ button in response to being asked whether or not the running ad is relevant to you.

While this seems like a small thing, if I were an advertising agency, having this kind of information available to me would seem invaluable, making targeted advertising much easier. Of course this depends on enough users actually answering the question.

All in all, I really don’t think I’ll be subscribing to cable again, as Hulu Plus fulfills any need that having cable actually did, plus more, and all at the low price of $8 a month.

Update: Due to the recent Playstation network outage, I have been unable to watch Hulu Plus in my living room on my television (I stream it through my PS3, remember). I just received and E-mail from Hulu stating that my account would be compensated for the time the Playstation network was down, even though it’s not really Hulu’s fault. It makes me wonder if Playstation is compensating Hulu for this. Whether they are or not, they just earned a loyal customer for life.