It Cost How Much?

My wife asked me to stop and pick up eggs on the way home the other day. We were all home the next morning and maybe we’d have something more substantial than a pop tart for breakfast.

I pulled into the convenience store and wandered over to the coolers where the eggs were kept. My wife has me well trained. I knew that we always get the large size and that I have to open the carton and make sure that none of the eggs are cracked or broken

I went to reach for the carton with the “large” on the side and I stopped. My brain was screaming at me. I saw the price and I immediately went into shock. Now it just goes to show how often I shop for food and how poor my memory really is. My mind was churning desperately trying to tell me that this was almost twice what I paid last time I bought eggs.

My hand stopped and I had difficulty pulling out of my mental dive. I desperately searched for safe landing and there out of the corner of my eye I saw it. On a different color carton was a price that I felt safe with. It was the price I paid last time for eggs. It was almost half the price of the carton of eggs that I was sent to get. Except the carton color was different and the label said “medium”. I hesitated because I was so well trained but I just couldn’t help myself. I picked up the carton and opened the lid. No cracked or broken eggs and they really didn’t look that much smaller than the large.

Carton in hand I paid for my eggs and I was on my way home thinking about how I would phrase the justification of my purchase. All sorts of scenarios went through my brain. Unfortunately all of them had my wife looking at me the same way Debra looks at Raymond on ‘Everyone Loves Raymond” when he does something stupid.

And that was exactly how it went.

“I got the eggs. I know that we get large but the medium was half the price…”

I could see her looking at me with that smirk on her face screaming, “I married an idiot but at least he’s cute”

The seconds ticked off in slow motion allowing that look of hers to have the desired effect.

She responded with “except all baking recipes call for LARGE eggs.”

Sitting down for breakfast the next morning I ruminated over the cute little eggs on my plate and the lack of any freshly baked goods. Buying on price alone doesn’t always get you what you want.

So the next time you see a commercial pushing a hand in the air pounding that price point into your brain think about what you really want. Don’t you want fresh sliced lettuce, red ripe tomatoes and quality cold cuts for only a few pennies more?