JLP of All Financial Matters passed on a local story about people waiting up to twelve hours just to get $40 worth of free gas. He didn't have the link to the article; I think this is it here:
Dallas-area residents wait hours for free gas
I agree with JLP that this is a poor use of time for the people stuck at the end of the line: their time would be worth about half of the US minimum wage, or about what my county would give me for jury duty. It was a better deal for people near the front of the line. But once things get much beyond an hour's wait it would lose its appeal, at least for me.
We had a similar decision a few weeks ago when we signed up with our local YMCA. They were running a deal called “Pay the Day” during the month of May. They were discounting the one-time $100 registration fee to the number of the day during the month of May. If we registered on May 17th, for example, we'd pay $17 instead of $100. The first day of registrations was May 3rd, and there was a line of people signing up for $3 that day. We passed it by because it would have set us back about an hour or more.
So, my wife registered on May 6th for $6 with no wait at all! We still paid $94 less than we would have later, and just $3 more than we would have paid if we had stood in line for about an hour.
Practicing frugality usually takes a bit more time for the money savings. Preparing food takes longer than prepared food, but is less expensive for what you get. Building a deck yourself takes a lot longer than paying someone to build it, but it can be a heck of a lot cheaper to build it yourself.
Nonetheless, some things just really aren't worth the time spent. Waiting 12 hours for $40 worth of gas or standing out in the cold Thanksgiving night for Black Friday deals seems to qualify in my book, but not everyone has the option to say that stuff like this isn't worth their time. Or, some don't really know what their time is worth. Or maybe they do and just like to hang out chatting with people.
As much as I'd like to think that more folks will find more profitable uses for their time than this, I'm thinking it will get worse. As gas goes beyond $4/gallon there will be longer waits. And that doesn't bode well.
The next time some free offer comes up, ask yourself if it's worth the time. It may not be, and that will be a good thing to recognize.
Exactly how I feel about spending hours driving around the city to save a few cents on milk here, a dime on potatoes there. SDXB (Semi-Demi-Ex-Boyfriend, a.k.a. The Emperor of Cheap) is a master grocery shopper who keeps his pantry, freezer, & fridge full at a fraction of what I spend on food. But what's he spending in gas and time? To my mind, grocery shopping and urban driving are both fairly miserable activities. Spending any more hours than necessary at them just adds to the misery.
My husband went to a free gas event on Thursday, except he only waited 2 1/2 hours. Since he had nothing else to do at that time, it was a great thing for us. It was also on his way to work, so we didn't waste any gas by going.
Absolutely! I think if we are not careful about the ways we try to save money, we can focus to narrowly — saving pennies, but missing the opportunity to save dollars and have a real impact.
I'm never a big fan of the free gas events, you have to wait hours just for $30 worth of gas, it isn't worth my time!
I always laugh at people like my dad that travel 5 miles out of the way to pay $3.89 instead of $3.95.
thanks for article
I always calculate how much I could be earning in that time if I wasn't waiting in a queue. Sometimes I think it is worthwhile and other times not.