When the whole family went out shopping in Bukit Bintang (popular shopping belt in KL), we split up to do our own shopping. On the appointed gathering time, none of the others were there. So I called my sister and found out that they were still trying to help my niece Le look for a pencil case. Apparently they had gone from one complex to another to no avail. Curious with how buying a pencil case could take so long, I decided to join the 'search'.
In the interest of time, this time only me and my 3rd sister (but not her mom) went with her.
There are a lot of small shops in that area selling all kinds of cheap unbranded products, and that was where we went to search for her pencil case. Very soon I noticed that what we had seen so far in those low end shops were not what she had in mind. We could find cases of the right size but they were still not it.
While trying do describe in more detail, she mentioned that all her other classmates in Aus had one of those things (like all kids, she was longing for what her friends had!). Since I had no knowledge of Aussie kids' latest pencil case fad I asked her if she had seen anything close to it so far. She said 'yes but they are too expensive'. I said 'never mind but show me'
She then brought us back to the Parkson department store (where we started at the beginning of the shopping trip!). The 'real thing' was a pouch made of soft rubber like those shock absorbent computer notebook 'sleeves' (just smaller and with zippers). And the place where the 'right case' was found was none other than the section selling Aussie brands like Billabong etc.! (I should have thought of it earlier). The case she liked was from the brand 'Rip Curl'. I took a look and could tell that not only were the quality different but the designer patterns on the thing looked much nicer.
Knowing by then what she was looking for and how important it was to her, I told her in front of my 3rd sis 'Buy it. No point going to other places anymore. Even if we bring you to the moon and back we will not find what you want anywhere else'.
But the young girl hesitated and said 'but my mom said it is too expensive'. That's when I realised that they had actually found what the girl wanted at the very beginning (we started our shopping there) but was told that she could not have it because it was 'too expensive'!
The Rip Curl case was selling at RM40 after 20% discount while the unbranded ones were RM10 to RM20.
I said to Le 'ignore the price and tell me what you think about the quality of this case compared to the others. Are those RM10-20 ones in the other shops of the same quality as this one?' She said 'No'.
I told her 'just look at the zipper of this Rip Curl case and compare it to the zipper of the (ubranded) money pouch you are carrying. Can you see the difference in quality? This zipper is much smoother and more robust. It will last much longer than the other zipper'
That is why one should not buy things based only on price. Only simpletons who do not know how to determine quality do that. They rely on price and price only because they have no other basis for comparison. But people with sufficient knowledge and awareness do not do that.
A good quality product selling at twice the price but looks much nicer (and makes you fell better) and lasts twice as long as a cheaper one is NOT expensive. It is value for money. We should buy products because they are 'value for money' and not because they are cheap.
In addtion, I told her that she had some dividend money of her own anyway and can decide on what to spend it on herself without worrying about what others think or say. That was why I wanted to teach her and the other kids the importance of share investing. Having one's own source of income is freedom!
The young girl then reached into her own pouch for her money and bought that Rip Curl case with her own money.
When I tried to pull her leg on the next outing by asking her if what she was looking at was too expensive, she smiled and said 'I still have some more of my dividend money!'
That Rip Curl pencil case proved to worth much more than RM40 indeed...
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