I Got A "Deal"

I don't mean to demean Direct Buy, but they are not the deal I thought them to be.

In case you don't know, Direct Buy is a place where you can get massive deals on things, mostly furniture and home improvement projects, like siding and landscaping.  I have never bought anything that big, but somehow I was offered to hear a pitch in exchange for getting a deal on a hotel.  I planned on going to St. Louis and thought I could use the deal to scrape some dollars off my trip.

Very early in I knew this wasn't for me.  I wasn't pressured or anything.  I remember back in college I went to this showcase for this company called ... well, I forgot the name.  But they sold products to salesmen including a couple of my friends.  It sounded like a Ponzi scheme, and these guys were giving me the hard sell, a very uncomfortable hard sell.  I said no, and I'm glad I did, because my friends laid out a lot of money, most of which went to the salesmen who got in before them, and I think they lose a fortune.

Direct Buy, especially the guy who owns the area I went to, were actually really nice.  They even accepted the fact that I wasn't going to pay the thousands of dollars over 15 years to be a member.  Instead, they gave me a 30-day trial to buy anything in the store at their rock-bottom prices.  They were so nice I decided to take them up on their offer.  I even missed the finale performance show of So You Think You Can Dance because I couldn't decide on what to buy, even though I thought I would be done before then.

Direct Buy does offer smaller things at wholesale.  I was looking at luggage from Samsonite and Tumi.  But the only thing that I could afford and that made sense were shoes.  Two brands they sold I was interested in. I decided to go with the one that offered the cheapest steel-toed footwear: Wolverine.

I thought I had a steal at $64+.  But afterward I thought I should just check prices out online.  One place sold them real cheap with free shipping.  After going through the checkout, their total was only about a dollar more than what I paid for at Direct Buy.  Well, I guess I got a deal.

But then I did some more digging.  There was another spot, selling the same boots that I ordered through Direct Buy.  With the cut-rate price and free shipping, it turns out that this online seller would have been cheaper ... but about 63 cents, but still cheaper.

I guess the moral of the story is that you only save if you buy big-ticket items, and buy them in bulk.  You basically have to refurbish your entire home to justify the price.

I ordered on the 11th.  I got home about an hour ago and saw my folks left the package on the step.  They look great.  Guess I couldn't gotten them cheaper and sooner, but hey, Direct Buy was nice to me, and I got a free hotel out of it ... unless they have some weird stipulations that I'm not aware of.