Healthy margins
I do love the Levenger catalogue. (Was tempted to start this by saying: "As a writer, I do love the Levenger catalogue...", but even I gagged on the poncified aroma of that one. *cough*).
I'm a sucker for all of these glossy vehicles of faux useful crap-o-luxe (engraved with up to three initials!!). The Sharper Image, Hedonics - all of that. Think I've ranted on this point before somewhere.
Until today, however, I had not fully appreciated quite how fantastically exorbitant these rags are. I mean - we all know the catalogues tend to be stuffed full of gaudy tat at implausibly high prices, but an item in today's "Thanksgiving Sale" email from Levenger is simply gobsmacking.
Ladies & Gentlemen, I bring you the RoboCalc. Yes, the RoboCalc.
"This clever calculator automatically moves into viewing position. With the push of a button, the cover lifts up and folds back in one fluid motion to elevate the LCD display. (A small spring in the hinge is its secret.) Black rubber grips keep it in place as you press the soft-touch buttons."
An absolute snip at US$9.95 + tax & shipping (was $19.95).
*choke*
I guess the Levenger guys don't get out to too many trade shows then.
No. Theirs is cleary a life of studious idleness - long summer afternoons elegantly reclining on the Island Chaise ($999.00), wafted by the Zephair fan ($229.00); the hand-stitched Thai Book Rest ($49.95) gently cradling the Derrida.
Pah.
If the Levenger buyers had been anywhere near an exhibition hall in the last ten years, they'd probably have (like me) drawers full of RoboCalcs. All of them picked up for free. Most of their batteries are long-since expired, of course - dead as the dot-com companies whose logos they still bear. But not one of them cost me a penny.
In fact - you'd really have to work quite hard to be stupid enough to pay $9.99 for one of these. If you really wanted one that bad, you could pick up a hundred of them for around three bucks a pop, over here. Or just drop me a note and I'll shovel a handful of them into an envelope (batteries and disruptive business model not included...)
I'm a sucker for all of these glossy vehicles of faux useful crap-o-luxe (engraved with up to three initials!!). The Sharper Image, Hedonics - all of that. Think I've ranted on this point before somewhere.
Until today, however, I had not fully appreciated quite how fantastically exorbitant these rags are. I mean - we all know the catalogues tend to be stuffed full of gaudy tat at implausibly high prices, but an item in today's "Thanksgiving Sale" email from Levenger is simply gobsmacking.
Ladies & Gentlemen, I bring you the RoboCalc. Yes, the RoboCalc.
"This clever calculator automatically moves into viewing position. With the push of a button, the cover lifts up and folds back in one fluid motion to elevate the LCD display. (A small spring in the hinge is its secret.) Black rubber grips keep it in place as you press the soft-touch buttons."
An absolute snip at US$9.95 + tax & shipping (was $19.95).
*choke*
I guess the Levenger guys don't get out to too many trade shows then.
No. Theirs is cleary a life of studious idleness - long summer afternoons elegantly reclining on the Island Chaise ($999.00), wafted by the Zephair fan ($229.00); the hand-stitched Thai Book Rest ($49.95) gently cradling the Derrida.
Pah.
If the Levenger buyers had been anywhere near an exhibition hall in the last ten years, they'd probably have (like me) drawers full of RoboCalcs. All of them picked up for free. Most of their batteries are long-since expired, of course - dead as the dot-com companies whose logos they still bear. But not one of them cost me a penny.
In fact - you'd really have to work quite hard to be stupid enough to pay $9.99 for one of these. If you really wanted one that bad, you could pick up a hundred of them for around three bucks a pop, over here. Or just drop me a note and I'll shovel a handful of them into an envelope (batteries and disruptive business model not included...)
