‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness

Vimes  ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness

 

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

From ‘Men at Arms’ by Terry Pratchett.

Vimes is the Commander of the City Watch, the police force of the Discworld’s largest city, Ankh-Morpork. Night Watch another novel in the Discworld series is one of my all time favorite books.

My take away from this is to purchase items that will last. I recently bought a new gym bag for 40$, The store had one for 25$ but was not water proof and was made from cheaper materials. I would rather buy one 40$ bag then two 25$ ones any day. There is a difference between being cheap and frugal. Don’t equate the lowest price with the best price. The long term savings for many products is not always clear but there is some truth to the saying “you get what you pay for.”