Fear not previous blog readers O'mine...this blog will not be depressing or even remotely deep for that matter! Ha! It actually started as a random email to a friend and I decided to make it into a blog...

So I have to admit, I recently bought into Gillette's most recent marketing scheme of the "five blade for a smoother shave" razor. Last night instead of purchasing the refill cartridges for my normal lowly "three" blade razor, I bought the new five blade.

Of course, the skeptical part of my brain was like "yeah right, these guys just want your money" but then the logic kicked in justifying the purchase because the new razor, with two cartridges, was just as much as the refill of four cartridges for my present razor. Here's the kicker. Not only IS five blades better than three, but now that I've tried it, I must continue to use it , because how could I go back to anything lesser? No big deal, right? WRONG. The refills are four bucks more than my regular razors!

The company I work for does a lot of this type of thing. Meaning, they offer a customer something free for the first month, two weeks, whatever, knowing once the customer has used it, they will find value in it and will then pay for it...month after month, after month.

Case in point, the iPhone. How did people live without an Apple device that was touch screen and had visual voicemail, the Internet and an iPod all built into one device? I don't know but they did! Now if someone breaks or loses their iPhone you would think it was the end of the world. The thing about the iPhone versus the other phones is that is carries with it an additional $30 per month charge that cannot ever be dropped. So what do you think the company has THREE of on display at the absolute FRONT of the store? The iPhone.

DVR (TiVO to you westerners) did the same thing to me! I had never had DVR, my cable bill is jacked again, so i call them to get it fixed and in the mean time, they offer me six months of FREE DVR, and if I don't like it, I just cancel, if I do, I will then be billed an additional $14 bucks a month. So naturally, I say SURE! So what happens now? I've had DVR for six months and there is no way I'm getting rid of it! Are you kidding me? It's the best thing since refrigeration! I work and go to school, and have to study and do dumb stuff like that, plus I have friends that come over and talk my ear off during my "shows" and if it wasn't for the fact that I knew I could watch it again AND fast forward through the commercials...um, I wouldn't have any friends? Ha!

So what's the long and the short of this? When someone offers you something "supposedly" better for the same price, or "free" for a while...RUN. Because once you try it and your free "trial" expires, you're screwed because now you're spoiled. :)