Viral Soap? (Part 2)

I recently discussed the viral complaints springing from a change in soap at Louisville’s Downtown YMCA. So why the change to a new soap after all these years?

If the Y is anything like our company, vendors are bombarding them with offers to help them cut their costs.

We have sales people vying to shrink our phone bills, trim our bookkeeping budget, and prewfreed are bloog poasts four les monies.

Times are tough and everyone is looking to save money. The YMCA does so much to help our community that I can easily envision them thinking, “Well, if we can save some money on soap, that’s ten more children we can subsidize for summer camp.”

My guess is that the Y saw an opportunity to lower costs by using a cheaper soap, and they took it.

We all make such decisions from time to time (I recently made the poor decision to cut my kids’ hair myself…big mistake).

But all too often, cheaper doesn’t just mean inferior; it means more expensive.

I repeat:

Cheaper things usually end up being more expensive.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, the new soap was inferior in quality. It just didn’t lather.

Whereas the old soap required 2 pumps to wash my hair (yeah, it’s pretty darn thin these days), the new soap required about 10 pumps.

So I needed to use 5 times more soap for the same lather, which I suspect not only negated any “per ounce” cost savings, but probably ended up costing the Y more money due to the need to buy five times more soap in terms of overall volume.

Then factor in shipping costs on the additional soap, plus the staff time to fill the soap dispensers more often, and all in all, it’s a bad deal.

Cheaper things usually end up being more expensive.

We’ve all made the mistake of thinking that we were getting a deal only to realize that the sacrifice in quality creates hidden costs that make the “deal” a truly bad proposition.

In this instance, the YMCA ultimately dropped the new soap and went back to the old soap, and I haven't heard a single complaint since.

So when sales reps start saying, “Hey, I can do that for half of what you’re paying now,” make sure to consider the quality of what they’re selling, lest their bargain basement prices end up costing you more money. 

Nobody Needs to Get Hurt!

That’s me with my boys, Xavier and Isaiah.

If you look closely, you’ll note that we have somewhat different hair textures. Consequently, we have very different hair care needs.

So we take them to barbershops where there are experts who know exactly how to cut and edge their hair.

But the other night my wife and I had the BAD IDEA.

You’ve been there. You want to lower your expenses. You want to brag, “Look, I saved money and did it myself!”

And before you know it, you’re holding a pair of shears, hair clippings and slivers of ear and scalp playing in the breeze, wondering why your normally adorable children now look like scabies victims who just survived some sort of paramilitary attack. 

[After picture intentionally, mercifully omitted.]

Clearly, the BAD IDEA led us astray.

There’s a reason we pay the experts (i.e., the barbers), and there’s a reason why there are so many successful barbershops in town. It’s a valuable skill. You can’t just pick up a pair of shears and do this well.

But sometimes we all lose sight and want to think that we’re experts in some other area. And driven by a desire to either save money or show that we’re self-sufficient, we’ll attempt to do things that we really shouldn’t.  

Often, calamity ensues. Even Especially in the research world.

You want a real-world example? Stay tuned…