I love it when a blog post writes itself. I’m that Lazy. For instance, watch this commercial for Public Storage:
I saw this yesterday. Fortunately, through the magic of DVR, I was set it up for my wife to watch. I asked her if she could guess why I wanted her to watch. She said, “But you have dogs playing Blackjack, not poker.” (Can I get a frugality award for having a reprint or a knock-off?) Once I gave her the raised eyebrow of “okay be serious”, she knew I was going at it from the personal finance perspective… and she nailed exactly what I saw.
Public Storage doesn’t solve this couple’s problem as it claims. What it really provides is a way to pay a monthly fee or the rest of the their lives (assuming their marriage is forever) to ignore the problem. Is it just me or does this seem like an unusual marketing angle?
“is it just me or does this seem like an unusual marketing angle?”
It is you…aren’t there more people that would rather store stuff than fix the underlying problem?
They aren’t trying to sell to the guy who has his or her own personal finance blog
Good call. However, but because I’m asking people who typical read personal finance blogs, is that different?
Yeah I think so. The people reading your blog, or PF Blogs in general, are at least aware there is problem with over accumulation.
I think they are going for someone like my dad and mom who fight all the time about my dad’s JUNK which is over taking the basement. The man saves EVERYTHING. I found an 8track player down there the other day.
I have that painting on a mouse pad.
Evidently, since all this re arranging was sprung after the wedding and it looks all one sided.
The stuff only goes into storage until the upcoming divorce or until she is willing to negotiate. Personally I’d be ok w/the dog painting. The clowns dish set, I’d want to discuss.
I think the vast majority of people who watch this commercial don’t even realize they have too much stuff. They probably just think they can’t afford a big enough house yet…
Holy crap, I said the same thing about this commercial to my wife.
It doesn’t make his stuff go away. It just seems she’s saying “I know this isn’t going to last, so you’ll probably need that stuff later.”
I remember Tyler Durden in “Fight Club” said “The things you own end up owning you….”
I guess this guy is going to be using his hard earned money to store his stuff (although I don’t know why one would want to hold onto clown plates.) In essence, since part of his paycheck will be going to Public Storage, I guess he is working to hold onto these things.
Hah, hilarious. I can see the appeal of this approach (why bother with the difficult process of deciding what should stay and what should go when you can pack up your husband’s stuff and put it in storage?), but yes, this is just nuts. Either sell it or find a place for it in the house; public storage is a dodge for the real issue, at best.