Lazy Man and Money

Veteran’s Day Deals that Aren’t

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I’m usually not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. If you’ve got something free, I’ll definitely look into taking it (though that leads me to me collecting a fair amount of junk). That said, this is the time of year where everyone posts great Veteran’s Day meals and deals.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, my wife is in the military and though she’s not a veteran, she qualifies for many of these deals. Over the years we’ve tried to take advantage of them. “Try” is often the operative word. We’ve found that going anywhere near an Applebee’s, one of the top advertisers, is a mess. Wait times are often over an hour long. I’ve seen them set up tents outside with coffee for the people waiting.

Last year, we went to Chili’s. Chili’s has a similar deal, but we’ve found it to be less crowded if you get there at 5PM. By around 5:30 it started to fill up and a line formed. (It may vary based on location.)

I took a long-look around because I think I noticed something interesting.

I asked my wife, “Do you see any single military men here in a group?” She thought maybe she saw one couple on the other side of the restaurant, but couldn’t be sure. I saw table after table filled with families, 3 or 4 people at every one. It occurred to me that this is almost exactly the kind of deal that you’d get with an Entertainment Book coupon… a buy one, get one free dinner. And as I covered previously, it is questionable whether the Entertainment Book saves you money. Restaurants do these deals because it packs the house and they’ll make up the cost of a free meal on drinks and the other meal. Now if 7 military guys go out in one group and fill up a restaurant, they are going to lose some money. However, it didn’t look like that was happening. My wife noted that military often marry younger – they get a pay bump when they have a spouse as a dependent.

So in the end, while it is a good deal, I find it more of an amazing marketing gimmick to pack the restaurant for one day. Considering that Tuesday is usually a very light day for restaurants this is likely to be profitable.

Another “deal” that caught my eye comes from Home Depot. They do a bit of advertising for their 10% discount on Veteran’s Day. For a long time my wife would save up her Home Depot purchases to get the savings on that day. What they don’t advertise as loudly: Military gets 10% at Home Depot every day.

Again, I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth. I love free. I just find these marketing gimmicks very interesting. It’s certainly great from a public relations point of view as everyone loves a patriotic cause. I just wonder if people are getting the value they think they are.

Personally, I’m going to make a donation to the USO for Veteran’s Day. That’s my go-to military charity along with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). From experience, I know the value military (and their families) get every time they step in a USO at an airport… it’s tremendous. And I can’t barely keep a dry eye when I see what the WWP does.

Buying Quality over Price

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Last week, we had a couple of things break around the house.

The thumb lever on our front door broke and failed to make a connection with the thingy (or whatever technical term it is) inside to turn the lock. A couple of days later, our toilet overflowed on normal usage (sorry, I won’t go into details there.) It wasn’t he first time, and the plumber had previously suggested that it might be time for a replacement.

These two incidents had something in common. Our natural urge is typically to go to Home Depot, but we didn’t. The plumber for the toilet had said that Home Depot buys product in bulk and negotiates a cheap price, which the manufacturer can meet by creating a cheaper product. I don’t know how true it is, but we decided to take his word and check out a local plumbing supply house. They pointed us towards a Kohler Cimarron toilet saying that it is both powerful and water efficient. The salesman also said that it was what every contractor is getting nowadays.

For some reason, I expected toilets to cost a lot of money. I think because they are solidly built and heavy. However, it only cost us around $275… though it was closer to $400 with toilet seat, tax, delivery and installation.

In looking to replace our lock, we went to the local locksmith. We’ve been unsure about Home Depot’s locks since they were unable to make a duplicate of our house key last year. They tried and gave us a key, but the keys never worked. Also, the key to my wife’s rental property has a unique “feature” of being able to open up my rental property. That’s scary stuff.

The local locksmith showed us the Schlage that we had now. (Doesn’t everyone have Schlage locks.) Then he showed us one by a company called Baldwin. You could see the difference in quality. The Baldwin looks like it could withstand a whole lot more punishment. He pointed across the street at a shiny lock and said, “See that over there? That lock is 15 years old.” Then he picked up an extremely tarnished lock that a longtime customer had just brought in. “This is what most locks look like after a couple of years.”

I know no one sets out saying, “I’m going to buy a crappy product that I’ll have replace soon to save a buck.” However, many times when I can’t determine what is a better product, I’ll go with the cheaper price. This feels like a bit of a change. I’m now more interested in putting in the extra effort to determine quality when I can.

Update: Well, at least part of this article is kind of a dud. I did a little more research and Home Depot has the exact same toilet we bought for a slightly better price. On the bright side, the reviews are really good, so that’s a win. If we had just gone to Home Depot, I don’t know if we would have gotten the same advice or come away with the same product.