The internet is making us rich

I was thinking about this just now whilst shopping online.

Surely our cost of the internet is a negative figure (ie a profit)?

You pay to access the internet via an ISP. However, you can save vast amounts of money via the intenet. Therefore surely it makes us richer?


Emails are free - there is a big saving their on postage.

Think of how much more you would spend on phone calls without the internet.

Think of the bargains you can find on the internet.

Those savings are basically money you haven't spent - ie you still have the money - therefore you are richer.

The point is, if you buy something online at $100, but it can be bought elsewhere for $500 - then you just saved $400. You are $400 up regardless. If it was something you really had to buy, you'd spend the $500 and you would be down by $400.

Plus, paying in foreign currencies can reap huge financial gains - UK people are literally getting half-price purchases from the US.

The difference between a family with internet access and one without must be potentially huge. Imagine it over 10 years.

You forgot: "Think of all the media one can 'have' from the internet"!

..is it really you, p00ki? :-)

Hmm, I haven't really considered this before, TBH.

I recently saved £150 on a new TV and bought a CD last night for £3.99. :)

I use the internet and videos posted o nthere as my primary form of entertainment. So thats £135ish I save every year by not having a tv licence.

You save on travel expenses in going to multiple shops/dealers, etc to look at stuff, you don't need to phone around. You just do it all for free and you make savings on lower prices.

It's making us richer - the internet is paying us.

The secret here is:

Realise this fact.

Exploit this fact.

Consider this extreme example:

1 Internetshops may be more popular than ordinary shops
2 Ordinary shops go bankrupt
3 Ordinary shop's employees rely on well fare
4 Society pays tax for well fare
5 More internet competition, more ordinary unemployment, more well fare, more tax
6 We pay more tax

Higher tax is irrelevent - the interest on my savings will squash it.

What is this 'savings' you speak of?

You have not counted in the time that it consumes to do all that stuff on the Internet. Our time is not free, and depending how much you charge for an hour of your lifetime, using the Internet ultimately costs you more than going to one shop and buying the stuff that you really need there.

When I shop online, 99% of my business goes to Amazon. I don't care for the buck that I might safe somewhere else. I care for availability and fast and reliable shipping and good customer service when something goes wrong. Amazon has all that, most of the others don't. Quality of service counts in my book, because ultimately that's the only thing that will really safe you money on the long run. I only wish Amazon would also sell groceries and beverages online.

Just because eMail is free does not mean that your communication is. See the point about time. We communicate more these days, and mostly we broadcast rubbish over the net and consume other people's time as well.

When you work in a big organization, as I do, you see every day that email basically has changed our way of communicating in a very negative and ineffective way. The time it takes to read all that broadcasted crap completely kills your productivity, and the real problem is that people --EXPECT-- you to be online all the time and have your bloody Outlook turned on. Management EXPECTS you to react immediately to a stupid email. There's no streamlining of communication anymore. It's just a 9-5 non-stop flooding. And you have to read all that incoming nonsense, because there -could- be an important message among it.

Phoning is cheaper now? Well, see the problem above. That only means that people waste even more of their time with broadcasting, now that they can afford it.

With all the noise on the Internet, it also actually becomes even more difficult to advertise and sell your own products. Yes, the Internet can be door opener and a very good distribution channel, and maybe you don't need a distributor anymore these days. But since everybody is already flooded with noise 7/24 nowadays, reaching your target audience might have become even more difficult.

The Internet has become an even worse medium than TV was. We drown in mostly useless and extremely unreliable information, and 'information at your fingertips' still is an illusion. Finding the relevant information is a slow and painful procedure, and with every new website or social network it gets even harder to find it.

What people still don't understand is that less is more, in every possible regard. And that it is the quality that counts, not the quantity.

Cooking for people has more quality than swamping them with emails and phone calls. You don't even need a computer for that. Just try it once for kicks. ;-)

If you spend more time shopping online than you do going to shops, you're doing something wrong.

I think that you can potentially save money by shopping online, but the internet makes shopping so easy that many people end up buying far more junk than they would normally do. The internet is the impulse purchaser's worst enemy.

It would be nice to have a search engine that kept track, and grouped sites into catagories. Such as social netwroking sites. And it would allow you to exclude this particular catagory from your search.

The number of times i've been searching and came across endless links for people talking garbage on bebo/facebook.. etc etc, about a topic i'm looking for is highly frustrating!

Internet has also made people alot lazier. Which i like to an extent :D

That's typical female logic, I think Puki is a girl.

My ex used to go out and spend £100 on a bag or something and then try and explain how she 'saved' £60 because it's original price was £160... The bottom line is she still spent £100.

But tellies are essential, bags are not. :P

My logic is strong and resolute.

If you buy something in a sale, then you pay the sale price.

If you buy an item at full price, when it is available elsewhere at a higher price you make a profit. This is my point - the internet allows you spend less money, thus keeping more money.

Anyone suffered the sheer crappynism of going to a Next sale?

All the crap that no one wants to buy, all under one roof for a day!

I went to one with the other half... There was a little corner in the shop that had non-sale items (decent clothes) and I bought a pair of jeans from there.

I've never been back! Waste of time

This would be a good thing the only problem with the logic is most of the time you take more time searching for the object in the first place, yes it can save you money but as they say 'time is money' :)

Okay.

You go and find a CHEAP, FIRST EDITION of the 'Star Fleet Technical Manual' - WITHOUT USING THE INTERNET.

Yeah good points, I like making savings on the net. But some things you've just got to see physically to make a decision on.

wouldnt you prefer "fly fishing" by j r heartly?

1st editions are for the rich (well in comic book world yes and some old obscure tomes) is the 2nd edition edited so that the warp drive details are different?
if so id go with the most up to date book the one that everyone else could buy (if they were that way inclined)

thankfully ive not seen "teach yourself klingon" in the language section of borders

You've mixed up your words a little there, however, you don't make a profit, you spend less.

Although I did hear a good joke...
I bought a teddy bear for £10 and named it Mohammed. I then sold it for £20... Did I make a prophet?

Nice knowing you man ;o)