[LINK] Cost, Price & Value [WAS: Koltai Hypothesis - That P2P can be a legal option to Foxtel.]

[David Boxall]

On Sun, 19 Apr 2009 at 13:46:07 +1000 Tom Koltai wrote:
> ... It costs nothing to stare into space.
To stare into space, you need to be somewhere. There are costs 
associated with both 'being' and 'somewhere'.

'Being' costs include things like food, health care and (presumably) 
clothing & hygiene.
'Somewhere' costs include those of ownership and maintenance of the 
place (even if you don't pay them directly yourself) and (possibly) 
costs associated with getting there.

> ...
> I posted my leisure time calculator to link before ...
I didn't ignore it: I realise that, for the sake of argument, you need 
figures. I'm just saying that, for the sake of argument, I disagree with 
your figures.

I reckon cost alone is too narrow a perspective. For mine, the field is 
better covered if we consider cost, price and value.

For example, before I retired, I saw HR figures which showed my gross 
income (ie. the price my employer paid me) as less than a third of the 
total cost of employing me (including - if I remember correctly - things 
like insurances and a share of infrastructure - the list was long). I 
stayed long enough to retire, so presumably my employer considered my 
value greater than that cost. My leisure time is of greater value to me 
than the cost of a similar amount of my time to my employer.

Tying in a couple of last week's posts: we whinge (some louder than 
others) about taxation and "runaway government spending". To minimise 
the whinging, the elected tend to cut corners in order to minimise 
costs, allowing them to minimise taxation. So we end up with a situation 
where an emergency service, compromised by cost-cutting, fails someone 
in need. The price we pay is a life. I'm still pondering the values part 
of that equation.

 
-- 
David Boxall                    |  My figures are just as good 
                                |  as any other figures. 
                                |  I make them up myself, and they 
                                |  always give me innocent pleasure. 
                                |                     --HL Mencken