I Need It Fast

Or, The Cost of Convenience, Part Two
It kills me when I have to spend a dumb amount of money because I need something fast. But it saves me time.

Case in point #1
I need these color copies so that I can make a book for my upcoming GLAD science unit. It's about animals and their habitats. I don't have color ink at home, and our school building does not have a single color copier either. So good luck with that. The GLAD lab (where you can go to make your GLAD units for free) is open four days a week, but in order to use it I have to leave my school early and drive across town to get there before it closes. I don't have that kind of time. So I ordered 21 pages of color copies off of Digital Store Front, which is what teachers use to order all the print they need. It cost me $10.29! That's like 49 cents a copy. Robbery! It costs 3 cents for a black and white copy, BTW. But like I said, I don't have the time to go to the GLAD lab before I need the print.

In case you are not a teacher and are wondering what GLAD is, it is not a happy way to teach science. It stands for Guided Language Acquisition Design, and it is primarily aimed at children whose native language is not English, AKA 65% of my class.

Case in point #2
I try to save money on paying bills by doing it online. Unfortunately, the old-school-ness of two of my utility suppliers do not have online bill paying functions. Thus, I have to mail them a check. One of the aforementioned supplier living in the stone age is located only eight minutes from my house, but it is inconvenient for me to stop there to drop off the payment. Thus, I have to spend 44 cents in stampage. Grrr.

For an even worse waste of money, read The Cost of Convenience.