An experienced garage sale shopper/flea market seller walks into a moving sale in an older neighborhood of Grand Forks last Saturday.
One of the first things he spots is an old John Deere pedal tractor from the 1950s sitting in one corner of the garage. He walks over and looks at the price tag - $200. He estimates he could make between $100 and $150 profit on it.
Now the thought process begins. He only has a limited amount of cash for the day and paying $200 for the tractor would mean he’d pretty much be headed home for the day right after the purchase.
While he’s considering buying the pedal tractor, he starts looking around and finds several other things he’d like to buy all priced considerably less than the tractor. He opts for several other purchases that come to a total of roughly $90.
He takes his purchase to the card table set up outside the garage door where an elderly gentleman is minding the cash box. Before setting his armload of treasures down to pay for them he ponders one last time - should I buy the tractor instead?
While he’s standing there the decision is quickly made for him. Another shopper walks up to the card table with the tractor and asks the elderly gentleman - Do you need the price sticker off this? The seller replies - Please.
The man with the tractor removes the price sticker, places it on the card table, takes a wad of cash from his pocket, and hands the seller two one dollar bills. The seller says - Thank you. The buy walks down the driveway with the tractor and puts it in the back of his pickup.
Dumbfounded, the man looks at the price tag laying on th card table and realizes it says $2.00, and not $200. as he thought.
Moral of the story? There are two of them.
First, don’t assume. Make sure you know where the decimal point is. Second, if you are going to think about whether you should or shouldn’t buy something, take possession of it until you decide. Hold it, sit on it, whatever you need to do, but don’t give someone else the chance to buy it until you have decided not to.
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