Paying for What You Use

This Staring at Empty Pages post has me thinking about my cell phone plan. It talks about how we may hesitate to spend money--even a little money--on something if the alternative is an inclusive "all you can use" package.

The post is specifically about text messages on cell phones: it might feel wasteful to send them at 5 or 10 or 20 cents each. They're often so casual and rather frivolous: "Hey, what's up?" "Here's a picture of my goofy new socks!" "My neighbors are singing loudly upstairs."

So instead we might get a text-message package for 5 or 10 or 20 dollars a month and then we can send as many as we want at no additional charge, yay!

Good deal, maybe. As the post points out, it doesn't really matter to the phone company, since anything they charge is way more than whatever it costs them to deliver the message. And it may sometimes be that the number of messages we send would never actually add up to the cost of the monthly plan, which is no bargain at all to us. 

I'm interested in the whole concept of the "big deal" (to bring libraries into it),  and the "all you can eat" (I can never eat enough to get my money's worth from buffets) and similar packages. They're always things you have to really think about to know whether or not it's actually a good idea. 

And thinking about these things is tiresome, and involves research and reading of small print, and honestly, maybe in some cases it's not worth your time to worry about it: just buy the monthly plan and forget it!

I kind of did that with our landline (which we still have, for no very pressing reason now that we both have cell phones) and internet plan: did some initial research, picked a plan that includes unlimited something-or-other, and haven't touched it since, even though it's now more expensive that it was, and I'm no longer sure it's the best deal for the way we use it. I just don't feel like doing all that reading and comparison all over again!

I did do extensive research and went with the pay-as-you-go cell plan, though, and I think it saves me money in the long run. Sure, 25 cents a minute isn't a great rate...but I rarely use 10 minutes in a month (just not a big phone-conversation person), so I spend far less than I would with a flat-rate plan that gives me a lot of talk time I wouldn't use. I spend a fair amount on 5-cent text messages, I suppose, but it still doesn't add up to $20 a month.

So, in the end, bargain!

I do want to try to talk more regularly with family in future, so maybe my phone needs will change. (I'm not making a resolution, because I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but it's a sort of general personal goal not tied to a specific arbitrary demarcation of time. Call people more often. You know, just in general and because.)

I hope I can get around to re-evaluating the available pricing options and making sensible adjustments if things do change significantly. If another plan turns out to be better in another situation, I will happily make the switch, as long as I know about it. (Brand loyalty? What's that?)

I just have to do the work to figure it out, since it's not particularly in the phone company's best interests to tell me "this is the way you can spend the very smallest amount of money on wireless services and still meet all your communication needs."

I guess what it comes down to is that it's often not really about finding One Forever-True Answer, it's about finding the Best Answer Right Now. Which is unfortunate, because you have to keep doing that work over again, but then, I like to think it keeps the brain lively.

Happy New Year, and here's hoping 2009 treats all my adoring followers and their lively brains well. 

Evaluate those package deals, people! I'm not saying they're all horrible swindles. Many of them are convenient and practical and will serve you well. But you should know that for sure, in these trying economic times. 

After all, if you save some money on your phone bill, you'll have more left over to buy me chocolate.