consumer lock-in

When some consumers find themselves stuck with a certain routine or living space they are experiencing consumer lock-in. Lock-in is defined by a New York Times article as the decreased likelihood to search for, or change to, another option once an investment in something has been made (New York Times, 2012).  Everyone that has ever rented an apartment knows the lock-in feeling when they think about moving to another place. They realize how hard it was to move all of their furniture the first time and how they will have to put up money for a deposit again as well as finding friends to help them move.  I found this term on an article about cohabitation before marriage and how it can lead to more divorce among young couples because they live together out of convenience and lower costs instead of love.  They then find it hard to break up because they are so comfortable in their living space and the consumer lock-in costs are way to high. This is what some researchers are attributing a large portion of young divorce too. But if cohabitation comes from the right place than the  researchers believe its a safe thing to do. Why do we seem to get ourselves into situations that we become locked into? If only we took more time in the beginning and thought a little harder about our decision than there might be less instances of consumer lock-in.  Moral of the blog is, think about your big life decisions with all the time that it takes. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/opinion/sunday/the-downside-of-cohabiting-before-marriage.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Stinkin Free Riders!

Everyone has experienced an irritating situation where they are around someone that is free riding or have witnessed an act of it, but know that there isn't anything they can do about it. It may be a person sneaking into a movie when you had to pay or someone cutting in line when you've been waiting for an hour to get the concert tickets that you have wanted for six months. It is incredibly irritating to have to deal with. At times you just want to go tell them off, but in most instances you don't, you just let them proceed. Free riding is a huge problem among consumers. We all want nice things, but don't want to pay for them, like community parks or a clean street to live on. If everyone had to pay for what they wanted to use than I feel like much of our economic state wouldn't be looking so grim. Wouldn't it be a crazy concept for street lights to turn on and off with your sidewalk passage in accordance to your light bill contribution? I guess that's what taxes should be for.

Advertising Stickers

Cool and hype stickers have become a bigger part of our culture in the last few years. It is very common to see someone with stickers on their MacBook or the window of their car, but why do we insist on promoting a certain product for free? We like to personify ourselves with certain products that make us have a specific image like a skier or  a hunter. When you walk around campus you see student laptops covered in unique stickers. It seems like those students want to find the most impressive and abstract stickers to promote because the stickers never seem generic. They are always some strange band logo or a cool sustainability sticker that I have never seen before, that tells everyone how "green" they are. It's free advertising for companies and it is only in the best interests of the company to make unique and eye catching stickers and pass them out for free. I always thought that if I ever started a company that I would come up with a good design logo and make hundreds of stickers and ask friends to pass them out and place them in good areas to get my company name out there and recognized.