the new price of convenience

For years, America has excelled at providing the utmost in convenience, but that convenience has always come at a price. Example: A Domino's pizza company delivers a pizza to your house and you pay a little extra for delivery and tip. Your tip covers the driver's wages, so that Domino's doesn't have to cover it all on their own, enabling them to pass on the convenience of home delivery.

In most cases, convenience has to do with less time consumption, less maintenance or setup, or easier access. Today's consumer electronics market is no difference. Example: I purchase a $20 digital camera for my daughter to play around with. It's a digital camera and it works, but it was only $20. If I had paid another $80 or more, I would have been rewarded with the convenience of easy to install drivers, software that wasn't as buggy or untested and the convenience of photos that looked recognizable the first time around.

Where convenience once had more to do with delivery, access, installation, maintenance and compatibility, the electronics market has shifted the focus of convenience to mostly refer to time. The time that it takes to figure it out. The time it takes to troubleshoot. The time that it takes to get it to function as advertised. The time it takes to understand why it is acting so erratically.

In a nutshell, electronics are becoming more like toilet paper. The better brands may cost more, but it is more convenient when you can get the job done correctly the first time around.