I’m heading to the Dad 2.0 Summit tomorrow so last week I ordered more of my super cool playing card business cards.
I had to decide how many decks to buy — and I wanted to pay the cheapest price per deck.
I had to work within my constraints.
I had only one and a half weeks to get them in. And less than $50 budgeted for them.
And I needed at least 100 of them.
These playing card business cards aren’t cheap — about $10 per deck of 54, plus shipping costs. But I love them.
I was willing to pay the premium price.
But I still wanted to get the cheapest price of the premium price that I could!
So I did the math!
Here’s a screenshot of the price structure from YourPlayingCards.com:
Since my budget was $50, I had to go with four or fewer decks.
I started looking at the per-deck cost of shipping.
- If you order 1 deck, the cost is $4/deck to ship it.
- If you order 2 decks, the cost is $3/deck.
- If you order 3 decks, shipping is $3.33/deck.
- And getting 4 decks cost $2.50/deck for shipping.
Four decks is the winner — or is it?
Four decks would be right at $50 — and give me 216 cards. But if I went even more under budget with 2 decks — my total comes to $26.
Since I only plan on using 50-100 cards at this conference, two decks would be fine.
“But that’s not the cheapest price per unit,” you say?
The cheapest price per unit sometimes isn’t the cheapest!
If I buy two decks now, and two decks later, it costs me $52 ($26 + $26). But if I buy four decks now it only costs me $50.
Even though I want to get the cheapest price per unit, I’m focused on the the “out the door” cost, too.
What I really need right now is two decks. And the “out the door” cost on those is $26. Just about half of the $50.
Which means that, for now, two decks is the cheapest for what I need!
How about you?
What have you found is cheaper in theory but not in reality? Share it in the comments or on twitter/x. And don’t forget to pin this on Pinterest!
