Remember the prize counter at the arcade? The one you can exchange the tickets you won for all manner of prizes, from fake poop to a bicycle that will make all your dreams come true?
The prizes right in front of you are the cheapies. The bracelet that costs ten tickets. The sheet of stickers that costs five.
And then on the back wall, with all the mystery of an inappropriate magazine, are the high-ticket prizes.
The scooter.
The bicycle.
The headphones.
The tablet.
These are the items that cost more like 35,000 tickets. One could spend years saving up the tickets for such treasures.
Until you take a closer look...and see they're not really treasures at all.
In fact, they're pretty much...crap.
The scooter and bicycle were made in a factory in Taiwan that still uses materials made illegal in the '60's.
The tablet isn't from Apple or Samsung. It's from Steak-N-Shake Gadget Emporium.
And when you search the items on Amazon, the morbidly low price tag and 1-star reviews speak for themselves.
Not that there's anything wrong with the thrill of the chase. So long as you understand that the prize sucks. And sometimes the real win would be to have the courage to walk away from the prize counter altogether.
Whatever high-ticket item you're working towards in your life, take a good look at the fine print.
Because you never know...what you're saving up for might actually just be crap.
