Category: Theory James Dean, Chinese Foot Massages, and Opportunity Cost
This amazing piece was written by “the other other Noah,” Mr. Noah Glass. He said if he gets 25+ comments he will write weekly for us. I hope we can comment our hearts out as he has tons of great things to say.
I’m a maximizer.
Example?
Today I walked past a Chinese back & foot massage parlor. I’d never indulged in a back or foot massage on the spur of the moment. I decided I couldn’t walk past it and do nothing. I had to go in.
I decided on the 20 minute foot massage: the shallow end of the pool.
I got into my massage cubicle, took off my shoes and socks, and laid on my back.
The minute the foot massage started, I wasn’t thinking about how good it felt…I was thinking about how much it was costing me.
Sure, the price was $20, but what was the opportunity cost of that 20 minutes?
I realized that I really had no sense of how to measure this.
First thought: I work so much that I only make about $20 on an hourly basis. Maybe this 20 minute foot massage is costing me $6.67 in my time for a grand total of $26.67 ($20 + $6.67).
But it couldn’t be as simple as that, could it?
To really assess what that 20 minutes was worth, I’d have to understand what was the next best alternative to spending it getting my feet rubbed.
Opportunity cost is defined as the utility of the highest utility alternative minus the utility of the selected alternative.
Challenge: How would you get the most value out of 20 minutes on $20?
Prize: $20 Chinese foot massage on me…if you even want to spend your valuable time getting your feet rubbed
Why James Dean?
He’s believed to have said:
Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow
If you’re taking notes, he died at the age of 24.
He also loved Chinese foot massages. No, I can’t back that last part up.
If you enjyoed this post, please go comment so we can have “the other” Noah stick around.
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Noah wrote James Dean, Chinese Foot Massages, and Opportunity Cost on February 21st, 2007 and there are 29 comments. There will be one more after you add yours, though. Read more posts by Noah.
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29 Responses to “James Dean, Chinese Foot Massages, and Opportunity Cost”
February 21st, 2007
12:47 pm
Did you eat all of that watermelon in 20 minutes?
February 21st, 2007
12:53 pm
I think getting that value depends on the person. Personally, I would buy 4 burritos and enjoy some time with my friends.
February 21st, 2007
12:55 pm
To be clear about this, my comments don’t count as part of the 25. We’ll have to subtract them from the total.
There was no watermelon at my foot massage.
There was plenty of water, but no watermelon.
For more on foot massages, read:
http://gridskipper.com/travel/new-york/the-best-chinese-massages-in-the-city-238115.php
February 21st, 2007
12:57 pm
Does this count towards your 25?
February 21st, 2007
12:57 pm
Noah K,
Would you eat all of the burritos yourself or would you use them to butter up your friends before asking to crash on their couch(es)?
February 21st, 2007
12:58 pm
Nothing written by Noah K or me counts on my 25.
Noah Brier, where you at?
February 21st, 2007
12:59 pm
I would use the burritos to put my friends in a food coma and then crash on their couches nightly.
February 21st, 2007
1:34 pm
Of course the frugal in me says put it in an index fund for 20 years….
February 21st, 2007
1:48 pm
In your last post you wanted marketing advice for gomobo and in this one you have 20 minutes and 20 bucks. Use the calculated 26.67 bucks to invest in the pocket of the doorman at the local radio station, the DJ, and get on the air and get the DJ pumped up about your service. 26.67 dollar advert means more customers & more money, thus higher pay for you, and thus a higher opportunity cost of a foot massage.
So, it is better to do the foot massage now rather than later since as gomobo increases revenues/your pay increases, the opportunity cost of that 20 minute foot massage increases as well.
A foot massage right now will be the cheapest foot massage you will ever have.
Given the EXTREMELY low cost of the foot massage, I find it to be the best use of your 20 minutes and 20 bucks.
If it were me, where I wasnt a gomobo “big deal,” I would pocket the 20 bucks (high yield savings account of course) and spend the 20 minutes looking for a new job.
February 21st, 2007
2:38 pm
I would get the most value out of 20 minutes on $20 by paying someone $20 to do something that would take me way more than 20 minutes to do. For example, dry cleaning 4 blazers and 2 of my nice dresses:
$20 – what I pay for the dry cleaning
20 minutes – 10 mins dropping off clothes, 10 mins picking up clothes
In what would take me something like 2 hours to clean with my steamer at home, I can get it done in $20 and 20 minutes. Assuming I make $40/hr, then I figure out that I lose:
Dry cleaner – $20, 20 mins
Do it myself – $80, 2 hours
Thus I am getting the most value out of 20 minutes with $20.
Anyhow, I liked this post =) Simple and to the point. Hopefully my response makes sense!
February 21st, 2007
2:43 pm
Are you *trying* to make this a Noah party after all? Haw.
Anyway. Rent a so-bad-its-good movie and buy a box of popcorn. Hold a screening party for some friends. That’s over 4x the time that was proposed! What value!
(Then again, I’ve been on Netflix so long, I don’t even know if you can rent a movie on disc anymore without doing a subscription.)
February 21st, 2007
3:21 pm
I think with $20 you could do a lot worse, if the massage relaxes you and relieves a little stress, then its money well spent.
that reduction of stress can save you on other problems later.
February 21st, 2007
3:23 pm
I like it Wendy.
Two thoughts:
First, I think your comment speaks to the value of specialization in capitalist economies.
While I was in South Africa, I learned about the many Afrikaaner community that lived in “the bush” (out in the country) and prided themselves on being incredibly self-sufficient. Each family made as few annual trips to the city as possible and did absolutely everything themselves.
I bet they even rubbed their own feet.
Seems mighty silly to me. Specialization creates wealth.
Second thought:
At $20 for 20 minutes, the foot massage cost way more than I make hourly: over 3x in fact. Is there some sort of comfort/pleasure derived from paying more for something than it would cost to do it yourself?
Maybe, using logic similar to yours, I was able to convince myself that this was an “expert” massage, at its relatively high cost.
Massages, afterall, are premium services.
What else do you overpay for?
February 21st, 2007
3:31 pm
Maybe I should change my name to Noah in the next 20 minutes. Is that a requirement to post a comment, whew! The cost of opportunity is a lot of “what if scenarios”. What if you found a $20 dollar bill by being in the right place at the right time.
February 21st, 2007
3:39 pm
I would take my $20, go to China town and get 1 hour of massage for the same price. Snaps;)
February 21st, 2007
3:39 pm
True, Marshall.
But as an abstract theory, there is one “highest utility alternative.”
Maybe it’s more accurate to think of it as the highest utility alternative with a reasonable likelihood of occurring.
Finding a $20 bill would be great, but the odds of doing so are low.
February 21st, 2007
3:45 pm
Travel time to get to Chinatown?
See my last post on the Grade F congestion rating for Silicon Valley traffic.
Talk about opportunity cost…think about the time you waste commuting. Everyone should work from home.
February 21st, 2007
4:47 pm
I don’t know what I’d do. I actually like Noah K’s burrito idea a lot.
I guess the point of this comment is, well, I really ‘enjyoed’ the post.
Sigh…
February 21st, 2007
4:53 pm
The copy of the post was mine.
Pictures and spelling mistakes belong to Noah K.
February 21st, 2007
6:15 pm
Sorry for the spelling mistakes. It is REALLY hard to type and get a foot massage at the same time.
STOP, it tickles;)
February 21st, 2007
7:30 pm
Here is an idea: While you are getting ur feet massaged, continue working…either on ur wifi or blackberry. no opportunity cost.
February 21st, 2007
10:18 pm
Hi Noah G.,
Thanks for the schwag from the earlier contest;-)
“How would you get the most value out of 20 minutes on $20?”
This is entirely subjective. The worth of the massage is probably based on the pleasure you derived from it & not any other hard factors. Being good to your body is being good to the soul.
Did you know that you can get an awesome massage in Thailand for about 7-10 dollars (LEGIT!). They charge more for foot massages in Thailand because the foot is the lowest part of the body in Buddhism.
February 22nd, 2007
1:01 am
Here is a better question:
Would you rather spend $20 on a 20 min message or on a 5 min lapdance? Which one has more value?
“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow”
This is also one of my favortie quotes. But I know it’s a cliche, but if you know you have only one day to live, how would you like to spend the day, and what’s your last meal going to be?
February 22nd, 2007
2:50 am
There are worse ways to spend your money. For example, you could have for some reason gone to an Indian casino the weekend before and lost around $400 playing blackjack…like my friend.
Anyhow, i think as long as you enjoy what you payed for it’s worth it. However, you probably payed too much since you couldn’t get past the thought of opportunity cost
February 22nd, 2007
2:13 pm
Alright…new question as I really wanted people to think about whether they, too, are maximizers:
When did you realize that you were a maximizer?
February 22nd, 2007
3:41 pm
anyway, I hope i didn’t offend anyone with my last comment.
The point I was trying to make is that sometime we tend to focus too much on the immediate tangible and monetary ROI, but in reality, there is also intangible ROI, such as happiness, pleasure, spiritual gain, etc…
February 23rd, 2007
12:14 am
Is no one going to suggest using $20 and 20 minutes to drink 8 beers in a seedy dive bar?
February 23rd, 2007
2:37 am
all of the thinking about the value of the 20min/$20 defeats the purpose of getting a massage…i would wager (but i am not the betting kind) that it cost you even more given that you were clearly not relaxing or enjoying the fact that someone else was rubbing your possibly not that fresh feet and you missed the value of contributing to that person’s livelihood. what is the value and how do you measure it? does it make your $ spent worth more or less?
just wondering how far we can push this conversation!
loved the post and all the responses!
February 27th, 2007
10:49 am
Hello from the other side,
Yes, I do fancy a foot massage ever now and again. And I do likes the ladies.
If I had 20mins, I would take the porche out for a spin.
JD
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