A local television station recently reported on new shopping sites that lower your costs. Television shopping channels are comparing their prices to those in brick and mortar retail outlets. Infomercials are offering “free” or dramatically reduced trial periods. What do these all have in common? Boy are they expensive!

Selling products remotely is nothing new. You can go back to the sixties and find record clubs that offered 10 albums for a penny. Selling music on TV was a staple then. And the penny sale was the hook they all baited to get you into a long-term arrangement. Get your 10 albums now and agree to buy a certain quantity over time. Don’t like that idea? How about get your 10 albums now and never have to buy another one ever, period. But you would get an album or two every month “on approval.” If you wanted it, you kept it and sent them money. If you didn’t want it, you sent it back by a certain date.

While the record clubs were fine-tuning their pitches, home shopping was starting to take off. The earliest versions were the televised equivalents of the print ads found in the Sunday supplements of every major American newspaper. No longer were you limited to a picture and your imagination about how something worked. Now you could see it in action on your TV screen. The prices were reasonable even though shipping was extra, and you could always count on some special bonus if you ordered a certain dollar amount, usually a “surprise package.” Woohoo.

But the real money was still around the corner. The televised department store. Entire networks were set up to do nothing but sell. All of them had some catchy 3 letter name so they sounded like real television networks. And they all started out as economical alternatives to going to the mall. It’s two in the morning and you’re bored. Let’s go shopping! It won’t cost any more than going out and you don’t have to get out of your jammies to do it.

And here we are today. Television shopping networks, infomercials, print ads, and on-line stores. Somewhere we’ve lost the record clubs but we have Hulu+ instead. No longer are they content with competing with the brick and mortar outlets, they want to be better. Now there are high end fashion sites with real couture. Accessories from shoes to bags to scarves to belts. Jewelry from costume (a few pieces here and there), to this week’s favorite gemstone. We’ve seen purses over $400, rings in four figures, and a dress suited for a red carpet. Don’t worry about the price. There are payments available. Without interest. Is a one-time “Holy Cow” hit to your debit card out of the question? Just make 4 easy payments of “oh-my-gosh” instead and it’s yours.

Do we begrudge those businesses making money. Of course not. Do we begrudge those who buy a purse for more than their weekly salary to carry around in it? Absolutely not. Do we think things are getting out of control? For sure!

In the original Star Trek movie, when they return to the 1940’s Capt. Kirk says to Mr. Spock, “They are still using money.” We’re pretty certain that’s a statement that we never want to make. How do we stop this roller coaster? Part 2 is coming.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?