Consumer Habits, Product Satisfaction and Cool Toys

A very interesting story about consumer habits and product satisfaction was published recently in the Los Angeles Times -

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-sci-wine15jan15,1,6051238.story -

and it caught my attention. So much so that I thought it appropriate to share my thoughts with you.

It seems that scientific researchers been able to document the relationship between product cost and consumer enjoyment.

By using wine tasting as the control, researchers were able to show how marketing tactics can trick the brain to find more enjoyment in costlier products.

Using brain scanners to monitor the minds of wine drinkers, scientists found that people given two identical red wines got more pleasure from tasting the one they were told cost more.

The study, which was reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - http://www.pnas.org/ -published online before print January 14, 2008, 10.1073/pnas.0706929105 - demonstrated for the first time how marketing tactics - such as raising the price of a product -- can cause the consumers' brain to play tricks on itself.

Reading that L.A. Times story caused an illuminated light bulb to appear and hover just above my head. Suddenly, there it was in black and white staring back at me -- the answer to my proverbial question:

"Why would any consumer spend extra money purchasing hi-test gasoline when, chances are, their vehicle would run just fine on regular?

For quite a few years now, I've had a polite difference of opinion with my wife about this very subject. You see, she insists on burning a mid grade gas in her vehicle. She swears that her car runs better and her engine doesn't knock. I've tried to reason with her -- pointing out that engine knock can be remedied by installing a hotter set of sparkplugs.

She will have nothing to do with my explanation and over time I've given up on the issue.

Now, after hearing the results of the National Academy of Sciences study, I have a better understanding of why my wife so strongly defends her gasoline octane choice.

Slick marketing tactics by big oil have succeeded in brainwashing many of we consumers into accepting the idea that if it costs more, its better.

Well, I'm here to tell you, that I am a reformed octane-a-halic who hasn't touched a drop of high-test in years. Yes, I used to roll with the mantra -- the higher the octane -- the faster my racer. But, like the muscle cars I drove in the 60's those carefree times of my youth are long-gone. As long gone as 36 cents/gal gasoline.

These days its regular all the way -- and that's been working out just fine for me -- and for my ride. From my point of view, high-test is a sucker bet. In my opinion, big oil is like the casinos -- they have the house advantage. And I'm trying to keep their hands out of my pocket by consuming less gas. I buy regular at the pump and ride my motorcycle whenever possible.

OH, and by the way, at the time of the writing of this week's tip, high-test gasoline was selling on an average of 30 cents more than regular grade in my region of the country and mid octane gas was 20 cents more per gallon.

That means that each time you fill up your 15 gallon tank with high-test, instead of regular, it will cost you an extra $4.50 and at today's current rate. And if you multiply that extra 30 cents by the amount of drivers who burn high-test, then you can quickly understand part of the reason why big oil was able to earn record profits - at our expense -- in 2007.

That's why I feel that big oil should be legislated to invest their windfall profits into the development of viable alternative energy sources. They've certainly got the capitol. And developing alternative sources of energy would wean America from our reliance on fossil fuels and free us from OPEC's influence.

So, here's my list of 10 tips to help you save some money at the pump

1. Purchase the lowest-octane gasoline your car was designed for.

2. Don't top off -- when you fill-er up. That extra gas is just going to slop around or run out your tank's overflow.

3. Check your gas cap. Gas evaporates and the Car Care Council estimates missing, damaged and loose gas caps account for 147 million gallons of evaporated gas.

4. Park in the shade whenever possible. The hot sun zaps fuel from your vehicle according to Jim Kliesch, research associate at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and vehicle analyst for GreenerCars.com.

5. Clean your garage to make room for your car. That way, you won't have to depend as much on your gas-guzzling air-conditioning or defroster when you drive.

6. Check the air in your tires. Under inflated tires lower your car's gas mileage. They're a safety concern and they also wear more quickly.

7. Keep your engine in tune. Smooth running engines boost gas mileage. For example, one misfiring sparkplug can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 30 percent.

8. Regularly check your car's air filter. Replacing a clogged air filter could improve your gas mileage by as much as 10 percent and save you 15 cents a gallon.

9. Use the right oil. Opt for motor oil with the words "energy conserving" on the API performance label. This oil contains friction-reducing additives that increase gas mileage.

10. Whenever possible, WALK!

There you have it, tips to help you reduce your transportations costs. And if you've got some more money saving tips of your own that you'd like to add to my list, just forward them to me at webmaster@boomerbikeronline and I'll sharw them with the rest of our members.

And finally, (at the risk of sounding too much like an advertisement) now that you've got some extra money in your pocket I thought I'd tell you about one of the coolest gadgets that I've seen in quite some time.

It's the ADS PTV-384-EF MINI HDTV USB

Yea, believe it or not, simply plug this little gizmo into the USB 2.0 port of your windows XP computer viola' - FREE and instant access to HDTV broadcasts.

This gadget is an incredible and extremely affordable bargain. It coats a little more than a Benjamin and should prove irresistible to video freaks (like me).

So, here's to all you road warriors out there. Now you really can take it with you - just plug that baby into your laptop and go.

To learn more about the ADS PTV-384-EF MINI HDTV USB, please go to:

http://www.adstech.com/

That's it for this week!