Off Brand Blog

Another great post on Get Rich Slowly today, titled “The Pitfalls of Buying in Bulk“.

This is a guest post by Sierra Black of http://childwild.com/, and, while brief, it covers some of the do’s and don’ts of bulk buying.

Her key points are:

1. Opportunity cost of “investing” in a product you need or love.
2. Buying something you use, but don’t really need in bulk.
3. The pressures of buying something you don’t exactly love, in bulk.
4. Buying things just because they are cheap.

I am a big fan of buying in bulk, but Sierra makes some good points. Buying in bulk is a lot more “dangerous” with food, as she points out in #2,3. I disagree with #1 to some extent, as I see value in the dollars and cents saved and the additional effects that bulk buying bring, as I’ll discuss a bit later.

#4 is probably my biggest personal problem, as we often go grocery shopping with a list, and end up with lots of “new meals” to try simply because they are cheap. They still get eaten, but since we don’t have a rigid budget it’s not really the right choice.

As always, GRS readers have tons of tips and advice of there own, here are two of my favorites:

Lesley Says:

Another issue that she didn’t touch on is storage. Every time you bulk buy, you have to find a place to keep it, and not only that, it has to be a place you will REMEMBER that you have it. Otherwise (particularly with a small item like pens) you will lose track of them and buy again before you have finished what you previously bought.

Beth Says:

Great points! One thing I’d add though is that when you have a lot of something, you tend to go through it faster. I’m willing to bet Sierra will keep a closer eye on those 10 pens than she would if she had 100.

What do you think about buying in bulk? Do you do it?