At some point, I may find things like this boring. But I have no idea when that might happen. Look at what is possible, just due to process excellence.
I have a personal project coming up which requires a small, portable digital camera. The project will take place outdoors, however, in some rough territory and the probability of losing, dropping or soaking the camera is sizable. So I didn't want to invest much. I looked at low-cost cameras in a discount store but they didn't quite fill the bill. I then thought to try eBay...could I find a low-cost, used camera to fill the bill?
Last Sunday night, I looked at several auctions and found a 3-year-old Nikon L3, 5MP camera with some cosmetic defects which fit my requirements perfectly. The bid price of $8.50 only added to my interest. With 7 minutes left on the auction I put in a maximum bid of $15 and headed out the door to a previous commitment. I got home, and found I got the camera for $12.00; with shipping, my total cost was a mere $25. All of which happened in about 10 minutes of my time on line.
And it got better.
- On Monday morning, the seller shipped the camera to me
- He gave me a tracking number with the USPS
- The Postal Service sent me an email at each transition of the package through it's system
- On Wednesday, I received the camera.
- On Thursday, I picked up a 1GB memory card for $10, along with some milk and cereal, at a neighborhood store.
I was set for a mere $35.
Think of the processes which delivered just what I needed, right when I wanted it.
- eBay has a market allowing buyers and sellers to connect efficiently
- The Postal Service tracks packages and makes it public
- The supply chain delivers a gigabyte memory card for the price of a quarter tank of gas.