This past weekend, my elder son asked me to drive him to the outlets so he could get some Ralph Lauren shirts at a reduced cost. Frankly, I don't know where he got this penchant for name brand clothing, but it's his money, not mine. What is my money is the gas it takes to drive an hour to the outlets and the time I gave up to make the 2 hour (round trip) drive. I thought it would be a good lesson for him on 2 levels. First, I could teach him about opportunity costs by showing him why the trip was frivolous. Second, he'd get some driving practice so he could get his license in 2 weeks.
I wound up getting to fulfill my goals, he got his shirts, and we both learned a valuable lesson.
No good deed goes unpunished. In other words, Murphy was right. You can almost count on unintended consequences.
The first lesson was fairly simple. As he drove, I asked him how much it would cost to buy the shirts online. $72.00 was the response. I then asked how much he'd save by going to the outlets. He replied "$18.00." So this trip was designed to save money, right? He looked at me quizzically and said "Yes, why?"
I settled in and explained to him that while he was saving $18, there was the cost of 6 gallons of gas to get there, and the cost of our time (roughly 2 hours). I asked him what his current wage at work was. "$7.70."
I showed him that between the cost of gas, the cost of 2 hours of his time (about $15.40) and the cost of my time (which could have been spent cleaning the basement or something else), he had burned up more than his $18.00 in savings. Since he was planning to go to college and study Business Economics, this was a great lesson for him - that sometimes 'savings' are not savings, they are costs. Economic efficiency is about determining the total costs and balancing them against your expectations. Not all costs come out of your pocket.
Thankfully, he grasped the topic. I didn't expect him to turn around and order his shirts online at that point. Instead, we had a nice drive, and he got his shirts. His driving skills are definitely improving, so I was happy that the second lesson was a success. Overall, the trip had some value which made it worthwhile.
Then Murphy arrived. Just as I was feeling good about my boy's improved driving, he looked at me and said "We're out of gas."
I looked at him, shrugged, and said "Pull into the next station."
"No, dad, we're out of gas." Just then I felt the car make the final chugs of starvation. I was forced to push it to the side of a somewhat busy highway. We were still 40 minutes from home, but the nearest station was a good 2 miles away. It was easier to have gas brought from home than for me to walk to a station, fill a can, and return to the car. So we waited until my wife arrived, delivered a can, and got on our way.
Lesson Three - never assume things will go the way you expect. I had a long discussion with him about checking the gas, noticing the "Empty" light, and paying attention to the dashboard.
It was a lesson not lost on me, either. Sometimes the person in charge has to take the extra step. I should've known to double check what he was doing. It's something I do at work, why wouldn't I do it with him? I guess just faith in his ability to be a good, responsible driver? Maybe. Maybe it was laziness, too. Or too much focus on teaching him an economics lesson.
I can't say what the reasons for it that day. However, it's fair to say unintended consequences occur constantly. We hope to do the right thing, but something occurs to cause us more trouble than we intended and the outcome isn't what we'd hoped. People who engage logical fallacies fall victim to this regularly.
I've posted a picture below of a clothesline in my parents' backyard. In an effort to save some money and engage a bit of energy conservation, they installed it. It wound up costing them more than they expected. Without depth perception, it may not be easy to spot why. But I thought I'd present a challenge and see who can figure out what the unintended consequences of this installation were?
