The Greed of It All

As I desperately look for a Wii for my two boys (6 and 8) on eBay (because they're not available anywhere else), I am struck by how many people have 15-20 of these Wii Video Consoles stacked up in their living rooms and selling them one by one on eBay for ridiculous amounts of money. My thoughts immediately turn to ' how it is that these people came to have so many of these Wii's proudly stacked in a pyramid on their Berber carpet?' Often times the seller's make sure they have their little kids in the picture frame, as if to add some legitimacy to it all.


Here's a couple really good guesses as to how these sellers 'procured' these large numbers of Wii Consoles -

• The large Box Store employee that has the ability to tap the inventory before it reaches the store floor for people like you and me to purchase.
• The truck driver transporting these game consoles to the Big Box Stores.
• Any individual really, that is exposed to these consoles anywhere along the formal 'supply stream' before the it hits the store floor.
  
• The individual who makes the resale of these video consoles a part time job, and makes it a mission to acquire every single one of these Wii consoles they can get their hands on to resell for profit on eBay.

I get the feeling that the vast majority of auctions on eBay where you see a proud picture of 30 of these games in someone's living room, belong to people that fall into one of the few above mentioned categories. I also get the the feeling that the world breaks down to two different types of people; those that think it's ok to diminish supply of a children's game in the face tremendous demand - for personal profit, and those, such as myself, that think it disgusting.

I am a Capitalist, and love the idea of a Free Market Economy, but I think there should be some regulation, either through personal restraint or corporate policy, for the 'supply stream' employees in particular, to have a limit as to how many of these items they can buy to supplement their income.


Last year, around Christmastime, I was walking through the local WalMart and came upon the Electronics Department to see TWO 'Playstation 3' Video Consoles behind the glass case, at a time when they were in huge demand. I asked the clerk to open the case, and stated I would take ONE - she said "Are you kidding? Don't you want them both? Hell, sell the other one!!" She proclaimed. I told her that I was in fact going to sell the one I'm buying - on eBay, but that one is all I needed. I used the extra money to buy a couple gifts for my family. My point in telling you this is that it is one thing to buy one of these and do whatever it is you want with it, and quite another to make a mission out of gobbling up every last one of these you can get your hands on, in order to make as much money as possible. It is about doing what is right.



I have to wonder of all the people reading this Guide, who believes that is it a moral thing to do? To buy up all the Wii Video Games they can get their hands on, to simply make as much money as possible on eBay. In other words, buying as many toys geared for children as they can, thus creating a supply problem, and creating an atmosphere that requires an average 'Joe Lunchbox' like me to fork over $100-$300 more than I would have otherwise, just so my kids can have one. I also realize that part of this problem is that the manufacturers never seem to make enough of these devices to satisfy the market demand. That still does not take away from the fact that it is greed, nothing more, that fuels those people with the Wii Console Pyramid's next to their coffee table. THAT is what causes much of the shortage.

As an aside, I recall last year, with the Tickle Me Elmo craze, to my amusement, all those morons that bought 25 of the Elmo dolls, only to not have sold all of them by Christmas. On December 26th, they were having a 'fire sale' on eBay trying to dump them for less than they paid (I'm sure they had a Credit Card payment coming due). Problem was, by that time, the demand was completely gone....wonder if they still have those Elmo's laying around? Probably sitting next to their stack of Wii's.

The bottom line is (and I am NOT a very religious person), I find it very ironic that at a time of year that we celebrate the birth of an important historic figure that represented selflessness, and decency, this type of greed and selfishness is so prominent.


If you agree with me on this one, click 'yes' and if you don't please simply don't click anything at all, as your vote will show up as part of the number of people that have viewed the page that didn't vote yes.

Looking forward to your input.

Good Luck everyone in getting one of these Wii's without having to get a second mortgage on your home.

msrs_online