Things are only free if your time has no value
Image by skalekar1992 from Pixabay
A couple of days ago, winter arrived in all its glory from one day to the next. It dumped a lot of snow in just one day, and the ice on the sea started to form. However, with snow comes the need to displace snow for walking paths and accessibility. There’s nothing wrong with getting some physical exercise, but a snow blower can be a wonderful companion throughout the winter season. Unless they suffer from gasoline incontinence, like my trusty companion developed last spring. I tried to get him to the Husqvarna doctor this summer, but they declined and said they currently only treated lawnmowers and suggested that I should come by again in the fall/winter. Which is now.
The catch is that I live about 30 minutes one way trip from the workshop, and I do not own a trailer. So, I have to go to the gas station and do a short-term rent, go back home, load the snow blower, and then back again the same way, continue to the city, leave the snow blower at the workshop, return the trailer and go back home. All in all, this process took a couple of hours from start to finish. There are always a couple of hick-ups along the way too. For example, the trailer lock had frozen and later, I was barely able to push the heavy snow blower onto the trailer alone. The ramp was extremely slippery in the winter. And when the service is done, the whole process repeats again. This way, I loose at least one workday in total just driving back and forth with the trailer. This time does not create value for anyone.
I would have preferred to get the trailer to the workshop earlier, but I have been way too busy at work so I have just postponed it until it became urgent. The consequence of the postponing is that it’ll take I guess 2-3 weeks until the snow blower is back home. And until then, the route of physical exercise is the only option. Which costs valuable time. Yet another factor is that I worked four hours this Sunday, to build up on my flex hours so I could check out from work and drive around with a trailer the next day instead of creating value. This meant four fewer hours that could have been spent with my family, recharging, and resting. Instead, I had to spend some of my energy and mental stamina. That also comes with a cost. And by the way, this whole process is very similar when my lawnmower breaks down or needs some love. In total, this amounts to a couple of whole workdays this year alone, that got cancelled. Instead of creating value.
Anyway, when I arrived at the workshop, I was greeted by a very nice dude who helped me out unloading and arranging the service job. When I am by the counter, I notice a sign that described pickup/delivery service of machinery. I was both extremely frustrated and relieved at the same time. For just 500 Swedish crowns, I could have created value for four hours instead. If I had only known about this service, I wouldn’t have hesitated one millisecond! Very annoying. But also, a great relief, because now I could book the delivery and when the blower is finally finished, it will arrive at my home the next day. How convenient! The helpful dude at the workshop told me that 500 was a good deal, because just the rent of the trailer was 350 crowns. I felt a bit confused inside. Even if the pickup/delivery service would have cost 10X as much, it would still have been a great deal. Because you must consider EVERY factor into that price. What if I would have spent those four hours on business development instead? Then they are worth 10-100X more in the long run. And loss of time spent with my wife and kids are 1000X more valuable still. Well, that time has infinite value honestly. You can earn back lost money, but you will never get one more second with your kids. Knowing that there WILL come a day when my son asks me for the very last time EVER: “Dad, come and play with me” – riding around with a snow blower on a trailer to “save” 500 kr is a bad deal. A really bad deal.
Things are only free if your time has no value.