How the Greedy Grinches Stole Christmas

Other / Canada

Selfish, self-centred, greedy, mean Grinch

I was going to buy a Nintendo Wii on Sunday (when it’s first released) but after people lined up for the PlayStation 3 more than 48 hours before the release day my chances are very slim.

What really bothers me is that most people who bought the PlayStation 3 today are selling them on ebay for profit. Bids are as high as $3000 so most parents don’t have a chance of buying one. Most of these PlayStation 3s, which were destined to Canada, end up being shipped by these self-centred ebayers to the US and we end up with no PlayStation 3s (and probably Wiis) here! These selfish people didn’t take a second to consider the consequences of their behaviour.

With this sickening greed phenomenon, parents are left with no hope of buying a PlayStation 3 (nor probably a Wii) for their eager children before Christmas 🙁


10 responses to “How the Greedy Grinches Stole Christmas”

  1. frugiedh says:

    OMG. Just looked at all the systems for sale on Ebay. I find this so depressing. The world is truly going crazy.

  2. tommertron says:

    This is just human nature and capitalism. The supply is so limited that not everone who wants one will get one. So even if no one resold the PS3 at all, there would still be unhappy parents who wouldn’t be able to get one. All the resellers are doing is selling the PS3 at its true market price right now.

    Sure, everyone would like to have gold jewellery if they had the chance, but the supply is limited, so the price is high.

    And why is it so essential for parents to get their kids a PS3 at all costs? Any parent who feels they have to spend $800 to make their kid happy I think has their priorities wrong. Kids should know that they can’t and shouldn’t expect everything in life. There’s a lot of fun and creative gifts you can get your kids that don’t cost 800 bucks.

    That being said, I’m getting a Wii!

    Great site by the way – it’s on my RSS list and I find out about a lot of good deals from you.

  3. jimmycanuck says:

    Don’t worry Boo – there were only 400,000 PS3’s. There will be 1 million Wii’s on Sunday, and 4 million by the end of the year. I’d be really surprised if you had a problem pick one up. (those numbers are North America only btw)

  4. Shane says:

    Unbridled consumerism. Frankly, it doesn’t matter in the slightest to me, because if some hard done by rich kids whose parents can afford to fork out every Christmas for the latest and greatest console don’t get one, then maybe they will think for a split second about the grip that greed and envy have on their hearts. Maybe the parents will take a second look at exactly what they were doing, taking their double incomes provided by the latchkey children they have and buying their children’s love with things that will break instead of investing in time that will actually mean something to said children when they grow up.

  5. Boo Radley says:

    frugiedh, did you manage to buy a Wii yesterday?

    tommertron, I agree with you, but before this ebay phenomenon selling gaming consoles wasn’t that easy so typically the consoles ended in the with the right people. I also wonder why Sony didn’t increase their supply. They must have seen this coming!
    thanks for your compliments regarding my blog 🙂
    Did you manage to get a Wii yet?

    Shane, to be honest, I don’t totally agree with your point of view. I don’t think that a parent buying a gaming console is “buying their children’s love”. My parents bought Sega and Ninetendo gaming consoles for me when I was young. That doesn’t mean they bought my love! They still spent almost all of their time taking care of me and teaching me what’s right and what’s wrong, ethics, life, etc. Parents can buy the this gift and still invest in time that will actually mean something to their children when they grow up.
    I don’t see gaming consoles as something meant for rich people only (please correct me if I’m wrong here). Nintendo selling for $279.99 is very reasonable in my point of view. But people selling it on ebay for thousands is unreasonable because it turns into a “rich kids only” device.

  6. […] Some are disgusted at the rampant profiteering represented by people camping out for days to get a Playstation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, only to turn around and sell it on eBay for thousands. It is suggested that we should be angry at these capitalists for investing their own time in obtaining one of a limited supply to re-sell at market value and profit by it, thereby taking the chance from a mom or pop who was just out to fulfill the dreams of their youngsters. […]

  7. frugiedh says:

    No, I did not get a Wii… yet. I really hope I can find one though! I did take my son to the preview at Ontario Place so he was pretty thrilled with it.
    Thanks for your response to “Shane”. I agree with you 100% but I don’t feel any need to defend my desire to buy this for my son OR my parenting. Boo, it sounds like you had exactly the same parents as my son has. Perhaps someday Shane will be a parent and know what if feels like to love someone so much you want to make their wishes come true. My son is prepared that he may not get a Wii for Christmas
    but does he deserve it?- Absolutely, he’s the greatest kid ever.

  8. Shane says:

    Heh. That’s the joy of the internet. Watching people jump to completely uninformed opinions.

    In fact, I have 3 boys. They LOOOVE video games. That is how I know what I know.

    I also am of the age where I grew up with Nintendos and (wait for it…) Atari 2600s. I completely agree that it is possible to buy one of these devices and mean well. And for many parents, they will invest in their kids as well as in a gaming console. However, the people that generally (note: reference to a generalization forthcoming) drive the “mad rushes” to buy the “cool toys” or would go out to eBay and pay $3000 for a $300 device are the ones who are not nice parents like you and me. They are looking to assuage their own guilt, they are looking to one up their ex with the weekend visit with their kids. They are looking to keep their kid(s) busy whilst they pursue their own selfish aims.

    Not all, but enough to drive this market. When I was a kid, we didn’t have mad rushes for gaming consoles. There weren’t massive shortages. There weren’t people reselling them for thousands. The reason: most people spent more time with their kids.

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