[Wii filter] too scarce at Christmas?

parilous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:12:57 -0800

[Wii filter] Is it going to be impossible to find the Wii right before Christmas? Should we wait until after Christmas to get it? Is it still in high demand? Are there new online resources to find Wii systems for sale? My niece has been saving her $10/weekly allowance to get a Wii. She started saving after her birthday in July and now has $120 saved. We plan on paying her for her amazing grades (she's on the honor roll!), but only about $80. So, by the time she's saved $350 (15 weeks from now), it will be RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

We want her to learn delayed gratification and the importance of saving money up for something you want, rather than buying it on credit. For that reason, I'm reluctant to purchase it for her in advance; I'd rather she had to walk up to a cashier and hand over the money herself. But when she finally has enough money, I want her to be able to buy it -- not be on a waiting list for another month.

So, should we advance her on the money to get it before Christmas, or should we just wait until after Christmas?

Assuming you suggest we buy it now, when will they start getting tougher to find -- right after Thanksgiving? Or are they getting more scarce now? Do I have time to wait until she's saved a bit more money, or do I have to start calling around now?

Assuming you suggest to wait until after Christmas, when will they start being available again? Will the idea of waiting until after Christmas be too disappointing to her, negating any lesson she may have learned about delayed gratification?

We're in Tucson, AZ and would prefer not to drive to Phoenix but will do what is necessary if it means she gets her Wii with her own money. I'd rather not spend the night in line outside a retail establishment, however.

Thanks.

Why are hybrid vehicles so scarce?

middleclasstool — Sat, 31 May 2008 09:45:18 -0800

Why are hybrid vehicles so hard to find? My wife and I are new car shopping and have set a limit of ~30mpg as the minimum for fuel efficiency. Thing is, it's hard to find a non-hybrid that gets that unless it's small, and we've got one baby with a rear-facing seat and another planned for next year, so we'd like some extra leg room to accommodate them.

Enter the Ford Escape Hybrid. 34/30 mpg, the only hybrid SUV that gets mileage that good and is decently priced, appears to have decent room, and could actually be used to haul some stuff from time to time, which is a plus. We love the idea, want to test drive one.

Except nobody has them. I've checked dealers in Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Tulsa, and even Dallas. No dealer websites show them in inventory. My wife called a local dealer to ask about this, and was informed that they couldn't even order one for us if we wanted. They are literally nearly impossible to find in the US. Some cursory Googling tells us that other hybrid vehicles ain't much better.

So here's the question: why? Especially in a market where US automakers are struggling, if there's demand that high for your product, why are you not making more of them? The economics of this evades me -- what does creating artificial scarcity do for them financially, when they could just flat-out sell more cars? Is it artificial scarcity, or are they just seeing a bigger run on their vehicles than they anticipated? If it's the latter, why not ramp up production pronto?

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[Wii filter] too scarce at Christmas?

Why are hybrid vehicles so scarce?