You, Ken, think nothing of paying $1.29 for 1.4 ounces of Goo Powergel — which works out to the same price, roughly, as the Zen Crunch, per pound (shy of $16 by pennies). And for my money, I’d much prefer the flavor of the nutty crunch than the goo.

Keeping with the bike theme, I wouldn’t spend what you have for a bike no matter what, when mine, that is is 1/4th the price of yours at least, suffices me and gets me the same distance (when I ride, of course) as you — so it is, as Lori said, what you place value on.

Matt’s tomatoes are costing him a fortune – and there are lots o folks who would laugh at him for it — but he’s getting a lot of mileage out of the satisfaction of growing and eating his own food.

I am a coffee snob. I can no longer drink the brands my mom and did — even though it pains me to pay $7-$9 a pound for coffee, I do it because I want it. It’s value to me to have good coffee in the morning.

I went to your web site, browsed for a product, added the product to my shopping cart, browsed for another product, added that to my shopping cart and then finally went to check out. I did everything except for enter a credit card number. (A buck an ounce? Really?)

At no point in the process did I feel an extreme level of personal customer service. Come to think of it, I’m not sure what an extreme level of personal customer service might involve.

Actually, having just read the Palm Beach Post at lunch, maybe I do know what an extreme level of customer service might involve. This lady got arrested for providing what the Delray Beach police might describe as extreme level of personal customer service.

Cheers,
Matt

http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/2009/01/19/the-surly-long-haul-trucker-is-a-peterbilt-not-a-ferrari/

You can keep your BMW. Its price per pound is also a lot higher than my Surly’s.

At $16 a pound, I couldn’t afford to fuel my Surly’s engine with Zen Rabbit.

To each his (or her) own. If you’ve found a business model that works, go for it. I’m just not part of it.

Two, there’s a difference between COST and VALUE. Everything Zen Rabbit does comes with added value. For example, we might throw in a couple of extra Gratitude Cookies with your Zen Crunch order. We provide an extreme level of personal customer service, something not a lot of businesses do anymore.

If all cars can get you from point A to point B, why do some people choose a Kia while others prefer the more expensive BMW? Comes down to value. What do you value?

I quit buying snacks from vending machines when I did the math and realized I was paying prime rib prices for peanuts.

Wow.