Recession and Wii

By Harry Sit

I want to buy a Wii. I played a Wii at my sister’s place and I liked it. Now I want to buy one but I can’t find one. Except on eBay, where it’s sold above MSRP, the Wii is out of stock everywhere. When they come into stock, the units are sold out immediately. There are even quite a few Web sites which specifically track when and where Wiis become available. Amazon has a special "Wii watch" text message service. They will send me a text message when they have Wiis in stock. They actually paged me a few times but every time by the time I got to the site they were sold out again. But wait, I thought we are in a recession. How come a toy is so hot in a recession? Don’t we hear in the news people are pulling back their consumption to only the essentials? Apparently that’s not true. They are still buying Wiis. And iPhones. Life goes on well, even in a recession.

2.2% Rewards Card $444 Bonus

Earn 2.2% toward travel on all purchases with Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard. No caps and no foreign transaction fees. 40,000 bonus points if you make $1,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days. $89 annual fee waived in the first year (40,000 bonus miles pay for 5 more years after that). Learn More

Software picked, likely related posts:

Posted on September 4, 2008 under Spending.

Leave a comment

Comments

8 Comments on Recession and Wii

  1. MSJW on September 4, 2008
     

    Love the Wii!!! Just had an awesome birthday complete with Tiger Woods, Mario Cart, and Wii Fit! I am thinking about cancelling our cable though.

  2. simplesimon on September 4, 2008
     

    I think if you do some digging, you can find news articles pointing out that the video game industry has not suffered one bit from this recession/economic downturn. In fact, GameStop’s profits have shot up if I recall correctly. From a financial standpoint, gaming probably cuts a lot of costs if you’re nerdy enough. $60 game that will last you a while vs dinner and a movie ($20 a person?) 2-3 times a month.

  3. Eden on September 4, 2008
     

    Well, we aren’t actually in a recession…maybe a downturn if you want to call it that. But anyway, the people with money to buy a Wii probably aren’t hurting too much these days and the people who can’t afford them will just use a credit card. :)

    I was able to get one within a few days of deciding I wanted one. Same thing with the Wii Fit. You just need to make lots of phone calls. I had great luck with a GameStop in a not-so-popular shopping center. Try to find video game sellers out on the fringe of your town or less popular areas.

  4. John on September 5, 2008
     

    Haiti had riots last spring when a government official figured there can’t be any real poverty, people still have cellular phones!

    I do think what Americans call “essentials” is a little skewed… but if you’re unemployed, and might be some while, a Wii could be just the ticket.

  5. Ted Valentine on September 5, 2008
     

    If the free market price of the wii is higher than MSRP why do you not just pay it. You can afford it.

    PS- I heard McCain was going to offer Wii tax rebates and Obama countered with a Wii windfall tax proposal for the gougers. ;-)

    PPS – Would you count your investment in the Wii as part of your small cap value or commodities allocation? Does that constitute overbalancing? :-P

  6. kristin on September 5, 2008
     

    Strange times indeed

    We are also in a war, make that 2 wars, yet the government gave Americans a tax rebate. Instead of asking for sacrifices to help support these “critical” wars, they give us money with instructions to spend it on toys.

  7. Ducks on November 9, 2008
     

    In case you haven’t gotten one yet, I saw them today at Costco for $245.

  8. TFB on November 9, 2008
     

    Ducks – Thank you for the heads up. No, I haven’t got one yet. I didn’t try too hard either. After waiting this long, I’m not sure if I still want one.

    I think I just found a good solution for reducing impulse spending. Whenever you want to buy something, write it down and wait two months. If after two months you still want it, buy it. If not, you just saved yourself from buying something you won’t want.

Tell me what you're thinking, but please don't spam. See comments moderation policy.