So everyday I get tons of emails from Groupon, Travelzoo, LivingSocial, GroopDealz, and probably more that I can't even remember offhand. I have purchased a few deals since signing up for all of these sites and have come to one big revelation: they are costing me a LOT of money! Why is that? Well, you wind up buying things that you would have never thought to spend your money on before. If an activity normally costs $50 you can think to yourself "nah, I don't want to spend the $50" and walk away, spending $0. Then Groupon dooms you by sending a "Wait a minute, now you can get that activity for $25!" and you think to yourself "Ooo, how can I resist?" Therefore Groupon just cost you $25 you wouldn't have spent otherwise.
I have a perfect example for this. Last year I purchased a LivingSocial deal for a group to go bowling ($60) and plans kept falling through so it never quite worked out before the 'deal' expired. Since there was no return option I had to basically take the $60 I spent and throw it right down the drain. It hurt.
Will this prevent me from buying future deals? No, because I am a sucker. Just like reality tv and my IPhone, the Groupon phenomenon has sucked me into its allure of good deals and new activities. Oy vey.
