I Used to Love Shopping
I recently bought a new mattress and box spring. Very luxurious, very comfy but very, very high–so high that the delivery men burst out laughing after they put them on the bed. I literally would need to pole vault to get into the bed. After a return trip to the store, I discovered that what I required was a “low-profile” box spring since I had chosen a pillow-top, extra-deep mattress and was putting it on a wood-frame, four-poster bed. What makes this so ironic is that my mattress-shopping experience had already involved more interrogation than an interview at the CIA. The choices and decisions had seemed endless—did I want memory foam, coil-spring, latex, pillow-top, firm, soft, adjustable, etc.? Then, having made a choice, I tried to comparison shop for price—turns out no two mattress retailers call their models the same name so you can’t really compare. So, after all that, I was quite surprised when the bed was taller than I am.
I’m not alone in feeling overwhelmed by all of these choices for household items. One of my colleagues is remodeling her entire house and she is losing her mind choosing hardware, tile, bath fixtures, lighting, flooring and paint. Barry Schwartz, author of “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less,” is also a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College and he makes the point that unbridled choice is a burden and a source of dissatisfaction. He compellingly points out that too many choices leave us feeling that we missed out on the “best” option and that the time and effort necessary to discern the differences between myriad choices is unrealistic. Ultimately, too many choices lead to inertia as no decision becomes the final decision. So how are manufacturers benefiting? I maintain they are not. They are simply making me unhappy and dissatisfied.