Last Year on the Green · February: The Lessons Already Paid For
The idea: money already spent cannot be got back by spending more; decide by what is still ahead, and price the exit as it really is.
Read it
Who is in this book
- Fee An early-termination fee prices leaving so it feels too expensive from ClauseDojo
- Cancel How you actually get out, and that a fair, symmetric exit is not a trap from ClauseDojo
- Danya a child of the Green Asks "how do we know?"
- Marcus A budget is a plan for what the money is for, before it arrives from LedgerQuest
- Devon Every yes costs the next-best thing you could have done with that time or money from LedgerQuest
- Tara a child of the Green Listens longest, speaks last
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
- A sunk cost is money (or time) that has already been spent and cannot be got back whatever you decide next. Economists advise leaving sunk costs out of a decision; people often find this hard, and keep going with something because of what they have already put in. Source
- The opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the next-best thing you give up to make it. Source
- In the case, ten lessons at £35 cost £350; four taken leave six worth £210, refunded as £180 after a £30 fee. Six lessons at £38 cost £228, £48 more than the refund. Six lessons a fortnight apart take twelve weeks.
Stretched
- In the case, the refund and the choice of instructor are settled in one afternoon. What we simplified: Driving schools set their own terms for blocks of lessons, refunds and fees, and prices vary from town to town. Read the terms of the school you book with, and keep a copy.
Made up
- Gale's Driving School, its terms, Mr Gale, Ms Achebe, Juno's lessons and Tara's test date are made up. The idea of a sunk cost is real.
Tara’s sentence
The case stops where Tara speaks. Write the sentence you would have said. It stays on this device.
Kept.
Your sentence lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.