did or will tom bihn ever have sales on the bags?

[blackfungi]

will there ever be a sale of some kind? merely curious.

thanks.

yours truly,

blackfungi.

[maverick]

hi blackfungi!

if you mean available for sale, indeed, most of the bags that tom bihn makes are available for sale most all of the time. every so often, a particular bag may go out of stock - but the folks at tom bihn are very good at letting us know via the blog that a given bag is running low on supply or that a bag is back in stock in such and such color combinations.

if you mean discounted in some way, one of the things you have to appreciate with tom bihn is that they want to make these bags as affordable as they possibly can for us. that is apparent in the quality of the bags - and it makes us wonder how they are able to make these bags and offer them for the price that they do.

the answer lies in that there is no other company in the middle that is marking up the price when we buy a tom bihn bag - tom bihn sells directly to consumers. so they can afford to price them the way they do. otherwise, we would easily see a 100% markup on the prices we have today. it also means that they don't have room to discount bags.

so you can take that to mean that tom bihn bags are always discounted and we are able to get them at the prices that are there, or you can take that to mean that tom bihn bags never go on sale. i guess it's looking at the glass as half full or half empty. :-)

[blackfungi]

your answer makes perfect sense. i also think that the price is just about right for something that is lovingly made in america by real people using the best material and accessories and what not.

[flitcraft]

I arrange my own Tom Bihn 'discounts' by re-arranging my budget. For example, I just bought a Ristretto for $120. So, for the next two weeks, I'll be bringing in bag lunches (savings between 6 and 10 dollars per day), and I'll substitute drip coffee or a green tea for the latte I usually get late afternoon when I'm teaching both in the day and on the night shift (savings about a buck and a half to two bucks a pop.) A two week budget reconfiguration saves me about 78 dollars, give or take a fiver.

Woo hoo! I got my Ristretto for less than half price!! ;-)

[Darcy]

That's exactly what I do with many of my purchases, flitcraft.

I've found over the years that valuing quality above quantity makes me happiest.

[maverick]

I arrange my own Tom Bihn 'discounts' by re-arranging my budget. For example, I just bought a Ristretto for $120. So, for the next two weeks, I'll be bringing in bag lunches (savings between 6 and 10 dollars per day), and I'll substitute drip coffee or a green tea for the latte I usually get late afternoon when I'm teaching both in the day and on the night shift (savings about a buck and a half to two bucks a pop.) A two week budget reconfiguration saves me about 78 dollars, give or take a fiver.

Woo hoo! I got my Ristretto for less than half price!! ;-)

hi flitcraft!

that is just great! i applaud your discipline! i've tried making longer term changes like that in life, though not always with success.

i drive down a toll road to get to work, and the round trip toll is $3.50 each day. i use about $3 in gas round trip. plus there is about 30 miles of wear and tear on the car with the commute. so altogether, it probably costs me $20 to drive to work each day.

i discovered a while back that i could take the bus to work for $3 per day round trip. that translates into a savings of $17 / day, 4 days a week (i usually am able to work from home one day a week), 48 weeks a year. that's a savings of $3264 a year. but i couldn't do it - i was so used to driving, having the convenience of coming and going when i wanted.

but i got into riding my bike, so now i take the bus to work and ride back home. i love the ride! and the savings, lesser impact on the environment, and being able to read on the bus are all added benefit.

we probably have another month or 6 weeks before it starts getting colder, and i'm not sure yet if i'll gear up for a cold ride. but i'm loving it so far! and because i've gotten used to riding my bike, i am more open to taking the bus even if i don't want to ride my bike when it's freezing outside.

a couple of months back, i mostly stopped eating out and i either bring lunch from home or pick up groceries and bring them into the office. the motivation again was different from saving money, but again, (i think) that has been an added benefit.

[flitcraft]

I hear ya, maverick. It's really hard to commit to lifestyle changes--whether budgeting, exercising, eating better, driving less, or whatever--over the long haul. That's one reason why I try to hook lifestyle decisions onto other things that I really, really want. Call it an incentive, call it a bribe, call it crazy. But it works for me...

Now if I could just commit to getting out on my bike more often...

[backpack]

I think most of us on the forum have to budget everything, including our Tom Bihn acquisitions.

Over the years, I learned to save for the new color(s) or item(s) launch and add accessories that say "that cool thing is what I was looking for".

One item I ordered without much planning was my cute Storm/Saphire Small Cafe bag.
Well... due to a summer of mostly over 90 degrees with many days in the 100's
my usual Large Cafe Bag/Swift combo was too much, so the Small Cafe Bag went out with the Packing Backpack for Aeronaut.

In other words, a Tom Bihn Bag purchase is an investment.


Edited to say that Maverick has been an inspiration for adding more fruits in my diet.

[blackfungi]

i used to buy a lot of vinyl records online, not anymore. i mean, you can listen only to so much and now with a 1 year old, i barely have the time anymore to sit down and just listen to music. so i am now saving a lot of money by not buying music anymore so that i can buy my tom binh aeronaut with some packing cubes. no hurries. sometime after the new year.

[maverick]

and now with a 1 year old, i barely have the time anymore to...

heh! isn't it amazing how someone so small can completely change your life!

the same thing happened to us 4 and a half years ago.

i have no complaints, no regrets!

[blackfungi]

heh! isn't it amazing how someone so small can completely change your life!

the same thing happened to us 4 and a half years ago.

i have no complaints, no regrets!

thanks maverick for the kind words. yeah, my daughter is a bundle of joy. just wish me good luck on my trip with her and my wife on a 14 hour plane trip to hong kong! good grief! i shall take plenty of photos with my tom binh gear of course.

[maverick]

thanks maverick for the kind words. yeah, my daughter is a bundle of joy. just wish me good luck on my trip with her and my wife on a 14 hour plane trip to hong kong! good grief! i shall take plenty of photos with my tom binh gear of course.

don't worry, she will be fine!

my son's first long haul flight was when he was 2 - about a 4 hour flight cross country. at 3, we went to india, which involved a 14 hour flight from newark, nj to new delhi.

as much as i prefer laying over somewhere in europe and having two 8 or 9 flights to get there, with a kid, it's much better to go non-stop. your daughter will sleep most of the way, specially if the flight leaves in the evening.

pack some fun activities that you can do with her onboard, as well as favorite books. as much as i don't like the idea of kids watching tv, i say pack a dvd player (or ipad, or whatever) for the flight.

i hope you have a most wonderful trip!

[ex machina]

That's exactly what I do with many of my purchases, flitcraft.

I've found over the years that valuing quality above quantity makes me happiest.

Well said, Darcy.