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Carrying costs are very important!

Happy Monday! Jim here – how often do we think about the up front costs of things but not the total cost? We may remember them for things like a car, where the total costs are easier to understand. We may even remember them (or at least consider them) on big purchases like a house.

But carrying costs are everywhere.

Carrying costs [Seth Godin’s Blog] – “Announcing the carrying costs up front is a great way to avoid hiding from them.” Total cost is not the same as acquisition cost.

Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior [Next Big Idea Club] – “At its core, a game just has three parts. There are players who choose from some actions and they get payoffs. It really is that simple. To make this game theory, though, we have to add two more things. First, those payoffs are going to depend not just on the player’s choice, but also on what others are doing. Second, there needs to be some sense that the players make their choice optimally. That’s it. That’s game theory in a nutshell.”

This last one is a fictional short story with a powerful message and an interesting thought exercise:
We regret to inform you that your choice of Deathday is no longer available [Nature]