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| Make It Myself |
 Title text: It's not as big a loss as it looks, because now I have have leftover supplies, which will help me talk myself into doing this all over again with a new project! |
Explanation
There are many people who complain about the retail price of items (especially, but not only, after rising prices such as with the trend of high rates of inflation occuring at around the time of this comic). People sometimes claim that they could make something themselves, thinking it will be quick and easy. Instead, Cueball reflects real life by listing the actual effort he would expend on such a project. In total, Cueball spends $60 (and 5-6 hours of "labor") creating his replacement, and then ends up just buying the one in the store because his do-it-yourself replacement breaks sooner than the engineered product. This means that Cueball actually lost $60 on this venture, as well as at least a few hours and several trips to the store. And most people aren't as technically capable as Cueball (or as irrationally confident as Cueball is about his technical capabilities), so may not even be able to start to consider the self-built item.
The title text has Cueball compensating for his losses by deluding himself into believing that the leftover supplies will help him with a future project. This could be the case depending on the supplies. When deciding whether to do work personally versus paying for a product or service, a common dilemma is that the DIY approach requires specialized tools and/or buying a larger amount of material than one will need. There may not be a future personal project requiring a specialized drill bit or 46 leftover screws, in which case the leftovers will gather dust until they are thrown out or sold off at a steep discount. If Cueball was determined enough to put the leftovers to use, he might offer to create improved versions of his solution for other people, gradually amortizing the up-front costs and ultimately creating a competing product years later. Barring major cost-saving innovations, that new product might end up costing a similar amount to the original. If the original's price was inflated, the two products might drive down each other's prices through competition.
Transcript
- [Cueball and White Hat stand together looking at two boxes on the right side of the frame. Cueball is holding his arms out toward the boxes.]
- Cueball: They want $80 for this?
- Cueball: I could make one myself for $10 in parts, an hour of work, a trip to the hardware store, another $30 in parts, another few hours of work, two more trips to the store for $20 more in parts, another hour to redo the first hour of work because I messed up, and $80 to buy this when the one I made breaks.
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