My Money Saving Plan; Spend, Spend, Spend… November 16, 2006
Posted by John Hodson in : General, DVD e-tailers, DVD News & Info , trackbackMy brand spanking new policy of trying to avoid buying too many films that will appear at a later date - at a fraction of the price - in box sets, and which I discussed in this post, has coincided with the 20% off sale at Deepdiscountdvd.com, where, having been careful with the pennies of late in anticipation, I’ve had a bit of a splurge.
As outlined on my ‘Bought & Watched’ page, I’ve been suckered into buying - beg pardon - used my newly acquired financial acumen to purchase The Paul Newman Collection, The Gary Cooper Signature Collection, and The Marlon Brando Collection in DDD’s sale for the simple reason that the 20% off offer brought all three sets (not including p&p obviously, which does not come into the equation for customs until you exceed the limit) under the £18 ‘VAT-free’ customs ceiling (£18? Gordon Brown - and prudence - are having a larf!)
Thus I’ll be avoiding a further £7-£8 per parcel bill, £4 of which is the Royal Mail’s outrageous, painful - just plain criminal - ’handling’ charge. I mean, they pop a card through my door and I have to drive five miles to their depot for the pleasure of queuing, handing over their ransom and then collecting the damned things myself. And the chap on the other side of the counter isn’t even wearing a mask (though he may be riding Black Bess for all I know…) Handling fee - pshaw!
It also means I hopefully won’t have to put up with a delay of anything up to a fortnight while the civil servants at Mount (Un)Pleasant stick my parcels in a corner (as they get their abacus out), before they pass them on to the posties, who stick ’em in another corner and stare at them. For days. Well, just because they can, I reckon.
I also took the opportunity to nab the Warner Legends of Horror Collection, tagging on Paramount’s Oh! What a Lovely War to the same order, the two coming to well under the customs limit. I’d been mulling over getting Universal’s Cary Grant Screen Legends Collection, but I finally caved and, again - so I had a cost efficient customs beating parcel - added Charley Varrick and another bargain (I’m really quite good at convincing myself I’m somehow saving money am I not?), the almost Criterion worthy release from the former sub-Criterion label Home Vision, of the quirky British film, The Rocking Horse Winner.
I’d railed against Universal’s piss-poor release of Siegel’s excellent crime flick (or is it a chase? Or a caper? Well, maybe not quite a caper…); they just tossed it out onto the market like some love starved orphan (the swine) open-matte, no menu, no chapter stops to be seen, no extras (obviously). No passion, sometimes Universal.
At least it is open-matte, and since it was released, I’ve acquired the combination of an Oppo DVD player and Toshiba LCD screen which means that, much to my astonishment, even half-decent transfers scale up quite nicely - so I should be able to watch the film in decent OAR. Well, here’s hoping, and it does come in at under $5. So if I have to turn it into a coaster (or a cat scarer, or a frisbee), there’s not too much damage done.
Oh, and I chucked in the Criterion The Fallen Idol from CDWow simply because I had a soon to expire £2 voucher. More money, er, invested (Mrs H’s word - the madness is catching)! Fiscal genius, I tells ya!
All that money I’ve saved. By spending it. Brilliant. (Ah, isn’t it…?)
Meanwhile, the DDD 20% off sale ends November 23 (it should have been Nov. 18, but it’s been extended. Sadists), which can’t come soon enough for us ’savers’ and card holding members of DVD’s Anonymous. The bad news is that there will most likely be another Spring / Summer ‘07; if I keep saving money at this rate, I’ll soon be bankrupt.
By the way, those of you who love their classic films, and love them even better in a sale or on special offer, could do worse than visit The Classic Cinema & DVD Forum Bargain Thread for up to date offers on classic films. If, however, like me, you’re saving money, then please stay well clear…it’s bad for your wealth.
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