My boss wants the 5550; whats in it for me?

[manoosie]

My boss wants the 5550 with all the accesories. I am a college student and therefore have CHEAP ingrained in me. I am looking for a 256 secure digital card myself(not scandisk), and i know there must be a way to get this disk cheap with all the crap i am going to buy. Anyone know of deals or ways to make adding other products to this buy cheaper? They would be hard to find becuase the product is so new, but i know they are out there if hp is anything like dell. Thanks for the help guys...

[jd4science]

I know this doesn't save much, but since YOU are a college student, you can get it at a discounted price. There is a few huge threads about the discount for the 2210, but the same principal aplies. With the discount, the 5555 is $636??? I know it isn't much, but every little bit helps. Here is a link. Follow the instructions for finding the lower price, but choose the 5555 instead of the 2210. Here are the instructions, c/o Enderet:


Go to Compaq.com

Under Online Shopping, select Government and Education

Then click on either k-12 or Higher Ed.... it doesnt make a diff.

On the right you will see Choose your State... click on it

After choosing your state... click on National Education Price List

then under computing click on handhelds

After you click on handhelds you will see a picture of one of the older iPaqs...click on it.

Now you will be in a page with all of the models... scroll down and look for the 2210.

Click on it.

There you go... now all you need to do is add it to your basket.

Also, here is a link to a thread by enderet on Brighthand:

http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81832

Also, have you checked Ebay for some good deals? I'm sure you could find brand new memory cards on there, for a lot lower prices.

Hope this helps,
Justin.

[Kati Compton]

Though the educational price is really only for those actually in the educational system....

[jd4science]

True, but he said he's a college student. However, if you won't be the main user, then you really shouldn't abuse the system.

[Kati Compton]

True, but he said he's a college student. However, if you won't be the main user, then you really shouldn't abuse the system.
I saw that, but it's for the boss. If the boss works for the school, great. If not, well...

[jd4science]

I saw that, but it's for the boss. If the boss works for the school, great. If not, well...

Okay, I re-read it. Yep, again, you're right. Next time I will read it a little slower. So then the cheaper price probably wouldn't affect you. As for a bundle, maybe if you shop around, some websites sell bundles of stuff.

Justin

[rberry88]

I know what you guys are saying about not abusing the educational promotional side of these discounts but I must voice my somewhat lopsided opinion on this.

/flame bait on:

My story is that I'm 33 years old and a rather happy business owner that makes an alright living. Do I wish I made more money? Damn right, doesn't everyone?? I'm happy with what I have built from the ground up and continue to progress for 4 years now with no real complaints. Now the 'on-topic' part of this falls in as such: My wife of 6 years went back to college 3 years ago (she only took a couple of night classes after high school graduation), she went back to get a degree in the biological sciences field to better her work options and career choices. During this time I've spent ALOT of money on her schooling (tuition, books, donations etc) since we do not qualify for grants or aid. We are not struggling to pay our bills by any means but I feel we have siphoned enough money into the educational system as it is. Now my wife is not that much of an electronics geek as I am so she uses her "educational discount privledge (sp?)" when I want to purchase things. In this way, we purchased Win XP Pro, Office XP w/ Front Page and other items (software & hardware) at discounted prices and they are mostly (90%) for my personal use. Does this abuse the educational promotional discounts available, I don't think so. Are we hurting anyone by doing this, I don't think so. We've put plenty of time, effort, and money into the educational systems that we both attended ( I graduated college in '92) and we feel that we fit right into the category that these discounts are targeted at. Now a couple years down the road I won't feel this way unless one of us is still in school or back to school but right now, damn right I'll get what I paid for.

/flame bait off

I don't mean to sound like someone owes me something but these programs are there for purposes other than people seem to notice on the surface, just ask any large corporation human resources manager when it comes time to pay employess tuition compensation.

rberry88

[Kati Compton]

I agree that there are other reasons people should get discounts. Part of it is me being (admittedly) selfish and not wanting companies to get rid of educational discounts because some people might abuse it. The other part is that I don't know what a better solution would be. It's too complex to have pricing based on a last income tax statement... <shrug>

As for sharing discounts with spouses and/or underpaid family members - I don't know why, but this doesn't really bother me. It's when it gets out of the immediate family that it does. Can I explain myself here? Not really.

But one of my top 2 sins is hypocrisy, so YMMV. :)

[Jason Dunn]

I know what you guys are saying about not abusing the educational promotional side of these discounts but I must voice my somewhat lopsided opinion on this.

I'm with ya' brother. :way to go: There's always a grey area here, and I personally don't seen any problem with what you're doing.

[Pony99CA]

Now my wife is not that much of an electronics geek as I am so she uses her "educational discount privledge (sp?)" when I want to purchase things. In this way, we purchased Win XP Pro, Office XP w/ Front Page and other items (software & hardware) at discounted prices and they are mostly (90%) for my personal use.

As long as she does use the stuff you buy, I don't think you're doing anything wrong (unless the program has a provision that says the items are primarily for the use of the student). Some plans may even have provisions for the families of students.

However....

I don't mean to sound like someone owes me something[....]
But you do. Just look at this:

We are not struggling to pay our bills by any means but I feel we have siphoned enough money into the educational system as it is.
It sure sounds like you feel they owe you for "siphoning" money into the system (that your wife chose to use). :roll:

Let's look at it another way. You said you own a business, but weren't specific about what kind. Let's assume you have a business that offers a senior citizen discount. Now assume an elderly lady bought something at your business and got the discount. Suppose you later found out that she had just given it to her son because he didn't want to pay full price. How would you feel?

You say nobody has lost anything, but the truth is that you've lost some money because of that. If the woman isn't using the product herself, it's no different than if her son bought your product and, while you weren't loking, took the discount amount from your cash register.

Again, I am not saying that you have done anything wrong; I don't know what the terms of your wife's discount are. If she actually uses what she bought, you're probably OK. Just check if you are complying with the letter of the discount agreement; if you aren't, think about how you would react if you were the person selling the goods.

Steve

[rberry88]

Ok, maybe siphoned was a bad choice of words there but the only thing I expect from them is a quality education system, hence the reasons for my donations that I have made to the city of Chicago and DePaul University. I am a true believer of: You get out of what you put into.

rberry88

PS: I own a mortgage brokerage firm. :)

[Mike Temporale]

PS: I own a mortgage brokerage firm. :)

Nice. The best thing I ever did was call that mortgage broker. She was extremely helpful, did all the shopping around for us, and just returned the top 3 mortgages for us to select from.

Back on topic...

... Let's assume you have a business that offers a senior citizen discount. Now assume an elderly lady bought something at your business and got the discount. Suppose you later found out that she had just given it to her son because he didn't want to pay full price. How would you feel?

I don't think thats a fair comparison. I can think of many department stores that offer a seniors discount. There is no way a store could possible belive that my daugthers great grandmother is buying that baby's outfit for herself. :roll:


Again, I am not saying that you have done anything wrong; I don't know what the terms of your wife's discount are. If she actually uses what she bought, you're probably OK. Just check if you are complying with the letter of the discount agreement; if you aren't, think about how you would react if you were the person selling the goods.


I agree. She may only have to use it once. ;)

[Pony99CA]

... Let's assume you have a business that offers a senior citizen discount. Now assume an elderly lady bought something at your business and got the discount. Suppose you later found out that she had just given it to her son because he didn't want to pay full price. How would you feel?
I don't think thats a fair comparison. I can think of many department stores that offer a seniors discount. There is no way a store could possible belive that my daugthers great grandmother is buying that baby's outfit for herself. :roll:
Ummm, why isn't it fair? I made no mention of the type of goods being sold nor the type of store, so your counterexample is logically flawed (attacking a straw man).

The point is that there's a term when somebody not entitled to a discount gets someone who is entitled to it to buy something -- fraud. I hope you're not claiming otherwise.

Steve

[manoosie]

uhh a little off topic, but interesting none the less. Ok, my boss is an attorney with BUTT LOADS OF MONEY :beer: , so he really doesnt care about saving a few bucks. I am looking for a bundle deal, something for ME. He also needs a lot of other stuff, like the keyboard and he wants a wireless newtwork in his house. So with me getting all this stuff, there has to be some kind of bundle deal, cash back, get this and get this discount deal? Dont you think?

[Kati Compton]

I guess we really railroaded the conversation, then... Sorry. I don't know of any "Get 3 ipaqs for the price of 2" deals or anything like that. Anyone else?

[Pony99CA]

I guess we really railroaded the conversation, then... Sorry. I don't know of any "Get 3 ipaqs for the price of 2" deals or anything like that. Anyone else?
Probably the best thing is to go to a retail store and try to negotiate a price. Don't expect much more than 10% off; 20% would be incredible. If they're willing to do that, ask them to apply the discount to just the items for personal use (so the boss will pay full price).

Steve

[szamot]

Don't abuse the system? People wake up and smell the coffee - if MCI WorldCOM and Enron could do it surely a $20 discount on the new IPAQ is not going to kill corporate America. Use it, abuse and feel good about, the system is there to be used, just define what shade of grey area you are comfortable with and run with it. :twisted:

[Kati Compton]

I have never liked the argument that "everybody else is doing it"

[szamot]

I did not say do it because everyone else is doing it, if everyone else was jumping off the bridge I would not be doing it, unless of course it was burning or something. However, having said that, even in a totally Utilitarian state there is room for exceptions, so long as the greatest common good is achieved that's all that matters. Now, if the government who hates competition more than anyone else, or a large corporate entity like HP allows for a bit of grey why not take them up on it, after all if it was illegal or strictly controlled and enforced they would make you type in passwords, give urine sample and a pint of blood for a good measure - but they don't. I say - save the $20.00 and sleep well at night. Guilt is a horrible thing to content with - so just get rid of it. Or you can use Enron formula and assume you will be buying this for $50.00 less in 2 months so really you are making $25.00/month over the next 2 months, plus interest and dividends and whatever else fits on your balance sheet and suddenly you are a millionaire. I should have been an accountant.

[manoosie]

Well, the best i have found so far has been like 30 bucks off buy.com or something like that. There has to be something better out there...