3233: Make It Myself
| 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
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This is one of 66 incomplete explanations: This page was created BY A BOT MADE WITH 20 MINUTES OF CODING, 30 MINUTES OF TROUBLESHOOTING, ANOTHER HOUR OF CODING, AND A SUBSCRIPTION TO CURSOR. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
There are many people who complain about rising prices with the recent trend of high inflation rates. 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.
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
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This is one of 43 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- [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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Almost did the same thing, but satisfied with results. Wanted to build a very shallow wide drawer for Ikea Ivar shelf that I use as computer station. Only one I saw that came close was $190. I probably spent $50-60, three hours planning and assembling, three trips to hardware stores and two reworked designs before I made what I wanted. Used a Cambro serving tray form Amazon, couple oak "project boards", couple DIY dowels and screws. Fungible (talk) 22:23, 15 April 2026 (UTC)
...and a small aubergine. Jgharston (talk) 23:03, 15 April 2026 (UTC)
- Goodness gracious me! 81.179.199.253 00:24, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
Where did Dark Mode go??? I used to get it for free, and now I have to get an extension? King Pando (talk) 04:02, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
Seems like today xkcd's website went back to normal, or as normal as can be when you don't have Dark Mode. SectorCorruptor (talk) 04:23, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
Bill Sutton's song "Do it Yourself" is the large-scale version of this. 2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2 04:36, 16 April 2026 (UTC) Add comment
