In article ,

....

*had to*?

Circumstances. Once in the south of England I *had* to buy a roll
of coax from B & Q for three times what it would have cost at my
normal suppliers, because the customer (it was a chain store)
suddenly decided to add another 15 TV points. B & Q was almost next
door, and it was 5pm. Needless to say I marked the cable up from
the B & Q price by 33%.

Likewise I was forced to buy a pack of AAA batteries at the most
ridiculous price from Morrisons because when I visited one of my
more helpless friends in Leeds the batteries in his remote were
flat.

And I once paid a small fortune for one recordable CD. I was in
Limerick and I needed to post some data.

You're trading your time & convenience (which has a cost) against
the inflated price of something you need right *now*. Might be
galling, but sometimes you have no choice. Even then it can be a
winner if you work out the cost of the hassle / inconvenience of
getting a better price.

I use a lot of CR2032 button batteries in various items. Usually
get them in boxes of 10 by by mail order. If I forget to do so,
and have to buy a battery locally, there's no need to stick a GPS
tracking device on my Zimmer frame to trace my route to the local
shops. You can tell my route by the clouds of angry-looking steam
emanating from the top of my head...even so, the need outweighs the
cost.
--
Dennis Davis