Over 30 years ago, I bought a very well-made pair of Timberland loafers. I didn't take great care of them, but I did oil them now and then. They held up despite my lackadaisical care and rough treatment.
Slowly they became my slip-on shoes for going out to work in the yard (when we had one) or for short walks to the store or the market.
Finally last fall, I realized they needed new soles, so I took them to the shoe repair shop in Covent Garden Market. I was a bit leery of taking them to that outlet because I hadn't been completely pleased with their service previously, but it's a convenient location.
Two days after the shoes were returned to me, the soles started falling off. So I took them back and had them reglued.
Sure as shootin', a couple of months later, the soles were falling off again, and it looked as if the midsoles were in trouble, too. No way was I going to take them back to the place that tried to fix them initially.
Instead I took them to a new shoe-repair outlet conveniently located near the LCBO that is only two blocks away, Coakley's. I am delighted with the results! (I know, this is early, but the work looks mighty good!)
He restitched and patched and cleaned and redyed and reglued and polished the shoes, and all for a less-than-reasonable price. He will surely get my repeat business.
Here is his final product in this photo. I think the shoes will likely last another 30 years...
Note the valuable economic lesson about sunk costs in this story.
It didn't matter what I had paid for the shoes 30 years ago, and it didn't matter what I had paid only a few months ago for the shoddy repair job.
All that mattered was whether paying to have the shoes repaired would give me a pair of shoes that was worth what I would have to pay at Coakley's. The previous costs were sunk costs. But in economics (and life) costs are forward-looking.
Before taking the shoes in for repair this last time, I had to ask myself,
"Do I want to spend $X to have these shoes repaired for the future, or would I rather use those $X for something else?"
What I spent in the past was irrelevant to making this decision.