Are You A Maximizer Or A Satisficer?
My coffee maker died a slow death recently. One morning I woke up to a half-brewed carafe and wondered what was up. Three days later the buttons started getting wonky. Two days after that she laid down, gone forever.
I bought her in 2003 for $19.99.
So what did I do? I found the almost identical model and bought it, for $29.99. This slightly updated model is still old but after some searching I found a website that had it. You know the saying, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And if it does break and it gave you immense value at a great price for 18 years, why go with something else?
I’m clearly a satisficer.
Is That Even A Word?
I wasn’t sure “satisficing” was a word either till I heard it mentioned on a podcast. Sure as hell it is. Psychology Today describes satifisers thusly:
Satisficers are individuals who are pleased to settle for a good enough option, not necessarily the very best outcome in all respects.
In many aspects of life, this is me. This definition describes me especially well when it comes to non-food consumer items.
not rocket surgery…
Which takes me back to the coffee maker. The process of making drip coffee isn’t rocket surgery, it’s very very simple. All I ask besides a basic drip capability is a timer so I can set the coffee maker to have my blessed brain juice ready before I wake up.
This is simple stuff. What more do I need besides that? A pricier model will not give me more enjoyment, as I recently graphed scientifically. There are drip coffee makers that sell for over $400, but in the end they still make coffee the same way. And I doubt they’d last 18 years like my humble Mr. Coffee model did.
My blog buddy Mr. Freddy Smidlap commented that he has a $200 coffee maker that streams live video of it brewing to his $1200 iPhone. He’s joking of course, but if such a thing existed I bet it would sell. I might just invent that and get rich(er).
The bottom line is that satisficers try to adhere to what the Happy Philosopher wrote about years ago in his “fork-utility-happiness” example. Once the utility of a thing has been maximized, why buy a more expensive version of that thing?
The Maximizer
My next door neighbor is the opposite of a satisficer. He’s a maximizer. According to the same article above:
Maximizers are people who strive to get the very best out of every decision…… Maximizers rely heavily on external sources for evaluation. Rather than asking themselves if they enjoy their choice, they are more likely to evaluate their choice based on its reputation, social status, and other external cues. In contrast, a satisficer asks whether her college choice is excellent and meets her needs, not whether it is really “the best.”
My neighbor is seen. Early this year he saw me vacuuming my car and was complaining about the $400 dyson vacuum that he bought that broke after a few years. My little $40 Black & Decker Dustbuster has been doing well for 5 or 6 years now, although the battery doesn’t last as long. But it still sucks, which is good for a vaccum 🙂
My neighbor pays maximum for seemingly everything, and always wants “the best”. I don’t know for sure but I’m 95% certain he has a Vitamix blender, he’s their main demographic. I have a Hamilton Beach blender that I bought in 2005 for around $30 that still works like a champ. And I use it numerous times a week.
If you want to achieve financial independence these things add up. Let’s just say I highly doubt my neighbor is on the road to financial independence.
Second Guessing
Here’s a fascinating data point about maximizers and satisficers from the Psychology Today article:
Overall, maximizers achieve better outcomes than satisficers. For example, a study found that recent college graduates with high maximizing tendencies accepted jobs that paid 20% higher starting salaries than their satisficing peers. Despite higher salaries, however, these maximizing students were less satisfied with the jobs they accepted. Why? Once maximizers have made a choice, they are likely to second guess themselves and wonder whether they could have made a better choice. They are more prone to making social comparisons in order to gauge the optimality of their decisions.
The bold highlighting is mine but to me it gets to the meat of the matter. Maximizers are “keep up with the Jones’s” people. They care too much about what others think of them based on their possessions, choices, and lifestyle.
Constantly second guessing purchases or choices and pondering if a different or supposedly better option will score more points on the social comparison scale sounds like a horrendously miserable existence to me.
Generic Monk
boring and amazing at the same time
You might be wondering – “Hey Dave, a $20 coffee maker and $30 blender sound boring, it seems like you live the life of a generic monk. Do you ever buy anything nice?”
I think of the thousands of times I’ve used my blender and holy crap it worked flawlessly every time. I just plug it into the wall and hit a button and vroom, shit gets blended. C’mon man, that defines nice.
My Mother grew up in a world that didn’t have these things, get some perspective. I think people in developed countries need to step back and objectively look at how amazing life is in 2021 (pandemic aside) and how amazing all of the gadgets and devices that we have actually are.
So if you ask why I didn’t buy a “nice” coffee maker I would kindly suggest that the one I just bought which has a timer and makes perfect coffee and hopefully will last another 18 years is really nice. That’s the satisficer mentality.
Now when it comes to climbing and mountaineering gear, or other outdoor toys that have a crucial job of keeping me alive, I don’t skimp. I buy the good stuff. But I’m still smart and wait for big sales, use camelcamelcamel to get the best price, or sometimes buy a “last years model” when new stuff comes out.
I also don’t skimp much on food, but then again a can of sardines in water (not toxic processed soybean or vegetable oil) is really cheap and about as healthy as you can get.
Your Turn – Knowing what you now know financial warrior, are you a maximizer or a satisficer?
Sadly I think I would fall under the maximizer category more often than not (I have a blendtec blender by the way. Lol).
My philosophy was the more expensive an item is the better built it must be and should last longer than a cheaper alternative. As you pointed out clearly that is not the case. My blendtec blender btw has been going on for over 10 years and is used daily
Have to agree electronics is one area where the false economy of a cheaper item seems all too common. I always go for more trusted brands but try not be swung by extra features and new models
The electronics landscape is so vast and expanding it’s impossible to keep up. The trend that I hate is the super-cheap “meant to be disposable” segment though, it’s such a waste of resources on the planet
I kinda guessed u were a maximzer Doc. But with a doctors salary you can do that and still achieve Fi anyway 🙂
heh, we have a blendtec too, but selected by my spouse who worked many years as a barrista and purchased when we started demanding more power from our blender/were no longer satisfied by chunky bits in our smoothies.
I mostly qualify as a maximizer but struggle with it because I’m also hesitant to spend money on most anything. But i have an electric kettle, chemex, travel pour over, french press and phin for making coffee. All except the kettle and travel pour over were purchased used and all used regularly.
I guess I temper my maximizer qualities but adjusting what my taste and preferences define “the best” to be. I live in an old house that still needs fixing up and drive an old subaru because old brick house is a better buy for me than a new vinyl clad one, and the car still works so no need to replace.
I have a brick house from the 1950’s and there ain’t no worry of it being blown over 🙂
“Once the utility of a thing has been maximized, why buy a more expensive version of that thing?”
This is a simple question I ask myself all the time! If it works just the same as a more expensive model why pay extra? Some people are motivated by branding more than functionality which I can understand… To a point. But don’t compare yourself or what you have to someone else. That will always be a losing argument.
Being motivated by brands to me is creepy, because it shows how much advertising can be embedded and indoctrinated into one’s mind. That’s scary
I think the key is what you said about your climbing gear. In areas of great importance you want to push for quality. Your marriage, your career, your relationships are all things where you shouldn’t settle for good enough. But coffee makers (I don’t drink coffee) and blenders, yeah, there isn’t much downside to going with the minimum functional choice. I have no idea how old our little toaster oven thing is, but it still works. Same for the television we rarely watch.
Steve, steve, steve… you need to drink coffee. I don’t trust those who don’t. Haha 🙂
ha, i think we have a mr. coffee too. works great. we also still use an antique hand-me-down cheese grater and a hand crank meat grinder that look to be from the 1930’s. one thing i can’t stand is trying to buy a less known “new to me” product based off reviews from a bunch of rubes. how do i know they value the same characteristics as me? being a maximizer does seem like a miserable existence of second guessing.
even for some high dollar stuff like buying an investment i try not to agonize too much. do a little homework and pull the trigger! if it turns out less than perfect we correct and move on. how do you choose a guitar when you buy one?
Oh guitars… that’s a complex subject. I’ve bought almost all of my guitars used, and when doing that it’s a bit similar to a used car shopping experience. There’s a way to look up approx value, and then of course you get hands on it and play it before you buy. And in some cases there’s known flaws with say pickups on an electric guitar, but those are pretty easily replaceable so many folks buy the guitar for the body, the wood, and the neck action, but then change out the electronics or other parts. I could go on but you get it. Brands in guitars do matter somewhat, but it’s mostly down the to the wood, the pickups, and the action that gets the sounds.
I am 100% a satisficer, in part for the reasons you stated: I just can’t see paying more when I just need something simple. I recently replaced a 10 year old daily-use hairdryer with its current counterpart, spending about $5 more than I had 10 years ago. I have no regrets. But I also suffer from decision fatigue. The amount of time and effort required to research and seek out the “best” of something is more than I have the time or energy for.
Decision fatigue is real. That’s why I love Trader Joes/Aldi and hate stores like Wegmans. I get overwhelmed by those massive stores with 30 choices of everything. It stresses me out
Dave, I fall into both categories depending upon the situation. With things that are utilitarian and serve a simple task, I sacrifice for what is good enough. However, for things that are my passions, I am an optimizer.
My tendencies to second guess myself drive me crazy, and I have done much work on my ego to fix this. Nevertheless, it is an ebb and flow.
I guess we all ebb and flow somewhat I do too. But I spend most of my time on the satisficer side, which helped me become rich 🙂
I’d consider myself a maximized Satisficer. I purchase value aka highest possible quality at lowest possible price. For things that a immaterial such as ziplock bags, I get the cheapest possible. For most “life” high-use items I’m usually end up purchasing in the intermediate range. For a few things, it’s always the highest quality possible despite the price. BUT, just like my investing, I’m a “buy & hold” guy, meaning I’ll keep the item until it no longer functions and only then will I replace it. A good example is the 8-year old iPad I recently replaced.
Yes! Buy and hold is important for stuff as much as it is for investing. And of course for the planet, it helps there too
Is there a middle option? I rarely buy the cheap stuff due to perceived or actual longevity issues. But I also never buy the most expensive item as I only have to satisfy base requirements. My coffee maker is 200 dollars, but it’s a espresso machine. Our vacuum is a mid dyson. The vacuum is older then my blog…You get the point..
Oh yeah, like everything in life this is a grey scale the way I see it. And espresso machines aren’t cheap, so yours seems like a reasonable one!
Thanks for another thought provoking post Dave! The middle path always seems to be the way to go, maybe a satisficer could also be described as someone that seeks balance? I’ve had an Aeropress for around 8 years now and it still works wonders, has been fantastic for camping too. Even less moving parts to go wrong, although no timer unfortunately!
Oh man, if we could somehow figure out how to hook up an Aeropress to a timer we’d make bank! I love my Aeropress on car camping trips especially, it makes such great coffee and it’s such a simple device. Thanks for stopping by!
I waffle depending on the item. For electornic assessories, I’ll go on ebay to buy an adapter cable to save $5 vs ordering from Amazon even it might be of slightly lower quality (but good enough) and takes 2 weeks to arrive. I bought a “middle option” replacement electric toothbrush base. I tried the cheapest Sonicare replacement base for $20 but didn’t like it. So I returned it and went with a “better” base with more strokes/min and 2 vibration modes and am happy (my old one had 2 modes). I skipped the 4 mode option since I didn’t want to pay $75 vs the $40 I paid for my 2 mode one. On the maximizing end, I’m willing to send my kid to an elite college (assuming he can get in) and likely spend around $300k for his 4 years. I know darn well that our flagship State U will give him about equal opportunities post graduation at half the price but I’m OK spending the money partly to “show-off” (look how well I raised my kid, look how smart my kid is, yada, yada).
Right-balancing when to sacrifice or maximize relative to income/wealth allows you to spend “dumb” at times when you want to. IMO, it’s not the actual amount of the purchase, but the mindset. If you have a good frame of mind, process and discipline when approaching your purchase decisions, that’s what’s most important.
“spend dumb”, I like that term. I mean, I hope my post doesn’t make it seem like I’m perfect and I’ve never spent dumb. I have for sure, but I think I’ve done it way less than most Americans, especially those in my salary bracket. Thanks for the great comment
Well, I’m guessing since I read this post on a circa 2014 smartphone, I am a satisficer. And I am mad that my provider said I have to get a new one because it will no longer work on the network starting next year…so maybe a miser? Lol.
Nice job, a seven year old phone! I don’t think you’re a miser
Would you like a $20 luxury splurge? Get a Alexa enabled smart plug and ditch that dinosaur of an internal timer. You can tell your fancy Alexa to start making coffee from bed, or schedule it through the Alexa app. Different start times for weekdays vs weekends. Have it automatically kill power to the coffee maker at the same time every day. Turn off the schedule from the airport when you forget to do it before leaving.
I’ve worked in intelligence my whole career, and putting and installing a listening device in my house that can monitor all sounds 24X7 and give access to a big tech company so they can track my patterns of life and sell my data…. not in my future 🙂 But I realize these
spying devicesproducts are popular, and everyone has to make their own decisions.I have never even head of the word “satisficer”. When I type it, your site wants to auto-correct.
I had not heard it either until on a podcast, but sure enough – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/satisfice
You always give us readers food for thought. Sadly, I have grown into a maximizer with increasing net worth. In my early 20s, I bought one of those cheap can openers from either Dollar Store or Walmart for probably a few bucks. They didn’t have rubber grips and wasn’t sharp but did the job after some coercion. I finally went and bought a nice OXO can opener similar to this one https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Can-Opener/dp/B00004OCJW. It costs 3X as much but I love it and still have it decades later. Yes, they both accomplish the same thing but the latter is in a category I call “life enhancer”. :). My crock pot recently died after 2 decades of use. Yes, I could buy a replacement for $20. Instead, I bought an InstantPot for $80 which does the same thing and more.
We all inflate our luxuries somewhat after achieving wealth, I’m not immune to that. And I don’t want to make it seem that it’s black and white and that I always go for the cheapest thing. Sometimes it’s totally worth it to upgrade. Those instapots seem very versatile, who knows I might get one someday 🙂 Thanks for the kudos!
I never heard of these two terms either. But it makes sense. I strive for good enough. I’m usually very happy with it and that’s what matters. Getting the “best” has a cost and it’s not all about money either. You’re sacrificing independent thinking for external validation. That’s too costly for me.
I agree Joe, and blindly going with the herd to me is a scary thing. I would ever sacrifice independent thought, that’s when things unravel
I have an extra coffee maker but it doesn’t have a timer on it which I guess is a must for you. A coffee-loving family member gave me two machines – “You don’t have a coffee maker, here take mine.” I think he just wanted an excuse to buy a new one and make sure there was coffee available whenever he visited. Maximizers vs satisficers indeed!
Back in the day my best friend kept upgrading his TVs every year and would just gave me his old ones. The technology was moving so fast that he couldn’t even sell the old ones ‘cuz everyone watches so much TV and apparently was upgrading right along with him. It’s nuts. But I never paid for a TV 🙂
I’m a satisificer with a Vitamix, haha 🙂
The expensive blender is the one thing that even mostly frugal people seem to have. How Vitamix manages to sell $400 blenders to seemingly everyone is a masterstroke in capitalism 🙂
For me it was frustration. I could never get the regular blenders to…blend anything frozen. This thing actually works without taking a half hour’s worth of struggle for in adequate results. Although I also wouldn’t describe myself as frugal. Maybe I’m just a weird mix. I reuse things, recycle, try to reduce consumption, don’t go out of my way to buy expensive things, etc. But I’m also not opposed to spending. I’m more a satisficer in that I don’t research the heck out of things to try to get the best. Normally if I need something, i find it and am happy with it, even if there might be something “better” out there. If I like it and it’s useful that’s good enough 🙂
I guess maybe I’ve been lucky with my Hamilton Beach blender. I see myself int he way you’ve described some of your behaviors. Thanks Jackie!
Dang, I’m a day late to your post and your comment wall is flooded! Great post, yet again. You’re on a roll, my friend. Cool to be “All-Starred” together today. I’m in good company! And good is good enough for me. I’m a 100% satisficer.
I feel lucky to be featured with you, and I also got featured today on Campfire and Personal Finance Blogs. Feelin blessed!
I am a maximizer for sure. Sometimes I won’t even let my wife buy things she would be satisfied with, because I want her to look at extra options. Whoops. Still, I try to mostly let some of my tendencies go for things that do not really matter.
Incidentally, we recently had our coffee maker start to make such loud sounds we thought it was going to helicopter the hell out of our kitchen. We called the manufacturer and got a 30% discount, and bought the same one. So even in a situation where we bought the same machine we were satisfied with, I still had to maximize the experience.
Nice job!
Depends on the item. I’ve spent most of my adult life usually going for the cheapest option possible. But I’m deliberately trying to apply a “less but better” mentality with the things that are important to me and in an attempt to avoid the treadmill of disposable items that break and have to be replaced. I currently have no kitchen electronics but a coffee pot and blender (that someone gave me!), but my pots and pans cost probably $2k. The latter is important to me, makes way better food than most of the cheap stuff out there, and will probably last the rest of my life. But fancy air fryers, blenders, and other gimmicks need not apply.
I’ve found that I I use product reviews and do a little research that cheap versions of lots of stuff aren’t necessary worse and disposable. Some are for sure but there’s plenty of gems out there.
I am a situational satisficer and maximizer. As an aside, one of my 5 strengths from Stengthfinders is “maximizer” though the context is a bit different. When it comes to bikes/athletic/outdoor gear and coffee/espresso makers/grinders, I am a clear maximizer as I enjoy researching debating purchases with my group of enthusiasts. I don’t buy the highest end bike in a manufacturer’s line but usually purchase within the top 3 models and I try to buy floor models when available. My espresso machine/coffee grinder combo was 4 figures (embarrassing to write!). When it comes to just about anything else I maximize experiences and satisfice stuff.
wow, a 4 figure espresso maker, as long as it brings joy. Thanks for stopping by!
Peas in a pod you and I are my friend. It is 8 years since I sold my new truck and got my “used’ SUV which is now the highest mileage vehicle I have owned and longest i have owned a vehicle. Love it and keeping it until it dies (well if I don’t swap for a used road trip/van/dirtbag mobile lol)
For household appliances, I stick with brand name high quality but the basic models as they last long and do the job just as well as the fancy ones. Heck our hand blender my wife found in a garage sale when we moved out of high school in 1992 into our first apartment and spent $5. That little blender means a lot to us in a weird little way, we’ve owned it for almost 30 years now !! wow
Lastly, as I read I was going to comment on one area that misery and our peace of mind is everything but you finished this post on that little niche of life. Mountaineering and backcountry gear in general is worth every penny to get the best you can afford. (just make sure you actually use it and get outdoors to enjoy life)
you’ve beat me with the 30 year old garage sale blender, well played. And I’ve been doing real good since the pandemic in not buying hardly any new outdoor gear despite using my stuff a lot more. We’ll see if it continues 🙂
I buy for longevity. Any product with too many features will often be problematic, because if one of the features dies, the whole thing is often useless, since stuff is made to not be easily repairable now. Coffee pot: Mr. Coffee. Blender: so old I don’t know. I am working that blender to death and will replace it with something more robust that blends frozen stuff better, maybe a Cuisinart blender? In the kitchen I actually try to buy simple, for maximum utility, and nothing too specialized. I do have a food processor and a stand mixer because I preserve a lot of my own food, but why buy a specialized slicer when you can use a good knife?
Reminds me of the Morgan Spurlock quote “Once you get fancy, fancy gets broken”. Haha, yes a knife wins every time and requires no electricity!
What about us maximisers who are all about making a dollar stretch it’s furthest (also accounting for PODR) but are not at all concerned about others’ opinions? I think it’s reductive to claim that you’re one or the other. I make a very researched and considered spend, but I never go for ‘the best’ I go for ‘the best for the job within a certain budget’ – I’m definitely a maximiser but I don’t at all identify with what you’ve described above from a psychology perspective.
Obviously there’s greyscale in this as I pointed out to others. And there’s differences depending on what the topic is as I mentioned with me and my climbing equipment. Nuance for the win!
Hm. For a lot of stuff, I might be a bit of a maximizer. Perhaps not quite in the way described, but I generally let the masses choose for me — TripAdvisor, Amazon, Goodreads, Metacritic — I love using reviews and these sorts of external validators to make decisions faster and more easily. It leaves me more time to focus on the bits I like or other areas of life.
But, it’s in balance. The very, very best might cost 5x, 10x, 100x what second best might be. And second best might be 95% of what the best is. I try to hit that sweet spot—value.
I certainly do a bad job of being very simple and shooting for “satisficer”. I like the idea of it. And occasionally I can let it happen. But when I went to replacing our coffee maker (and old drip guy probably 7 years ago that kicked the bucket), I went looking for different methods to make coffee. I learned about the AeroPress and haven’t looked back since. It wasn’t really much different in price ($25?), but certainly makes noticeably tastier coffee than most drip machines. But, and it’s a big but, it’s a lot more work.
That maximizer route and choice means that a small bit of my life has been spent making coffee that otherwise wouldn’t have, for these past several years. I don’t know if that’s healthy, but I do like the taste!
I I live by reviews too but I still skew towards the lower or lowest price version that seems acceptable. And yes the Aeropress makes amazing coffee and is such a simple device, but indeed it takes a bit more effort and sometimes has some mess. A small sacrifice for coffee 🙂
Definitely a satisficer here! I have some home appliances that are almost 35 years old! Almost as old as I am! And they’re still running great. Sure they might look a little old fashioned, but whatever! They do their jobs, and that’s all I care about.
Could I afford better? Sure! Do I care? Nope! Not a wit!
I would have never guessed it Tako (sarcasm), haha!
I am satisficer or AKA. Optimizer , I tends to buy non expensive brands items in 90% of my purchases, and tend to use it as long as possible even for Items I got assigned by my employer (When there is zero Financial Impact on me for a new device) .. I tend to avoid the standard refresh cycles.
Two rationale for this :
a. Reduce the burden on the environment by increasing waste.
b. Reduce the financial burden on self and others.
c. Adapting my self to avoid the hype of new products. 🙂 .
I like your list, very nice. Especially #3. New product hype is a cult in America. I avoid it mostly by not having TV and by blocking ads on my computer. I just don’t care. For things I do care about like bikes and climbing gear, I’ll get those new products from the blogs and news feeds specific to those sports that I already consume.
Fun question. “The Best” is such a peculiar concept, I’m constantly taken aback that seemingly sophisticated people still use it. I like the ROI approach – yesterday I was wearing a staple business-casual item that my camera roll reminded me was over 10 years old, bought for 7 EUR, so it’s way under 5 cents per wear by this point. Quite a different situation compared to gear for risky outdoor activity of course – then the lesson about quality and defects comes hard and fast, regardless of actual transaction price. Curious what do you do with your retired climbing rope?
I wasn’t really inducted into the mind-boggling world of coffee at home (unpredictable caffeine content is the absolute pits for work performance!), until I started losing count of the coffee-makers I periodically pulled out of various trash receptacles… Used to joke that a first-world country is where you can live off the stuff that people throw away, except that consumerist definition seems to keep expanding.
Retired climbing ropes can be used for lots of stuff, basically anything that regular rope is used for that doesn’t have your life hanging on it. I cut my last one up and made a couple utility ropes from it. And we all know everyone needs the new coffee maker with wifi, so why not toss the old one out, haha.
There’s a long maritime tradition of turning old rope into woven rugs, fenders and (possibly my favourite nautical word) baggywrinkles – but climbing likely doesn’t have the “semi-involved” aspect like watch-keeping on passage that would predispose towards such utilitarian entertainment 🙂