Summarized Findings:
So, when I interviewed these three people, I presented them
a simple alternative: Would you rather pay more in your taxes, or sit in
traffic longer when driving in Gainesville. I was very surprised to learn that
two of my three participants said that they would rather sit in traffic than
pay more in taxes, as they were already burdened enough financially with their
taxes. In this case, the price outweighed the benefit for these individuals. I
then proceeded to ask them what exactly justifies a “good” purchase for them.
All three had the same response, as long as it was something that worked as indented.
Even though traffic lights aren’t something you can buy as a consumer, I was
still curious to see what they thought. They stated that if the product worked
as it is supposed to, but they had no need for it, then that was their fault
and they still considered a good purchase. For all types of products, cost was
the number one factor. One person I interviewed was actually an extreme
couponer!
Conclusion:
From these interviews, I learned that some people just don’t
want to pay the extra tax money for the city of Gainesville to install better
traffic lights to help traffic flow. The main reason was cost, of course. This
seemed to be the trend for all types of products. It would be interesting to
interview a larger sample size of people to see what the overall consensus is.
In addition, I wonder if the answers would change in a rich area vs a poor
area. I think these are all factors that businesses and entrepreneurs need to
think about when creating a business/product, as many factors can affect the
success of an item. I thought it would be a no brainer for everyone to want to
pay a little extra to save some time on the road, but I guess I was wrong. This
taught me that as a potential entrepreneur, I need to consider all possible
points of view.
It is funny how on board everyone is for an idea until they realize they will have to pay for it. I wonder if the city could work out some sort of deal with the University to cover part of the costs. UF is what drives most of the traffic around Gainesville and most students don't pay taxes here. It would help loosen up traffic around the school and be beneficial to them too.
ReplyDeleteI really like your presentation and thought on interviewing these people. I guess your interviewees all agreed with each other about saving money financially and all the burdens behind it. Sometimes, like you said, entrepreneurs have to put in more thought in learning about what customers want and how much money they want to spend. Overall, great thought and effort.
ReplyDeleteHey Ben,
ReplyDeleteThis post was definitely enlightening. A small additional tax seems like it should be no big deal but, like you said, there are many different factors that go into the decision. Also, one has to wonder, a few additional tax dollars here, a few more there, where should the line be drawn when deciding what to implement? Great post!
Hey Ben!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and I feel that you are gaining a lot of knowledge about how people would react to paying a little more tax for your product. I would be willing to pay a little more tax money to reduce the amount of time that I sit in the car in traffic, overall I think your idea is great.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI am not suprised for some people who don't want to pay extra taxes for the smart traffic lights because they want to save more money. However, I personally will do so if the government can install those smart traffic lights because the bad traffic really trouble me in my life. So I hope oneday all the traffic lights can be changed.