Saving for a rainy day

We just put in the purchase order for two projectors today and the freight charge....

$935!!!

Got your attention? This was a eyeopener for me so I felt like sharing.

Last year we were asked to go to a Church and take a look at their current projection system. The system was installed about 5 years ago but still working enough to get by.

After inspection we noticed the lumen output was a little low for the ambient light in the room and the low contrast ratios of the old projectors didn't produce very good blacks. We recommended new higher lumen projectors with larger LCD chips & higher contrast to get a better picture on their large screens. The whole project was going to be a little more then they had to spend at the time so we talked about saving money for a bit and do it correctly when they had the funds.

On a side note: The projectors we were going to provide are perfect for Churches. The filters would scroll automatically so you wouldn't have to go up 30' and clean them & it came with 2 lamps built in! That means during your fall production if a lamp went out the other one would kick in. NO DOWN TIME! http://www.eiki.com/Products/LC-XGC500

So time goes by and we check in on them to make sure everything is still operational. Once every other week, once a month, to eventually once every other month. It seemed the funds were just not being put away.

Today we received the call. "How fast can we get two new projectors"? I told them it only takes about a week. "We need them tomorrow to install them for Palm Sunday"!!! I raced down to the Church...took more measurements and told them I'd do everything I could to get them projectors with special lenses next day.

Here's what had to happen. I pulled all my resources to make sure all the components needed were available...parts from California, Indiana, and Wisconsin all had to be shipped next day air to arrive in time to do the installation.

The Church had the original quote from a year ago and was relying on it to be accurate. Unfortunately there was a price increase of 2% plus the near $1,000 freight charge that had to be tacked on. We knew this was going to be a issue so Creative Sound Solutions donated the additional funds to the Church to make sure the cost didn't keep them from buying the right gear.

Moral of the story....you think you can't afford something now? Wait till you need it tomorrow!