We Weren't Going to Buy a Timeshare Anyway. Not New, Anyway.

I have a slightly dirty little secret. We planned our trip to Hawaii a month ago around a timeshare presentation. The pitch to go out there for the presentation came when we were planning, and re-planning, and re-re-planning our December Hawaii trip. One of the timeshare locations was on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the dry side, a destination we knew we wanted to visit. The deal was 5 nights in a small condo at a reduced rate, in exchange for spending 2 hours of our time sitting through a sales pitch. We then bolstered the trip with an additional 4 nights in Honolulu, bought plane tickets, and planned a week off from work.

The timeshare company failed to put a good foot forward when we arrived in Hawaii. The resort was comfortable but felt like it might as well be a golf resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, rather than a beach resort in Hawaii. I felt bait-and-switched. And when I visited the resort I expected to be accommodated at, that difference was so shocking that I was incensed. Any shot the company had at selling me a timeshare burned to ashes right then, right there. And that's where the real dirty little secret comes in: I wasn't going to buy, anyway.

Well, I wasn't going to buy new, at least. New timeshares are sold at significant markup. The same properties can be bought a year or two later on the resale market for generally no more than half their original price. Buyers who shop carefully, particularly in times of economic downturn, can pick up a timeshare from distressed sellers for as little as 5-10% of the original price. I've read accounts of people even buying a timeshare "for free", paying only for the annual maintenance and fees.

So, yeah, no way was I going to pay 2x or more the prevailing market price for a timeshare. Especially one effectively half an hour from the beach and lacking many services one expects in a resort.

Related: When buying a timeshare makes sense

On the Eve of 1,000,000 Deaths

It's Tier Tuesday, etc., etc. The headline news in Coronavirus statistics this week Tuesday is that we're on the eve of 1,000,000 deaths in the US from Covid-19. Per figures at The New York Times Coronavirus in the U.S. (retrieved 10 May 2022) the U.S. death toll stands at 999,916. With an average of 365 deaths/day recently the one million mark will certainly be crossed tomorrow... if it isn't actually crossed tonight as late figures roll in.

One million deaths.

One million deaths in barely over two years.

One million deaths and barely anyone wants to take it seriously. Approximately 40% of the country believes political conspiracy theories that it's a hoax. Another 40% or so is just tired of dealing with it. And most of the rest figure it's too much of an uphill battle to do anything about it from via public health policy anymore.

One million deaths. Over the 26 months since the death toll really started accumulating (March, 2020) that's an average of 38,461 dead per month or about 1,266 a day. And there were numerous times when more than 3,000 died on any given day.

Even on those days when 3,000+ were dying the news might as well have been background noise. A non-factor in most people's daily lives.

Think about other times when fewer than 3,000 people were killed.

December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor. 2,403 US persons were killed. The US declared war on Japan the next day, entering WWII, and changed the course of history in ways that affect virtually every person in the world through the current day.

September 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a flight that crashed in rural Pennsylvania when civilians fought back against the attackers. 2,977 US persons died that day. US laws, practices, and understanding of civil rights have been turned upside since that day. Go to any airport today, nearly 20 years later, and you're subject to numerous policies borne out of 9-11-01. But already the policies of the Coronavirus pandemic, with its now 1,000,000 dead, were ended less than 2 years after being started.

1 million dead in the US. And at least a hundred of million in the US who don't care.