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The Little Treehouse craze - why I hate it but joined it

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Supermarket collectibles. Parents go crazy for them. This time I'm in it. Instead of rolling my eyes at the craziness, I'm purchasing, collecting and even trading. Why? Read on.

The dogma of more

A big key to happiness is to ignore the dogma that more is good. Instead, to be satisfied with what we have. To have enough, but not too much. To ignore the never-ending quest for more.

The Little Treehouse series is a classic example of the culture of more. (To explain for international readers, an Australian supermarket is currently giving away a small kids book with every $30 spent in store.) Each book is about the size of a bank card and maybe 3 times as thick.

Manufactured desire

The (very) short stories are an extension of the Treehouse series of books, which are popular with Australian kids.

If the supermarket had not done this promotion, we would all be blissfully satisfied with the original series of full-length books.

But that's not how it is. Instead, swarms of parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts are frantically collecting these palm-sized publications and spending hundreds of dollars to do it.

Complete me

At every available opportunity, the supermarket will emphasise that this is a series of 24 books. "Get all 24". "There are 24 ... books to collect".


It's a gentle (or not-so-gentle) nudge to keep spending until you've got the whole set. You wanna be a good parent don't you? (Guilt, guilt). I met a guy today who gave his daughter one and she said "Mummy gave me three". Ouch. There's a kick in the guts from consumerism.

Even if you get the whole set, books 4, 15 and 22 are also available in "rare" versions (more on this later). Even if you get all three of those, book 12 is available as a "super-rare" version.

It seems they've removed any reason to stop collecting. There's always something more to get. Just keep shopping. Don't think, just shop. That seems to be the message.

There's even a collector's case for sale. Apart from generating more profit for the supermarket, each case is a constant reminder to keep searching for more - to fill those remaining spaces.

So why did I join the cult?

I have a nephew in grade 1. He's a precocious reader and devours the normal size Treehouse books - even though they're meant for older kids. (That's an uncle-brag there).

I've read that a kid's love of reading is a huge predictor of their future success, so I'm quite keen to feed any love of books. Also, this particular supermarket isn't in my nephew's town.

Staying on target

I'm collecting, but I don't want to throw away money. So we're maintaining our discipline to only buy groceries we would buy anyway (though we may stock up during this promotion).

We're also doing our shopping in batches of $30 to maximise our book harvest. There's no point buying $49 worth of groceries (that's $19 of spending for no books). We stop at $30 (or $32 to be sure) and leave anything else for next time.

If you're not a fan of mental maths, your phone's calculator can help keep a running total.

Maths 101

Of course even if you get 24 of these books, it won't be the whole set. That would be a 1 in 2,149,632,061 chance (at best). Instead you'll have duplicates and gaps.

Mathematically, even if you get 50 you're unlikely to have a whole set. You either need to keep purchasing like crazy, enlist your relatives to shop at this store, or team up with your fellow book-hunters. (That last one is my favourite)

Swapping

Recently I wrote about the joy of selling. One of my main points is that trading (usually for money) is a great way for both people to end up happier without needing any more stuff to be made.

Swapping these little books is another great example of that. One person's duplicate is another person's much-desired prize. Swapping turns worthless duplicates into valuable books.

A few good swaps is a much better way to increase your range of books than spending hundreds more dollars at the shop.

Value (or perceived value)

It seems the book that are labelled "rare" really are highly-valued. These are different only in the cover - it's colour and the addition of the word "rare".

However, for the "rare" book I have (see earlier picture) I've already been offered 7 books by one person and 5 books from another person. Online there's a copy listed for $20!

[Update: I traded with a lady who paid $10 and $15 for two of the "rare" copies. I feel good that (by trading for her excess copies) I saved her from wasting more money.]

Remember these books are the size of a bank card. I still find it mind-boggling that people are so obsessed over these things.

For $20, you could buy your kid a bunch of actual normal size books instead of one mini short story.

Business lesson

One man I traded with said that at the end of the last collectible craze he asked his daughter if she wanted to keep them or make an investment. Surprisingly (to me) the daughter chose to sell her set and bank the money. She made $80. Smart kid.

Already I've seen a complete set (with case) listed online for $100.

In short

At the moment my plan is to continue collecting them as I shop. I'm still not sure what my end goal is. Should I:

(a) give him a partial set as a life lesson that you don't have to get everything a store tells you to get - that you don't have to have every single thing in the world; or

(b) should I just sell my duplicate copies (especially the rare one) and use the money to buy him the next normal-size Treehouse book when it comes out; or

(c) help him get the entire series and encourage him to quickly read them all and sell the set to buy real books. That might be a good business lesson about value.

What do you think? Leave your ideas in the comments.

Update

In the time since writing this I have seen my nephew and was able to give him all the ones he didn't already have from other relatives. He was thrilled to have the whole set.

I also sold my extras (including one "rare") for a total of $30.
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Comments

  1. richard31 August 2020 at 20:10

    It's interesting thinking about the resale of these sort of items, because when everyone is in the collecting phase the price might be high, but once the fad passes you might be unable to sell a "collectible". For example, I wonder how much the Coles mini collectible grocery things actually sell for currently, and how many people might be trying to sell them for unrealistic prices with no buyers. It would be interesting if anyone had done any research on the best times to sell and buy this sort of rubbish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. david2 September 2020 at 10:49

      Hi Richard,
      As you might guess from my writing, I think the vast majority of their value comes from the marketing. So I would imagine that once that drops off and kids' attention spans move on, the market value should drop considerably.
      For this reason I imagine my nephew (by the time I see him again) would struggle to have his first business success with this. They are more likely to become a family hand-me-down for his younger brother.
      However as per my update at the end of the article, I have been able to sell my excess copies while parents are still fervently chasing them.

      Delete

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