This is probably one of the funniest real-time quotes I have heard in a long time. I’ve been looking at adding a macro lens to my camera bag (mainly to replace my only lens right now, the kit lens), and after researching which lens for weeks, I found a website that was selling them with a rebate. The problem was that they were backordered, and I was curious as to how long the backorder would last.
I called the helpful 1-800 number, and I was connected shortly with a male service representative. I started reading the SKU number for him, and he interrupted me halfway through and said, “Okay, so you are after the Canon Macro lens, 100mm? I don’t have that lens in right now.”
I patiently said, “Yes, I know. I just wanted to know how long the wait on your backorder would be.”
He replied, “Well, you’re buying it at the worst time of the year, really.”
I kind of scratched my head in thoughtfulness, thinking of car sales and how it’s best to buy the previous year’s version right as the new models are coming out, around August and September (in general; this is not a hard and fast rule). But, I couldn’t come up with a reason for why lenses would be cheaper or more available at any point in the year.
Then he helpfully informed me, “Well, the best time of the year to buy is during the fall or winter. Right now, there’s a bunch of housewives being bored and buying expensive macro lenses to take pictures of their flower gardens in their backyards, so it’s just not really a good time. In the fall and winter though, everything’s dead, so they give up the photography habit for a while, which makes it a really good time to buy.”
Huh.
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