A new 99¢ Only Store opened in Fresno, CA on August 23rd, and the first 9 people were able to buy a 2GB iPod nano for only 99¢ - no strings attached.

Of course, anytime you can buy a brand new iPod for 99¢ it would seem to be a good deal. After all, the 2GB iPod nano retails for $149 at the Apple iPod Store. That is a savings of $148.01. Not bad! But, there were only 9 iPods available so if you didn’t get into line quickly, you weren’t going to get an iPod. How soon did you need to line up? The store opened on a Thursday, and the first person in line had been there since Tuesday - almost 2 full days before the store opened.

I don’t know about most people, but not only do I not want an iPod badly enough to camp out in front of a store for two days, but my time is worth more to me than $75 a day, not counting the time off from work I would have to take. Yes, an iPod is worth 99¢, but to me it is not worth that cost.

From the store’s point of view this is a great promotion. Not only do you get people lining up for a couple days to get in the door, but many people will actually stay around and buy other things as well. The best part for the store is all the publicity the get from it. It is well worth the $1,000+ they ate in iPod costs.

Apparently, this will be an ongoing promotion for the opening of new 99¢ Only Stores, so check their website for new openings near you. If you have 2 days to kill maybe you too can get an iPod nano for 99¢. Oh, and if you aren’t one of the first lucky 9, the next 99 people in line were able to purchase a scooter for 99¢. Yeah, apparently almost 100 people had nothing better to do than stand in line for a couple days to save $20 on a scooter.

I haven’t put an exact dollar amount on my time, but to me, an iPod for 99¢ and two days of my life is just not worth it. How much is your time worth?

Source: ABC News via Yahoo! See video.

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