I’ve always been one to deliberate carefully before spending money, but I might not have labeled myself an obsessive shopper until the day, several years ago, when I went looking for a new kitchen faucet.
Knowing that my family and I would have to live with this faucet for some time, I’d already spent well over an hour pondering the many available features and hundreds of competing products. Did we want a single- or dual-handle model? How about a motion-sensing faucet that would turn itself on and off? What sort of sprayer? Should we opt for stainless steel, brushed aluminum, nickel-plated, bronze or brass? How about a soap dispenser? Which brand had the best reputation? And was a $400 faucet really any better than a $200 one or just twice the price?
To answer such questions and narrow down the long list of options, I’d done some online research, called my handy-around-the-house brother for advice and made one trip each to Home Depot and a local plumbing supply store. Now I was back at Home Depot, having reduced the field to a few finalists. I’d been standing by the faucet display for about 15 minutes, studying the fine print on boxes about warranties, water efficiency and installation procedures, when a couple walked up behind me.
“Hey, don’t we need a new faucet?” said the man.
“We do,” said the woman. “How about this?” She pointed to a box.
“Sure,” said the man, picking it up.
And away they went.
Maybe their decision wouldn’t prove quite as good as mine, or maybe it would. In any event, I suspect this incident helps to explain why I often seem to have less free time than my friends.
Remembering that experience today, all I can think is, “Thank God I’m not in a position to shop for a business jet.” I’d probably be dead before I’d be ready to take off.
Of course, you don’t have to be as neurotic a shopper as I am to be overwhelmed by the task of buying an aircraft. Unlike kitchen faucets, airplanes involve large sums and important decisions and really do require serious consideration. You have to think about insurance, financing, cabin completion or refurbishment, electronics, residual value and more. The ramifications of your choices could be huge.
That’s why Business Jet Traveler created its annual Buyers’ Guide, which delivers authoritative advice on all of this, plus directories of business aircraft models, a report on the major manufacturers and other essential information. The guide, which appears each July, has been popular with readers since we launched it in 2008. Moreover, it has been a four-time winner in the Best Buyers’ Guide category in the annual editorial competition sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
So if you’re in the market for a business jet, be sure to check out our just-published Buyers’ Guide for 2013. But don’t call me for advice—at least not if you’re hoping to make a decision about a jet sometime in the current century.
Jeff Burger joined Business Jet Traveler in March 2004, a few months after the publication’s launch. Besides editing the magazine, he has written many articles for it and conducted its interviews with such luminaries as Sir Richard Branson, James Carville, Suze Orman, Donald Trump, F. Lee Bailey, and Steve Van Zandt. Burger helped to oversee the introduction of BJT’s annual Readers' Choice surveys and Buyers’ Guide.
During his years with the magazine, it has won well over a hundred editorial awards. In 2011, Burger received the Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence from the National Business Aviation Association and the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association. He has also won writing and editing awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. BJT, meanwhile, was named Best International Publication in 2017 in the Aerospace Media Awards. It was also a Magazine of the Year finalist in 2011, 2013, and 2016 and an Overall Excellence winner in 2018 in competitions sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Before coming to BJT, Burger spent 14 years at Medical Economics, the nation’s leading business magazine for doctors, where he served on the editorial board; directed staff recruiting; oversaw a $2 million annual budget; and was financial editor, news editor, and director of special projects. He has been editor of several publications, including Phoenix Magazine in Arizona, and has been a consulting editor at Time Inc. His articles have appeared in more than 75 magazines and newspapers, among them The Los Angeles Times, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Gentlemen’s Quarterly , and Family Circle. Chicago Review Press published his books, Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounter, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, and Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters. His music writing appears on multiple websites, including his own byjeffburger.com.
Burger, a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, lives in Ridgewood, N.J. He and his wife, Madeleine, have two grown children. His off-hours passions include cooking, travel, technology, movies, and music.
