We are having so much fun with opportunity costs, so let's try another one. Recall (TftD: Opportunity Costs) we had a case where Sam can save something of Ned's, but Sam will have to sacrifice something of his own that is less valuable than Ned's. (Sam is ready to save something of Ned's, that is nebbich, at risk. Pretty clever choice of names, no?) Recall that as long as Sam announces his intentions and Ned accepts the cost, then Sam can recoup his costs/losses to save Ned's stuff.
The gemara (Bava Kamma 116a/b) continues the discussion by asking: But what if Sam flubs the job (my free translation), can Sam still recoup his costs? The gemara absolutely adores this question. After all, Sam did make an investment in his efforts to save Ned's stuff. And Ned did accept. Is it Sam's fault that he failed? The gemara, after praising the question, answers: Sam failed to deliver the goods, so he gets only his labor costs (time spent trying to save Ned's stuff), but not his losses. Poor Sam.
The gemara, though, is taken aback: Really? But we have another case where someone failed to deliver, and yet received full payment! Namely, Harry is sent to get some medicinal herbs (again, not the clever choice of names), for the quite ill Igor. When Harry returns, though, he finds that Igor has either expired or had a miraculous recovery. In any case, the medicinal herbs are no longer needed. Yet, in this case Harry receives full payment for his services. The gemara answers that the cases are not comparable: Sam did not accomplish that task he accepted, while Harry did.
Yeah... so... that answer is so obvious that I was wondering why the gemara even thought to bring it up. ArtScroll did not offer any insight (sometimes they do, sometimes not, in cases like this). In desperation, I glanced at Tosafos. Ah!
Recall (or review), there are times when one is desperate, then he can offer an outlandish fee for a service that could save his life, but when it comes time to pay up -- once he is safe -- he can say, "I was joking. You had no right to expect/demand such a high fee; I'll pay your regular fee and that is it." Tosafos says that was the intention of the gemara here. I could have thought that since I needed the herbs for someone deathly ill, that I could say, "I was joking; I'll just pay your regular fee." This gemara comes to say; Nope, not in this case.
So why is this case different from the ferrier, who gets only his regular fee? Tosafos says that Harry had other things he could have been doing with his time (opportunity costs strike again!), and so he must be paid in full. The implication is that the ferrier would be running this service anyway, so is not suffering any opportunity costs by ferrying Ralph -- who is running for his life -- across the river.
Opportunity costs is my new favorite expression!
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