What is your time worth?

Today that question hit me like a speeding bullet while running my errands. All I wanted to do was ship a package from Davis to North Carolina because I didn't want it anymore and would get a full refund of a couple hundred dollars. I was meeting up with a friend for lunch at noon, so I arrived at the US Post Office at 11:30am with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, it didn't open until noon. After finishing up my other errands slightly before noon, I headed back to the US Post Office. Just as I was pulling up to park, I decided they didn't deserve my business and went to the UPS store two blocks away.

Arriving at 12:05, I find out a number of things from the UPS store clerk:

1. It would cost me ~$20 to send it to the east coast.
2. If I didn't open the package, because it didn't require a signature, I could return it to the sender free of charge. Of course, I opened the package to check what was inside (out of pure curiosity) even though I knew I would send it back. If it weren't for that one minute of curiosity, I could have saved money. 
3. I could resell the contents on craigslist for profit to avoid the $20 shipping charge.
4. I could check the USPS store to see if they'd ship it for a lower price.
5. UPS ships ~6pm so I could check alternative options until then.

In this situation, what would you do?
How much is your time worth? There are a couple other variables to consider: you'll incur a $120 charge in a week if they don't get it back because you are on a payment plan, you've already had the package for a week, it is friday, and you're driving two hours home in the evening. Would you spend time reselling the product on craig's list to make a profit? How much time and effort would it take to resell it? Would it be worth your time to go check the other store down the street for a cheaper price? Would you leave to meet up with your friend for lunch and decide later what to do? Would you postpone it and consider your options over the weekend? How much is that $20 cost to you?

After being there for ~10 mins, I decide to rush over to the USPS store (now ~12:15pm, already late...) to potentially save money. I was out of my car for only 3 seconds... there were 8 people in line! Impatient, I bolted back to the UPS store and simply paid them to ship it for me. For me, the time I would have spent in other lines trying to reduce a $20 cost or reselling it on craig's list for minimal overall gain wouldn't be worth it. The shipping was negligible compared to the hassle those would take. Maybe if the cost of shipping was higher, I'd reconsider. There are a lot of other things more important to me than avoiding spending the $20 for shipping.

This same principle can be related to other services that society can provide for us. Where do your priorities lie? Would you service your own car, clean your house, do your gardening, fix your computer, paint your house, wash your car, cook your meals, etc? How do you weigh your time to the potential savings by "doing it yourself?" What services do you do yourself and what services do you pay someone else to do for you? How would you weigh the cost and benefits of doing those yourself versus having someone else do those for you? How do you decide?

I love my life! :)