If you are going to buy "The Office," it is most likely because you don't want to pay for yet another subscription service (as many of us do). Yes, no series lives on Netflix forever, and "The Office" left the service for Peacock at the end of 2020.

And while Peacock has a free tier, the service has locked seven of the nine seasons of "The Office" behind a paywall. Only seasons 1 and 2 are paid, while seasons 3 through 9 are available on Peacock Premium ($4.99/month, starting at $9.99 without ads).

But I have a message for "The Office" fans who feel slighted. You could have saved a lot of money and hassle with a much smarter and simpler investment than Michael Scott Paper Company stock.

Yes, thanks to an old BGR article, the digital edition of the entire "The Office" series is now available for as low as $29.99. That's for three months of ad-free Peacock Premium, which many Office fans will probably pay.

And the ad-free Peacock Premium is worth mentioning because some fans are not happy with the way The Office appears with ads. Yes, NBC did broadcast it that way, but after years of re-watching it on Netflix, I've come to believe that the series is best without ads.

Not to be mean, but Peacock now has three series: soccer, "The Office" (USA), and, according to one of my colleagues, the new series "Saved By The Bell". But most people probably don't want to spend $5 or $10 just for these three. Sure, there is other content, but it still doesn't feel like as attractive a streaming service as Netflix or HBO Max.

So my advice, own your favorite shows and movies. It may seem anachronistic, but if you purchase a digital version of a movie or show (or a Blu-ray version with a free digital copy by Movies Anywhere), you will not be left out in the cold if your favorite show moves from the service you are paying for to one you do not need. You won't be left out in the cold. Of course, Movies Anywhere could break, in which case the optical media version is a good backup.

You may not have seen it when the Apple/iTunes sale started, but you can still own (not rent) "The Office" today: $80 on DVD, $119 on Blu-ray, and $99 on digital from Apple/iTunes today. That's the equivalent of 8 to 12 months of ad-free Peacock, and I feel it's wiser now.

And Apple's streaming app is on Apple TV as well as Roku and Fire TV, so that's where I'd buy it. Buying the entire season digitally on Amazon costs $156.

And while the DVD purchase is a better deal, I recommend the DVD purchase for two reasons. First, attachment to a physical format creates an obligation: do you think DVD players are forever (even video game consoles point to a future without optical drives)? I bet Apple and Amazon will outlast DVDs.

Another reason comes from Amazon user reviews, which show serious flaws in quality assurance during the manufacturing process. One customer wrote, "For some reason, all discs from season 6 to 9 contain the same episodes. Similarly, another customer stated, "This set contains two seasons 1-5 and none of seasons 6-9. This makes it pretty useless."

Another said, "The discs are scratched all over the place and are completely unplayable. Some of them even have what can only be described as water damage. Very interesting, and I don't know what happened to them, but they don't appear to be new."

If you only want a particular season, you can order from the following link. Episodes purchased on Amazon can be viewed remotely with others using the Watch Party feature, as long as everyone has already purchased the episode.