Life is Funny

Here’s a realization:

Sometimes in business we just do things without realizing the impact involved. Let me give you an example. In my business if I invoice someone $100 and they want to pay me via credit card, guess how many fingers there are in the pie:

1. If they keep that balance running on their credit card, they pay anywhere from 12% to 20% each month

2. As the merchant, I pay 1.75% of the fee to the credit card processor

3. In order to process that charge, I have to have and pay for a phone line to do the charge

4. In order to process on something, I either have to buy my own merchant terminal, or rent one each month

5. I deposit the funds into my bank, but at the end of every month, I pay bank fees in order to have an account.

6. By completing this sale, I must pay a book keeper to record the transaction

7. At the end of the year, I have to pay my accountant to file my taxes

8. Finally, the government gets to look at my books, say "oh, you made $100", let me tax you on it.

———

I am the one providing the service, I earned that $100, but I must share it with credit card processors, the telephone company, the merchant terminal provider, my bank, a book keeper, an accountant, and the government.

By the time all of that’s done, I get to keep whats left. Maybe by the time its all over, I get 50%.

Then what do I do with my half? I go out and buy something, But then I pay sales tax as well.

As business people, and as customers, there are way too many people involved in grabbing "their share" from us. Not only that, but the rate of inflation and cost of living goes up and down, so the dollar I earned is subject to whatever people think its worth that particular day.

Way too many fingers in the pie I am trying to create for myself. Anyone feel the same way?

I watched a Verizon TV commercial today. They were saying something about 80 million Verizon customers.

(1) The guy hits a pinata and thousands of candies tumble to the ground illustrating how many Verizon customers there really are..

(2) Another variation of the commercial is when he is in an ice cream shop and dumps a whole jar of sprinkles on the counter

STOP – LET’S REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT 80 MILLION CELLULAR PHONE CUSTOMERS- Really means..

Consider what your cell phone bill costs.

The average cell phone plan is around $20 a month in my guestimate. That’s without bells & whistles and extended airtime. 80,000,000 cellular customers paying their $20 a month cell phone bill is $1,600,000,000.00 a month in cellular phone revenue.

That’s 1.6 billion dollars in service fees a month! By Verizon alone!  How many other cellular networks are in business?

Here’s my question:

What ever happened to supply and demand?  If there is that many of us using these networks, shouldn’t the cost go down once the demand is so high like this? Why isn’t there more competitors undercutting each other?

Why I can I buy a 99 cent cheeseburger, but I can’t get a $5.00 monthly cell phone plan?

The cellular towers are already erected. The connection to the regular telephone networks is already in place. Does it really cost 1.6 billion dollars each month to keep the system running?

Of course not.

I am reading this 2008 financial report correctly, they took in $97 billion dollars of consolidated revenues in one year.

I mean, that’s fine — a company should make a profit.

But at some point, when is profit becoming a little excessive?

While the economy is hurting, how many of these large organizations are still well off? I know many of us are running around trying to keep our bills paid and watch our spending.

Why can’t some of these larger corporations lower their prices temporarily until the economy picks back up again?

I guess I am expecting too much.

But $1,600,000,000.00 in sales each month!

WOW!  If only I could run a business that sold $1.6 billion a month in services.

For now, I’m going to try and pay my cell phone bill.

————-

Disclaimer: I don’t want to attract Goliath here. These numbers are estimates and forecasts, done by an uneducated consumer that doesn’t know better. Please enjoy this blog entry as a form of entertainment. Do not take my statements as being actual fact of anything. Feel free to research and investigate what you want on your own. Or better yet, leave a comment.

CELEBRITIES DIE – SOCIETY IS IN SHOCK – WE WANT TO KNOW MORE – AND WE PAY ATTENTION – BUT WHY?

So the latest is that Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both died on the same day. But neither one was making huge amounts of money before their death. Now that they’re dead, everyone wants to know about them.

Why is it that society cares more about the dead than the living?

I know the way I am writing this, it seems like I’m uncaring or that I have no compassion.

But at some point we have to realize, when you start being interested in someone "after it’s too late" and after they are already dead, then there is really something wrong with that.

The funny thing about Michael Jackson in particular, is that the majority wrote him off as a freak for all his plastic surgeries and for being charged with child molestation.  How many jokes was he the punch line of?

But he really did bring a lot of music to the masses — he was great at what he did.

The famous moon walk came from him — he deserved a lot better than the credit that society gave him.

Now he’s dead, and everyone seems to care more than they ever did.  Michael Jackson went bankrupt, and many people thought it was funny. A celebrity in despair knocks them back down to our level, and yet we’re all a bunch of nobody’s that enjoys it when that happens.

Society isn’t healthy when this kind of mindset seems appropriate and acceptable.

I watched a four hour movie tonight on TV about Michael Jackson and thoroughly enjoyed it. But that’s because he’s dead, and I’m interested before "it’s too late" and I don’t get another chance.  But — the fact that he’s already dead — makes it too late already. Showing interest in his life, after he’s dead, makes me a hypocrite and same with the rest of you who are now interested in knowing his life story after it’s too late.

There are only two times that society idolizes a celebrity — when they are reaching the top — and when they die.

This is plain wrong — but that’s how society works. None of us in our wildest dreams could even imagine being the one to bring music to the masses when Michael Jackson was the top of the charts. Do you realize how hard it was for him?  But every mistake in his life had to become public knowledge.  Everyone had the opportunity to judge him.

Celebrities do not have it easy. Every move they make — every public sentence they say — is out there to be evaluated, re-evaluated, judged, taken apart in pieces and analyzed. Any normal citizen of society could not handle that — but our attitude is that — they’re celebrities, they’re rich, they have to accept what is coming to them.

Listen to me closely.

It’s not celebrities that should be judged.

It’s society..

For we have it ALL wrong.

We’re the ones that need a learning lesson.

Respect celebrities – give them leeway to make mistakes, and stop being so critical judging them. Above all, let’s hate the intrusion they get in their lives — they should be able to live their lives off-screen without us watching their every move. If any of us filled their shoes by gaining success and popularity, we’d want the same thing.

I hope one day, people have a higher respect for celebrities than we do — if that ever happens, it means civilization has evolved.

P.S.

Michael Jackson, rest in peace. You did wonders in your time, and it’s time you rested without any of us judging you anymore.

We recently tried Kentucky Grilled Chicken.  I like how much healthier grilled chicken is for you, and it makes taking home quick meal worthwhile.

However one of the things we noticed is that they also include lots of honey flavored packets. They almost encourage you to put some of the honey ontop of the chicken.  When you do, it really enhances the flavor — but now you’re back to square one again. The honey packets add a lot of calories and it’s akin to putting on a bunch of sugar ontop of your chicken.

I think it’s a simple concept where we just have to "get use to" the new Grilled Chicken flavor, and forget about the honey packets altogether.

Chicken pieces cooked at home, requires you to go to the store, buy it, store it (often the freezer), defrost it. It usually takes a lot of cleanliness to avoid raw chicken from contaminating your kitchen. In addition, it requires your oven to be on at 350 for 45 minutes which eats hydro. Then there is more energy used when you are washing out roasting pans, etc.

Kentucky Grilled Chicken is a nice quick healthy meal, ready when you are — and there is no problem feeding it to your family. Just watch out for the unhealthy sides. The macaroni and cheese side dish is loaded with calories, so is the gravy that inevitably coats the mashed potatoes.  The corn cobs are good and the calories they offer are natural, and a good choice.

I think that KFC is doing something right with their Grilled Chicken, and I encourage you to try it before something happens where they realize it is not a big seller. I don’t know how well their sales are doing – but I hope it remains a part of their permanent menu.

I wish there were more fast food restaurants dealing in healthy alternatives, but at a decent cost.

For instance, if I buy a chicken salad at a restaurant, I’d rather be paying $2.99 than $6.99 — lettuce is not expensive, and the tiny bit of chicken they include doesn’t cost a lot either. I find that a lot of healthy alternatives cost more, without any good reason. They just figure that the demographic that actually buys the healthier choices is use to paying more money – so why not make a higher profit margin on it.

Let’s tax fat, and high calories. Make it that unhealthy eating "costs more" and we’d find a better, more slimmer society that is healthier and more productive. This is how we can make our country’s productivity level increase, simply by having a better diet.

I should not be able to get a double cheeseburger from McDonalds for $1.99 – if I want to have something unhealthy like that, it should cost me $5.99. But if I want a chicken salad with a lite dressing — that should be $1.99 making healthy food more accessible and affordable is all that we need.

Have you tried Kentucky Grilled Chicken? Did you like it either way (with or without) the honey packets?

I watched a TV commercial the other day about some diet system. They went on and on with about 4 or 5 people who claim they’ve lost 30-80 pounds on the system.  They have flashy graphics, music, text, make it sound so upbeat, entertaining, and revolutionary.

Then the tiny words come across the screen:

"Results not typical"    and then   "Renumerated testimonial" and something about "Top Results from control group"

—

Translation?

If you buy their diet system, then typically you could not expect these results. (so why bother)

If you are basing your decision on what the testimonials say, they were PAID to say it (so why bother)

If you believe that the diet system actually works as intended, the fact is, they could have had 500 participants, and only 2% were successful. Leaving a 98% failure rate according to the term "top results from control group" (again, why bother with this system?)

—

How much worse can these commericals get? They are nothing more than a smoke & mirrors presentation, and they use little white flashed text on the screen to discount what they are saying:

"THIS DIET SYSTEM IS GREAT, YOU TOO CAN LOSE AS MUCH AS I DID"
(text flashes: results not typical)

What’s the point of that? I hate commercials that sell lies.

Actually, I hate commercials period.

In the area where I live, we occassionally eat out, or have food delivered to our house.  I’ve noticed a few distinct differences these days, while the Economy is slow:

ADVANTAGES:
============

1. When calling any Pizza Place for food delivery, I am never put on hold, I get through on the first ring.

2. When going to visit a restaurant, there is never a wait, and always a huge amount of empty seats.

3. It is easy to find parking when I pickup our lunch or dinner, or when visiting a restaurant to dine.

DISADVANTAGES:
===============

1. East Indian food we had picked up tasted old, some of the food items were definately NOT fresh. They skimped on the chicken and decided to fill the foil bowl with more watery sauce. This is their way of saving money — give watered down sauce with a few cubes of curry chicken in it.

2. Chinese food we had delivered tasted like it had be cooked, refrigerated, reheated in the microwave and then sent to our house. It was very bland tasting, the flavor from one dish, went into the second dish — almost like it was the same unclean WOK or pan that cooked everything.

3. In both cases, we did NOT save our left overs, and ended up throwing out the food. This brings no value to the table now, because generally the added expense is worth it… but only if you can use the left overs for lunch the following day.

———————————————————————————————————-

So what does this mean?

Like the majority of the population out there; we are not going to be ordering food in, nor dining out as much either. Obviously these restaurants are doing poorly and rather than throw out food product that is no longer fresh – they are serving it anyway!

Have any of you noticed the same degraded quality in restaurant food?

What about when you phone a restaurant to order food — do you get through pretty quickly as opposed to 4 or 5 years ago?

Well, irregardless of what you are watching on TV, there is no secret that everyone is feeling the effects of the economy, job losses, and unemployment this year, 2009.

It was just a few months ago, we were all celebrating New Years Eve — everyone was hoping this year would be better — well frankly it’s very clear — 2009 is about economic survival.

That’s right.

Holding onto your job (if you’re lucky enough to have one) — putting food on the table, having shelter, and keeping that used car running as long as you can, is about all you can hope for to have a successful year.

Everyone is cutting back.

They are ordering food less, and eating in restaurants less..

They are avoiding tourist attractions, and staying local, near home.

They are lowering their cell phone plans. They’re cutting back on Cable and Satellite TV packages.

We’re removing the “extras” in life that we’ve all taken granted.

A dollar saved here — a dollar saved there — and we feel better about our situations.

So what’s the answer? When will this economy improve?

As soon as we all stop saving our money, and we start spending it! Isn’t that ironic?  In order for the economy to improve, we must go back out there and live lavish carefree lives. Buy stocks, go on Vacation, order food in or visit a restaurant 3 or 4 times a week.  Once that happens, and everyone starts spending — guess what? JOBS GET CREATED — not lost!

So…. who wants to be first? Who wants to bankrupt their wallet and then wait and see if it works?

Well not me — and probably not you..

So guess what? The economy will get worse. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost or cut-back.  Unemployment will rise, maybe even double what it is now in the next year or two.

Then that spells the right conditions for an Economic Depression.

About 2 years ago, I remember going through a fastfood restaurant, ordering a Deluxe burger, fries, and a drink. It came out to $8.96 and I couldn’t believe that cost.  Probably 80% of that was profit.

Now the same restaurant, is touting their dollar menu. Their normal meal combo is only $3.99 - Probably 35% of that is still profit for them.

So what does that mean?  Large Corporations who have been making huge profits all along — now are making smaller profits — but they will ride out this Recession which may very well soon be a Depression.

But the little guys – the regular middle class of society, are going to go through life changing experiences. We have to sell that second car or truck. No more boats or ATV’s.  Our channel line up will dwindle. We’ll only use our cell phone minutes in emergencies.  No more travel to remote destinations. Save, save save. Pay bills, and get hounded by credit card companies.

The best thing you can do, is stop watching the news, and talk to your neighbors, friends, and family members. That is where the real story is…

TV media will go on and on all day long about how well things are, how things are short term, and how things will improve.  But that’s selling optimisim to the masses. Luckily we have the internet, YouTube, and blogs to really reinforce what we all see.

I don’t need a TV with scripted news anchors telling me something different than what is actually happening out there.

Be careful, and good luck.

Over the last year or so, I have faithfully participated in two different Readers Digest sweepstakes contest.  There is promise of cars, sums of cash, and more.  Now I know Readers Digest is a legitimate organization, but they do seem to use their literary skills in a technical way to sell you products unknowingly.

Things they say (paraphrasing / not actually a quote) are “Affix this gold seal to have a chance at Winning $40,000 and also receive our special free gift**”

Then buried 3 paragraphs down it will say something like “Not only will we send you our special free gift, but we will also send exciting new books to you each month. There’s no obligation, simply return the unwanted purchases. In the event you do not return them, we’ll assume you want them, and you’ll be automatically charged on your credit card”

AGAIN – DISCLAIMER. THESE ARE NOT ACTUAL STATEMENTS BY READERS DIGEST — I AM PARAPHRASING EXAMPLES OF WHAT THEY “MIGHT’ SAY IN THEIR SWEEPSTAKES LITERATURE.

But you get the point. Read the fine print. Actually, it’s not really “fine print” either. There is just pages and pages of print.  It gets confusing and information overload takes over. Soon, you find yourself peeling off the gold seal sticker, and affixing it without fully understanding what you are getting into…

But hats off to Readers Digest for running these sweepstakes anyway — atleast people do get lucky and win some money, or a brand new car — and it is free to enter them.

Have you participated in one of these Readers Digest sweepstakes free contest before?

Scratch ‘n Win, also known as Scratch off tickets are everywhere in North America.  They’re a lot of fun, because you’ll know instantly if you are a winner.

The problem is that often the majority of a winning ticket either results in winning your money back, a $1.00 more, or maybe a free ticket.

These simplistic break-even prizes just let the odds of winning seem a lot lower. When the Lottery Corporation or prints on the back of the ticket “odds of winning” — they include these petty prizes as a winner.
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I scratch a $5 ticket and see “congratulations $5 winner” — How is that really winning anything?

I would much rather discontinue these types of prizes. How many people will buy a scratch ticket in hopes that they will win their money back?  It doesn’t make sense. We’re all out there to at least double our money.

If I could choose between more often losing my money with ADDED chances of getting bigger prizes a lot less frequently, that would be fine for me.

For instance, say I buy 25 tickets over the course of a 3 month period.

Instead of getting 8 winners giving me my money back, I’d prefer to get 1 winner with 8X the money.

But the scratch lottery tickets that would do that would inevitably cause people to play less often.  If you won one big prize out of every 25 tickets, you’d probably be less likely to buy 25 more tickets over the next 3 month period.

So I guess, this system is by design. They want you to get the illusion that by winning more often, that the big one is just around the corner.

Moral of the story? When you’re feeling lucky, play the number drawn lotteries, like the Pick 6, or Lotto 6/49, etc. These ones atleast will net you a few million dollars if you win big. Unlike the scratch off tickets where the largest prize is something like $25,000 or so, and there are usually only a few big prizes in existence for that particular ticket.

What do you think?

Would you rather win less often, but bigger prizes?

OR

Would you rather win more often, but much smaller prizes?

If you’ve seen the numerous commercials for MagicJack — the little USB phone thingy that plugs into your highspeed connection via your computer and gives you unlimited local and long distance calls, you’re probably wondering if it works.

Well if you do a massive amount of Google searches and spend time reading as much as you can, you will find that the majority of the people DO say that the MagicJack works and is well worth the money.

So how do they do it?

Well – I can tell you.  Basically the MagicJack is cheap to manufacture when you buy them in the hundreds of thousands.  The cost of the hardware, wholesale wise, is fairly cheap.

The problem begins with:

a) Marketing

b) Support

c) The network the needs to convert this internet traffic into analog phone line calls, where these calls are placed via the internet and converted over to the regular phone lines..

Now, to be honest, I really do not have any insider information whatsoever. I am approaching this issue from a completely logical standpoint.

If “I” was the MagicJack people (which I am not)… and I wanted to get my device into the hands of many, I’d offer it at a break-even cost… Sell as many of them as I could in Year 1 and Year 2…

Then in Year 3, I’d raise the cost and go into profitability.

What does this mean for the consumer? They’re getting a great deal in the ramp up stage.

What could this mean for MagicJack if I am right?  Well they are building a very nice little consumer empire, which could result in lots of future profits…

So who is behind the MagicJack, where is it going, and why is it so cheap?

Well Dan Borislow is named the inventor of MagicJack.  He’s not new to the Telephony business. However, he is a Thoroughbred RACE horse owner and breeder, which means he’s got a gambling streak to him.   So he must be betting the odds that MagicJack will make it to the finish line, and be a winner.

Now I found a good article about MagicJack’s Network that explains the behind-the-scenes technology that has to exist to make MagicJack work. It also mentions that $17 MILLION DOLLARS has been invested in MagicJack.

So Today’s cheap offering, and service quality is great for consumers.

BUT! Expect the near future (next year, or the following year) to yield some surprises.

So while its cheap, go get a MagicJack and enjoy.

Just get ready for new announcements coming your way, once the user base hits the numbers they are anticipating.

Not every great deal lasts forever.

From what I’ve heard many Department of Motor Vehicles (MOT) or (DMV) are issuing new drivers licenses that contain an embedded RFID chip for enhanced security.

Actually they are referred to as being called the “new enhanced drivers licenses“.

What I do like about them, is that they will all be standardized now, so having a fake ID for young kids trying to obtain alcohol will be that much more difficult.

However, I don’t know much about RFID in identification. For instance, can retailers read this RFID chip so that I will no longer need to carry a loyalty card? I can just swipe my drivers license at the cashier to get my bonus points when I make a purchase?

RFID technology is quite exciting in many ways. I love the new benefits of it.

However, I am also worried about the unknowns out there – what happens if RFID technology is used the wrong way? For instance, say that I owe a large Corporation money on my department store credit card, which is linked to my drivers license RFID chip?

… and then I walk into any chain of that department store to make a cash purchase, and upon entering the the store, their internal security gets alerted and I’m told that I am not welcome to shop unless I pay my outstanding bill.

Or what about unfair discounts – where some lucky RFID people get discounts, and others do not, based on a single swipe of their new drivers license at the checkout? Could this lead to new types of fraud by internal staff and white collar crime?

Could we do away with Debit and Credit Cards if we have an RFID chip on our drivers license? Does this mean that the 32 plastic cards I keep in my wallet can be reduced down to one?

If yes, I see the benefit in that..

But what if these large retailers start creating treaty alliances with one another, and start sharing customer information? Or is that happening already?  I suppose it is on one level with credit bureau agencies - but what if new RFID agencies pop up, and sell consumer information in a similar way?

I guess we’ll all find out soon enough. RFID is no longer a choice when the Government demands you have an RFID chip to drive an automobile, cross a country border, etc.

By law, you must be “RFID” enabled — so hopefully we all have common sense and keep this a nice thing for the people, and nothing worse comes out of it.

The way our lives are now, we’re basically RFID in paper form, which is coverted to computers. Everytime you’ve filled out an application, given your name, your birthdate, or your mailing address — it’s on a computer somewhere, for some purpose.

The only difference now, is that when you walk into a store, or a government building, based on the RFID chip you are carrying, they will be instantly notified you are there.

From what I hear, these RFID chips can be detected from as far as 50 feet. Which means as soon as you park your car, the front entrance of the building could know you’re on your way in..

Pretty neat technology. So many uses.

Surely they must have government law and legistlation that regulates the use of RFID right? If so, I haven’t heard anything about it.  I know that disclosing my Social Security Number is optional to me in many circumstances. But what about unauthorized reading of my RFID chip without my consent?

I’m interested in hearing your comments. Anything related to the new enhanced drivers licenses, or new passports, or the RFID technology in general.

A lot of places have reported getting snowfall this year during the month of April when they should be getting the first signs of Spring.

Is this Global Warming, or is it the impending 2012 pole reversal that is coming into play early? Will these same places be getting snow in May 2010 next year?

It’s becoming impossible to predict weather patterns these days — it is just too chaotic.

I live in the Northwest, and here we are usually just getting lots of rain. But we’ve been getting heavy spurts of damaging wind, hail storms, snow… and if we’re lucky, the rare sunny break.

I think this type of weather pattern is starting to take its toll on people’s emotions too! Starve people from the Sun, and society starts to get easily angered and intolerant of one another.

I hope we see a good summer this year — I’m craving it already.

Have you noticed the same weird weather in your area? I’m interested in hearing your comments..

I found this really funny Doritos commercial on the web. It’s got a dog that does really weird supernatural tricks. Take a look at it here: http://www.doritosguru.com/democracyfilms/Through%20The%20Woof

I gave this contest entry a thumbs up… Must have been hard to get the dog to do the stunts.

For those of us on a low-calorie diet, we’ve been introduced to aspartame — a chemical produced by man that tastes sweet, has zero calories, and is a substitute for sugar.

Then there is the stevia plant. A natural herb, quite similar to sugar cane, again, with very little calories, totally natural, but it’s not readily available.

So which do you prefer?

An engineered, scientifically produced chemical named aspartame as a sweetener that is widely accepted?

OR

A natural herb, that hasn’t received the merit from the government yet, but beats everything hands down, as a low calorie sugar substitute?

The choice seems pretty obvious to me.

The question is… “why is there a choice?”

The Valentine’s Day “flowers” thing is getting old.

The dinner out, and chocolates, shows that you’re not creative, and very predictable.  It’s like getting a new “tie” for fathers day — been there, done that, no more.

So this Valentine’s Day, if diamonds are too pricey, there is plenty that can be done for $200 or less. Here is some gift ideas for hubby’s trying to do something a little different for their wife.

Night in a hotel

This is an outing, but if you get a nice hotel room that has a nice skyline view of the city, it can be a nice change of pace. Waking up with breakfast served to both of you in the morning, is nice.

Day at the spa

Every woman likes to get pampered at the spa. Nails done, facial makeover, massage, sauna — it costs $100 to $200, and they normally don’t like to ask for money for this purpose.  So take the initiative and get her a gift certificate at a local full-service spa.

Order some cutsy “lover” gift online

Have it sent to the office. It comes in a brown box, no one will know what it is… this way you can get the Valentine’s Day gift and advance and surprise her with it.  It can be sexual, or just playfully romantic, like a stuffed bear that says I love you, or separating heart keychain where each of you get a 1/2 of the heart. There are many things to choose from.

This should get you thinking along the right lines.  Just run the following “gift” test:

a) Is it something out of the ordinary?

b) Does it focus on “her”

c) Is it creative?

d) Is it something you both can enjoy or gain benefit from in some way?
(the spa idea, helps her to feel pretty, and be at her best for you, so that idea counts)

If it meets these basic requirements, it’s probably going to be an appreciated Valentine’s Day gift.