Hi Everyone,
And so it goes, that either every day, week or month you find another surprise that catches you off guard a bit. I'm not talking about some big life altering surprise. But a surprise that just creeps up on you.
Being a coupon using house, a while ago my wife and I started to notice that some coupons had a Do Not Double exclusion printed on them. Now, it seems that the majority of coupons are Do Not Double. Not sure about where you all live, but around where we live, all grocery stores double the value of coupons up to and including 99 cents. We don't even see many 99 cents coupons around here anymore. The highest cents off coupons we find are for 75 cents. The bottom line here is that the big companies like: Kraft and General foods etc. have found another way to pad their already heavily padded bottom lines.
There are still so many people having a hard time making ends meet. Regularly using coupons can really lower your food bill, especially if you use the coupons when the products are on sale. That is a win win situation. Unfortunately it is painfully obvious that the companies have the right to make coupons not eligible to be doubled. But these are the same companies that now sell almost everything in smaller sizes and weight etc., but charge the same amount as their older predecessors, or even more now. They said it was so they wouldn't raise their prices. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Now isn't the time to eliminate coupon doubling. It doesn't make common sense, oh wait......... unless you are the big company and in their eyes, it is just another way to make more money by making us pay more.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Do You Do It?
Hi Everyone,
This great country of ours is based on the ability of the citizens to vote in elections. We have fought a lot of foreign wars to give numerous countries their own ability to have democracies. Voting in elections is essential to our way of life. So my question of the day is ....... do you do it? I mean, do you vote? I'm pretty sure that the majority of you will answer yes. But do you really?
Having worked for the board of elections for the past 12 years, I have noticed something very peculiar. It seems that the majority of voters believe that the most important election in which we need to vote is for the president of the United States. Maybe that is because the presidential race gets the most amount of tv coverage and of course tv ads. Did you know that the highest percentage of eligible voters, vote during the presidential elections? Do you know which election day has the lowest voter turn out? The answer is local elections in an off year, when there is no presidential election being held. When you think about it, which election is actually more relevant to where you live? The mindset of voters ought be that local elections should be as important as presidential elections. But unfortunately it is very disappointing to see very low voter turnout during local elections in an off year.
This year is going to be a bit different here in New York State. Not including school budget/board elections, there will be 4 election days. The first is in April for the republican primary, the second will be held in June for the congressional primary, (this is a new one), the third will be in September for the NYS legislature, local government and the presidential primaries and the fourth one is the general elections in November. So please remember to vote on all election days.
Now for my common sense solution to the low turnout for non-presidential elections. Change all election days from Tuesdays to Saturdays. The marjority of voters have Saturdays off and that I believe, will increase the number of voters. Won't know if that would happen until they change the day. I guess we'll have to wait and see about that.
In addition, if you don't vote. you have no right to bitch and/or complain. You didn't even make an attempt to try to make a difference. Yes I know that a lot of people are fed up with our policitians on both sides, but that should not distract you from voting. It is your civic duty to vote. So please vote on every election day!
Til next week.
Peter
This great country of ours is based on the ability of the citizens to vote in elections. We have fought a lot of foreign wars to give numerous countries their own ability to have democracies. Voting in elections is essential to our way of life. So my question of the day is ....... do you do it? I mean, do you vote? I'm pretty sure that the majority of you will answer yes. But do you really?
Having worked for the board of elections for the past 12 years, I have noticed something very peculiar. It seems that the majority of voters believe that the most important election in which we need to vote is for the president of the United States. Maybe that is because the presidential race gets the most amount of tv coverage and of course tv ads. Did you know that the highest percentage of eligible voters, vote during the presidential elections? Do you know which election day has the lowest voter turn out? The answer is local elections in an off year, when there is no presidential election being held. When you think about it, which election is actually more relevant to where you live? The mindset of voters ought be that local elections should be as important as presidential elections. But unfortunately it is very disappointing to see very low voter turnout during local elections in an off year.
This year is going to be a bit different here in New York State. Not including school budget/board elections, there will be 4 election days. The first is in April for the republican primary, the second will be held in June for the congressional primary, (this is a new one), the third will be in September for the NYS legislature, local government and the presidential primaries and the fourth one is the general elections in November. So please remember to vote on all election days.
Now for my common sense solution to the low turnout for non-presidential elections. Change all election days from Tuesdays to Saturdays. The marjority of voters have Saturdays off and that I believe, will increase the number of voters. Won't know if that would happen until they change the day. I guess we'll have to wait and see about that.
In addition, if you don't vote. you have no right to bitch and/or complain. You didn't even make an attempt to try to make a difference. Yes I know that a lot of people are fed up with our policitians on both sides, but that should not distract you from voting. It is your civic duty to vote. So please vote on every election day!
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, March 4, 2012
What's The Price?
HI Everyone,
In this hotly contested presidential candidate race, every day there is another opportunity to prove that politicians have no common sense at all. But I will take a repose from politics this week.
Each and every one of us at some point in our lives will need to buy or lease a car or two or three or more. Since car prices are through the roof and in a lot of cases, cost about as much as a small house, it never ceases to amaze me the advertising tactics used by car dealers. Today's blog is about an ad that I recently read in my Gannet newspaper. Let's see if you can figure out exactly how much this car will cost.
The ad is for leasing any of 7 different Hyundai cars. In big letters it boldly states: $0 downpayment, $0 1st month's payment, $0 security deposit and $0 bank fee. The bottom line is that you don't need any money what so ever to get a new car for at least 30 days or until your quote, second monthly payment is due. The monthly lease cost goes from $159 to $277. So far this seems that this might be a good deal, if of course you are interested in a Hyundai, right? But is it? After the monthly cost is the all important little asterick. Then at the bottom of the page is the very small type face "fine" print that applies to the asterick. The fine print states the following: "Closed end leases based on 0 miles/year. Customer picks additional mile/year option from chart based on need (min. 12k mi/yr)". The chart is at the top third of the page and it shows two options: 12,000 miles/yr = 8 cents per mile and 15,000 miles/yr = 8 cents per mile. So the $64,000 question is how much would your monthly lease payments be? Under the 12,000 mile/yr plan you would have to multiply by .08 cents which equals $960 per year. Then divide $960 by 12 months and that would equal an additional $80/month. The 15,000 miles per year option would equal to an additional $100/month.
Based on the above math, the least expensive model isn't what is stated in the ad as $159/month, but would actually cost either $239/month for 12k/yr or $259/month for 15k/yr. I wonder how many people actually went to this particular dealer expecting to pay $159/month? I also wonder what people, (but not just any people, but perspective customers) would say and think upon being told that the actual monthly price would be either $239 or $259/month plus tax? I can't say that the ad is inaccurate, because the fine print details the additional costs. But isn't the ad really misleading and deceptive and written to increase traffic into their showroom? This dealer has no intention of leasing any of their cars for the advertised prices, which may or may not confuse customers. In my opinion, just advertise the car for $239/month for 12k/yr or $259/month for 15k/yr. Wouldn't that make more common sense then a confusing ad? You so have to read all of the fine print so you can understand what the actual monthly payment will be.
Til next week.
Peter
In this hotly contested presidential candidate race, every day there is another opportunity to prove that politicians have no common sense at all. But I will take a repose from politics this week.
Each and every one of us at some point in our lives will need to buy or lease a car or two or three or more. Since car prices are through the roof and in a lot of cases, cost about as much as a small house, it never ceases to amaze me the advertising tactics used by car dealers. Today's blog is about an ad that I recently read in my Gannet newspaper. Let's see if you can figure out exactly how much this car will cost.
The ad is for leasing any of 7 different Hyundai cars. In big letters it boldly states: $0 downpayment, $0 1st month's payment, $0 security deposit and $0 bank fee. The bottom line is that you don't need any money what so ever to get a new car for at least 30 days or until your quote, second monthly payment is due. The monthly lease cost goes from $159 to $277. So far this seems that this might be a good deal, if of course you are interested in a Hyundai, right? But is it? After the monthly cost is the all important little asterick. Then at the bottom of the page is the very small type face "fine" print that applies to the asterick. The fine print states the following: "Closed end leases based on 0 miles/year. Customer picks additional mile/year option from chart based on need (min. 12k mi/yr)". The chart is at the top third of the page and it shows two options: 12,000 miles/yr = 8 cents per mile and 15,000 miles/yr = 8 cents per mile. So the $64,000 question is how much would your monthly lease payments be? Under the 12,000 mile/yr plan you would have to multiply by .08 cents which equals $960 per year. Then divide $960 by 12 months and that would equal an additional $80/month. The 15,000 miles per year option would equal to an additional $100/month.
Based on the above math, the least expensive model isn't what is stated in the ad as $159/month, but would actually cost either $239/month for 12k/yr or $259/month for 15k/yr. I wonder how many people actually went to this particular dealer expecting to pay $159/month? I also wonder what people, (but not just any people, but perspective customers) would say and think upon being told that the actual monthly price would be either $239 or $259/month plus tax? I can't say that the ad is inaccurate, because the fine print details the additional costs. But isn't the ad really misleading and deceptive and written to increase traffic into their showroom? This dealer has no intention of leasing any of their cars for the advertised prices, which may or may not confuse customers. In my opinion, just advertise the car for $239/month for 12k/yr or $259/month for 15k/yr. Wouldn't that make more common sense then a confusing ad? You so have to read all of the fine print so you can understand what the actual monthly payment will be.
Til next week.
Peter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)