My car provides a reading that keeps track of how much gas has been used. I usually reset it to zero when I fill the tank and compare it to how much gas has been pumped the next time I get gas. There are some gas stations where the amount shown by my car and the amount on the pump are relatively close, and others where the pump is always higher by sometimes as much as two gallons. I think the test you describe will show if the price advertised is what is charged, but won't confirm that 10 gallons have actually been delivered into the car.
If a product is good, and people abuse the rebate system, it's very likely the company will take the product off the market or alter it in a dramatic way.
And why not? Apparently, many people had a "problem" with it!
When my father died about 5 years ago, my brother and I had him cremated. My brother still has the simple box.
Cost with embalming: $1800.
My step brother requested the embalming after my brother wouldn't participate and he couldn't get a hold of me (I was in another state and it took awhile to get my phone number).
If not for the embalming, the cost would have been $300 less.
I think a lot of state regulations are in place for DIY burials. I think the restrictions are getting tougher all the time.
..I have never offered a satisfaction guarantee. In writing I have an "as is" clause, to reinforce my legal position. This was to curb the incidence of reckless returns or retail renters.
However, if a customer had a complaint about the products I sell, I listen. Depending on the complaint, and subject to the condition of the product returned, I often offer a replacement, an exchange, a credit note, or a refund. Rarely will I reject a return, because the golden rule still applies, but I never offer it in writing.
You'd be surprised how many customers demand a refund, especially when the rent is due.
I have a friend (no, really!) who used to abuse this sort of thing, when she was younger and broke. She would go to thrift shops and garage sales and find clothes from certain longstanding catalog clothes vendors, buy them for very little money, and then return them to the vendor to claim the purchase price in rebate. I guess if she was asked she claimed the clothing was a gift.
She also pulled some other outright scams with airlines and hotels. I was really surprised to hear of these things from her, because she seems like a very ethical person, and it's not as though she was ever so desperately poor that she couldn't put food on the table. She wouldn't do those things today, as she's comfortably middle class, but she certainly justified it based on her low income when she was young.
I once returned a backpack after many years of use during my college years. I had tried a friend's backpack for a short while, and I found that my back pain almost completely disappeared. I ended up buying the same backpack my friend had, and claiming the rebate for my old one. I felt justified doing it, because it took me several years to really use the backpack every day to carry a fairly heavy load. When I finally started doing that, it hurt me, and other backpacks performed better.
ugg! thanks for the post, i was wondering if i was getting alzheimers or if there was something fishy. i got one of these cards today too, and my wife was upset with me over it! netspend will definitely not get our business. how cheap
My 12-year old "niece" was playing a game at stardoll.com today and ended up being signed-up for a NetSpend Visa Prepaid Debit Card. She *now* knows not to give ANYONE any personal information but no attempt was made to ascertain her age during her session. Her mother is filing a complaint.
I am annoyed that such solicitations could stem from children's amusements. Having read all these earlier comments, I find we are dealing with parasites despite the occasional positive report. They should be limited to ethical business practices, as should all banks as well!
Actually, he is right, our money is not backed by anything other than the willingness of the buisness to accept it for a certain amount of goods. confident that it can use it to buy itself some goods. there is no other backing attribute. It used to be that the dollar bill was backed by an equal piece of gold held in the reserve. but ever since the great depression, we have changed, and now, if the dollar says that it is a dollar... it is a dollar. Heck of alot easier than the barter system. I mean everybody needs money. But in the barter system, if you have two tour buses and you need a house to live in and there is no single dependent currency. what would make you think that the contractor would be willing to accept your two tour buses to build you a house. He does not need them, so you would have no way to pay him, so you would have no home.
Now the government wants to blow a billion dollars just to scrap classic cars? Outrageous! What next, a bill to promote the bulldozing of houses that are not considered green? Who came up with the arbitrary numbers of 18 and 22mpg. Is there any real science that shows this will make any difference, let alone a billion dollars worth of difference?
I am 28 years old and hope to retire around age 50. This was an interesting read and I hope to share a similar experience when I am ready to retire. Currently my wife and I are living off of my income and I cannot believe how comfortably we are living. My wife quit her job after we had our third child, and she was making just as much money per year as myself. I though we would never survive, but after very minor lifestyle changes, and changing the number of tax deductions I claim in my paycheck, we are still able to save 6% for my 401k, 10% into our savings, and $50 a month per child for college savings. It makes me wonder where all our money was going when she was working!
Excellent post and it gives me hope for an early retirement.
Costco sells coffins and urns as a way to provide value to customers. Not all funeral directors accept them, but you can get one. They always have them at the online store.
The Neptune Society is an organization which provides simple cremation and no funeral service. It is in 10 states, mainly out west, but also Florida, Illinois and Missouri.
I highly recommend the book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach, as previously mentioned. It discusses a lot of options such as composting and going to the criminal decomposition lab. You just have to read it -- it is entertaining.
When my husband died, I donated his remains to Biogift (www.biogift.org). At no charge to me they came and got him - at 3 in the morning! Any part that could be used for research was used, the rest was cremated and scattered. (I could have had the ashes returned if I wanted to.) So my only cost was for death certificates. More important, I hope some good came out of my loss.
A NetSpend debit card was mailed to our home the other day. But it was addressed to my 14 year old daughter!!! Luckily she showed it to me before she could activate it. Is it legal for debit and/or credit cards to be sent to minors? On Monday I plan on calling the CEO of the company (Dan Henry) and giving him a piece of my mind. I also plan on filing a complaint with the Federal Reserve Consumer Agency.
After reading the comments, about how the very aggressive, very knowledgeable resellers tend to come early , if I had a sale, I would be very tempted. And i found succeeded in it.
When my husband died two years ago, I had him cremated and the ashes shared among family members. No public funeral -- we had a family get-together to remember him instead. Total cost: $2500 including death certificates. None of us -- including my husband -- could come up with any reason to do otherwise.
Get real congress.... new cars that get 22 to 25 mpg? My old '94 Buick gets 27 mpg in town with the a/c on. On the highway up to 30 mpg and what's more it has over 130,000 miles on it and runs great! I'm keeping it.
My father recently passed and we cut down the costs as much as we could while still staying pretty traditional.
He was cremated and we got permission to bury him in the box the hospital delivered the remains in. You can't do this in every cemetary so make sure you check first. Urn costs were crazy.
We also had a memorial instead of a flat out funeral. We did our own photo DVD that the home ran during that time...they wanted $150 to do it for us and we knew we could do it ourselves - plus we didn't hand over priceless photos to strangers.
We did not have a minister or preacher at either event. My mother asked my husband to say a few words at both. Luckily he did rather well for being put on the spot.
I think we were able to keep the costs below 4K...maybe it was even under 3k...its kind of fuzzy at the moment.
After reading the comments in the garage sale post about how the very aggressive, very knowledgeable resellers tend to come early (either by a couple hours or a day or so), if I had a garage sale, I would be very tempted to let the people who wanted to come early do so and pick out the stuff they want. If someone's knowledgeable and picky enough to want to have first selection, presumably the stuff they pick out is valuable and therefore the logical thing to do would be to let them pick out their items, then point out that the garage sale starts in x hours and refuse the sale. At which point you can sell it yourself on ebay for more than they would have offered.
I'm not sure on the ethics of it, though. Clearly this would be unacceptable to do to people who don't break the rules, who show up when the sale starts rather than before, and generally aren't assholes about it. I have much less of a problem screwing over people who are essentially making a secondary income by inconveniencing and pressuring people who they presume to be naive at this kind of thing at a time when they haven't yet prepared for it. But it's still pretty skeevy to knowingly mislead people to take advantage of their very real expertise.
I was on a honda civic forum a few years back. Our particular civic has a 13.2 gallon tank. Somehow one of the members was able to pump more than that at a pump somewhere. That's where you won't be able to tell, and where you will pretty much have to trust the gas station. Unless you wanna waste your life to expose a one in a million gas station.
Oh, how times have changed. Taking care of your deceased family member yourself used to be the normal chain of events. Although I cannot find the source, it's been reported that some magazine (Vogue??) coined the word "living room" in order to change the view of the family parlor that was associated with death.
Best idea was already mentioned, though. Please consider donating your body to help others: organ donation, medical research, medical schools.
I used to make a good amount of spare change by finding rare junk at G-sales and selling them on Ebay. Sadly, I just don't have time to do this... so I've given it up. My best deal was finding a lot of Battle Beast figures from the 80's. I go them in a shoe box full of free junk. After figuring out that they were collectible, I dumped them for about $10 each. Not bad.
My car provides a reading that keeps track of how much gas has been used. I usually reset it to zero when I fill the tank and compare it to how much gas has been pumped the next time I get gas. There are some gas stations where the amount shown by my car and the amount on the pump are relatively close, and others where the pump is always higher by sometimes as much as two gallons. I think the test you describe will show if the price advertised is what is charged, but won't confirm that 10 gallons have actually been delivered into the car.
If a product is good, and people abuse the rebate system, it's very likely the company will take the product off the market or alter it in a dramatic way.
And why not? Apparently, many people had a "problem" with it!
When my father died about 5 years ago, my brother and I had him cremated. My brother still has the simple box.
Cost with embalming: $1800.
My step brother requested the embalming after my brother wouldn't participate and he couldn't get a hold of me (I was in another state and it took awhile to get my phone number).
If not for the embalming, the cost would have been $300 less.
I think a lot of state regulations are in place for DIY burials. I think the restrictions are getting tougher all the time.
..I have never offered a satisfaction guarantee. In writing I have an "as is" clause, to reinforce my legal position. This was to curb the incidence of reckless returns or retail renters.
However, if a customer had a complaint about the products I sell, I listen. Depending on the complaint, and subject to the condition of the product returned, I often offer a replacement, an exchange, a credit note, or a refund. Rarely will I reject a return, because the golden rule still applies, but I never offer it in writing.
You'd be surprised how many customers demand a refund, especially when the rent is due.
I have a friend (no, really!) who used to abuse this sort of thing, when she was younger and broke. She would go to thrift shops and garage sales and find clothes from certain longstanding catalog clothes vendors, buy them for very little money, and then return them to the vendor to claim the purchase price in rebate. I guess if she was asked she claimed the clothing was a gift.
She also pulled some other outright scams with airlines and hotels. I was really surprised to hear of these things from her, because she seems like a very ethical person, and it's not as though she was ever so desperately poor that she couldn't put food on the table. She wouldn't do those things today, as she's comfortably middle class, but she certainly justified it based on her low income when she was young.
I once returned a backpack after many years of use during my college years. I had tried a friend's backpack for a short while, and I found that my back pain almost completely disappeared. I ended up buying the same backpack my friend had, and claiming the rebate for my old one. I felt justified doing it, because it took me several years to really use the backpack every day to carry a fairly heavy load. When I finally started doing that, it hurt me, and other backpacks performed better.
dude. Good list.
BUT , You forget to include one important thing that money cant buy...??
Its " T I M E "
As time passes, so does the Youth, Beauty, Body Strength,
Eyesight power, patience.. . . . . .
.. . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. . .. ... .mercy,. .humble,
honesty, integrity, dedication, tolerance, sacrifice.
And last not the least, Money can never buy "Satisfaction"
and Peace of mind in this world.
HARISH
India
ugg! thanks for the post, i was wondering if i was getting alzheimers or if there was something fishy. i got one of these cards today too, and my wife was upset with me over it! netspend will definitely not get our business. how cheap
My 12-year old "niece" was playing a game at stardoll.com today and ended up being signed-up for a NetSpend Visa Prepaid Debit Card. She *now* knows not to give ANYONE any personal information but no attempt was made to ascertain her age during her session. Her mother is filing a complaint.
I am annoyed that such solicitations could stem from children's amusements. Having read all these earlier comments, I find we are dealing with parasites despite the occasional positive report. They should be limited to ethical business practices, as should all banks as well!
Actually, he is right, our money is not backed by anything other than the willingness of the buisness to accept it for a certain amount of goods. confident that it can use it to buy itself some goods. there is no other backing attribute. It used to be that the dollar bill was backed by an equal piece of gold held in the reserve. but ever since the great depression, we have changed, and now, if the dollar says that it is a dollar... it is a dollar. Heck of alot easier than the barter system. I mean everybody needs money. But in the barter system, if you have two tour buses and you need a house to live in and there is no single dependent currency. what would make you think that the contractor would be willing to accept your two tour buses to build you a house. He does not need them, so you would have no way to pay him, so you would have no home.
Now the government wants to blow a billion dollars just to scrap classic cars? Outrageous! What next, a bill to promote the bulldozing of houses that are not considered green? Who came up with the arbitrary numbers of 18 and 22mpg. Is there any real science that shows this will make any difference, let alone a billion dollars worth of difference?
I am 28 years old and hope to retire around age 50. This was an interesting read and I hope to share a similar experience when I am ready to retire. Currently my wife and I are living off of my income and I cannot believe how comfortably we are living. My wife quit her job after we had our third child, and she was making just as much money per year as myself. I though we would never survive, but after very minor lifestyle changes, and changing the number of tax deductions I claim in my paycheck, we are still able to save 6% for my 401k, 10% into our savings, and $50 a month per child for college savings. It makes me wonder where all our money was going when she was working!
Excellent post and it gives me hope for an early retirement.
Great book. I'd love to win. Please enter me in the giveaway.
Costco sells coffins and urns as a way to provide value to customers. Not all funeral directors accept them, but you can get one. They always have them at the online store.
The Neptune Society is an organization which provides simple cremation and no funeral service. It is in 10 states, mainly out west, but also Florida, Illinois and Missouri.
I highly recommend the book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach, as previously mentioned. It discusses a lot of options such as composting and going to the criminal decomposition lab. You just have to read it -- it is entertaining.
When my husband died, I donated his remains to Biogift (www.biogift.org). At no charge to me they came and got him - at 3 in the morning! Any part that could be used for research was used, the rest was cremated and scattered. (I could have had the ashes returned if I wanted to.) So my only cost was for death certificates. More important, I hope some good came out of my loss.
A NetSpend debit card was mailed to our home the other day. But it was addressed to my 14 year old daughter!!! Luckily she showed it to me before she could activate it. Is it legal for debit and/or credit cards to be sent to minors? On Monday I plan on calling the CEO of the company (Dan Henry) and giving him a piece of my mind. I also plan on filing a complaint with the Federal Reserve Consumer Agency.
After reading the comments, about how the very aggressive, very knowledgeable resellers tend to come early , if I had a sale, I would be very tempted. And i found succeeded in it.
When my husband died two years ago, I had him cremated and the ashes shared among family members. No public funeral -- we had a family get-together to remember him instead. Total cost: $2500 including death certificates. None of us -- including my husband -- could come up with any reason to do otherwise.
Get real congress.... new cars that get 22 to 25 mpg? My old '94 Buick gets 27 mpg in town with the a/c on. On the highway up to 30 mpg and what's more it has over 130,000 miles on it and runs great! I'm keeping it.
Coffin Shelves - Shelves for Life:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/18/coffin-shelves-furniture-for-life-an...
Memento Coffee Table Casket
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/05/12/bklyn-designs-memento-coffee-table-c...
My father recently passed and we cut down the costs as much as we could while still staying pretty traditional.
He was cremated and we got permission to bury him in the box the hospital delivered the remains in. You can't do this in every cemetary so make sure you check first. Urn costs were crazy.
We also had a memorial instead of a flat out funeral. We did our own photo DVD that the home ran during that time...they wanted $150 to do it for us and we knew we could do it ourselves - plus we didn't hand over priceless photos to strangers.
We did not have a minister or preacher at either event. My mother asked my husband to say a few words at both. Luckily he did rather well for being put on the spot.
I think we were able to keep the costs below 4K...maybe it was even under 3k...its kind of fuzzy at the moment.
(fyi)card waiting for activation and stolen card are two diiferent things.
After reading the comments in the garage sale post about how the very aggressive, very knowledgeable resellers tend to come early (either by a couple hours or a day or so), if I had a garage sale, I would be very tempted to let the people who wanted to come early do so and pick out the stuff they want. If someone's knowledgeable and picky enough to want to have first selection, presumably the stuff they pick out is valuable and therefore the logical thing to do would be to let them pick out their items, then point out that the garage sale starts in x hours and refuse the sale. At which point you can sell it yourself on ebay for more than they would have offered.
I'm not sure on the ethics of it, though. Clearly this would be unacceptable to do to people who don't break the rules, who show up when the sale starts rather than before, and generally aren't assholes about it. I have much less of a problem screwing over people who are essentially making a secondary income by inconveniencing and pressuring people who they presume to be naive at this kind of thing at a time when they haven't yet prepared for it. But it's still pretty skeevy to knowingly mislead people to take advantage of their very real expertise.
I was on a honda civic forum a few years back. Our particular civic has a 13.2 gallon tank. Somehow one of the members was able to pump more than that at a pump somewhere. That's where you won't be able to tell, and where you will pretty much have to trust the gas station. Unless you wanna waste your life to expose a one in a million gas station.
Oh, how times have changed. Taking care of your deceased family member yourself used to be the normal chain of events. Although I cannot find the source, it's been reported that some magazine (Vogue??) coined the word "living room" in order to change the view of the family parlor that was associated with death.
Best idea was already mentioned, though. Please consider donating your body to help others: organ donation, medical research, medical schools.
I used to make a good amount of spare change by finding rare junk at G-sales and selling them on Ebay. Sadly, I just don't have time to do this... so I've given it up. My best deal was finding a lot of Battle Beast figures from the 80's. I go them in a shoe box full of free junk. After figuring out that they were collectible, I dumped them for about $10 each. Not bad.
Thanks for the link to my popsicle piece!
Linsey Knerl