Online Shoppers Blog - Become's Pocket Change

Just out of curiosity: what's the point of Ticketmaster? Seriously. I just bought a ticket to see Ozomatli at the Fillmore this weekend (they're playing 4 straight nights there: you should go.) and they tacked on not only a $8.30 "Convenience Charge," but a $4.60 "Order Processing Charge" on the next screen. That turns a ticket that's nominally $25 into $37.90.

I know I'm not the first person to be irked by this, but for the love of Pete, WHY? I understand their inclination to squeeze us for every last penny that they can--that's how these things work--but what gets me is that venues use them in the first place. They're just a leech. $14 a ticket? Maybe if you're driving the ticket to my house, idling at the curb while I finish my snack, and then driving me to the show. But it's a website: it processes a payment, and then relays the info to the venue. Some databases and a small credit-card fee. That costs pennies. Dimes, tops. Tell you what: two of my worthless drunkard friends and I will build a system that does that for $3.50 a ticket, the Fillmore can charge $7, pocket it for themselves instead of giving it to Ticketmaster, and concertgoers will still save $7.

The funny thing is, I don't really mind paying around $40 for a concert ticket, especially to see a band as awesome as Ozomatli at a venue as cool as the Fillmore. If they just charged me one price and called it a day, I'd never be the wiser, and probably wouldn't be writing this. But I do mind knowing that over a third of my ticket price is going to a corporation that hangs on, remora-like, to a group and a venue that I'm happy to support.

Not that the Fillmore, for all of its beauty and history, is run by a lovable bunch of ragtag promoters. The Fillmore is owned by LiveNation (née Bill Graham Presents) which recently spun off of ClearChannel, one of your more odious media conglomerates, and that's the origin of this sweeheart deal. (I seem to be answering my own "why" question here...) Ticketmaster and Clear Channel go way back, and when LiveNation started they presumably saw no reason to change the arrangement that had kept them both in fine brandy, cigars, and baby-seal clubs.

So I guess this is my actual question: what can be done? This is a perfect example of the kind of consumer-unfriendly business practice that, were the slate wiped clean, wouldn't stand a chance against the efficiencies that modern Internet commerce can provide. It's a hangover from the old days, when they had to operate enormous phone systems, and have physical presences in Tower Records stores and malls across the country. We don't need them anymore, but they've sunk their claws in and won't go away.

Is there any way out?

Aram

UPDATE: A friend points out that as of last month, LiveNation may be looking to lower ticket prices and possibly ditch Ticketmaster all together. (If anyone can find a link to the actual LA Times interview, let me know--they seem to have a pretty poor archive system.)

Posted by Aram at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s the holiday season, and for me that means extra blankets and a chance to play board games with my family. During the holidays everyone can come together and have at least some time off of work. This is one of my family traditions, and I highly recommend that you try it this holiday season as well. The key is to find a fun game that is easy to learn and not too long. I recommend Ticket to Ride. I agree with the game manufacturer, it takes under 5 minutes to teach, and it is fun for everybody.

Ben

Posted by Ben at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, it's just a carn-tastic week here, isn't it? Well let me be the first to say welcome, and I promise that our clowns probably aren't serial killers!

Mr. Cheap Stuff has a useful list of restaurants that give you a little something nice on your birthday--from Chili's (free song? What, they normally charge for that?) to "various strip clubs" which, if I recall correctly, usually hand out little Bible tracts.

Omiru's readers say that velvet jackets are in, although personally I think that girl would make a plaid polyester trash bag look good.

Good old Matt Hutter has some big-box retail secrets that you might not be aware of unless you're Daryl.

Jennifer at Suite 101's Luxury & Resort Travel has a nice stable of travel gift items, and won my heart with a single well-crafted phrase: "Like many coffee aficionados, I don't merely dislike a bad cup of coffee, I'm practically insulted by it."

Speaking of travel, Starling from The Business of America is Business (also, plastics) has a post up about the shopping craziness that is Dubai. A coworker here recently returned from a trip there, and he couldn't find enough synonyms for "insane capitalist explosion" to properly convey his impressions of the place. There's an indoor ski resort with three slopes. They're building a chain of islands shaped like the continents. By some accounts, 20% of the cranes in the world are there. I think I can sum it up in one word: DUDE.

Personal Finance Advice calls attention to Consumer Reports saying that people will waste $1.6 billion dollars on extended warranties this holiday season. I agree that they're generally not worth it, unless you're like my friends and me, for whom "roof-testing" things is a perfectly valid way to spend an afternoon, and a toolkit isn't complete without a sledgehammer, hacksaw and blowtorch. Here's a hint: practice saying "Seriously, this thing just exploded" with a straight face.

The Simple Dollar has a witty, well-researched article on how to make the most out of the online shopping process. If I were a complete corporate whore, I would say something like, "The suggestions are great--I'd add 'use Become.com' to the list!" but I'm not, so I won't. Go ahead, shop on Froogle for all I care. Just don't be surprised when your package arrives and instead of a nice sweater for your Aunt Millie it's FULL OF BEES.

I'm just sayin'.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 05:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Buenos ding-dong-diddly dias folks, and welcome to the 50th edition of the Festival of Frugality. Sure, we rock the Carnival of Shopping here (and have one on the way tomorrow) but we figured we'd take a stab at hosting another one of our favorites, because man, do we love stabbing.

Let's start it off with an excellent idea from Kim at Reviews in a Shoe: a frugality blogroll. I'm adding us, although her "clean and family-friendly" requirement does rather preclude the entry I had planned about how to waste your money like a pornstar. Oh well.

Binary Dollar has some good tips for saving money on potlucks, although I'm not sure I trust myself (or, frankly, you) enough to follow the "bring food that's close to expiring" tip. Once when I was in sixth grade I decided to bake a cake from scratch for my class, and I don't know if I used spoiled ingredients or if I'm just bad at cooking, but I think it's safe to say that the disgustingness of the cake definitely kept girls from being attracted to me for the next seven years. Because that's really the only explanation I can think of.

If you're heartless and hate your family, Not Made of Money recommends opting out of Christmas gift exchanging. Actually, they recommend subsitituting cards and photos, but in my book, earnest expressions of emotion will never carry quite the same weight as dropping a bunch of money on me. Hey--I'm trying to be frugal, here. I never said the people around me ought to do it, too.

Debt Free has a post about things to watch out for on Black Friday. Now, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday have technically passed, but that doesn't mean that retailers aren't still trying to get you to sign up for credit cards you don't need, buy things you don't want, promise your first-born, and so on. Seriously, watch out for that last one. I know, we all want a PlayStation 3, but you'll regret it, if only because you can't claim a child as a dependant if you've sold him/her to a corporation.

Ratio(Price,Quality) calls out two cool services:

• Pinger lets you record a message to someone, who then receives a text message and can check it. Doncha hate calling people to leave a message, and then they pick up, and you have to talk to them? (I'm not being sarcastic here. I seriously hate that.)
  
• 712-858-8883, (run, it would seem, by a company called FuturePhone) which only costs whatever it costs you to call Iowa, and then routes your international call for free. I keep reading about this and have yet to try it, largely because I don't know any foreign phone numbers. Actually, thanks to cell phone address books, I don't know any phone numbers at all. Point is: use your free minutes to call Zimbabwe via Iowa.
  

Paula at Queer¢ents relays some decent philosophical advice from an otherwise-apparently-lame Fidelity Investments publication.

Priya at Credit Card Lowdown points out the difference in the psychology of paying with plastic vs. paying with cash. Rationally, paying with plastic should make it easier to budget, since you can track your spending very precisely. Practically, that's not always the case. Shoot, I pay for everything with plastic, download my statement into Quicken automatically, and still suck at budgeting since it's so convenient that I never have to pay any attention to it at all. Conversely, I have a friend who takes some 20s out of the bank at the beginning of the week, and only pays for things in cash. That's a budget that's hard to bust.

Money Smart Life recommends looking at saving and spending as a ratio rather than as pure numbers--maybe saving $500 over the course of a year doesn't feel like a lot, but if you set your percentage goal and stuck to it, you've succeeded. At saving money, that is. You're still a terrible heart surgeon.

Thoughtful Consideration broaches a topic that most people just avoid: the impending takeover of our planet by a hostile race of killer robots. Also, how to overcome the awkwardness of talking to people about money. But seriously, people, we've got to start talking about the robots. Ignoring it won't make them go away.

Matt Hutter has some good tips on how to avoid pouring all your money down a restaurant's drain. I'd add to his post: remember that they charge you for a bottle of champagne even if you just shake it up and spray it on the maitre d' and don't drink any of it. Talk about lessons learned the hard way.

And finally, Frugal Upstate has a great post on how to keep your holiday traditions from breaking the bank. Remember: sitting on the floor and staring silently at the wall all month may not cost much, but it's a terrible, terrible tradition. I don't know why my family still does it.

All right, folks, thanks for visiting and letting us host this week. Come back tomorrow for our Carnival of Shopping (shoot us an email if you'd like to be included), keep those cameras safely rolling and honey, untie the mongoose, I'm coming straight home.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (174) | TrackBacks (0)

Retailers are usually glad to make a consumer happy by returning something they don’t want/need. Unfortunately, thieves and other shady characters take advantage of this with compulsive returns. This high expenditure has caused most retailers to fight back with a black list.

My experience with Target, Mervyns, Nordstrom, and Sears is that they will place you on a list after three returns without a receipt in a single year. It has also been my experience that Sears can place you on the list after one incident if the manager feels it appropriate.

Out of the hundreds of thousands of transactions I engaged in, I only saw about 10 people that were blacklisted. It was not easy to tell them they could no longer return items without a receipt. I could actually watch them go through the 5 stages of grief.

1. Denial – “There is no way I did that many returns. Try my license again as you must have typed it in wrong.”
2. Anger – “I am going to call 7 on your side if you don’t take this back!!!”
3. Bargining – “What if you just let me do this one return and I promise to never return another item as long as I live!”
4. Depression – “What am I going to do with these crappy shoes? I couldn’t even sell them on Ebay for a 1/10th of what I paid."
5. Acceptance – “Oh fine. I am just going to have to keep my receipt from now on.”

The good news is that banning can typically be deleted at least once by calling the corporate office and requesting removal from the list. Honest people with legitimate identities are not meant to be punished. When calling, you can catch more flies with honey. Calmly explaining your reasons for the returns without receipt will get you much further than yelling at the poor operator.

The best advice is to keep your receipts for at least 90 days. You can also try the form of payment you originally used. The computers keep track of all transactions and can trace back debit, credit, check, and gift card transactions. Just try not to count on this as the computer is far more likely to remember your license number then a credit card.

Daryl

Posted by Daryl at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, it's that time of year again: time to curse the lack of good fortune in our lives, with great gnashing of teeth, and--

Oh. No? Right, right, right. This year, I'm thankful for:

• The Cingular 8125 from HTC. I swapped my 2125 for it on a 30 day return, and man, this thing is rad to the max. Too bad Colin broke his. Idiot.
• The American steel industry: second to none except China, and still a great way to kill an afternoon as a tourist in scenic Pittsburgh.
• Children. They're our future, you know.

All right, we're out until Monday, because if you think for a minute that we're going to VPN in from our food comas to update this thing, you had probably better get me another slice of pie, because you're extremely wrong. At best, I'll open ONE eye, but certainly not two, to watch football tomorrow. Seriously, roll me over and put enough gravy on the stuffing so I can drink the whole thing with a straw. I'M OUT!

Aram

Posted by Aram at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Jill pointed this designer duo out to me quite a while ago (mostly for their insanely cute dresses but also for a certain girly similarity in design and color palette to Tsumori Chisato) and then today, I read about it on another fashion blog. Sooo it’s being carried by Barneys. Always a good sign.

Sherry

Posted by Sherry at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just added a hilarious new site to the blogroll: This Is Broken. It reminds me of my favorite part of Consumer Reports: the "Selling It" part in the back, where they point out the ridiculous, stupid and flat-out nonsensical claims that companies make in advertising and packaging.

This is Broken has a slightly broader scope (witness the sign to the left) and manages to find some truly bizarre stuff.

What are they totaling?

Yum.

The danger of placeholders.

Enjoy.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You don’t have to be a New Yorker to read New York Magazine. But the city that never sleeps is also the city that shops. So, who better to ask for some gift ideas, than shopstaff at some of the coolest shops in the Big Apple, starting off with some nice (and naughty) book ideas...

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

[Ed.: Mercedes checks in from law school, where she does not yet seem to have become evil.]

Getting into the home stretch of my first semester of law school was tiring, but now I'm looking forward to winter break next month. After finals I knew I needed to get my mind off of school and give my loved ones a much needed break from hearing me babble boring legal talk. I researched cheap get away deals since tuition has left me destitute, and I found Get Away Today to book my trip to Disneyland. For under $475 I booked a trip for two at the Castle Inn for 3 nights with 3-Day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper Tickets included. Get Away Today also offers trips to Vegas and other fun locations so I think I'll use them for my spring break trip. Enough blogging, I need to get back to studying...

Mercedes

Posted by Mercedes at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Shopping for my weekly fresh fruits and veggies (and Häagen-Dazs), I saw this sign at the checkout of my local Mollie Stone's Market. Intrepid reporter that I am, I whipped out my camera and told them I was writing for Pocket Change and wanted to blog about their policy.

It used to be you’d always find cigarettes at the checkout of a market. Today, that’s changing. Many grocers now see themselves as purveyors of a healthy lifestyle and not just a provider of provisions. We all know about Whole Foods Markets and many of us are lucky to have Trader Joe's. Mollie Stone's has been providing quality groceries to the San Francisco Bay Area for years and I’m sure there are other great grocers in communities across the nation. I think its time to celebrate these merchants who are taking a stand against easy profits and for public health. I loved their sign. They respect smokers (it’s a free country after all) but want customers to respect that they don’t view selling smokes as part of their business mission.

A salute to Mollie Stone's and every other grocer who has taken a stand that cigarettes are not a food, beverage, health, cleaning or beauty aid and therefore have no place in their operation.

And don’t get me started on “drugstores” that sell this stuff…

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I'd like to begin this week's carnival with a bit of sobering news: KFC's logo is now visible from space. Along with the Great Wall of China and the pyramids, aliens will now be able to see the symbol of the other great marvel of our civilization: fried things.

So.

Wenchypoo has a great post on the advantages of energy-efficient appliances. As a cash-poor (but rich in love) renter, I buy a lot of things off of craigslist, but appliances aren't one of them, unless they're quite new. They're literally getting more and more efficient every year. A ten-year-old dryer may look relatively modern, but you may pay more in energy costs over its lifetime than it would cost to buy a new, more efficient one. Those free refrigerators and air conditioners on craigslist are really nothing of the sort.

Speaking of the environment, Vihar at green|rising has an interesting post on the problems that a new, purportedly environmentally-friendly plastic is encountering on the recycling end. Apparently it doesn't contain an oil base so it can't be recycled with current plastics. Kind of a weird situation from all sides--while the recycling industry does need to adapt to keep up with technology, it's kind of surprising that the company (Cargill/NatureWorks) didn't figure this kind of thing out BEFORE they introduced the plastic to the market.

Supermom says gift-giving for teens is easy, and I agree. $8.99 for a 12-pack of Bud Light makes you the world's coolest aunt like THAT.

Something I'm very grateful to Safeway for is that they almost always post the per-weight or per-count price on the shelf, which makes it easy both to compare name brands to generics and to compare different sizes of the same brand. Steve at Debt Free points out that the larger size is not always a better deal.

Matt Hutter has some good tips on how to save a few bucks when something goes wrong at a restaurant. My favorite technique of leering at the next table and loudly declaring, "I want to buy your women! How much for the leetle girl?" is not discussed.

And hey, the next time you have a month off, makingourway has crunched the numbers on what a full month vacation in Chicago will cost you--about $4,500, it turns out. He'd better get it in quick, though--it was a balmy 48° today. (By contrast, it was 65° and sunny today here in Mountain View. And you wonder why no one can afford houses here.)

Dreah, an Associated Content writer, has some good mall-walking advice. (I know what you're thinking, and I, too, was skeptical of a site called Associated Content. I poked around, though, and they actually seem to be a pretty legit publishing platform with an unfortunate name. I almost balked at the name out of hand until I remembered that I write a blog for a shopping site and am pretty much the definition of "lame tool.")

Trisha at Omiru reports on another poll saying that trapeze silhouettes are (just barely) "in." Click over--I didn't know what they were until I did, but I recognize that piece of clothing! In fact, I actually think they're kind of hot--which, I would imagine, means they're on their way out.

And finally, Cecilia at Little Ida recommends Monyette Paris perfume. She says it smells of "Tahitian Gardenia and French Muguet" and that it's favored by Oprah Winfrey and Gwen Stefani, so if you're trying to attract floraphiliacs, 45-year-old women or 13-year-old girls, this is the perfume for you.

I remain, yours, with bells on,

Aram

Posted by Aram at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Microsoft yesterday launched the Zune, their answer to the iPod. I haven't used it, and I've only skimmed the reviews, which are so-so. News reports are noting slow first-day sales figures, but that's just horse-race stuff. The real reason the Zune will suck eggs is contained in an interview that Robbie Bach, the president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, gave in the San Jose Mercury News yesterday. When asked why they built the Zune, Bach replied,

"When we looked at it, we said, 'Hey...that's a significant marketplace. It's a high priority given the momentum that Apple has. And this is something that we need to get after right away.'"

I'd much rather use a device whose inspiration was, "Hey, we can do this really neat thing!" rather than "Someone who always seems to do things better than us is making a killing doing this; we'd better do something, too, and quick."

Aram

Posted by Aram at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to TiVo, I hardly watch commercials anymore, but a strange ad caught my eye the other day. (I've looked all over, and for the life of me I can't find it online--if anyone can locate it, please drop a line in the comments.) It was for McDonald's, and it was this hip young guy in his cramped apartment who realized that since he ate at McDonald's all the time (so cheap!) he didn't really need to cook. So he starts filling up his kitchen cabinets with clothes, etc., everyone has a good laugh, jingle, back to CSI: Dayton.

Wait a minute, though. Either

1. McDonald's and their ad agency are completely tone-deaf (a distinct possibility)
2. They're actually poking fun at themselves and the recent shocking revelation that their food is nothing but highly processed rat spit, or
3. They're semi-seriously suggesting that one could reasonably eat McDonald's every day, Morgan Spurlock be damned.

Does this strike anyone else as odd? I recall one of the most reasonable reponses to Super Size Me (for those of you who dislike clicking things, it's a documentary in which Spurlock nearly kills himself by only eating McDonald's for a month straight) being, "Well, you're not supposed to eat McDonald's every day, everyone knows that." I admit to enjoying a little McDonald's myself now and then, and of course it can be part of a healthy diet in the same way that "Froot Loops is part of this complete breakfast" as the camera pulls back to reveal a table stacked with real food.

It just seems strange that McDonald's would invite this debate anew with an ad that wasn't particularly clever to begin with. Any thoughts?

Aram

Posted by Aram at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When October rolled around this year, I thought to myself, “Jill, you will not be the procrastinator that you are every single year and wait until the utmost last minute to do your holiday shopping. You will not fight your way through the throngs of ruthless shoppers on the evening of the 24th, hoping to get a piece of the highly coveted and sold out Toy of the Year—never again. This year will be different. You will shop wisely and early. You will be organized. You will make lists!!”

By the time November rolled around, I have yet to see a gift in sight, not a single list has been made, and the only shopping I have done is for a lovely black, lace dress swiped with an extra 40% off! Luckily, I can redeem myself on the wonderful (somewhat frightening) busiest shopping day of the year. I can reap the benefits of the day after Thanksgiving sales, better known as Black Friday.

Ah, Black Friday. The day where the fearless brave the stores at the absurdly early hour of 5a.m. hoping to snatch up the latest deals graciously endowed to the masses by the After-Thanksgiving Gods. If the weather (and my three alarm clocks) permits, I just might check out Best Buy’s or Target’s Black Friday offerings.

Thanks to sites like BFAds.net—dedicated to bringing shoppers the most up to date product lists from a variety of stores—I am able to scope out what I want ahead of time, so that come Black Friday I can make a beeline for a new digital camera or flat screen television without wondering which ones are on sale. You can find the list of discounted goodies for Best Buy and Target here and here.

Ten days and counting! I will see you there, where the only black I expect to see will be the bruises I get from battling the crowds.

Jill

Posted by Jill at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently I was given a pack of these really cool (pardon the pun) menthol stickers designed to help you concentrate while you are on a long drive, working or studying late, or sitting in front of a computer for hours on end ::ahem ahem ::. Despite everything on the package being written in Japanese and only a picture and cartoon illustration to go on, I decided to live on the wild side and try them out (thanks Sherry for being my guinea pig).

The Nemuke Toru Patch is a pair of clear, menthol stickers placed on the temple to produce a tingling, slightly painful (in a good way) sensation. Produced by Kokubo, a Japanese company that creates a range of interesting items to say the least, the Toru Patch gives you an instant wake-me-up feeling as you experience the mild burning on your temples.

I was unable to find options to order their products off their website, but I am betting that you can pick up these little delights from a nearby Asian supermarket. The next time you are about to take a nosedive into your keyboard or textbook stick a Toru Patch on your face and enjoy the tingling.

Jill

Posted by Jill at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dreamblade is a tabletop game with miniatures. It plays like a cross between chess, Dungeons & Dragons, and backgammon. It is a strategic game, with some luck, but it is not technically a war game even though it uses miniatures. The game is a lot of fun! Once you learn the rules, the game takes less than an hour to play. It uses dice so there is a luck factor to the game that may turn off some fans of Eurogames. However, I have found that the best players win much more often than average players, so that it is clear that while there is some luck, good strategy is very important.

One possible complaint some will have with the game is that it is a collectible game. This means that you will need to keep spending money on additional pieces to keep being competitive. Some people will find the collectible aspect to be a good thing though. The pieces look great, and they retain their value (as long as the game remains popular anyway).

Anyway, I think it is great, fun game. If you would like to try it, leave a comment and the area where you live and we’ll try to direct you to a local place to play. And by we, I mean the massive community of Dreamblade players who read this blog, which might be just me...

Ben

Posted by Ben at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I figured out pretty quick in college that selling books back to the bookstore was for suckers--they gave about 15 cents on the dollar. And as much as I didn't need most of them, I was loathe to lose so much money. Besides, I figured shelves full of books later in life would fool people into thinking I was smart. Then--BAM! I hit them with a hammer and steal their kidneys.

But what if I could turn those books that I didn't care about into books that I did? Sure, I could buy books, but that's expensive. Bookmooch has that solved. You list the books you have that you're willing to part with, and you seek out books in other people's collections that you'd like to have. There's a point system (you get a tenth of a point for each book you list, one point for each book you send off, and each book someone sends you costs a point) and all it costs is shipping between you and the person who wants the book.

It's so simple. I've listed 80 books (it's easy--they use Amazon's catalog for book data, so you just need to enter a list of ISBNs*), shipped out 4, and have 3 on the way. The great part is how cheap it actually is. Between buying the padded mailer at the post office and shipping it at the Media rate (a special rate that's pretty much just for books), each book I ship out only costs me about $2.50. And each of those represents a book that I can pick out later that I actually want to own.

The site feels pretty new and there are definitely some rough edges to iron out, but it's pretty straightforward and the selection is decent (although biased towards collections like mine, it seems; for obvious reasons recent bestsellers are harder to come by.)

Bookmooch is really a pretty neat concept: a democracy of books. Each book is worth another book. You could send out the paperback of Jeff Foxworthy Scratches Himself and Tells You About It and it would entitle you to request a nicely bound copy of The Complete Unabridged Proust/Weight Training Kit. It's one of the best recent examples I've seen of harnessing the power of the Internet to create more efficient markets. Money doesn't even enter into the equation--why should it? You have a book, someone else wants that book, and you'll get another book in return for giving it to them. Brilliant.

Aram

*That's the unique number that each book is assigned when it's published. Clearly marked; way easier to type than the title.

Posted by Aram at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When I was younger, I used to think moving was one giant fun adventure. I also didn’t have to do more than throw all my stuff into boxes that my parents placed in front of my room. No cleaning, no lifting, no having to deal with truck rental companies, no responsibility on my impish part. Sadly, the glory days are over. I moved six months ago and I recently moved again--basically back down to the same place I moved from. Pure stupidity. After spending a week trying to figure out what truck rental company to go with (I nixed having movers in the interest of optimizing my piggy bank), I finally settled on Penske. Here’s why:

They seem to have better, newer trucks. (I don’t have proof, but I have heard it from enough people to accept it as fact.) When you are hauling all your belongings in a 16-footer, at night, in the rain, trying to get to your new home, you don’t want your truck to break down or spin out of control. Their trucks are clean, both in the cargo area and in the front. They seem to have the best Epinions ratings for a truck company. Sure, U-Haul is supposedly cheap, but everyone I talked to told me that they got ripped off in one way or another (broken gas meter that shows a full tank when it is almost empty, poorly maintained trucks, excessive last minute charges). Penske is a little more, but at least you know exactly what you’re paying for. Plus you get $10 off if you are an AAA member.

They were nice enough to tell me what insurance I actually needed to get, instead of trying to scare me into getting it all. Apparently no one gets anything beyond just the truck insurance, which is only $20, so if you back up into a pole, you’ll be covered.

I recommend calling the local location to get a price quote and reserve a truck. That way, you can get a better feel of the level of service and courtesy that you will actually be getting in person.

Anyways, I can officially say that I never want to move again, but if for some unfathomable reason I do, I will probably go back to Penske. All in all, my move from SF down to the pensinsula was under $150 (including filling up the gas tank and getting lost multiple times). Or maybe I’ll just hire two burly men to move for me.

Sherry

P.S. Their boxes are kind of expensive, but their mattress cover is well worth it. $4 to not have squished bugs and dirt on your mattress.

Posted by Sherry at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

For some odd unidentifiable reason, whenever I see websites that allow users to create and order custom products that are otherwise hard to make, I feel wholesome inside and generally good about life. Services on the internet allow users to create highly customized products that would have sounded ridiculous before. I mean, who (among the average, non-ridiculously-rich consumers) would have previously thought about getting a sweatshirt printed with their family photograph on it? But sites like zazzle or customInk can create apparel and other assorted items with any user-produced image or text on it. That, to me, truly spells out self-expression and power to the individual. I don’t have to have a favorite designer to wear. I can be my own favorite designer.

I was eagerly looking around for the next big thing in customized products when I stumbled upon blurb. blurb can create a professional-looking book for you, from pictures, documents, your blog or any personal spark of creativity that you submit to them. You get your own bookstore-quality book, with classic hardcover, custom jacket and professional quality printing. Once you’ve published your work, blurb is also a space to sell and exhibit your work, be it a portfolio of the photography or art you have created, or a book of personal insights drawn from your life experience. But does the whole thing cost a lot, and can an average user afford it? Yes! And here’s where I got that wholesome, uplifting feeling again. You can create your book for as little as $30 a piece for up to 40 pages, and $80 for up to 440 pages. Just personally, I’ve always felt that custom-made items also make great gifts for those you love, and something like this would be awesome with the holiday season coming up.

Looking at different books made by users of the site made me think of YouTube, and its inspiring tagline, “Broadcast Yourself”. The “publish yourself” extension to the user-generated content paradigm, which blurb is offering, is truly a powerful concept, and one that I think many consumers would gladly welcome and appreciate. It has gotten me really excited and thinking about the possibilities of what I can get printed in book form for myself. Maybe, all of Pocket Change will soon be a book...

Mustafa

Posted by Mustafa at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Being a self-proclaimed bag lady, I am very accustomed to carrying around humungous bags to haul my loot. Lately, I have come to realize that having a bag large enough to carry my cell phone, wallet, makeup bag, magazines, doodle pad, short novel for light reading, pens, pack of tissue, mints, toiletry case, umbrella, memory stick, Chia Pet, ThighMaster, yoga mat, slice of chocolate cake, pet gerbil, rubber cement, and next year’s winter wardrobe proves not only to be menacing but also impractical. What can I say? I am a Girl Scout.

Maybe with a ton of purging I will be able to strategically shove all of my goodies into the new WALLET 2.0. Dubbed by some as the geek wallet/purse, the WALLET 2.0 is a waterproof silicone purse with a tabbed organizer to help keep your credit cards, ID, bills, and coins in order. Granted, its aesthetic appeal measures very low on the pretty meter; it scores big points on the practicality scale, though, not to mention the bonus points to your geek street cred.

Big ups to Techie Diva for the geek gadgetry.

Jill

Posted by Jill at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another two weeks has gone by, and you know what that means:

• We're two weeks closer to the inevitable fizzling-out of our Sun and subsequent death of all life on our planet,
• It's time for another Carnival of Shopping, and
• Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Batting leadoff, Gift Giving Made Easy has some solid gift ideas for people who like to cook. Shockingly, my staples (Stagg's Ranchero Beef Chili and a microwave; Aidell's frozen turkey burgers and a Foreman Grill) are not on the list.

Mad Kane is skeptical about Wal-Mart's plan to provide in-store health care and expresses it in the manner favored by most medical industry pundits: limerick.

My prison pal Wenchypoo has a fantastic name for a very good idea: reverse shopping. Don't buy things. Get rid of them. I had a moment the other day as I was contemplating the possibility of a move to a small apartment across the country: "But what would I do with all my stuff?" That's really not the first thought that should occur to you, is it?

In a similar vein, makingourway points out that we "inflate the value of personal possessions to offset the negative effects of debt on [our] net worth." and offers up a dispassionate approach for evaluating what you own. This guy really seems to have his financial act together, and is totally right about the value of all your stuff. That damn thing cost $250, you're darn tootin' I like it. That's why you end up with drawers full of Ghost in the Machine commemorative plates or whatever: they represent money that you don't have, so you'd better hold on tight.

A poll at omiru found that a slim majority of people who have opinions on these kinds of things consider striped tops to be either "out" or "on the way out." Presumably Sherry or Jill would actually have something to say about this; the extent of my contribution is that 100% of me finds neck tattoos "horrifying" and "obnoxious."

How Not to be Dreadful (love the name and, let's be honest, could probably use the advice) has a podcast, of all things, on pushy, hover-y salespeople and other shopping, er, dreadfulness. I've worked retail--it's a fine line they have to tread between won't-go-away and taping-merchandise-to-themselves-as-camo, but somewhere between used-car lots and Fry's Electronics, there's a happy medium.

And now loyal readers, I ride into the sunset on my trusty steed. On which I'm making $400 monthly payments, not to mention steed fuel, steed insurance, and general steed upkeep.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)