Just need to vent...

My forgetfullness is out to get me I think. Finally got away from our parking spot since mid June, poor Jennie's front lawn looks like the episode of Herman Munster at the golf course ... Winnie was sailing long wonderfully, replacing the plugs and coils did wonders for the low rpm performance ..... fixed the busted LPG hoses and went the long way via a service stn I'd used before to buy LPG at a good price ...... $1.22.5/ltrs ..... Yeah nah, you gotta be joking, should have checked the phone app before I left

Travelled along this very rough bush road, that all the rain hadn't improved in the least bit, 25kms from the town where we were going to camp up ...... temp went off the gauge and the engine shut down ..... Check the radiator overflow tank .... forgot to put the rad cap back on ...... so, parked on the side of the road, park lights on so we could be seen .... flat battery in the morning of course ..... at least the scrappy bit of solar on the roof sorted that by lunch time, refilled the radiator .... and the engine started no problems ...... drove on to our next camp ground, a few more dirt roads thanks to Google maps, only to discover, I'd left the drivers window down on the MG4 on the trailer from when I'd first loaded it on the trailer back in Wollongong, before we left.

So now our nice new MG4 with 5,000kms on the clock, looks like a freshly prepared vegie garden inside .....

I'd write a check list, but I'd forget to read it

T1 Terry

 

The new ATMs at the local credit union have a question they ask right after you've authenticated:

Would you like to know your balance: [MAIN MENU] [YES]​

So if your answer to the question is "no, thanks, I keep track of that anyway", you have to reason out that [MAIN MENU] is how you say [NO].

 

I'm sure I've used an ATM in the last few years but I honestly could not tell you WHEN I used one......

I always use the cash-back option when I'm in a store - especially ALDI or Wally.
Recently I was in a Kroger - which actually tries to charge money for doing them the favor of not having as much cash to deal with at the end of the day.
HARD PASS for me - which is good for the other stores.....

 

Not sure about Aldi and other stores over there, but we have found you need to select savings after actually swiping or inserting your card, otherwise, the tap and pay or phone tap and pay, has a surcharge attached to it .... and a percentage of the sale, not a fixed fee.

I feel this is dishonest, there is no sign to tell customers that tap and pay costs a percentage of the sale ..... I wonder how they would react to a touch of payback, buy one item at a time, go through the process of paying from savings, so no B/S percentage is added, but a lot of small transactions clogging both the stores accounting systems as well as the back.

Another payback could be to wait until the few hundred dollars of groceries have been scanned, then ask if there is a surcharge for paying by card ..... if the reply is yes, then walk away saying you were not warned about the additional charges with a clearly visible sign .....

T1 Terry

 

I always carry at least $100 in cash and encourage my family members to do the same.

Always fun to go to use a credit card and find the network is down, you've exceeded their security monitors for too many swipes within a certain amount of time, your card was physically swiped a number of times in another geographical area and the security precautions shut it down, you actually lose you card or damage it in a way that makes it unusable etc... - and yes, we carry a backup card just in case, but this only mitigates some of the risk factors.

Being a confirmed cheapskate, tight with money and part of the older generation I find using cash makes paying for goods "hurt" just a little more than swiping a card.

Admittedly we do use a card for most purchases - it is faster, more convenient, and more accurate (not handling cash) but there are disadvantages to that method as well.

Our Kroger does not charge extra for using a credit card - they would quickly go out of business here if they did that - but you are right in some areas it does cost more for using a credit card there, handling fees are passed on to the customer either through direct fees or indirect increased cost of the products. We pay for the "convivence" of using credit cards in - interest, transaction fees, some come with balance restrictions etc

 

I've had one of those goofy little Apple cards for several years and the next dollar I spent in interest will be my first dollar.
There ARE on-line shops that offer a 'cash' discount that I use another checking card for, and our Kroger does not (yet) charge to use a credit card but only to get cash back - which is something that should benefit THEM.
Our local restaurants are starting to give 'cash and credit' prices on their bills.
They get around those who would protest about the upcharge by couching it as a 'cash discount.'

I carry very little cash but there's always $40 folded in my wallet in case I need to buy something and the store's network is down.
I club that up to a couple hundred (broken down) when I'm on the road, and during my last road trip (in KY) I actually used actual cash at a White Castle whose computer was down.
I got to jump to the head of the line because I was the only patron in the store with actual cash....

 

We always pay our credit card balances off immediately also. Credit cards are very convenient and allow us not to carry around huge sums of money
but... everyone pays transactions fees on their purchases - these are either in direct called out charges on your bill or hidden in the price of the goods you just bought so you don't even know you paid them - every company has to pay a fee for credit card processing and they pass this fee onto their customers to maintain a proper profit margin - you would never notice it - it is baked into the price of the goods you just bought. These fees are quite substantial and most merchants no longer absorb the cost but pass them on to the consumer in spelled out surcharges or baked in hidden cost of the product.
....most of us don't realize this

worth a listen if you think you are not paying transaction fees:

 

My parents once had a MORTGAGE where the statement every month would offer them a choice of amounts to pay: an amount that amortized out to a normal 30-year maturity, a smaller amount that would take longer, an amount EQUAL ONLY TO THE INTEREST that would make the mortgage eternal, AND AN AMOUNT LESS THAN THAT.

 

Do you have debt cards over there, where you pay from your savings account rather than a credit account? They are the ones I'm complaining about, no one is extending credit for even 30 days, they are holding the cash and pay no or next to no interest on this type of account.
Not a lot on money is held in the account, some transferred each week from the higher interest bearing accounts, but they must grow by $50 mth (excluding interest) to retain that higher interest rate .... the bank always wins .... just a matter of minimising the losses

T1 Terry

 

EEK! EEK! EEK!




LMAO!

Bob Wilson

 

What else - my favorites are phone service being cut off from companies that I don't deal with

 

There was a link in the message. I suspect they were trying to find out if I would respond. Best not to feed the trolls.

Eventually, the mass of SPAM will reach a point where I'll drop that free account and also change my phone number. They will become another "black hole" in the Internet and I will smile every time I use my new account and phone number.

Not sure when but perhaps when I replace the phone and possibly the phone and/or Internet provider. Right now, the phone is $50/month and cable modem, $30/month. I've gotten several offers about '5G' and phone service. However, the prices were not good enough to attract my interest.

Bob Wilson

 

I can get a debit card attached to any account. In fact, I've set-up a "travel savings account" that's isolated from my assets w/o overdraft. I keep a small amount of money in it and fund it for overseas travel. It acts as a lost limiter, in-case some how the card is scanned or skimmed. It's a lost prevention tool. I can still login and transfer money into the account, but can do nothing from within that account. Obviously, I don't do that from a public WiFi or over an unsecured line.
This also works out great for those darn subscription, cell phone, and cable companies that want direct access to bank accounts for auto-pay. I still don't trust it; so I attach it to the above account. Reconcile it monthly or quarterly.

 

Interesting how in this forum there are so many ways of preferred payment.

My house has two payment methods, hers from the 1920s and mine where I put everything on a credit card that has a money back feature and I get about a 5 hundred dollars back a year and, when I remember and the amount gets worth it, I call them up and have them apply it to the next bill.

I figure if I don't do it that way and let my wife pay the bills, she pays in stamps and hassle. When I worked she handled all the bills and I've been sneaking in a utility bill here and a subscription bill there to the automated way of doing things.

I want to get her down to just reviewing the one credit card bill. She can pay that by check. Get a lot of float that way.

Only downside is when they renew your credit card you have to inform so many companies.. But I'm good for the next 5 years.

Just went to order from a company in Germany and for shipment to an address in Germany. They want your credit card holder address but don't accept any address in the USA? Thanks DJT.

 

Some of the Mennonite & Amish communities just outside of town take works & service in trade. Always wondered how the IRS computes that. After all, if I trade 10lb of huckleberries for 25 rounds of 223 reloads - or 50 lb of plums for 25 lb of cherries? Where's the profit.
Yet - 'the-man' expects his pound of Flesh.

Segway'ing back to the topic at hand, Android Outlook posts phony email/spam now/recently at the top of the inbox to make it look like real email. Got to find how to add that capability to the spam blocker.
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