Randomn3ss

I enjoy a nice bathroom when I’m out and about, but is a $430,000 luxury bathroom really needed at China’s famed Shaolin Temple?  I understand that there are huge volumes of visitors from all around the world that visit there, but those monks tend to live a rather simple life, why should they need to change to accommodate us visitors?

The simple life of monks at China’s famed Shaolin Temple got an upgrade with the installation of luxury restrooms worth $430,000.The official Xinhua News Agency said the most lavish of the restrooms measures more than 150 square meters.

It is equipped with a diaper changing station for infants, uniformed cleaners and a foyer with an LCD television.

The good news is that it won’t cost you a dime to watch the TV while tacking a crap there.

Source: The Canadian Press

Attention coffee fanatics everywhere!  Starbucks is closing all stores in America today for a few hours to retrain staff how to make a cup o’ Joe.  Not one to sleep on an opportunity to gain some market share, Dunkin’ Donuts is offering free lattes in certain parts of the country.

The official word from the Chicago Tribune is:

When Starbucks shuts down all of its nearly 7,100 national stores this evening for employee retraining (some of the contracted Starbucks are on a different training schedule), Dunkin Donuts will hand out free small hot lattes in all of its 450 Chicagoland stores.

The offer will be good from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. today.

Starbucks is closing its company-owned stores across the country for several hours today so it can bring its employees back up to speed on creating a perfect shot and steaming milk and pulling it all together for a great drink. The barista re-education is a “renewed focus on espresso standards,” say Starbucks honchos.

Various other news agencies are reporting similar deals throughout the country and some have insinuated that deals may come at Starbucks when the doors reopen.

Personally, I can’t drink coffee from either place anymore and only drink their “special” drinks from time to time.  My last few experiences in Starbucks have been lackluster at best.  Some kid takes my order, asks me to repeat or clarify it and then a bar code machine in the “barista” area prints out what I ordered so another kid can push a few buttons and make my drink.  Long gone are the true espresso machines and talent that a barista once held as a valued asset at Starbucks to make a quality espresso.  I’m thinking this part of the restructure of the company that has been floating around the news lately, especially with rumors that all McDonalds stores will have “baristas” in the soon.

Since I made small investment towards a better cup of coffee, my taste for coffee has changed.  After drinking coffee with sugar for more than 15 years, I now drink it black and really enjoy it.  I can also taste the unique characteristics of different single origin coffees and appreciate them.  Starbucks tastes burnt and bitter, Dunkin’ Donuts tastes too sweet.  They are both blends, not single origin, and need to be so that the cup of mud you get in Philadelphia tastes the same as the one in San Francisco.

In my part of the city, Dunkin’ Donuts outnumber Starbucks by a ratio of at least 15:1, maybe as high as 25:1.  Unofficial data is that blue collar workers prefer Dunkin’ Donuts and the ability to order a small, medium, or large while upper middle class and upper class people prefer the ambiance and experience of a Starbucks and don’t mind paying a premium for these luxuries and can order sizes with funny names.  Dunkin’ Donuts makes great donuts and an OK cup of coffee for most people out there, there is no fancy music playing, the interiors are decorated almost more for function than aesthetics and I rarely see people meeting there for casual get-togethers or to surf the internet.  Starbucks on the other hand is much more an experience, plush seats, funky shaped tables, dark woods, music playing that is available for purchase in the store along with a host of other non-coffee related items.  I find it interesting that Dunkin’ Donuts is trying to capture some of the Starbucks business now, especially since they’ve almost always been more of a coffee stop and not a mocha-whipa-frappa-chino place.

Check your local Dunkin’ Donuts for any deals, don’t assume that all of them will have free or discounted drinks today.

Late last night eBay sent me an email officially announcing all their changes, some good, most not. Here’s a breakdown and what it means to you.

Reduced listing fees. You’re not going to hear me complain about this one. 2008 guidelines:

• Lower insertion fees
• Making gallery free
• Lower fees for gallery

Reward for great sellers. OK, this is pretty much bullshit if you ask me. You get better ranking in search’s based on how detailed the person who bought your item was when they left you feedback. I’d safely say that one out of every three transactions I do on eBay, buying or selling, the other party never leaves feedback. Even after I’ve sent them a message to make them aware that I did indeed leave positive feedback and would appreciate if they did the same when they had a moment. How it affects you as a seller:

• More search exposure through Best Match
• Fee discounts for PowerSellers
• Increased protection for PowerSellers

Feedback changes. For me, feedback is the only way that buyers and sellers can keep each other honest. These, are not in the best interest of the users of eBay in my honest opinion.

• Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback
• Positive repeat customer Feedback will count and Feedback more than 12 months old won’t
• Negative and neutral Feedback left by the buyer will be removed for transactions in which a buyer doesn’t respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) or if the member is suspended

I want to know who thought it would be a good idea to stop sellers from leaving negative feedback for buyers who don’t pay? Why is negative feedback going to be removed if the seller is suspended?

In my eyes, there is no other auction site online besides eBay, many have tried, and all have failed. eBay has branded themselves much in the way Xerox, Kleenex and Coke have, and they have turned their branded name into the common name for a product. One can often hear in an office, “Can you make me a Xerox copy of that?” instead of “photo copy”. Same goes for your sick family member who asks you to stop on the way home and pick-up a box of Kleenex, not a box of tissues. You sell stuff on eBay, not an online auction site.

Sales numbers are down for eBay though as new up-and-coming sites again try to tackle the proverbial five hundred pound gorilla and sites like Craigslist continue to grow in popularity, especially for hard or impossible items to ship. EBay figures the answer is to cut listing fees, up to 50% in most cases. This is great news for anyone listing an auction. Three is a dark downside to this though. When you sell on eBay you have to pay two fees, one to list the item and a second based on what the item sold for. In the event that your item did not sell, a nominal fee is thrown at you, but you have the ability to re-list it a second time and if it sells, only pay listing fees and selling fees once.

EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by up to 50 percent the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell, a method the company says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.

The greatest fee increase will come for goods selling for less than $25. EBay’s fee for those transactions will rise 67 percent, to 8.75 percent of the final sale price.

I’m sorry, cutting one fee by 50% and increasing the other is not a sound way to make people more interested in listing with your company. It sounds like a slime-ball used car salesman’s bait and switch program. I still buy off eBay several times a year and sell items from time to time, but unless you are moving high dollar item, it may be in your best interest to use a free site like Craigslist.

Source: Wired AP

Last week I took part in a blog writing project over at fellow blogger Daniel’s site, the focus being tutorials. I feel that I write pretty good tutorials so why not submit one and see how well I do.

In total, 71 people submitted tutorials covering a wide range of topics. The interesting part is that those 71 writers will determine whom the winners are by listing a top list of tutorials comprised of those 71 articles. So, here are my three top tutorials from the project:

• How to write a letter of complaint to your bank. The power of a written letter has, in some ways, been forgotten with my generation and those younger. We do everything in the now via email, text message and phone calls if we have to be bothered to pick up the phone at all. The written letter, when done properly, holds a good amount of weight, in my opinion, more than an email letter. This tutorial covers how to approach your bank with confidence and in a manor as to not come off sounding like a jerk. Banks are, for most, a necessary evil, we all need them, hate the fees, horrible hours and staff who are usually slower than road kill. Six easy steps in this tutorial could lead to a well written letter to waive a fee, get you better customer service or even a shiny new pen!

• How to RSS like a rockstar. For more than 2 years now I have been attached to iGoogle RSS reader and have grown the number of sites I track via RSS to nearly 60, all separated won by categories. Sadly, many people still don’t understand what RSS is, how to use it or why it rocks so much. This tutorial covers all the bases from soup to nuts and will get you reading feeds in no time.

• How to list an eBay auction for maximum profit. So I’m a little vain. In the last several months this article has been read nearly 11,000 times, clearly a few people found it interesting. I put a lot of time and energy in writing what I’ve learned over the last 7+ years selling on eBay and think that this article should be in any top tutorial list.

One year ago the House voted on raising the national minimum wage to $7.25, has anything changed? Not really. Since states can regulate their own minimum wage standard, five of which don’t have any guidelines or laws on a standardized wage, all in the southern part of the country. A few other states have minimums way below the new $7.25 standard, including Kansas, which is $2.65 per hour, premium pay, often called over-time doesn’t kick in until after 46 hours of work. The states which are following or exceeding the national minimum won’t be doing so until 2009, at which point the cost of living will probably have risen 3-6% more, keeping those workers still falling behind.

See what each states minimum pay guidelines are, along with proposed increases at the U.S Department of Labor.

Since I’ve already shown you how to list an eBay auction for maximum profit, now is the time to do it. eBay is currently running a sale offering 33% off listing fees, valid through November 5th. If you’ve been putting off selling something, now is the time, and maximize your profits with these savings in the listing price.

The first part in this series went over really well and had me thinking about other ways that I pinch pennies. While one of the topics covered in the previous article was to learn to cook an amazing meal, which would be in place of dining out, most people dine out several times a month. It’s going to happen, whether it be for work, social, personal or just on-the-go reasons, we Americans love to eat out, here are 13 way to save money while doing so.

• Use coupons. I’ve already shown you how to get the most from clipping coupons at the grocery store, but tons of restaurants put coupons in the Sunday paper and direct mailing as well. There is nothing wrong with using them, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed, you are actually doing the restaurant a favor. Restaurants pay big money to advertise in the Sunday paper, and even more money for direct mailing, which are those nice little envelopes that come once every few weeks full of discounts and coupons, or as a larger magazine style brochure. In order for them to know that they are indeed getting their moneys worth from the newspaper or company they are buying the ad space from, they need to see a return on the coupons. This holds even more true for non-chain restaurants, who often depend on a spike in volume will offset both the discount the customer receives and the cost of advertising the coupons in the first place.

• Expand your horizons. Look for new restaurants opening up, both chains and independents, they often have sale items on the menu during the first few weeks or months that they are open to drum up some excitement. Yes you will need to try new things, get over it. You’ll save money doing so.

• Be flexible with what time you plan on eating. Many restaurants offer a discounted menu before a certain time, usually 4pm, or they offer a lunch menu that is exactly the same as dinner but at 20-40% discount. This won’t hold true for your fast food joints, but with smaller restaurants who struggle with slow lunch rushes or mediocre afternoons, this is a great time to get good food at a lower price. One local chain restaurant offers half price appetizers after 9pm Sunday through Thursday, which tends to be the slowest time for them.

• Choose the day of the week. Friday and Saturday nights are always busy, it is when people like to go out, unwind from work and the restaurant has the upper hand, meaning they are limited on seats and make most of their money. You will likely get better service and possibly a cheaper tab by choosing a day of the week when they run specials.

• Avoid appetizers. Again, this doesn’t apply to fast food, but most decent restaurants have more than antiquate proportions of food and often include a soup, salad or both with the meal. Do you really need an appetizer fatty? Not getting one could save $6-15 off your bill and a few inches off your waist. The alternative would be to split one with whomever you are eating dinner with.

• Take advantage of frequent buyer or reward cards. The concept of a business card that a worker punches a funny shaped hole in every time you purchase something has been around for years, you buy X number of something and get the next one free. This is free food people, as much as they suck to use, if you are a regular somewhere and they offer this, use it! Most common place for this is gas stations that have mini-marts in them with coffee and non-chain bagel shops. Subway did this years ago until eBay came along and started allowing unhappy workers to sell the little stickers for pennies.

• Skip dessert. This follows the same concept as skipping the appetizer. Unless you really feel the need to indulge yourself, you will trim several dollars from your bill and unneeded calories from your diet.

• Go to the bar. If you are of legal age, get to know what bars have the deals on any given night in your area. When I was 19 or so, I couldn’t wait to turn 21, not to drink, but to get in on the all-you-can-eat deals that friends of mine were getting at the bar for chicken wings or clams or whatever they had that night. Bar food may not always be the most healthy for you, but it can be good food cheap, especially if you go early in the night. Most bars don’t really start making a profit until 9 or 10 at night, up until that point they tend to be dead and supplement their booze income with a small menu, usually called a bar menu - go figure right. The kicker is, bar owners have become really keen to up the quality of food they offer and go way further than just cheese sticks and chicken wings. Many have created elaborate menus that rank right up with a good restaurant. One local bar has a dollar dozen clam night. $4 gets four dozen clams, $1.50 for a soda (I don’t drink at all) and I’m good for the night. My stomach might hate me a few hours after, but I’m mighty full.

• Become a local. As a teenager, I spent my fair share of nights in diners until the sun came up, chatting with friends. Over the months / years of doing it, we got to know not only the staff at a few places, but the owners themselves. We’d get greeted on the way in, coffee on the table as soon as we sat down and usually a decent discount on whatever food we did end up getting. Now keep in mind, we would tip fairly well, for diner standards, as we’d consume a booth for the entire evening, but we’d almost always get something for free. Becoming a local also means you may have the opportunity to try out new menu items for free. Many places change the menu on a regular basis and value the opinion of their loyal customers, so they’ll front you a meal to get your honest feedback.

• Find out what the daily specials are. Many restaurants offer daily specials, one main reason is because they got a deal themselves on whatever it is they are now offering you and pass the discount on. Additionally, this often means you will get fresher food, like fish (instead of frozen) and the chef might actually enjoy cooking it more. Restaurants with real chefs, which excludes most chains, get bored cooking the same menu every night, the special is often their way to try out new concepts and ideas and usually include fresher ingredients. Let them show you how skilled they are and reap the benefits of fresher, cheaper food.

• Eat more chicken. Chicken is much cheaper than steak and far less fickle than fish. Chickens is also easier and cheaper to raise than cattle and significantly easier to catch than fish. Additionally, it is easy to get fresh, consistent tasting chicken in just about any part of the country (or world for that matter). If you live in the mid-west, I’m willing to bet that 98% of the fish you eat was frozen at some point. If a chicken option is available on the menu, chances are it will be the cheaper way to go.

• Eat more vegetables. One step cheaper than chicken is vegetables and tofu. Vegetarian versions of many popular dishes are now available at an increasing number of restaurants, they usually taste really good and are cheaper than the meat versions. Give them a try, at least twice.

• Try a food tasting tour. Many large cities often have food tasting weeks throughout the year. An example would be, buy a ticket for say $50 and it is good for dinner at 5 different restaurants for any entree on the menu, there is usually 12-40 restaurants that participate in the event. Most places have entrees that are priced from $8-18, so your investment of essentially $10 per dinner really gets stretched. Be aware that drinks, appetizers and desserts are usually not included. Why would a restaurant want to offer this? To get new customers in the door and give them a chance to show you what they have to offer, and hopefully make some more money off you with drinks and an appetizer.

Spending money when you eat out is inevitable, use these methods to minimize how much is flowing out of your wallet. There is nothing wrong with saving a few bucks on a good meal.

Just two weeks after Google hit $600 per share, they’ve surpassed the $700 per share barrier, and seem to keep on moving. I’m kicking myself for not buying at $400 per share, but I have nowhere near enough money to purchase enough shares to make it worth it. A stock split has got to happen at some point soon though.

More detailed information available at the Associated Press, which is ironically hosted by Google.

For those of us who live in America, a long-standing joke has been that $20 equals about $1000 Canadian dollars. Sadly, these days are past us and the greenback is uncharted territories.

At 9:34 a.m. (1334 GMT), the Canadian dollar was at US$1.0465, putting each U.S. dollar at 95.55 Canadian cents, down from Monday’s close of US$1.0496, or 95.27 Canadian cents.

Only time will tell what happens next, but I don’t think investing in gold would be a bad idea.

Source: Reuters

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