Super-Easy DIY Car Maintenance
The title says it all. Some car maintenance jobs are very easy. If you do them yourself, you can save hundreds of dollars. I'm not a handy person at all. I have never operated a drill (don't laugh). If I'm able to do some simple maintenance for my car, I'm sure you can too.
Windshield Wiper Blades. These are the easiest. Press a clip, slide off, and slide on the replacement. Time: 5 minutes. Cost: about $10 each.
Battery. The dealership does a vehicle inspection for me whenever they do an oil change. They told me my battery's cranking power was low and they would charge me $150 to replace it. I went to Wal-Mart. They install the battery for free if you buy it there. I waited nearly two hours and it still wasn't my turn yet. I got fed up and just bought the battery.
What Is AAA, Really?
My AAA membership is up for renewal. I'm talking about the organization that provides emergency roadside service: towing, jumpstarting, and lockout. It used to be American Automobile Association. Now it's just AAA.
I have been a AAA member for a few years but I still don't understand what AAA really is. I mean, is it a for-profit company? If so, who owns it? AAA books travel. Who earns the commission? AAA sells auto insurance. Who's providing the insurance? Does AAA have its own insurance subsidiary or is it just an agent for other insurance companies? If I don't use AAA travel agents or buy insurance from AAA, am I benefiting from the profits in those areas?
Wikipedia says AAA is a non-profit owned by regional motor clubs. Individuals like myself are members of a regional club, for example AAA Northern New England. It's still not clear to me whether the regional clubs are for-profit or non-profit. I don't have auto or homeowners insurance through AAA. Therefore I don't know who's behind the insurance. If anyone knows for sure, please help.
Unleash the Power of Sharing Notes
Jonathan at My Money Blog wrote a very good post about shopping for hotel rooms a while ago:
Buying a Car Extended Warranty
A family member asked me to help him buy an extended warranty for his car. I got the enviable job because the extended warranty costs a lot of money (over $1,000) and I have the reputation in the family for getting good value for money.
Is an extended warranty on a car "worth it"? The standard advice you hear about extended warranties is that they are not worth it. I disagree. I must say it depends. It depends on what price you pay and what you get for that price. The coverage is worth something. If you pay a low enough price for the right coverage, you can make the extended warranty "worth it."
Let me begin with what NOT to do when you buy an extended warranty.
Why Are Some Companies Hated By Consumers?
Why are some companies hated by consumers while other companies are loved? That sounds like something Harvard Business Review would write about. And indeed, it has. In Companies and the Customers Who Hate Them, Harvard professors Gail McGovern and Youngme Moon said a company is hated when it sets adversarial rules to extract value from its customers, rather than to provide value to them.
Firms taking advantage of customers through such tactics, whether deliberate or unintentional, trigger a backlash: consumers retaliate — with lawsuits, mass defections, and company-specific "hate sites."
I would add that in addition to providing a bad product or service, a company is hated by the consumers when consumers don't have a better choice. If you look at the Worst Companies in America 2009 list at Consumerist, you will see many companies on the list are near monopolies in their market segment. By popular votes, the four Worst Companies in America 2009 were: » Read more …
Small Cars in Ireland
I rented an Economy car when I was in Ireland. They gave me a Kia Rio sedan. It's actually a bit larger than many other cars I saw on the roads. By my casual observation, the most popular cars in Ireland are (in no particular order) Opel Corsa, Peugeot 207, and Nissan Micra. According to Wikipedia, they all belong to a category called "supermini," basically subcompact here in the U.S. The comparable cars in the U.S. would be a Honda Fit or a Toyota Yaris. After coming back to the U.S. and driving my much larger Honda Accord, I don't know why cars in the U.S. have to be that big. Those smaller cars do the job just fine.
$0.30 Surcharge for a Plastic Grocery Bag
This is another story from my vacation in Ireland. I bought some fruits, yogurt, and bakery from a convenience store. The clerk asked me if I wanted a bag for what I bought. I said "Sure." because that's the way it is in the U.S. Then I noticed there was a charge for 0.22 Euro on the receipt. It was labeled as a government mandated fee for the plastic bag. At 1 Euro = 1.40 US Dollars, that was like $0.30 for a bag. Some people call it PlasTax. According to one source, implementing the fee cut the plastic bag usage in Ireland by 90%.
In the U.S. I get a discount of $0.05 per bag if I bring my own bags to the two grocery store chains near me. It's not by law, just store policy. Technically not getting the $0.05/bag discount is equivalent to paying a $0.05 surcharge for each bag. But I bet most customers don't know about the surcharge because it's not on their receipt. If we increase that surcharge from $0.05 to $0.30 like in Ireland and make it a true surcharge which shows up on the receipt, not just a lack of a discount, I'm sure it will change people's habits really fast and cut down our consumption of plastic grocery bags significantly. It's a strange phenomenon. People don't mind missing out on some discount but they will change their behavior if they pay a surcharge. Economists say it has to do with framing.
By the way I love their yogurt. Not too starchy or too sweet like the Dannon and Yoplait yogurt I get here in the U.S. It was cheap too. 0.87 Euro for a big 16-oz jar. I will try some different brands at Trader Joe's and see if they have yogurt made in that style.
Nightmare with Apple iPod Shuffle
I know many people swear by Apple products, the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone, but my first introduction to Apple products went very badly. Maybe some Apple fans can set me straight.
I was looking for a small mp3 player for jogging and working out in the gym. Because I heard so much about iPods but I never had one, I wanted an iPod to have that Apple iPod experience. I went to Apple's web site to see its product lineup. The iPod Shuffle looked like the answer. I watched its video demo. The controls are built into the earbuds? Whose brilliant idea was that?! What if the wire breaks or I don't like their headphones? I can't use it with a different pair of headphones? Fortunately they are still selling the older model, the so-called 2nd generation iPod Shuffle. I saw it doesn't have a LCD screen for selecting tracks. For jogging and the gym, I'm OK with that. So I bought one.
After I got my iPod Shuffle, one surprise came after another. Perhaps I'm not up to the Apple experience. I plugged in the Shuffle and I wanted to drop some podcast mp3's onto it. What, no drag and drop? I have to install iTunes? Why? I just want to put some mp3's on it. I don't need to buy any music right now. I already have what I want. Apple says no. Got to install iTunes. I reluctantly obliged.
Read the Contract and Protect the Consumer
Reporter and book author [1] Bob Sullivan wrote a few weeks ago about his trouble with canceling his cell phone service with Sprint and how the FCC handled his complaint.
Upselling at the Post Office
I went to the post office to mail my tax returns yesterday. While the postal clerk was placing the certified mail stickers and printing the receipt, I noticed a printout under the glass on the counter. The title the page said FY 2009 Mystery Shop Script. It's the instructions to the clerks for what they are supposed to say to a customer. It starts with offering Express Mail.
We can get it there the next day for $17.50. It includes $100 of insurance.
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