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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
$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 […]
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 […]
Just Say No to Fee Surcharges
I was short on cash last week. There’s an ATM here in my office building. It’s from a credit union near us. Several times a year, I see this credit union promoting their services at a table near the cafeteria. Credit unions have a reputation for being “the good guys.” They are said to play […]
Sunk Cost and Getting Your Money’s Worth
I went skiing last Saturday. The condition wasn’t great. It was windy and cold. I knew that before I went, because I read the weather forecast. I went only because I bought a season pass last year before the season started. If I didn’t have the season pass and a friend offered me a free […]
Bartering and Taxes
While catching up on old news, I heard a story about bartering on the Marketplace Money podcast. It’s called a Time Bank. Basically you do something for someone else and earn some Time Dollars. Then you use your Time Dollars for services you want from another person. It’s an indirect bartering system because direct bartering […]
One-Time Credit Card Numbers for More Security
The sixth largest payment processor in the country Heartland Payment Systems disclosed recently their system was compromised by hackers with a piece of data sniffing software watching credit card data pass by between Heartland and credit card networks. That system processes 100 million transactions a month. This had gone on for months until Visa and […]
I Received a Parking Ticket That’s Not Mine
Right before Christmas I received an overdue parking ticket in the mail. It has my name and license plate but it’s really not mine. I have never been to the location noted on the ticket. The vehicle description has the right make but the wrong color. Why did they think it was my car? I’m […]
Bought HP 12C Platinum Calculator
A generous reader gave me a good tip for answering some questions. I used the money and bought myself an HP 12C Platinum calculator. This is a financial calculator. It has financial functions like loan payments and bond prices. What really makes it different from all other calculators is that it uses a different input […]
Joe Four-Pack
During the summer when food inflation was high, there were a lot of news reports about package shrinking. Instead of raising the price, companies just give you less and sell for the same price. That makes it easier for them to hide the price increase. This is still going on even though the inflation pressure […]