Last week the name Foxconn and Apple were in all the headlines. It was not about great profits, or some new electronic gadget. It was about the inhumane treatment of the workers in China. What is interesting to note is that Foxconn does not just manufacture electronics for Apple. Foxconn manufacture over 50% of the electronics sold in the United States.
Mistreatment of works or labors misbehavior is nothing new. We have heard of US companies out sourcing to companies that have shameful labor practices. If we look back in history the use of cheep child labor dates back to before the 1800′s.
We here in the United States has one of the highest standards for the way we treat our work force. With the advent of unions the treatment of workers as well as their wages have improved. This made it harder to keep the cost of goods down.
Large manufacturer’s started to out source much of their work to other countries where goods could be made at a lower price. What made these overseas companies product the same item at the same quality for a less price was by paying their workers less money.
Have you been in an auto accident or had water damage from the washing machine over flowing? Then got on the phone calling your insurance company for a claim that was only for a few hundred dollars. Did you know you do not have to file an insurance claim every time you are eligible to file.
If you read your insurance policy carefully, you will find you will be penalized if you file to many claims with in a certain period of time. Some insurance companies have been know to raise the premium excessively high or deemed you uninsurable.
Several years ago, this guy took over as director of a small nonprofit. He was a real nice guy with a big heart. He notice three of the five vehicles had small chips in the windshields. Looking over the insurance policy he saw each of the vehicles windshields could be replaced for free. So he contacted the insurance company. Within a week all three vehicles has new windshields.
The sad part of the Christmas season is the undue pressure we put on ourselves. When we go out Christmas shopping we try to get a Christmas present proportionality to our feelings for that person. It is much better to step back and look at what we can afford. Then look for that little thing which will make the biggest impact.
Well, it is not just at Christmas time. It holds for any other time of the year. We get in this mind set toward our love, our friendship, our caring must be measured by the size of gift we give. That is why, especially at this time of the year, we go into debt finding the perfect gift. That is why people rush around all crazy just to get all the gifts they need to give.
One of the big attractions I love about where I live is how polite the drivers are. That is not true when it comes closer to Christmas. The individuals driving their various vehicles get more and more aggressive as it gets closer to Christmas Day.
Posted By: The Shopping Nazi
on December 14, 2011
in Budget,
Business -
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In life we can be assured of only two things; Death and Taxes, but with taxes we can get a refund. A lot of the financial decisions I made were around “How will it affect my final tax bill”.
It was just last week when I got in the mail my copy of H&R Block’s tax software. I set it to one side until after the first of the year.
I know Christmas is less than two weeks away. We are all absorbed about end of the year stuff. Some of that end of the year stuff should be what can I do to get ready to do my taxes.
I knew this one family who had different members who own different businesses. The first comment they make after the first of the year is, “Make sure you file for extension”. They never start their tax preparation process until after April 15th. Why? They knew they are going to have to pay, and they put it off as long as possible.
Growing up one of my fondest memories of Christmas was getting presents in the mail. They came from relatives who lived across the United States. Aunts and uncles in Arkansas would send boxes of mixed nuts. They had a farm where they grew nuts. Other relatives in Los Angels would send a box of candy. We could count on grandma to send winter gloves, or a hats to keep us warm.
At the beginning of December dad would come home with boxes of towel sets, and other box gift sets. Then he would pull out all those brown paper bags from the grocery store. He had been saving all year. Each gift set was wrapped in brown paper and tied with course brown string. The labels were carefully hand written before being stuck on the package.
We are getting close to Christmas. If you have not shipped off your Christmas presents, you had better get them wrapped, and down to the shippers office. Regardless as to what UPS, USPS, or FEDEX tells you. This is their busiest time of the year. Mail it to it may not get there.
So in this post I would like us to look at all your shipping options.
Posted By: The Shopping Nazi
on December 7, 2011
in Business,
Events -
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So often I hear from ambitious people how great it is to work from home. Those who work from home tell me it is a major effort not to flake out. They struggle not to watching TV instead of calling potential clients. Other have a struggle with doing other things around the house.
Hundreds if not thousands of people work in dead end job who would love to be working from home. Their passion is either making a neat product or supplying a fantastic service from home. Many people get disillusioned by what is called multilevel marketing scheme.
Multilevel marketing scheme is where you pay $100, $200 or more to get this starter kit. They have a selection of products to be sold from home. The parent company encourages you to get someone else to sell the products for you. Then you make a percentage of their sales. The presentation from these multilevel marketing companies sounds great.
In reality, it requires work. They majority of people who sign up for this kind of home based business fail within the first year. Either it requires more work than originally expected. The particular area has been saturated with that product or products. Or people can get a better deals for similar products from Wal Mart.
Thanksgiving is Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and football. Smells coming from the kitchen are so inviting taste testers. To much food, and to little exercise make this day a time of family and friends.
The year is almost over. It seems the period of time between Thanksgiving and New Years Day is the payday for the work done the rest of the year. Today, is the day we set aside to be thankful for what has come our way. It does not matter if has been good and bad. Things could of have been a lot worse.
We are thankful for:
Ever since The Great Recession the number of people who are sent to debt collections has sky rocketed. Many people want to pay their bills, but because of sudden lost of steady income has fallen into this hole. The collector, who get paid on commission have gotten more and more aggressive as to how they go about collecting money.
It was just a little over a month ago the FTC has shut down a debt collection firm that allegedly used heavy handed techniques. These techniques included threats of violence against family member, and pets.
There is a few things we need to know about before we start dealing with any debt collector. The first thing is the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and for you folks in California is the Rosenthal Act. —or perhaps just didn’t care. Not only did they apparently violate state and federal laws to collect debts, but then they decided to keep some of that money for themselves rather than paying the firms that hired them to collect on their behalf.
We are on the verge of entering another Christmas season. We are going to be storming the grocery stores to buy the ingredients for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner as well as all the other meals in between. Then on full stomachs we rush out of the house heading for places like the mall, Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target and Macy’s for Christmas presents.
While we are out shopping most of our interactions with store clerks and cashiers will be pleasant. They will have their smiling face on. They will seem to go out of their way to help us get exactly what they thing we need, and sell something else as part of the process.
In all reality there are going to be purchases that will meet if not exceed our expectations. There are going to be a few purchases where we will disappointed. And hopefully none, but maybe one that we will say to ourselves, “God, I should of have been shot for thinking about buying that piece of junk!”
Do you realize, in the United States, the average car repair is $1,500? Did you know the average vet bill is around $400 for a cat? Are you aware that most human health care insurance plans cover only a fraction of any major medical expenses? Considering the uncertainty of today’s job market, we need to some money in saving for those unexpected expenses.
Just a couple years ago, in 2009, the average savings account would not even cover the bills for a family for one month. According to all the numbers I can find it is not much better today. It is time to get our financial house in order and have a healthy savings account.
Saving is more than just putting money in the bank. Savings is putting the right amount of money in the right bank. Why? Savings account are not designed to store money up for a rainy day. An expected return is required. Neither do we need to have our money in a bank getting a high interest rate when that same bank is charging us all sorts of fees.
