Carousel of Hate

I have been considering the iPhone for the first time after the announcement of iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 software.  Before that I was more than happy to stick with the wonderful handsets from Sony Ericsson.I am presently using T-Mobile and I have been on their network for over seven years.  My services are as follows:

•  5000 Minutes $99.99
• Buddy time (Unlimited text and Mobile to Mobile) $10.00
• T-Zones (Unlimited 2.5G data on handset) $5.99
• Monthly Total $115.98

On AT&T with the equivalent services my bill would look as follows:

• Unlimited Voice/3G Data $129.99 
• Unlimited Text $20.00
• Monthly Total $149.99

The AT&T rates do not even include sending text messages outside the US.  T-Mobile charges $0.15 per message to send an international text and the incoming messages come out of my text messaging plan.  AT&T charges $0.25 to send an International text and $0.20 to receive an international text unless you buy their international text plan for $9.99 which includes too international text messages and additional messages are $0.20.Now to be fair, the T-Mobile price would go up to $129.98 if I had a proper T-Zones plan like T-Zones Total Internet however I can do anything I need on the phone with the T-Zones plan.  T-Mobile has not officially released their 3G network so their rates may go up but that remains to be seen.  Also if I was on the T-Zones Total Internet I would be able to tether my notebook to my phone via Bluetooth and use the phone as a modem, the iPhone still does not support this without hacking that I am aware of.So other than getting an iPhone what am I getting for  the additional $34.01 per month, $408.12 per year and $816.24 at the end of my required two-year contract before taxes!Take for example how another country is promoting the iPhone.  Optus in Australia has the following statement on their iPhone pricing page “Optus is making the iPhone 3G affordable for everyone.”  Does that even sound like something you would hear spoken aloud in AT&T offices?Also because of the progressive nature of Australian government, they do not allow things like mobile phones to be locked down to a carrier.  So when an Australian iPhone user travels to another country, they can simply purchase a local pre-paid SIM and have a local number without all the international roaming surcharges… GO USA!Â

I was in Super Target the other night trying to check out at 8:30 PM. There were only two lanes open on the grocery side of the store, neither of which were express lanes. There was one register with a short line, however the light was turned off which I have always understood to mean “I am closing but I will finish checking out customer who are in line.” As I noticed this I picked another lane. I watched as three people walked up behind me they stopped at the lane with the light off but with a cashier. They looked at the light then stood in line as if to say “she can certainly take just one more person”. The cashier looked up and did not even make a face, she just continued checking out the customer. Do these people believe that the rules of the queue do not apply to them?

So after observing this same scenario over and over again as I wait in lines, I was reminded of Best Buy. Several years ago they changed their checkout arrangement to have a single queue and then as you wait in line you do not have to worry about “did I get in the fast line”, “is the person in front of me writing a check” etc. If Best Buy, which moves hundreds of people an hour through at their busiest holiday times has come up with this idea for efficiency, then why have places like Target and grocery stores not considered this approach? I think with the advent of self-check out (Target… get this concept soon please) there is little to no reason for express lanes in my opinion.

I am a creature of habit. I generally do things the same way, put my keys in the same place and follow the same patterns. Sometimes things get out of wack for whatever reason, and then chaos ensues.

Today I went with my family to see a film, as it the Christmas tradition. After buying the tickets from the kiosk I was putting away my credit card and sorting through the five receipts it spits out. One for free popcorn, another telling my I had achieved a new status, two different receipts telling me what I had purchased and the price, and finally a ticket to gain entrance. I walked over to the concession area and was putting things away. I found out I needed to get a sticker to indicate my new status so I then went to guest services.

After all of that I ended up back at the concession area. I put away my phone and was still holding my reward card so I went to put it in my pocket. I realized my “wallet” was not in the pocket I keep it in so I checked the pockets on my coat and still nothing. I put things on the counter to make sure I was not just overlooking it and then began to get a bit anxious. After checking my coat and pants pockets I announced that I had lost or left my wallet laying somewhere.

After searching and checking with the staff I began with my first phone call to cancel the cards from one issuer that were in my wallet. They looked up my information and then placed me on hold to contact the department to invalidate the cards. About 30 seconds from the time I was placed on hold everything changed. I happened to put my hand into my back pocket and there it was, my wallet. I never put my wallet in the back pocket. I did however have my reward card in my back pocket earlier. When I went to put it away I obviously put my wallet in there by mistake since I was still holding the reward card. By the time the phone rep came back it was too late and my cards had been invalidated.

This is not how I normally operate in life so I am going to be mentally smacking my forehead all day trying to figure out why I did something out of my norm and then reacted too quickly without checking all my pockets first.

Happy Christmas!

I was reminded of my friend Mike when I ran across this article today about Fight Thieving Restaurant Servers With Checksum Tips. Mike has this scheme in mind (correct me if I get this wrong) where you use the cents (at least the last digit) to indicate quality of service and satisfaction. He thought about leaving a little tip guide or perhaps a card pointing them to a web site to explain the different values. This article takes the make your tip mean something to an entirely new geek level. I had never even considered using binary to encode features or ratings! On and by the way there is a cute little cat in the corner of the page if you visit that site!

This article takes it to a new level of making sure you are not being taken advantage of by, dare I say, evil servers who feel that just having brought you a drink entitles them to huge piles of money. An alternate approach is offered by a comment on the site for using palindromes to compute the tip. I would agree that most servers out there are decent people working hard or even working the resraurant as second job because tips can be a decent income according to a friend of mine.

In the past I have been all over the spectrum of tipping from exactly 10% (I remember my grandmother having a tip calculator card she kept in her purse) to 15% for lunch, 20-25% for dinner depending on the quality of restaurant. I also went through the “rounding phase” where I just figured the tip roughly (not the Canadian tip trick like Aaron’s friend Shawn) and then rounded to the next even dollar, and finally today when getting take away I just usually add $2.00 maybe $3.00 depending on the price of the meal.

Overall I am trying to be more aware of tipping and trying to keep cash on hand for tips. After asking one server about tips they indicated that if a tip was left on a credit card not only would the house keep a percentage because of the credit card fees but that percentage was higher than a cash tip so the management felt they deserved more of the server’s money. In tipping with cash I feel like I am letting the server know that they were appreciated.

I heard about Prosper yesterday on the radio so I went to the web site today to investigate. It seems like an interesting idea making small loans together with others to reduce risk. I figured the loans would be made by ACH transfer from your bank account to Prosper so I clicked on the frequently asked questions about funds transfer. Here is what I found.

Transfer request is on day 0. Day 0 can vary based on day of week, time of day and holidays.
Funds are withdrawn from your account on day 1
Funds are received and held by prosper on days 2-3
Funds are available to you on day 4

Although we refer to you and other individuals as “lenders”, the loans are being made by Prosper and then sold to you, making you a loan purchaser. The term “lender” is used through the site for the sake of simplicity.

Prosper holds the funds on days 2-3 (which also includes day 1) because all ACH transfers can be canceled or marked failed within a three day period. What do we think Prosper is doing with our funds during this magical three day window? Perhaps they are making interest and increasing their balances and cash flow? They indicate that this waiting period is standard practice and make us feel better by adding that it makes our external bank account more secure.

Mike sent me a link today to a web site for a new laundry “system” called dropps. I like the concept of pre-measured pacs to keep from over-use, however I think I would generally under-use my detergent. My one concern is that I tend to so several small loads through out the week when I get home from the gym or especially every day when I am training for a run. Mike suggested I just buy additional kit however I will have to take that into consideration because I hate to buy too many things that are not always used.

I think I will try either the one 2-count Sample Pack or Seven 2-load Travel Packs and report back.