This is a screen shot of a Chinavasion page, I promise to give you reports on my decision and the progress, in fact, if you wait until later today I’ll have something for you.
But first, how often do I see confusion? You decide. I get over to the new client’s place, where he has a ton of new computer equipment. But not a clue how to use it. Not even how to type a
letter, not that many people remember the rules anyway. Plus, this guy is a little bit of a cheapskate in that I gave him a price quote of $40 back in August when it was slow and he held me to it for today.The screw-up here is that he has committed to a lot of details that require fairly comprehensive computer knowledge, that is, office management. He had a letter, formatted wrong, in the wrong font. A mailing list that mercifully was in a useable database format (a spreadsheet) but with inconsistent phone numbers (some had dashes, some had parentheses, some did not) and an unprogrammed fax machine.
He requires a campaign of getting that mailing list into a useable format, or programming all 800 numbers into his fax machine, with the attendant headaches of administering that. Then, when there are any replies, logging the email addresses into a contact list and then keeping track of advertising and offers to said clientele after that. The clientele is a list of all major-league athletes, with their home and fax numbers. The product is Cayman Islands real estate. Hmm, isn’t that the island I used to do payroll for the Hilton back in 03/04? Where the one guy was paying himself $60 an hour. Yeah, it was the Caymans because I remember how strange the names sounded.
As usual, he has discovered I know how to do all that stuff, but does not want to pay me $30 an hour to do it for him. A cut of the profits, they always say. Yeah, okay, you give me $20 and hour plus 10% of the gross proceeds before indirect expenses. No? Then get somebody else. I dislike this work because they want it done their way, which is usually primitive and they want you to explain every step so they understand it, which is even more primitive.
Which brings up the shop. Yes, things have to change and I know I’ve got an excellent but largely underused office up there. Anyone remember Arturo? This is the guy who programs in PHP that I asked to help out on a minor project a few months ago. Fred has made him some kind of deal to work out of the shop. The problem is, Arturo is one of those types who have a hard time understanding that everything you do does not automatically become his business when he walks in the door. I mean, he has a really, really, really hard time with that. Also, you know all that high-falootin’ garbage you rejected out of your life when you were a kid because it did not work? Well, he is the walking quotation book of that crap, talking like it was something you don’t have the brains to comprehend and overlooked in your ignorance. Nonetheless, Fred has cut him some kind of deal, so make the best of it.
My problem is that I tend to chum a bit with those I work with. This becomes difficult with Arturo. If you refuse to tell him something because it is not his business, he retaliates by not telling you something he ought to, calling it “fairs square”. Do not mistake this for exaggeration, he has a true mental defect in this department, a borderline psychosis. No price break, each computer is $24 per day with a 48 hour MTR (Mean Time to Repair).
I know, get to the China part. Okay, first, I finally found out what T/T means. “Telegraphic Transfer”, the last century equivalent to a bank transfer. Here is how it goes. I got the budget of $500 ready, not to start a business, but to investigate the process of importing. This relates back to the doggie wigs, I discovered several of the leads while sourcing stuffed toys for use as mannequins. Don’t you believe it for a second that all you have to do is put out a request and ten zillion eager productive Chinese workers from the collective will spring into capitalist action. They are very sluggish indeed.
Customs duties are one of the most fixed games in town. Further, they work hand in hand with freight forwarders (what you and I would call a “shipper”). They lie through their teeth, in that they have a fairly good idea of what things cost – but they will not tell you, even as a favor to give you a rough idea.
Of course we know that duties will cost extra. In the absence of any information on how much extra
, the idea is to place an order and see what happens. I’ve located a “spy” camera built into a lighter case. As an aside to bolster my earlier comment that eBay has begun to interfere with transactions, they have refused to let sellers offer this item because the packaging mentions the word “Zippo”. eBay should leave that up to the authorities, but no. Actually, I think the unit more resembles a Ronson. If eBay hates it, I like it.What attracted me to the site is that they have a shipping calculator. They offer you a price to fly the package here in 6 – 12 days via UPS, Fedex or DHL. I built a fictitious order to Antarctica which leads me to conclude that every shipping company or agent we talked to [previously] were liars. There are far cheaper and faster ways to get things across the Pacific. They [shipping companies] deliberately lie to you and waste your time, even if they know you will not ship anything for “$310 minimum”. Flying it across seems to be in the $35 range with DHL.
Ah, I hear somebody wants the details. Okay, I called the shippers and asked if they knew the most economical way to get products here from China. I picked up on two lies. One, all of them suggested they were the cheapest, which was not the true answer to the question I asked. Two, I have bought plenty of products made in China that could not possibly be priced so low if other importers were paying those kind of prices. QED.
Thus, time to order something and see what happens with customs. Do they still make you wait all afternoon? Well, these days I have the afternoons. I read the comments about taxes but most were complaints about European duties that were exorbitant. My thinking is that for all the chasing around in 2006, only placing an actual order is going to clear up the mess. Six spy cameras and two “RF” (bug) detectors. Total order, $150 by T/T. Then, mid-month, over to the customs office with a good book.
I feel that it is something I have to do sometime if only to satisfy my curiosity. I’ve heard about import/export courses, but they don’t sound comprehensive. What I mean is I doubt those who import are the least concerned about tax law theory. My guess is they get it here and adjust the selling price accordingly. They have the advantage of knowing what it costs locally, something I have no time to trifle about. I also know that these taxes (duties or customs, if you have to pay it against your will, it is a tax, already) are inconsistently applied. If they don’t want you importing it, instead of saying so, they will just tax it so high that you lose. However, since my goal is to learn the system, even a loss will work for me here.
Financial constraints mean practice this week is moved to Thursday. I talked with Brian over prospects of playing and he is stalling a bit but he’ll come through. Once a performer, always a performer. I did get him to tell me the chords to that Beatles tune, “I’ll Be Back”. I might as well have asked what chords were not in the song. I’ve got A, Am, Bm, Cm, C#m, D, E, F, F#m, G and G#m. That leaves Eb and Bb not used. No wonder I didn’t naturally like that song. He does not seem to be able to recall chords without holding a guitar. No big deal, I can’t tell you chord variations on most places where I play the root and fifth.
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