I can’t do better close-ups with the Argus, but this is a bottle of vanilla flavoring from Madagascar. If I’m not mistaken, that is where vanilla originally came from. This tiny bottle retails for $10.49. The label says pure vanilla extract, but the ingredient list shows it also contains water, 35% alcohol and corn syrup. Since there is a consistent markup on everything imported to the USA of around 27 times the manufacturing cost, meaning this product as shown is produced for just under 39 cents.
Now that the coffers have opened up a little, I’m okay with shopping for a few extras. I tried this European Blend organic shade-grown coffee. I also made it over to Panera for a study session. Another perfect Florida day, with the wind from the east at 10.3 mph. You know these things when you ride a bicycle. The coffee was less than perfect, I’ll stick with Maxwell House.The laptop saga continues. I’ve been through two broken hard drives. Laptops are an easy fix. They have around nine components that either work or don’t work. I’m trying to get Win2000 into a Win98 computer, a sort of poor-man’s upgrade. For some reason this seems to require a (relatively huge) 6GB hard drive. I need the drivers from 2000 to run my musical show or I have to buy a new DVD player before Friday.
Speaking of music, the “fattening up” of the music is going really well. When I electronically remove the bass lines, the remainder can sometimes suffer a thin or reedy sound. I’m punching up the mid-range to put the oomph back in. The way I do this is technically an error.
Roland, the neighbor, is heading back tomorrow. He came by to say his son will be staying at the trailer for a few more weeks. His 31 year old son, not his 21 year old daughter. Can’t have it all. In a few days, there will be less than five of us left here. I still make it a point to watch real estate prices, monitoring the lowest prices in the area for all types of single family dwellings. Mind you, in Florida, townhouses and condos, where many families live, are found by the same search, so I specify a free-standing structure on a lot by itself with the land included.
What a disaster out there. Prices are dropping fast. I noticed there are places in Ft. Lauderdale at $100,000. This hasn’t happened in years. Now, these aren’t the best houses, but neither were the huts I was raised in. And they beat a lot of the hotels I’ve lived in overseas. Nor would I have to spend half a lifetime paying for them. If I had a $60,000 mortgage (what I think is the true worth of a used house anywhere in this area), let me run the numbers. For ten years the payments would be $636.36 per month. I’ll keep an eye on that. A comparable shack in Colorado today costs around $45,000, but Colorado has this ghastly thing called “winter”.
Back to Javascript. I’m looking far closer at several sub-topics. It turns out I have a library of scripts on disk. I mentioned that Javascript is used for shopping carts. Well, it seems they use cookies to accumulate the sales information. Let me say this about that. They had better make sure it is heavily encrypted. I’d hate to have to teach them a lesson by going in there and adjusting the prices. You know, like Florida real estate has adjusted lately. I shall be examining these cookie things very closely as only I can.
Later. It was a tough night in the trenches. Mark was in and neither of us sold a paying package. Feast or famine, but nobody likes famine for the first half of anything. Like life, for instance. I’ve always envied people who got such a head start in they could wait out in comfort and claim it was hard work that did them right. On the positive side, I’m bringing people to the brink much quicker although I did have one lady who wasted an entire hour before hanging up. An odd part of this job is dealing with so many people who are convinced all coupons are a scam. They are leery of even Fortune 500 companies [like this one].
One thing I’ll say about this place, is the closers are really smooth. That is a compliment. Since it is a real product and the coupons represent a real discount, nobody has to lie. However, some people still need a little prodding to see the value. Myself, I would not have the patience [to close]. Or am I just saying that for now?
I see the comment about products ballooning to 27 times their cost is a controversial point. Yet, I maintain it is a good rule of thumb, and I’ve likely described it before. Products in North American require three parties: the middleman and the two men required to create a middle. Normally, that is the producer and the retailer, each of whom charges three times his cost. Do the math, or since I think that phrase is horribly over-used, let me do the math for you. Production cost is $1, it sells for $3. Middleman buys for $3 and sells for $9. Retailer buys for $9 and sells for $27.
True, it is an inefficient way to do business, but it was (past tense) the American way. Every little town had a hardware store where consumers paid through the teeth. But they also got service and personally knew the seller. The problem there is that this system is a fascinating big fat target for overseas sellers – they can’t scarce believe such huge mark-ups. They take away service from the uncomplaining masses and they can easily drag us all down. It is far too easy for them to take advantage of the complacent mass we’ve become.
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