Actually, this isn’t a recent capture: Coupons have always been doing the bidding of the marketing department. Companies don’t distribute coupons because they’re nice. They want more of your money, and coupons are a way to get you to spend more. There are three basic mechanisms for companies to get more revenue: (a) increase the … Read more
By now you might have heard about the incredibly harsh email that British florist Carolyn Bourne sent to Heidi Withers, the fiancee of her stepson Freddie. This is the kind of dressing down that could make both Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan appear as encouraging as Mr. Rogers. It’s fortunate that Ms. Withers shared this … Read more
I’ve posted on this more common debt clock before. It’s pretty scary. The national debt stands at $14.4 trillion. It was “only” $10 trillion as recently as October, 2008. This newer debt clock hasn’t gotten quite as gigantic as the other one, but it’s more directly troubling for many young Americans. Currently, $922 billion is … Read more
Starting up a blog is not an easy way to make money by any means, but by doing so it opens up a lot of doors for building up a side income later. Knowing how to write to convey useful information and sell things to a market will put food on the table, even in … Read more
Jacob over at My Personal Finance Journey is in graduate school. I’ve been in graduate school, also known as Slave Labor, Class A. (I opted out of Slave Labor, Class B, also known as a “postdoctoral fellowship.”) Over at the Yakezie Forums when discussing whether or not to e-mail spammers about advertising, he quips: Thanks … Read more
My wife and I were chatting about why she had sold more Amazon Kindle versions than paperback versions of her new Civil War historical fantasy. Granted, the Kindle version is only 20% the cost of the paperback version, but I had said that $14.99 was a bit much to pay for a paperback. “Since when?!” … Read more
Peak oil. Peak water. Great Depression, Part Deux. The Rapture. Justin Bieber. OK, that last one was pretty scary. Sorry. But seriously, there are about 24.5 bajillion different bad things that could happen anywhere between 30 seconds from now until the Second Coming. And every last one of them has enough reading material and commentary … Read more
This post yesterday on TechCrunch highlights the story of Posies Bakery and Cafe in Portland, Oregon, after running a Groupon campaign last year. Her shop’s aggressive deal campaign ($13 worth of merchandise for $6) set her back $8,000 and caused her to need to withdraw from savings to make payroll and rent. She calls it … Read more