PSoTD

This sure sounds like a waste of money.

We have a company credit card. However, I applied for a different credit card - I'd like to transfer our account to a lower interest rate card. Today I received a nice little letter from Citi Cards that they could not approve our account because...

"The credit report shows the company is no longer in business."

What kind of credit report would that be? According to Citi Cards, that would be Dun & Bradstreet. Very strange. We've been in business for 11 years, and we've used credit since sometime in the mid 1990s... with positive revenue growth and showing profit and paying taxes and payrolls and everything else a business does, so how could we not be seen as being in business? Well, other than not paying some sort of fee for a "credit building" program?

Of the Ford Freestyle. Especially the part about not buying Ford again...

Ford has used poor brakes and tires on this vehicle; I replace mine at 30K. FORD tells me that they are not covered in the so called "Bumper-Bumper" warranty. (I wonder why brakes are not between the bumpers?) I never replaced brakes/tires on any new vehicle in the past before 50-60K miles. I am concerned about the over longevity of the vehicle from my experience with these items. I have been loyal FORD owner of 6 new ones in the past 2 decades, but this may be the last one I’ll buy.

As a family that owns a Freestyle, we're wondering about the company.

Or whatever the airlines are calling them, what they ought to call them is practically worthless because of all the flight restrictions and requirements involved. And the miles just disappear if not used over an ever-shortening period of time.

It was no idle question about credit cards yesterday. We've decided to dump our credit card that offers mileage for a cash-back rewards card. We pay it off every month, so interest is less of an issue.

At least it's good to find out in advance that a food manufacturer is going to increase price by product size deflation:

General Mills later this month is reducing the sizes of boxes of many types of cereal, such as Cheerios, Wheaties and Cocoa Puffs. Although the company will sell the boxes for less than it's been charging for the bigger sizes, the change will increase the price per ounce.

As anyone who buys anything at the grocery knows, product size deflation continues to dominate the packaged food sector. Primarily the deflation occurs because the quantity in a package decreases, although there are also products that have shrunk in individual unit size as well - for example, the Quaker Oats Granola Bar seems to be quite a bit smaller today than when I first started eating them.

It sure would be useful to have a web site that tracked package and quantity sizes of products over time so that consumers could monitor this form of price inflation.

This is an interesting practice - creating advertisements that can only be seen from the air. I wonder if it increases the value of property under takeoff and landing flightpaths?

Short answer: no.

Glory be the oil companies! (warning: spoken yesterday to the Limbaughtomies of America)

One of the biggest factors in the price of gasoline, and this came up yesterday on the Today show with Matt Lauer, he had the Conoco Shell CEO, and Lauer said, "A year ago we had you on here and you said that the price of gasoline is tied to the barrel price of oil, and if that goes down the gasoline price should go down. Well, oil is ten bucks a barrel cheaper this year and the gas price is higher. How can that be?" The guy said, "Well, normally it's true, because 60% of the price of gasoline is related to the price of oil. But, Matt, demand is skyrocketing." Lauer picked up on it, said, "Yes, it's our fault. We are addicted to gasoline," which also set me off yesterday because it's impossible to be addicted to gasoline.

It is not an addiction. People cannot do with less of it. It's not something that people use that they don't need. It's not a recreational commodity like is associated with other things that people are addicted to. It is the fuel of our democracy. It's the fuel of the engine of freedom, and that's why we're not going to be petroleum free in 25 years.

Freedom.
Democracy.
Gasoline.
Pathetic.

I don't know all the specifics of the boycott call, but I know it's not going to work. I look at myself as an example. Yuengling is one of those "pride of Pennsylvania" companies, one that makes a quality product, has been here for generations, and that Pennsylvanians want to support because they don't want to see it fail, or leave. 178 years is a long time to build good will. When customers weigh between that good will and a boycott trying to hurt the company for employees who, according to this article, don't seem to be suffering due to absence of the union, it's unlikely to work in Pennsylvania at any level - emotionally, intellectually, economically. I, for example, don't see any real reason to follow the boycott. The sale hasn't been made.

So calling for a boycott is grossly ineffective in the short term, and reflects poorly on the union for trying to wield it. On the other hand, this is a little ding taken out of Yuengling's good will as far as public impression is concerned, so perhaps as a long term strategy it might have some value.