I am happy that I have a gift certificate from DD to spend at the bead store when we get to FL. She always sends me one for my birthday.

Newyorkrita said:

This one is a one of those 1% cash back on any purchase anywhere. And I have been just letting it roll over month after month so this was a good time to use it. Really it's like free money because when I charge things I pay up as soon as the credit card bill comes. No paying interest for me and meantime the cash back points just keep on coming.

Oh I was watching a TV commercial for the QuickSilver Card and it is 1 1/2% Cash Back, not the 1% I had posted. Really if you pay your bill each time in full it is a very good deal because it then means I am actually making money on my credit card purchases.

In reality, businesses have to consider expenses when pricing their items/services. On the other hand, our federal (and often state) government doesn't worry about trivial things like overhead. Credit card companies generally charge a 3-5% fee when their card is used at a business (my tropical plants business as well) and that business simply passes the"cost" on to their customers in their pricing. Thus, the 1% cash-back partially makes up for our increased cost when we purchase something. But hey, I use my VISA and somewhat my AMX card to get that 1% back. Every little bit helps.

drdawg said:In reality, businesses have to consider expenses when pricing their items/services. On the other hand, our federal (and often state) government doesn't worry about trivial things like overhead. Credit card companies generally charge a 3-5% fee when their card is used at a business (my tropical plants business as well) and that business simply passes the"cost" on to their customers in their pricing. Thus, the 1% cash-back partially makes up for our increased cost when we purchase something. But hey, I use my VISA and somewhat my AMX card to get that 1% back. Every little bit helps.

Yes, the merchant pays on all transactions. But the consumer only if you don't pay up the entire credit card bill. I use my credit card for convenience and barring a major emergency don't buy more than I have each month that I can pay off.

Happy birthday, Jean!

That's always a good philosophy, Rita. It amazes me how much money is owed on credit card debt. Unfortunately, many people live above their means but many more live paycheck to paycheck. My wife and I have always been frugal with our money, saving up for vacations, a new car, etc., so that we could always pay-as-we-go. We got that from our patents who grew up in the depression.

Believe me, we consumers do pay for those transaction fees. Business overhead has to always be built into the cost of pricing. Otherwise that business is soon bankrupt.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jean. I hope you have the best birthday ever!

drdawg said:That's always a good philosophy, Rita. It amazes me how much money is owed on credit card debt. Unfortunately, many people live above their means but many more live paycheck to paycheck. My wife and I have always been frugal with our money, saving up for vacations, a new car, etc., so that we could always pay-as-we-go. We got that from our patents who grew up in the depression.

Believe me, we consumers do pay for those transaction fees. Business overhead has to always be built into the cost of pricing. Otherwise that business is soon bankrupt.

Credit makes it far too easy to spend too much!!

Yes, business takes it into consideration but I mean I don't have to pay the credit card an interest rate as I pay up each month.

Last time I paid only half and then the rest the following month was a few years ago when my Refrigerator unexpectedly totally died and I had to buy a new one immediately. Believe me I did not buy an overly fancy or expensive one.

Yep, emergencies may call for spending more than we like.

l will always have a fear that our retirement money won't last until my wife and I are gone. That being said, I have told my only child not to expect a windfall when we pass. I want to spend, or my wife to spend, everything just before we are both laid to rest.

@pirl and @drdawg for the birthday wishes.

rocklady said:@pirl and @drdawg for the birthday wishes.

Happy Birthday Jean!!

and Happy Birthday from me, too, Jean!!

Credit card companies generally charge a 3-5% fee when their card is used at a business (my tropical plants business as well) and that business simply passes the"cost" on to their customers in their pricing.

Down here, the price changes if you use a credit card vs cash or a debit card. It's a pretty significant amount so 3 - 5% sounds about right. I think that this is illegal in the US, am I right? If so, another way that they screw the consumer up there. I always pay cash or debit as I would rather pay less at the gate than worry about forgetting to pay the card. I have one MX credit card (and 2 US cards) but I use the MX card about once a month to keep it current and pay it off right away. I try to only use it when they are having one of the sales that says no surcharge for credit card use.

If it is illegal in the US it is just one more of those 'improvements' that are really rip offs for the consumer up there. Like pumping your own gas (oh, it will be cheaper - yeah right) or ringing up your own stuff in the grocery store, or for that matter ATM machines that were supposed to make banking cheaper. So what did they do, add charges to both the ATM and to using the teller. Grrrr, that kind of stuff makes me crazy. Then they wonder where all the jobs went, um duh? How many bank tellers do you know anymore and how well are they paid? How many high school kids can pump gas for a side job? <ok, I'll stop now but this is one reason I will never move back to the US>

Happy Birthday Jean

Jonna I heard a tiny snatch of news saying there wasw some sort of explosion and injury in Mexico. Terrible.

Yes, a huge fireworks market outside Mexico City exploded and all the shops went up. I think at this point 26 are dead and 50+ are injured. This same market burned in 2004 and 2006 it seems. Personally, I would not go to a fireworks factory, market or even a large store as it seems like they are always catching on fire. Here where I live a couple years ago there were a bunch of kids working out of a house rolling fireworks and it went off and most were killed plus several houses burned. Not the neighbors you'd want but then you might not ever know they were doing that next door. Fireworks are a huge thing here, they go off all the time but more so for major holidays like Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The place was full of people shopping for the holidays, lots of kids too. It's horrible.

Oh how terrible. Frightening and senseless

We saw the news about the explosion last night -- it looked like a pretty large area that was completely flattened.

Jonna, you are so right about jobs being affected by all of these "improvements" in our lives; when our Walmart first put in the self-checkout lanes we were chatting about it with one of the cashiers and she was saying how great she thought it was that people would be able to check their purchases through by themselves; she didn't quite know what to say when we pointed out that pretty soon they wouldn't need cashiers anymore...

The difference between being detail oriented and globally minded 😊

I just finished a two day, eight hour job of putting a new timer in Sharon's tanning bed at her salon.
The old style is no longer made so they made one you can jerry rig to work.

About two hours, minimum was on the phone with the tech. person trying to figure out how to make it work. The instructions they give you are worthless and the technicians are semi-clueless as most were not around when the bed was made.
Online help is worse than worthless.

Therefore, if you can get a Sundash R32P ten minute bed for a decent price, RUN, do not walk, away.
If you ever buy anything with a timer board, get a spare when you buy it. It will pay in the long run.

Is the salon next door to a Dermatologist?