I’m going to work this out on my calculator, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised…

The dealer vs. your pocketbook…

Just recently I got somehow involved in a lively discussion about the cost of doing business with a local dealer and how outrageous the dealers prices were compared to doing the work yourself.  The conversation also focused on finding a product at another store or on the Internet versus getting it from someone local. It seemed that the general consensus was that the dealer overcharges everyone on just about every service type and/or part in their inventory.

Guess what? It’s a fact of life and it’s one I happen to agree with.

Look, a dealer has to make a living. In order to make a living they have to make a profit. To make a profit they have to price services or product according to the guidelines established by their respective manufacturers requirements coupled with a desire to make their enterprise profitable, pay the rent, keep the lights on and provide the simple little “snacks” that you consume when you visit. I cannot begrudge them in trying to keep the doors open.

Let’s look at this dealer relationship in another way.

Does the dealer mind if you find a product or service somewhere else? Sure he does. Any dealer would like to have your business and view the prospect of you going somewhere else as an issue. Dealerships try to make the idea of visiting their establishment a positive one. They try and maintain an inventory that will appeal to ninety percent of the foot traffic that walks through the doors. Sometimes, they will provide little niceties that keep you cool, keep your children entertained while your vehicle is being worked on or allow you to watch your favorite TV programs as you shop or wait for service. If you really stand back a bit from your disgust at what you just got charged, you would see that you are really angry at yourself, not at the dealer.

Case in point: I needed a cable for a helmet COM system. I could have hit the Internet, spent a few minutes looking for the part, and had it shipped to my home. Case closed. However, I need the cable in two days and if I paid for overnight delivery, the cable would have cost more than what I paid for it by going to my local dealer.  And then I got angry at the final cost. But my anger was at myself, not the dealer. Had I been thinking, I would have started this whole cable scenario a week earlier. But I didn’t. The dealer had the part and made an upcoming trip that much better.

How about another case in point: You know that you need to get the oil changed in your car. If you do the work, it costs about sixty bucks and you can complete the task in two hours. What’s your time worth? Ten dollars per hour? Twenty? Fifty? Not counting the tools you may or may not have, lift, clean-up, sophisticated equipment… If you have all of that, plus the time to do the job, then do it. However a dealer offers you an oil change service and the ancillary headaches are something you do not have to put up with. Remember, the word service does not mean just something one does to a vehicle, it means taking that vehicle in, performing the work, and returning it to you in a timely manner… so that you don’t have to do it or think about it.  Having the dealer do the work means you won’t spill the old oil all over the floor of your garage, pinch a finger, slice open your hand on a sharp edge and let the neighbors know that you can swear like a sailor.

Dealerships also need to move services and products in and out quickly. Products that sit in storage bins provide no profit. Therefore dealers will not have every single item you might need in a size you can use. If they did, they would be mind readers anticipating your desires before you walk into their store. They also don’t get paid to have your vehicle sit on a lift while a technician wire brushes a small spot of “Double Bubble” off of a front rim during a tire change. Technicians are told to move them in and move them out. The more work done during a day, the more product a dealer sells during the day, is more money that the dealership can make to stay in business a little bit longer. Also, a technician is trained to perform the service work and to recognize issues that may be developing on your vehicle. That training is costly. It’s also part of the job description. Sales personnel are required to make products look their best, and they have to have the knowledge of what it is and what it does. That knowledge is costly.

Hey, I like to wrench. For me, it’s a way to get in touch with my machine and it helps me gain more and more knowledge about how things work. I will work on my vehicles if time is available and knowledge can be imparted to do a complete job. I also know that I am not trained to identify possible future issues and I accept that as part of doing the work myself. In the tire scenario above, a dealership can ill afford doing a tire change the way that I perform a tire change. But there are times when a dealer may fit the bill in either service work, parts or supplies.

Profit is the only way a dealer can stay in business. Anyone with any kind of business acumen will tell you that. However, when you think a dealer is charging an outrageous amount of money for a product or service, remember that the dealer is trying to keep his doors open and people employed so that you can keep driving your car or motorcycle. And do not think that the money spent is just about the owner and/or the technicians. It’s also about the folks that answer your calls when you phone, the accountants that keep the books, the people that keep the dealership clean and well maintained and the management staff that keeps everyone in their respective departments doing their jobs.  It also includes the inventory people that make sure that you have the right part when you need it and the advertising that tells you when something is available that you might want to look at. A dealership has to make money to stay open and keep people gainfully employed.

Let’s say that a business owner has a 16,000 square foot, eight bedroom, seven bath house on twenty-two acres with a full 600 hundred sensor electronic security system, ten live-in nannies / maid’s / kitchen support, personal security contingent and a motor pool.  Would you want to use their product or service?  I mean it’s obvious that they have to “over charge” for their product just to maintain that life style, right?  Well, you are quite possibly helping them pay for that lifestyle by reading this on your Microsoft operating system. And you pay those high prices for this software with a smile on your face… because you can’t build an operating system, don’t have the time to build an operating system or you don’t want to use any other type of operating system that’s free of charge. Why is that?

I like my local dealers. I like to visit them and say “Hi, how are you?” And there will be times when I need the dealer to be ready to service my vehicle because I haven’t the time nor the expertise. There are some things on my vehicle that I will service myself. Some things I will ask the dealer to do. But I will not grouse about the cost of doing business with my dealer. Yeah, it can be expensive. But if you really look at things from their point of view, keeping the business open and able to service anyones needs, not just yours, may be paramount in their minds.
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Until next time…

Actually, the U.S. never printed a one million dollar bill. The highest denomination printed was the $100,000 bill and it showed the likeness of Thomas Woodrow Wilson.

I’d like to share with you some news worthy headlines of tomorrow. These will never appear. And I’ll explain why. Not one of these things has happened yet… though there are some folks who are sure that it has happened and yet no one knows about it because of the reasons I discuss in this missive.

Headline -

Medical researchers have found a cure for tissue and blood born based cancers

How I wish this were true. Yet, as I read some of the facts and figures about cancer, it one day may become true and yet the discovery will be withheld from the population because of money… and we are talking about lots and lots of money.

It is estimated that associations, medical or otherwise, garner over 160 billion dollars per year, all in the name of cancer. 160 billion is 160,000,000,000!

Imagine 160 piles of this...

Should the cure for cancer enter into the equation, what would happen to that monumental pile of cash? Medical Research would no longer be needed on the magnitude that it is today. The Cancer Societies would no longer need to request funds putting several thousand folks out of work. Insurance companies would have to adjust the amount they charge for the coverage you have because cancer would no longer be as large a risk as it used to be (yeah, like that’s going to happen).

The point is… if a cure for cancer was found, why would anyone want (or for that matter, allow you) to share it with the world. The economics of the discovery would be devastating for the worlds economy, would it not? Suppose you were the person to discover the cure. Without sounding all Hollywood, wouldn’t your life be worth a little more than a bad case of high-impact lead poisoning versus the 160 Billion dollars that is currently being passed around all in the name of finding the cure?

Headline -
Widget Manufacturing Company finds a way to make normal gasoline engines run at 98% efficiency and produce .0005 PPM toxic byproducts

What that translates to is a car that could do about 220 miles per one gallon of gasoline. That means you would only stop for a fill up every other month or so.

Modern gasoline engines have an average efficiency of about 20% (30% at the most) when used to power a car. In other words, of all the energy of gasoline, 70 to 80% is produced and discarded as heat, sound energy or it’s consumed by the motor in friction, air turbulence, heat through the cylinder walls or cylinder head, and work used to turn engine equipment and appliances such as water and oil pumps and electrical generator. Only about 20% of the total energy moves the vehicle.

Suppose you were the one to figure out how to triple the efficiency of the normal combustion engine. Oil Company executives would either make the Stock Market crash of 1929 look like a drop-in-the-bucket party or “high-impact” hiring would take on a whole new meaning (bring your own sniper rifle to the interview, we have someone we would like you to “impact”). The cost of fossil fuels would plummet as demand would slide faster than a kid on a skateboard doing Lombard Drive. Several million people who are involved in the business of oil and gas would be thrown out of work. Saudi Arabian sheiks would instantly become middle class citizens (and we all know that isn’t about to happen).

There wouldn’t be a large oil conglomerate in the world who wouldn’t be out to stifle your discovery even if it meant that you had to be stifled as well.

Headline -
Scientists crack the sub-atomic code;  ”Cold Fusion” in a glass of water possible

-or-

A glass of water can power all the appliances in your home for one full year

Urban myth? Hollywood Franchise? What if it were true?

It would mean that your local power company would be defunct. Stopping to get gas would be but a memory. Discussions about “global warming” would be Urban Legend (maybe they are already…). Think about all the things that would no longer be needed:

*  Oil tankers
*  Refineries
*  Oil companies
*  Drilling platforms
*  Oil tycoons
*  Electric companies
*  Power lines
*  Gas stations
*  Overseas diplomacy

I could go on and on and on and on….

The collapse of the worlds economy, not just that of the United States, but every other country, would be staggering. It could very well be what the Inca’s were dealing with when they determined that their (and maybe everyones else) calendar ends in 2012. Forget all that galaxy alignment crapola, we are talking about abundant energy in a glass of water that will put over 80% of the planets population out of work!

Now… Tell me that your life would be worth anything should you be the one to discover that putting a strip of aluminum, titanium, zinc, water, an orange peel, a drop of dish washing detergent and a dash of salt in a glass could produce enough energy to power your home AND that everyone could do it.

In our current “global” situation, we can’t really be sure of what is truth, conspiracy theory or what is urban legend. Ideas that get brought to the forefront will quite possibly be beaten down or covered up immediately since discovery would spell immediate financial repercussions, not only for those of us in the U. S., but the world as a whole.

Don’t tell me it isn’t happening. Two weeks ago, I saw an article about a gentleman who found a way to use a water/gasoline mix in an internal combustion engine using a very simple bolt on addition. On Monday, his wife filed a missing persons report.

Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejects any and all patents claiming cold fusion. In general, rejections by the Patent Office on the sole grounds of the invention being “inoperative” are extremely rare. I would like to find out the number of patents on cold fusion that have been applied for and the disposition of the person who filed the patent. It does make me wonder if they also have been reported missing or died of unexplained causes.

More and more cancer centers, doctors and research agencies are saying that there is no cure for cancer and if there was, the very doctors and laboratory scientists as well as their family members would no longer die of cancer at the same rate as everyone else. But is that true? Who is tracking that information. I could not find one bit of statistical information that shows that doctors and laboratory scientists are or are not keeling over on par with the rest of us

I am not a conspiracy theorist. I hope one day to see a cure for all disease, world conflict and poverty. However, I am a pragmatist. I find it more believable that someone with a large monetary stake would be more likely to “kill” an idea than to see his/her empire crumble from obsolescence.

That being said… I did find out that BMW has created a cruising and dual-sport motorcycle that requires absolutely no maintenance, needs fluids changed every 100,000 miles and it costs less than $10,500. Of course the BMW motorcycle dealer network killed that idea… and them promptly raised their prices

Until next time…

And that Las Vegas is called “Sin City”. But what is the name of the city that has the nickname “The Icebox of the United States”?

And if you haven’t noticed, we no longer own and we no longer control our cities. Oh sure, there are mayors, law enforcement and all indications that cities belong to the citizens who live in them, but we are not the owners and we are being held hostage by cheap, cowardly thugs who think brutal intimidation will keep them swimming in adulation.

I cite as my proof, the newspapers of the local city…

“Wednesday, January 20, Roseville Police and Roseville Fire personnel responded to a reported shooting in the parking lot of a strip mall in the 1000 block of Sunrise Avenue. The victim, a weight-loss clinic employee, was standing on a sidewalk near the clinic when another male approached him. After a brief conversation, the suspect fired two shots from a handgun, striking the victim in the abdomen. The victim is currently recovering from his injuries and is expected to survive.”

“Monday February 1, VALLEJO, Calif. — A Vallejo city worker has been hospitalized after he was attacked and robbed by a group of people while a crowd looked on. Police said the 46-year-old man, who has not been identified, was assaulted around 3:20 p.m. Monday near Vallejo High School after getting into a confrontation over rocks thrown at his backhoe.”

“December 12, Saramento, CA Sheriff’s Dept reports that two unidentified male suspects entered the Jack in the Box restaurant at 4128 Norwood Ave. Both suspects jumped the counter and forced the employee at gunpoint to open the safe. Cash was taken from the safe, along with a laptop and cell phone.”

“January 21, North Sacramento, CA. A woman said that she was forced behind a building in North Sacramento and sexually assaulted by a stranger Wednesday night, according to Sacramento police. The woman, who is in her 20s, told police she was waiting for a friend near the light-rail station at Arden Way and Del Paso Boulevard shortly after 8:30 p.m. when an unknown man approached her and physically forced her behind a nearby building.”

“VALLEJO, Calif. — Authorities are searching for a 15-year-old runaway from Hayward in the shooting of a Vallejo ice cream truck driver near a middle school. Detectives said that the driver, a recent immigrant who did not speak English well, had trouble understanding their demands and was shot when the boys thought she was not responding quickly enough.”

You are not in control. Your police departments have no control. The government cannot and will not protect you from this kind of escalating problem. The gangs and two-bit thugs that inhabit your city infrastructure own your city. They own your subdivision. They own your street. As homeowners in your neighborhood, you are powerless to change this oft overlooked fact. It will not get better… It will not change soon…

In todays society and with increasing regularity the effort by the scum that inhabit your neighborhoods and cities continues to grow exponentially. It is estimated that by the year 2017, homicides, robberies, beatings, malicious mischief and crimes using a firearm by local gangs will overwhelm the police departments best efforts to stop them. In other words, they have more and better than the police who are charged to protect us.

Most authorities cite several reasons for this;

1. People who witness some type of gang issue do not want to get involved.
2. Belief in the reliance on local law enforcement to correct a known situation.
3. Families of gang members think their relatives are not involved.
4. Victims have read about the problem, seen the problem, know it’s a problem, but do nothing to prevent it from happening to them.
5. Laws in many areas are not harsh enough to curb abhorrent behavior.

In other words, we are failing to protect ourselves because of what we do, what we know and what we can provide to help alleviate an escalating situation.

But you can survive and you can help others live normal lives. How? By being aware. Here are ten things you can do to thwart injury to yourself and others:

1. Be ever vigilant

You can never let your guard down. These gangs strike quick and they are cowardly. You have to be aware of everything going on around you.

2. Don’t just tell you friends or family to be careful

A flip remark like “Be careful” means little unless you and your family and friends find ways to talk to each other about how to be careful. “Be careful” is so vague. Define what it means to be careful in todays society.

3. Make every effort to protect those who cannot protect themselves

Kids, the disabled… they are deserving of your attention and protection whether they are yours or not.

4. Be an aware witness

If you see something that looks suspicious, it probably is. Can you describe it down to the finest detail? A statement like “well, he was a large guy wearing a hoodie..” means nothing. Open your mind and take in the entire situation. Practice doing witness descriptions when your waiting at your dentist’s office or the DMV. Be very specific about what you saw.

5. Arm yourself

Despite what you just read, I don’t mean to pick up a gun. There are many ways you can arm yourself and there a many courses offered by local organizations that can help you arm yourself against threats. Attend one of those classes. Take a self-defense course. Carry a pepper or mace spray. Use a short dog leash with a heavy buckle attached to your keys. A small wooden baseball bat makes a good swinging weapon. Above all, take a course and get some knowledge.

6. Tell your neighbors what’s happening

At one time it used to be called neighborhood gossip. Today it’s called Neighborhood Watch. Be a good neighbor and tell others that you live close to the things that you might be seeing in and around your sub-division.

7. Be seen when you are on foot / Make your home bright

Park in well lit areas. Turn on outside house lights at night. Carry a flashlight AND USE IT, even if the way is well lit. Be visible from many different directions and if you can, be around others.

8. 911 on your speed dial

Is 911 programmed into your cell phone and home phone speed dial? Sometimes you won’t get a chance to make a full call, let alone a 911 call. Just pressing one number can notify someone you need assistance. Nine out of ten victims tell authorities that they do not have a one button 911 setting.

9. There is safety in numbers

It’s not a secret… There is safety in numbers. If you have to walk anywhere, try and get someone to go with you. The more “someones”, the better. Even if it’s just out to your car in the office parking lot, ask someone to accompany you.

10. Always tell someone what you are doing and where you are going

Almost always, this is never done. To many times the report to authorities is that they had no idea what or where the victim was going or what they were doing. Always tell someone (especially your neighbors) if you are going to be away and for how long. Tell family members what you will be doing. Keep them appraised of the status of your time away.

This economy is not helping our governments ability to provide the safety and security that we should get. As city services become stagnate, these gangs will resort to more bold approaches to augment their habits. Do not think that you won’t be touched by these low life criminals. It’s complacency like that which will get you and your family and friends into some serious trouble.

And it’s happening everywhere… well… unless you live in the town dubbed “The Icebox of America”. But then again, the folks in International Falls Minnesota may disagree with you. But, I bet it’s happening there too.

Until next time…