If We’re Doing Too Many Posts About Whiny Babies, Please Let Us Know

We call it obsolescence, sister.

 

We don’t shill for corporate products here on Control Your Cash, excluding the wonderful sponsors whose ads you can scroll down and see. (That’s VRBO.com, everyone! For your next vacation, rent someone’s home and eliminate the middleman!)

And Amazon. Our relationship with the Kindle is equivalent to Peter King’s with Brett Favre, except Favre might return some of King’s calls. As far as we’re concerned, being able to carry your entire library around with you in a device that weighs a few ounces is more impressive than anything Pioneer 11 did or might be doing.

Sometime last year, your humble blogger and his smartphone were perusing the stacks at a Barnes & Noble when a certain book caught our attention. Well, not only can you can get Wi-Fi inside Barnes & Noble, the company brags about it. Which means you can access Amazon.com, which means you can patronize a bookstore’s competitor while in that bookstore, and start reading the competitor’s books right away. Barnes & Noble even gives you a chair if you want it. It’s like they’re trying to destroy shareholder value.

And that’s Barnes & Noble, the corporate behemoth that smaller bookstores used to regard as the epitome of evil. What about those mom-and-pop operations themselves?

Pulitzer laureate Richard Russo spent 12 years in college and somehow never learned a thing about economics. Earlier this month, he bitched in the New York Times about how Amazon itself is now encouraging its customers to do what we figured out (and anyone else could) all by ourselves:

Amazon was encouraging customers to go into brick-and-mortar bookstores on Saturday, and use its price-check app (which allows shoppers in physical stores to see, by scanning a bar code, if they can get a better price online) to earn a 5 percent credit on Amazon purchases.

I wondered what my writer friends made of all this, so I dashed off an e-mail to Scott Turow, the president of the Authors Guild, and cc’ed Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, Andre Dubus III, Anita Shreve, Tom Perrotta and Ann Patchett.

(pause)

(Sorry, we were busy returning e-mails from our good friends Queen Elizabeth, President Obama, Paul McCartney, Tom Cruise, LeBron James, Oprah, and Angelina Jolie. Where were we?)

Assuming Russo is telling the truth, Scott Turow has no understanding of law nor of modern life. Turow responded:

… it’s worth wondering whether it’s lawful for Amazon to encourage people to enter a store for the purpose of gathering pricing information for Amazon and buying from the Internet giant 

Not sure what statute Amazon would be violating there, unless they’re encouraging people to enter the stores and render the merchandise unsellable. But the brick-and-mortar bookstores are already doing that themselves, by pricing it too high. Russo continues, in his long-winded and quixotic manner:

A few miles down the road from where I live on the coast of Maine, a talented young bookseller named Lacy Simons recently opened a small bookshop called Hello Hello, and in her blog she wrote eloquently about her relationship to “everyone who comes in my store. If you let me, I’ll get to know you through your reading life and strive to find books that resonate with you. Amazon asks you to take advantage of my knowledge & my education (which I’m still paying for) and treat the space I rent, the heat & light I pay for, the insurance policies I need to be here, the sales tax I gather for the state, the gathering place I offer, the books and book culture I believe in so much that I’ve wagered everything on it” as if it were “a showroom for goods you can just get more cheaply through them.”

Opening a small bookshop in 2011 is like opening a Studebaker dealership in 1966. Or more aptly, a Borders store in 2011. Although we admire Ms. Simons for choosing a Gary dell’ Abate catchphrase for the name of her store.

Ms. Simons’s diatribe is why finance and economics courses should be required at every level of education. Hers is the same illogic echoed by so many of the Occupy Wall Street protestors: I invested in something (an impractical education, a business that can’t turn a profit), so regardless of that investment’s expected real-world return, if any, I demand a payout. Ms. Simons went to college (and financed her education, then took on still more debt before paying it off), and somehow Jeff Bezos and his silly computer engineering degree are “tak(ing) advantage” of her.

No successful businesswoman blames others for her own failure. Adapting to the reality of the market might not be fun, but it’s not like you have a choice in the matter. It’s like when Texas Instruments and their handheld calculators ran all the abacus makers out of business in the 1960s. Those people spent years learning how to put beads on strings in a wooden box, only to have TI, Casio and Sanyo “take advantage” of them. Didn’t the abacus makers have factories? And power bills? And insurance policies? So, so unfair.

As authors ourselves, we should mention that Amazon has been far friendlier to us than any retailer has ever been. We set up an account on Amazon, independent of our publisher, and now take home 70% of every book you buy. Meanwhile, trying to get our book on the shelves at local sellers was a gigantic pain. To do so you have to drive across town, hope you catch the appropriate store employee on the right day, and then, if she’s feeling particularly generous that day, she might offer to take 2 or 3 copies of your book and see if anyone buys them. Then, to find out if anyone does, you have to drive back and see for yourself (or call and waste some poor employee’s time.)

From the consumer’s perspective (and that’s a phrase many independent shopkeepers would have trouble understanding), which is easier:

a) Driving to a local store, stumbling across Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense by accident, thumbing through it and then buying it, or

b) Entering “personal finance” on Amazon.com, reading the reviews, then reading a sample, then having it wirelessly delivered in the time it takes you to wait in line at a retail store? For less than the retail store can sell it for? While giving the creator of the work a bigger cut than you give the middleman, if that’s the kind of thing that’s important to you?

It seems we’ve figured out why independent bookstores are doomed. Not just because their business model is obsolete, but the people running them are clueless.

**This article is featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance #342: Happy New Year Edition**

Carnival of Wealth, Boxing Day Edition

Canadians "rioting". Feelings of inferiority, up to 85% off

 

If you’re reading this in a non-Commonwealth country, you have no idea what that headline means.

For ex-Canadians who seek asylum in the United States, “Boxing Day” is one of those Canadianisms that’s easy to let slip out when you’re not paying attention. Americans, of course, just call it “December 26”. Most Canadians who want to blend in are savvy enough to avoid saying things like “serviette” instead of “napkin” or “pylon” instead of “traffic cone” in everyday conversation with Americans. But occasionally a rarity like “Boxing Day” can betray you as a foreigner with a funny patois. It’s not as bad as asking someone where the nearest “washroom” is, but it’s close.

Which brings us to the least elegant segue in Carnival of Wealth history. Here are the most entertaining, informative, or awful personal finance blog posts of the week. If you’d like to get in on the fun yourself, submit here. Read the requirements. Otherwise, just sit back and read. Here goes:

Corey at 20s Finances thinks this week’s submission is as uninspired as we do, otherwise he would have attributed it to someone instead of just writing “the following is a guest post”. Whoever wrote it has a deep understanding of how we pay bills in modern society:

Credit cards and utility payments should always be made on time. The same goes for housing costs and car loans.

You see, because if you don’t pay them on time, they’ll be late. God, how did civilization survive for thousands of years before personal finance blogs existed?

Oh, you’re relying on your employer to see you through retirement? That’s adorable. “Loyalty”. Please. If you believe in that, why not Scientology? Your Finances Simplified knows that an employer-sponsored 401(k) is only the start if you plan on one day living without working.

Today’s grammar pet peeve is illustrated by Newlyweds on a Budget, a new entrant in the CoW. They recently celebrated their (groan) “two-year anniversary”. If you can handle yet another blog whose subject matter is how hard it is for the author to make ends meet, what it’s like to take on expenses while carrying credit card debt, etc., etc., check out this groundbreaking post on whether finances are important in a relationship.

(Note: it’s awesome how the woman who obviously writes the entire site expects us to believe that her husband has a hand in writing it.)

(Someone sent a post about how to use Twitter. Yes, because this is the Carnival of Personal Microblogging. Since we saved you the trouble of reading through an irrelevant post, read an entertaining Twitter feed instead.)

(Another crappy one, so bad that we couldn’t even discern what it was about. Or what language it was in. Some approximation of English, we think.)

Alright. In Week 8 of the NFL season, Arizona was leading Baltimore 24-3 in the second quarter. Right now, we’re the Ravens and the submissions are the Cardinals. (Baltimore did end up winning, 30-27.)

The sophomore effort from Eddie at Finance Fox is his Christmas gift guide, which is more relationship advice than financial advice. Eddie, the European ladykiller of suburban Toronto, uses first-person experience and cataclysmic grammar to tell men how to tread the line between scaring women off with gifts and making those same women feel taken for granted:

We all like receiving gifts, because it makes us feel appreciated and the thought counts too. And with that being said, don’t kid your self by not giving no gift at all or don’t be surprised if you’re dumped soon after.

Seriously, he wrote that. We just cut and pasted. Last week, Eddie tempered his advice by writing:

Ultimately, you have to make the decision that’s best for you. 

This week, he’s a little bolder:

Ultimately the end decision is up to you

(And it’s now 32-3 Cardinals. Yes, they went for 2 despite having a 27-point lead.)

FINALLY! Kevin at Thousandaire reminds us that “getting an education” isn’t an unqualified benefit. Field of study is everything. Someone who majors in electrical engineering and graduates by the skin of his teeth is far more valuable to society (and hence employable) than someone who graduates with a 4.0 in philosophy. (Bonus: his post contains angrily worded comments from ladies who majored in less demanding subjects.)

Every Friday, Paula Pant (an anagram for “papal tuna”) at Afford-Anything reviews a book. This week she analyzes M.J. DeMarco’s The Millionaire Fastlane. DeMarco, Paula, and CYC agree that the biggest problem with most personal finance advice is the consumer mindset: obsessing over how you can cut expenses. Instead, try increasing revenue.

Daniel at Sweating the Big Stuff points out the absurdity of IRA limits increasing in exact $1000 increments (when they do increase, that is) and how it’s suspiciously never tied to inflation nor to changes in tax rates.

(32-13 Cardinals. And we just recovered the onside kick. Wait, it’s under review…)

Julie at The Family CEO Blog points out that if you give someone a pet for Christmas, you’re also giving them a financial obligation. Not as big as the financial obligations given by those idiots who gift-wrap luxury cars and have them sitting in the driveway on Christmas morning, but a financial obligation nonetheless. Also, ladies like to worry. It’s in their DNA. Julie reinforces the stereotype:

The Center for Disease control says that cat dander is one of the leading triggers of asthma and allergies amongst all people. By giving them a non- hypoallergenic pet you may be putting their health at risk.

 

Which leads to our King of The Hill exchange of the week:

PEGGY: (reading brochures while waiting for the pediatrician to return, as her son has shown an allergic reaction to Georgia bloodhound dander) Look, Hank. There are several breeds of hypoallergenic dog we could get, such as a Mexican hairless, or a poodle.

HANK: A poodle? Why not go all the way, and get me a cat and a sex change?

 

Wait, Julie’s not done with her hyperbole (and reinforcement of stereotypes):

If you give an older person a more aggressive dog like a Pitbull or a Doberman, you may be putting their life in danger!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Exclamation points ours.)

Is there anyone out there dumb enough to give a pet to a non-family member who hasn’t specifically clamored for one and proven himself ready to handle one? Julie seems like a nice gal, even if she did refuse our invitation for her to guest post for fear that she’d be forever associated with the snarky douchebag contingent of the personal finance blogging world. (A legitimate gripe for her to have, but still.)

W at Off Road Finance put a lot of thought into this week’s submission. You should too – it’s a valuable read, but not an easy one. W explains how not only are most initial public offerings overpriced, but how investment banks and market makers can profit while dumb investors (i.e. you, if you’re not careful) lose.

(Why are our synopses of the good posts so short? Because we want you to read the posts themselves, not just our summations of them.)

Echo (of Boomer & notoriety) guests on Canadian Finance Blog this week, making the case for young investors to be…

We’ll make it multiple choice. A) aggressive or b) conservative?

No, his answer’s b). There’s always room for the contrarian here at Control Your Cash, which is why we’re presenting Echo’s argument. You can judge for yourself whether he’s got a legitimate argument.

Can you handle one more thought-provoking post about investments? Or you can to go The Simp and read his latest recipe for homemade cooking spray, your call. No, stay here and read Dan’s latest at High Yield Edge. If you’re excited about stocks that offer 10% dividend relative to price, breathe deeply before proceeding. That number’s probably unsustainable. Either the next dividend could be lower, or the stock price itself could drop.

(Final score: Cardinals 32, Ravens 31. We’ll get ’em next week.)