Trickle down economics (for schools)

Hi all,

I work in a school.  When people donate computers, or when title 1 funds give us free computers, we always put them in the computer labs, which are the first things the students break.  Instead, I'm advocating that we give them to the teachers to use to project their lessons, have students print, etc.  In this way, we could have student usage of the machines without the tragedy of the commons that indubitably will happen if the best machines are left in the most vulnerable, unclaimed areas.  This will work sort of like trickle down economics of the 80s, but it will actually WORK.

For instance, if I get a brand new machine for my room, my teacher machine either a) replaces the computer in the computer lab or b) goes to the back of my room for a learning center/student station.

Now what, pray tell, does this have to do with smart phones or being frugal?  Well, here's the connection.  I have a Samsung Galaxy s8, but the way I distributed the s7 actives and such was very trickle-downy.  My friends and family got all the upgrades, and their old phones went to people around them (or me) who had worse phones.  All told, my plan still has: 2 s8s, 2 s7actives, a note 5, an s5 active, an iphone 6+, a J3, a Samsung tab E, and an ipad mini.  I still have room for one more device, but nobody wants to give me old phones.

Anyhow, the nice thing about the trickle down is that I am able to upgrade everybody I know.  My uncle has an s7 in an otterbox which charges wirelessly, my gf has an s7 active in camo which is also in an otterbox, and her son has a note 5, which was leftover after my friend got her iphone 6+.  I gave the s5 to a friend of mine, who will give me his j3 to put on another unlimited data plan so I can use the 10 gigs of wifi hotspot.  My girlfriend was able to give her old s7 to her daughter, who passed her old j3 to me.  I then gave that to a friend of mine so she has a working phone (her iphone broke).  Oh, one last thing: I traded my gold s7active for a broken gold s7active, so another friend of mine had a good one.  All these things were possible because I have this stupidly large cell plan and am willing to help people with their trickle down.  Speaking of which, if anybody wants to trade an iphone for a used s7active (a few scratches), I can upgrade my other friend with the J3 so she'll be happy with her iphone.  If it's an iphone 5 or better, I'll trade for the s7active.  Then, I can be sure I'm helping everybody the way they want, and I can use the J3 for somebody with no phone who will appreciate it.

So, I want to take this idea to the big time.  I have a charity called @gr8fullyfeclub which does this with Computers, Bikes, canoes, cell phones, and (hopefully soon) cars.  I just need people with funds.  I can only support this on my back (and my bank account) for just so long.  Every time I upgrade, I give the old stuff to people who need it or will appreciate it.  In this way, my "hoarder communism" can make peoples' lives better, while not affecting my life too badly.

Have a great day, and spread the wealth!

~Mark

Buy old, quality things

Hi all,

As you may or may not know, I drive an audi TT when zipping around in the summer.  I also wear 2 pairs of shoes all summer long.  Chaco sandals and Salomon water shoes, which are basically sneakers with no socks and lots of venting.  The chacos are literally 15 years old, because I bought a good pair one time.  The Audi is the same, but everybody who sees me thinks I'm rich bc old quality items like that don't lose much value, and still look great 15 years later.  I think the salomons are more like 10 years, and they're finally beginning to break down, but I really can't complain about sneakers that take that amount of abuse and keep kicking.  My shirts tend to be eddie Bauer travel shirts, which wick and can be worn to dressy occasions or very casual ones, and I work in them most of the summer too.  Essentially, I'm dressed in stuff that can be soaking wet one minute and then dry within a half hour.  I make clothes as prepped for my summer lifestyle as I am . . . able to jump in any body of water, and without changing continue my day.  Everything I buy is adventure grade or very high quality, but I try for sale racks.  If a pair of water shoes is $120 but will last me 10 years, I'm only paying $12 a year for them but they are quality.  I'm caring for my feet and my body more than if I got walmart water shoes, even if I got a new pair every year.  Similarly, the joy I feel driving my Audi with its Bose speakers and red leather interior is greater than if I was driving a new Ford or Hyundai every couple years.  And, since I got it used from very fastidious people, it breaks down less than my 2013 Toyota Tacoma (which hardly breaks down at all). 

You may be wondering how this relates to smart phones.  It sort of does.  I don't buy technology this way.  I just got the new Samsung s8, with a buy one get one free offer that came with the s3 smartwatch for $50.  But, I can afford to keep myself in good technology because I drive an old car and wear old clothes that are quality.  My new tech keeps me able to look for good and cheap gear, and so it goes.

Have a great day!

~Mark

Banking . . . Bank Of America, TD BankNorth, Northwest Community Bank or Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union

Hi all,

I just managed to get a 5% checking account from Nutmeg State - Bankingawesome.com.  They are great, but have some limitations because they're a small bank.  So, what I've determined for my personal banking:

a) I will keep Nutmeg and have direct deposits sent there.  Their online (and especially mobile) banking is a bit clumsy/clunky, so I don't want to do ebills there.  However, you can't beat 5% fdic insured up to 10k.

b) I will keep TD banknorth as my online banking/billpay/day to day customer service bank, since they are big enough to have decent online features and good customer service.

c) I will discontinue most, if not all, Bank of America business, as soon as possible.  They were totally unhelpful in a variety of bad situations, and have charged me at least $500 in fees.

d) Research, rinse, repeat.  I'm sure Nutmeg will eventually discontinue their promotional offer, or another small FCU will come up with a better one, or the banking industry will change.  As difficult and problematic as changing banks can be, it is worthwhile every once in a while.

Features I need in a mobile app:
a) mobile check deposit,
b)fingerprint access like paypal
c)easy billpay

Features I need in a bank:
a) Friendly, quick service.  Every time I go to BOA, I'm greeted with long lines and unfriendly people.  Whenever I go to TD, they give me a smile, a lollipop and friendly advice on how to resolve my situation.
b)Hours that are extended, or ways to still conduct business at weird hours.
c)Grace - without huge fees.  This is one of the reasons BOA lost to TD - every single time I overdraft, they charge $35.  Like a poor tax in monopoly, this just worsens the situation.  Clearly, I've been in a hospital and unable to pay my bills.  THAT'S WHY I OVERDRAFTED.  OOOH, I KNOW . . . . CHARGE ME MORE AND I'LL BE MORE LIKELY TO PAY YOU.  How does that make sense in a business model?  If you scathe the people you are hoping to retain as customers, why would they come back to you.  Once burned, twice shy.  In contrast, TD nicely reminds you that you're over the limit, but still allows the purchase to go through.  This allows for less public humiliation, and the ability to recover from financial hardship.  It also ensures a loyal customer.

So, to sum up: Bank small and local if possible (Northwest Community Bank and Nutmeg Financial Credit Union).  If they can't provide the services you require, choose a big bank that acts like a small bank (TD).

 More BOA.

So.  This happened to me.

I always thought that the “poor tax” in monopoly was a farce.  But it’s legit.  Bank of America does it to its customers with some regularity.  Let me set the scene.

A math teacher is out on medical leave for several months.  He tries his best to pay his bills, but has no access to billpay and therefore doesn’t see that they’ve arrived.  Therefore, he is underwater.  Like a lot.  It must be mentioned here that he also tries to do a lot of good in the world, and that this has also hit his bank account.  

Cumberland Farms has a direct link to his checking account to pay for gas.  It saves a few cents on gas ($0.10/gallon) by directly debiting the bank account, bypassing the credit card companies.

On Dec. 4th, he pays for $31 of gas at Cumberland.  They ask BOA for the funds, and they say insufficient funds.  THEN they charge an overdraft fee of $35 (more than the gas).  So Check link calls, asks for $51 because of their processing fee.

In all, one bank screwed me for nonpayment and a negative balance (how can it be BOTH?) and another place charged $20 to collect the debt incurred when the first bank refused to pay.  They’re basically jerking each other off to the tune of $55 for a service worth $31. 

Tech Support . . . why companies do it wrong (and linux)

Hi all,

I recently had to call tech support for IBM/Lenovo for my yoga notebook.  Why on earth would you employ tech support for IBM/Lenovo who cannot speak the language of the caller?  I spent literally 12 minutes giving her information.  We had to resort to military code instead of saying letters . . . i became india, l for lion was not understood by the support specialist, r became romeo (but said "raaaaaaaamiiiiiiiiiah").  I eventually spoke using a robotic monotone . . . but I think my android operating system does a better job with voice recognition than did this human.

I am not faulting the human.  Let's be clear here - this is not a 'Merica post.  I just believe that people who are hired to do tech support need to be good at communication.  I am sure that to her, my accent was very difficult.  Maybe the solution is that I learn to speak her language.  However, to be effective at communication it is required that people speak each others' languages.  Or, she should be on a chat so that we are both reading English words.

At any rate, it was a very frustrating 15 minutes.  I think one of the most wasted assets we humans squander is time.  I hate not being productive, or using my time poorly.  Spelling my name for 12 minutes, in order to do data entry into the lenovo system, all to have a windows 10 boot disk sent was a poor use of my time.  I wish IBM/Lenovo would just do it more effectively/efficiently.  It makes me want to just run linux instead . . . and I might.  There are none of the headaches that come pre-installed with windows if you run linux.  There are also no (or very very few) viruses.

Have a good day,

P

Rocktimists, manic optimists, manops, bates

Hi all,

Shameless self promotion here.  I've decided to play a show in Hamden at The Space on Dec 2nd.  I need to bring a wrecking crew, so please consider buying a ticket and coming.  I'm hoping to resurrect the kind of situation we used to make happen for Waiting for Sully and the Manic Optimists . . . I promise that 20% of my profit from the door will go to charity (specifically the gr8fullyfeclub).

Thanks, and hope to see you there!

Mark

s'more (money at Amazon)

Hi all,

I just discovered this neat app that actually pays you to add ads to your lock screen on android.  I'm sure it's not much, but anything is better than nothing.  So.   Essentially, you install s'more, swipe up instead of sideways to enter your phone past an ad, then they send you amazon gift cards.  If you get annoyed, just uninstall the app.  Since I've got 2 phones going right now (one for school/nonprofit @gr8fullyfeclub and band Rocktimists, one for personal) I get twice the rewards.  Theoretically, this means some cash towards Amazon in exchange for my cell phone bill (which is hefty).  Anyhow, I like this and Cumberland smart pay - they give me free coffee and ten cents off per gallon, every fillup.  Sometimes they throw in chocolate or sodas too. 

Happy saving,

~Mark

Bottles and Cans (captain planet)

Hi all,

I wish everybody would just collect garbage.  I know, it's grotesque, it's demeaning, it's icky.  However, if all of us did it, we'd be just a bit richer.  And the countryside would be too.  Instead of making America Great Again, let's make America Clean Again.  That might get a bit of greatness too, but it will also get us closer to a few more bucks in our pockets.  Just think . . . $0.05 per can times 20 a day is a buck in our pocket.  It also leads to cleaner roadways.  Then, multiply by 365.  If every American who gave a damn had an extra $365 a year, we could contribute to charities or build our personal wealth.  It's an example of how one hand washes the other, washes the face.

Anyway, consider recycling.  Then consider how it might make our world just a bit better everyday, and your wallet a bit fatter.  I'm using it this year to fund my classroom supplies.  So far, we've collected about $0.30, but I've got kids collecting around the school, so we're going to keep building the funds until we can afford things that are nice for my classes (like fancy tissues, hand sanitizer, and lotion).

~Mark

#gr8fullyfeclub
@gr8fullyfeclub