Why is it when gas prices go up, every gas station is quick to change thier price, However when gas prices go down there is a huge variance between stations! Currently I am seeing gas prices raging from 2.56 to 2.84. That is a huge difference in price. I hear on the news the excuse is “Larger stations have a stock pile and can not change price as quick as smaller stations that buy gas as needed.” This does not make sense! When prices go up, they don’t wait until their stockpile is depleted before raising the price!

Make sure you travel the extra mile to get the cheaper gas. Maybe those guys who are hedging their bets on making a extra money will think twice about their game.

This week if you turned your TV on at all, you probably heard parts of the voicemail that Alec Baldwin left his daughter.  He was portrayed as a bad father and such.  I think the message was very inappropriate  for a father, however I also feel it was just as bad if not worse to have let this recording be heard by the general public!

This is an eleven year old child.  It has to be devistating  for a child to hear such anger from her father, but then for the whole world to hear this!  No matter what the child does or where the child may go, it has to be in her mind that people know her dad’s words to her.  Even if she doesn’t believe her dad’s words, she now has to contend with the public thinking she is rude pig that needs straightening out!  Or at least that is what her mind is telling her.   She doesn’t need straightening out, just loving guidance impartial to her parents fights.   She is a child caught in a battle that she has no control over.  She is the one paying the price for her parents hate toward each other.  She is innocent, and needs to be left out of Alec and Kim’s issues!  Both parents need to learn to support her no matter what, even if it means not getting their way with their former spouse.

Both Alec and Kim should be held accountable.   And the media isn’t so innocent either.   Don’t they stop to think how much damage to a little girl this will do?  Is the dollar so mighty that an innocent child must pay the price?  Come on people, this child is worth more than our entertainment.

The Morning Call is Allentown’s local newspaper.  Apparently, subscribers are not their priority.  The paper used to be decent with delivery to my front door.  It was nice on the weekends to just reach out the door and grab the paper to read.  But, not any more!

A few months back, the paper decided to reduce it’s delivery costs. (their costs, not mine!)  They consolidated routes, meaning some carriers lost their jobs, while others had more work to do.  In order to add the work load to those carriers, they installed paper boxes next to each mail box at the street and stopped delivering to the door step.  This was just the first annoyance!

Now when it rains, the paper is never all the way in the box protected.  Part of it sticks out and gets wet.  Nothing like reading a wet newspaper!  Now I have to treck out to the street in my robe or get dressed.  I prefer on the weekends not to get dressed right away, as once I am dressed, I feel it I should be doing something other than relaxing.

Then a few weeks ago we received the Sunday paper without the ads.  Now the whole reason for subscribing to the Sunday paper is the ads.  When trying to call the circulation dept, I had to wait on hold for well over 30 minutes.  Then when I finally got through, I was told they couldn’t redeliver since they didn’t have anybody to bring a new paper out.  So much for their web site advertising if you call before 10:30 am, they will redeliver a missed paper!  So I took the option of having the ads section delivered on Monday.  Of course when Monday came around, there were no ads delivered!  My wife then called in anger only to learn they lost the ads due to a vandal burning them at their drop off point.  Now, if they had been honest the day before and explained, I think we would have been more receptive to the problem.  By this time, we are just plain mad.

Again this weekend, I didn’t get a Saturday paper.  I called at 9:00am to report my no paper situation.  Again, I was told their was nobody to redeliver the paper.  The girl admitted their seemed to be a problem in my neighborhood.  Seems if the there were more people than just me not getting the paper, somebody would have taken corrective action immediately.  Not the Morning Call.  It is just sorry, do you want a credit, or would you like Saturday’s paper on Sunday!

Maybe when their subscribers started dropping off and then advertisers begin declining putting ads in their paper, then they  might wake up and realize that without satisfied readers, their product is worthless.

Do you travel much? When you travel, do you use rewards cards? Do you try to choose hotels where you have a reward card? If you answered yes to these questions, I bet your hotel rewards entitles you to spam as part of the reward!

I travel for business and my company allows me to choose a hotel based on a list of approved hotels. I do like to choose a hotel that I carry a rewards card. WHY? Not just to earn a free night somewhere (I hardly ever use free nights). I just like to have that tiny extra perk of maybe a free upgrade or the newspaper delivered to my door or express check in. Not much to ask for, but those tiny things make a difference.

But the cost of those tiny rewards are periodic emails from the hotel chain. The ones that advertise their own specials are as annoying as the constant ones they send wanting you apply for a credit card. Now I know if you apply for one of those cards, they get kick backs from the credit card companies. But don’t you think they should at least send you a decent rewards card…. like one that doesn’t fall apart because it is thin paper.

Last year I signed up for the Hilton HHoners program. All I had was that thin paper from the application to show my hhoners number. Well, after the first 2 nights I at their hotel I traveled to another city and tried to use that little piece of paper to get points. I was told, “oh you just signed up so you aren’t going to be in the computer. Can’t give you points, but just send Hilton a copy of the bill after they send you a permanent card.” Okay.

Time goes by and I travel more, but I use my other hotel choice where I already have a card. In the mean time, I get many emails from Hilton HHoners begging me to sign up for their credit card. Finally in January I get frustraded at the constantly getting credit card offers from them and still no permanent card. I email them a slightly sarcastic email about why would I want a credit card from a company that can’t even send a simple member card in the mail. After a few days, I get a reply applogizing and telling me their records show they sent the “Welcom Kit” months earlier, but they would immediatly send me another “Welcome kit”

Two months later… still no welcome kit. But I have been getting more offers encouraging me to stay at their hotel and sign up for a credit card through them. So I send their reply from two months earlier back to them with a note “Still waiting”. I got the usual meaningless autoreply that somebody would respond within 72 hours. That was 3/28/2006. Hmmm, today is 4/11/2006. Must be modern math, old school math shows that to be a long time longer than 72 hours. No reply and No Welcome kit. I had to stay at one of their hotels a week or so ago, not because I choose them, but because they were the only one with a vacancy. No points earned there!!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not picking on Hilton. I believe this occurs all the time. The main purpose in giving rewards is not to give you any perks… It is to give the hotels your name, address, email, etc. so they can legally solicite you. Sad thing is there are enough people out there that buy their sales pitches for credit cards that it pays them to continue, but don’t expect them to share with an extra perk.

Oh well, enough for today’s soap box. Off to send HHoners another email asking that they at least email me my number since they don’t seem to remember how to use the US Postal service.

I have noticed lately that every street corner, there seems to be a bank being built. I find this odd since we have the technology now to do most everything without visiting an actual bank! We have online access to our accounts, we can pay bills online, we can get money from ATMs, we deposit money via ATMS and direct deposits… I can’t remember the last time I actually went inside a bank or even to the drive through window!

Of course if you do need service, forget the individual service that you once had driving to your bank. Everything inside a bank is automated and the people working there only have the ability to do what the computers allow them to do, no more. If you need something beyond the capability of the computer program, then they are going to have to escalate it to a higher office and wait.

Now with that automation the banks save money. They don’t need as many people to process loans, process canceled checks, mail letters, etc. But the banks have found most everyway to charge for more services. Not only do they charge for ATMs to non-account members/customers, but they charge some high fees to customers, especially when they are down.

I once had a situation that just amazed me. I have a home equity account with a company other than my primary bank. I had done some work on the house and needed to replinish my checking account before paying some bills. So I wrote myself a check and deposited it using my ATM machine. I then went home and payed some bills online, and then the next day, I left the country on business. While away, I needed to check on a bill my wife asked me about. I went in to my account online to find the deposit had been reversed. I then called the bank. Seems I forgot to sign the back of the check, so they reversed the deposit and mailed my check back to me!

Now let’s review. I had a check made out to me, from me. The name and address of the payer was me. Written to the same person…me and signed by none else….ME! I used MY ATM card to deposit it, with MY PIN number, into my account. Depositing the whole amount, no “less cash” option. Hmmm, who else would have made the mistake of depositing a check into my account? Who else would have my ATM card with my PIN number? And is it possible there is another person living at my address with the same name paying me by check? Seems if the bank had just accepted the check, there would be extremly little risk of anybody disputing the check! But no, reverse the deposit, send it back by mail and…. Instant money for them. Now my bills come in and there is no money, so they get to charge me $30. Since most places that get a returned check try depositing a second time…bang… another $30. I did have some luck though, the payee of my bill didn’t charge me for the insufficient funds, but most do! Now, my bank has $60 because they decided not to take the risk of accepting a check that had an extreme little risk of dispute! (oh, by the way, I did call them before the bill check came in and bounced. I was told sorry, the rejected check was already in the mail back to me, so they couldn’t do anything about it now. Be more careful next time to sign the back!)

They must be wanting to build a new bank somewhere. Maybe the next street corner away? Okay, two corners away. Oh, and my bank…. It is a Credit Union where the “members” are treated as owners not just customers. Hmmmm, wonder what they would do if we were customers?

Overdaft protection? Well, the bill was more than a few hundred dollars, so no they don’t offer protection for large amounts. If they did, I am sure there would be some fees for it somewhere!

Imagine if banks charged less for ATM fees, Knew their customers better and were willing to look at situations and take a little risk on customers with good standings that have been with them many years. Instead of building more banks, increase the amount of interest they pay back to customers that invest in them. So what if you have to drive 2 miles to the bank, the cost of gas would be less than a few cents. Oh then they could compete with some of the online banks such as ING direct, instead of complaining about them.

So next time you pass a new bank being built, go home and look at how much interest your bank pays you. And wonder, is that bank worth it? Maybe my matteress is a better place to hold my money (just kidding, I wouldn’t dare put it in the matteress, that would be uncomfortable to sleep on!)