I thought I might place a list of what I have Googled today. It would be too long, even if censored, especially of my latest interest, @qtjodyy.
Cozzie Livs is so 2023. They are words to abbreviate cost of living rises. R was telling me he saw a woman being interviewed at a supermarket check out. I doubt River would have tolerated a queue delay at her check out caused by a media performance. Anyway, the woman being interviewed was droning on about the cost of her groceries. But as a camera panned over her shopping basket, she had two, dozen packs, plastic bottles of water. Melbourne has some of the best and softest water in the world and it just pours out of your taps. It just amazes me that people pay for bottled water, with a price higher than petrol per litre. That woman at the check out could certainly save some money there.
Cash is King! It is for some businesses who want stick some of their profits in their pockets and not declare income to the tax department. I like to carry cash but I use it so infrequently, notes shape themselves to shape of my wallet. I linked my phone to my cards and I now just pay with my phone. It is strange that I see some people have to click various things on their phones to pay. I just have to make sure my phone is 'awake' before coming in range with the business pay device. That there is a surcharge for using a card is outrageous, especially for businesses who don't accept cash. The bank charge to the business for a debit card transaction is around .3% and a credit card, about .5%. I'm losing my arithmetic skills, but is that 3 cents in $10? .3 cents in $1? In Covid times I went to pay by card for a bread roll at a bakery. The woman complained. My 90c bread roll became $1.24. I refused to pay cash and so paid $1.24, grabbed the roll in a paper bag from her hand and stormed out. I barely see anyone use ATMs to withdraw cash now, but if your go to areas where there are lots of immigrants, they like cash and at St Albans I actually saw a queue at an ATM.
Oldest Niece asked if she could stay here one night while we are away later this month. Little M turns 10 this year and did not want a party. Oldest Niece thought she could take them to city places, swim in our pool etc etc. With some trepidation I mentioned this to R. He was ok about it but wanted more detail. I eventually called Oldest Niece to ask her and Little M had decided a birthday sleep over party with friends would be better. How is it possible that Little M will be 10 years old! R doubted the accuracy of my birthday list (be quiet Wombat) until Ex Sis in Law confirmed she would be 10. It's a bit funny having Jo, a 16 year old niece and a Little M as a 10 years old great niece.
This week ABI Brother moves from his home of about 30 years, where Mother lived for the last three years of her life, to a retirement village. In spite of his brain injury, he is very good at being focused, and that is what he done with his life changing move. None of Mother's other three children could have tolerated Mother living with them but ABI Brother is so chilled about everything. He looked after her so well in her final couple of years, yet with all of her nonsense and demands, he just let it all float over him. He took her to appointments, made sure she had the meals she wanted, made her cups of tea on demand, looked after her medication...and he drank a lot of beer.
That's enough, hey.
I merely wish to register the fact that I have read all of this blogpost but have no smart-arse remarks to make.
ReplyDeleteYou can be disappointing at times, YP.
DeleteI can't add anything. lol
DeleteGroceries are a sticking point with me as well, mostly because the people who complain the loudest are the folks with all the convenience foods.
ReplyDeleteOh so true Anon. Fresh is not expensive if you are careful.
DeleteYour brother sounds like he's the Biz
ReplyDeleteJayCee, in spite of his brain injury, he does well. I did contact the property conveyancer and asked them to ensure that while he can use the internet, he is not tech savvy and that things needed to be done by phone and personal attendance. I received a nice reply that they understood.
DeleteI'm guessing the beer is what got him through it all. There is NO WAY I would pay with a card for a single cheap item like a bread roll. And you happily paid an extra 34 cents? Tsk Tsk.
ReplyDeleteIf the media interviewee had already paid for her groceries I wouldn't mind having the interview at my checkout, I would just keep working with the next customer. I do agree about the water though, I remember Melbourne's water from when we lived there. I never bought bottled water until we came to Adelaide with its hard water that makes my stomach so queasy. Even now I rarely buy bottles, preferring the 10 litre casks for under $5 which give me the equivalent of 28 bottles of water, I think the 600ml size. I cureently have 8x700ml bottles which I have been refilling from casks since before Covid.
Possibly true River, though Mother constantly lectured him about his beer consumption, to no avail. He does drink too much and I hope he will drink less when he moves. Fifty cents a litre is pretty good but 10 litres weighs 10 kilograms. That's heavy to carry. I drank Adelaide water and it seemed ok but soap and shampoo lathering was not.
DeleteWho carries? I heave it off the shelf into my granny tolley and wheel it home where I again heave it out and onto the shelf where it sits until empty.
DeleteI can understand businesses charging for card payments, but do think it is confusing if there are no alternative ways to pay - surely they should mark up the prices, rather than misleading the buyer until time for payment.
ReplyDeleteI work for a small-ish engineering business (we sell goods mainly to trades, and don't have a shop front). We don't have credit card facilities and so we use stripe for customer credit card transactions. The fee we are charged for that is AU$0.30 + 1.75% (reducing to 1.7% at the beginning of April). Unfortunately we have to pass this on to the customer because we try to keep our other margins low. Of course, our customers also have the alternate option of direct bank transfer which has no fees (unless they are overseas). Unsurprisingly, most of our customers opt to use bank transfer.
Thanks Marie, most interesting. Yes, with your kind of business bank transfers would be easy, especially for regulars who already have your bank details. Done on a phone in five seconds. I am a firm believer in the shelf price is the price, unlike in the US, where various taxes and tips are added when you are paying. But for your business, that is probably impractical. I assume you are in Australia.
DeleteI believe 3% of ten dollars is thirty cents. As long as the number ends in zero and the percentage doesn't have a decimal (3.6%, for instance) I can do the math. Make it more complicated than that, and I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteKirk, I did have a decimal point in front of the 3. I can now see why it is better to type 0.3%
DeleteThe young ones are teenagers before you realize.
ReplyDeleteThe ABI brother did an excellent job looking after your mum it seems, not everyone cup of tea, some people can do it, other's can't. That's ok, we are all different. I do hope he enjoys his retirement village but it's a big thing to move, so much to get rid of I expect.
Haven't got around to paying with my phone as yet, love cash 'cause I'm used to it and I think it will be a long time before all businesses won't accept cash if ever.
So true Margaret, and doesn't it make us feel old. We all grateful to my brother and have expressed that to him, although he did receive a carer's pension while doing so.
DeleteThere are businesses around here now that are card only. It will creep south.
DeleteWhat happens when your phone gets stolen? All my family are on the flash your phone buying stuff, even a flipping roll! But I keep some cash just in case. I think the changeover from cash to card happened too quickly.
ReplyDeleteThelma, touch wood, for about 28 years I haven't lost or had any phone stolen. I am careful but anyone can muck up, and you correctly say it would be a disaster. I would quickly notice if my phone went missing and quickly suspend my cards and I think if I do that, the bank will wear the costs. But it the loss of everything else that would worry me, and people having access to my personal things on the phone. Believe me, it is something I think about.
DeleteI guess the quick change to cards was caused by Covid. It has a lot to answer for.
I hope your brother settles happily into his new home. He deserves some peace.
ReplyDeleteA couple of days after he moves we go away for a week but we will visit him in the interim to see his place and ensure all is well.
DeleteBless your brother. Visiting a frail elderly relative is easily managed because after 2 hours you have to go shopping or feed the dog. But living full time with mum required a lot of patience.
ReplyDeleteP.s nice photo!
Hels, it is not an easy job at all and respect to mostly women who have cared for ailing parents for centuries.
DeleteThe US had a law prohibiting extra charges for "credit" transactions, merchants lobbied to get it repealed. I agree that the extra charges are simply wrong, especially if the merchant does not accept cash.
ReplyDeleteI could not have cared for my mother, I will be forever thankful that my sister and brother in-law did such a wonderful job.
TP, were the lobbyists successful?
DeleteI used to carry cash but our bills now are this terrible plastic stuff, and they get permanently bent or creased in my wallet. So now I don't carry them and just use a card for everything. It's easier anyway, and no coins!
ReplyDeleteThat cash will continue for ever Steve is rather putting a bucket over your head. It may not happen in our time but I can't see cash being sustainable.
DeleteDrank a lot of beer. That's how he managed it. Ha! There's a movement here to pay cash and not support the big banks, making such an amount off the merchants, with credit card fees. The slogan is "let $50 stay $50! Or something. I often pay cash to avoid the higher price with the credit card fees.
ReplyDeleteStrayer, there are some noisy people here who lobby to keep cash. At best they can perhaps hold cards at bay for a few years. But in your country the $50 shelf price is not what you pay at the register anyway, so the horse has already bolted on that one.
DeleteOur window cleaner prefers to be paid in cash!
ReplyDeleteI'm quite sure he or she does Tasker. Then that night they will go home and enter the amount into their books, ready for the taxation revenue department to inspect if it wishes. No?
DeleteI tend to use cash most of the time. I don't like all my purchases being traceable by the powers that be. Plus I can keep track of my spending. A bit of a luddite here, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteYou have the choice now Pat, but will you in the future? Every time I pay for something with my phone, I am alerted. Every time an auto payment comes from my bank account, I am alerted. I can easily see it all on phone apps. I find this better than waiting for monthly bank statement, which still do come in an electronic form. No matter, whatever works for you.
DeleteLol, what are you buying that you don't want traceable?