==================================================================<** Original area : "/FIDO/CHAT"
Ogg wrote to All <=-
Thurs evening, Fri morning and evening taxi rides were $20 flat rate, between both taxi businesses. I can tolerate that. But this morning
my ride into town was metered.. and ended up being $26. Slowing down behind slow traffic did not help. WTF. I’m going to have ask the
driver to simply let me out at the $20 point.
Did you ask for a $20 flat? Most drivers will do it if you
say the last few drivers took me for $20 is that okay? It
also depends on the deal the driver may have. ie: the
company I currently drive for takes 55% of the meter and I
buy the gas, so here there simply are no flat rates. The
$6 difference is about all I make. However if the customer
is nice and tells me it's normally a $20 charge I would do
it for the $20 to keep everyone happy.
Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-
The second time around (the following morning) it was the SAME
guy. He just said "the boss says I have to meter this one".
Whereas the night before when he dropped me off, he said "it's
out of town limits, therefore it's a flat rate."
Could be different rules for morning vs evening. ie:
morning is normally busier so the boss wants as much of the
split as he can get.
Maybe it wasn't out of town limits and he got in trouble.
Trust me when I tell you he's making less then minimum wage
so please don't judge too hard.
Maybe it wasn't out of town limits and he got in trouble. Trust me
when I tell you he's making less then minimum wage so please don't
judge too hard.
Do taxi drivers have time to read? <g> Maybe I can sell an
audio book via libro.fm/ashlies. <g>
Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?
Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?
But, there is a programme in the USA that sounds really good:
https://www.indiebound.org/ebooks <=== WRONG INFO!
Hello Adept!
** On Monday 14.06.21 - 19:53, Adept wrote to Ogg:
Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?
No. I'd love to if it was affordable. Several years ago when
the ereader craze first started to rise, a couple of (Canadian)
companies tried to build a mechanism for independent bookshops
to do that. But each one had a high price to join. One of them
wanted $6000 just to register for the privilege of getting
ebook downloads, and those books were only from THEIR book
distribution catalog. Then it was a yearly fee (albiet lower).
Screw that.
I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
offering ebooks.
But, there is a programme in the USA that sounds really good:
https://www.indiebound.org/ebooks
Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-
Nah.. he was on the phone with "da boss". I heard him.
Do taxi drivers have time to read? <g> Maybe I can sell an
audio book via libro.fm/ashlies. <g>
Warpslide wrote to Tiny <=-
It sounds like tipping is more than appreciated when taking a cab then?
I had to take a can a couple of weeks ago (long story) and the lady driving was very personable & warm. She got a ~20% tip, but I included
it in the portable debit machine they had. I hope she got to keep that tip.
It sounds like tipping is more than appreciated when
taking a cab then?
Yes it sure is.
I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
offering ebooks.
Arelor wrote to Ogg <=-
Bonus points because when I set my own store, this guy didn't as much
as purchase a piece of soap from me, despite the fact I had been purchasing at his store for more than a decade. I used to pump around
40 bucks per month in his store and now I pump 0. The ammount of money
he has lost because he didn't want to spend three bucks in soap :-)
Arelor wrote to Ogg <=-
Bonus points because when I set my own store, this guy didn't as much as purchase a piece of soap from me, despite the fact I had been purchasing at his store fo
more than a decade. I used to pump around
40 bucks per month in his store and now I pump 0. The ammount of money he has lost because he didn't want to spend three bucks in soap :-)
One thing that's come out of COVID is people realizing the power of their money. Instead of
ordering something on Amazon, we'll seek out a local store to try and help support it. We did t
before, but now we're much more conscious of shopping local when we can - and try to spread the
spend, especially with restaurants doing take-out.
... Abandon desire
Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-
I thought so too. Then I realized what I dick I really was when
I got upset about $20 one day, and $26 the next.
I have some Timmie's gift certificates that I will most likely
never use. I could just hand those to a couple of the drivers.
Meanwhile.. I'm conditioning myself to think of the taxi ride
as my way to support local and return the favour. LOL
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Arelor <=-
One thing that's come out of COVID is people realizing the power of
their money. Instead of ordering something on Amazon, we'll seek out a local store to try and help support it. We did that before, but now
we're much more conscious of shopping local when we can - and try to spread the spend, especially with restaurants doing take-out.
We have always tried to buy local as I've lost a business
to a chain already once. Hell really twice as the illegal
ubertaxi's took out my second business. Having said that
since no one else cares sometimes we don't either and will
just suck on bezos teet and order from amazon.
I have some Timmie's gift certificates that I will most
likely never use. I could just hand those to a couple of
the drivers.
I'd never say no to free coffee. ;)
Meanwhile.. I'm conditioning myself to think of the taxi
ride as my way to support local and return the favour.
LOL
LOL I understand. I have to take a cab once a week to work
when my car is down. As I live in a different city then
the one I work in, it's the compation for me. ;)
I just also learned about Wise (formerly TransferWise) for
international money transfers. Their website has a fine
explanation how SWIFT works and the fees that are involved -
that one sounds like a racket! But Wise seems very reasonable
and may be a better alterative than PayPal. Perhaps Wise is
making PayPal quake in their shoes. Er.. rather another dog-
bite at the heal of a similar competitor.
I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
offering ebooks.
It does sound like the system was designed to exclude independent booksellers.
PayPal is a burning mound
of infectious elephant
poo and the faster it consumes itself, the better.
[...]
PayPal is a burning mound
of infectious elephant
poo and the faster it consumes itself, the better.
LOL. I love the phrases you dream up like that.
BTW.. I just learned that there is a fine extension of bookshop.org that is represented in your country:
https://es.bookshop.org/
Tiny wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
We have always tried to buy local as I've lost a business to a
chain already once. Hell really twice as the illegal ubertaxi's
took out my second business. Having said that since no one else
cares sometimes we don't either and will just suck on bezos teet
and order from amazon.
https://es.bookshop.org/
It blocks Tor, so not very useful for me :-)
Also, I am a paper diehard. Digital has its place, but
anything I care about I must have in paper format.
Hello Arelor!
** On Wednesday 16.06.21 - 16:32, Arelor wrote to Ogg:
https://es.bookshop.org/
It blocks Tor, so not very useful for me :-)
Also, I am a paper diehard. Digital has its place, but
anything I care about I must have in paper format.
The bookshop.org brand is a "Support local bookstores"
operation: Apoya a las librerÃas de proximidad.
The represented stores are either brick'n'mortar operations or
virtual stores, but members also sell physical books.
Might be worth a look.
It works/reachable with my Tor:
https://susepaste.org/20751232
It works/reachable with my Tor:
https://susepaste.org/20751232
Thanks for the info.
I no longer purchase as many books (because I already own
most books I want), but when I do, I go to a second hand
book store near the clinic I do works for. I used to
purchase lots of books from Abebooks until Amazon ruined
it.
Before that, I used to purchase my books at the store of
the guy who lost me as a customer because he didn't buy a
single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful,
revengeful bastard, as you may have noticed.
Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-
The other two are engaged with lucarative out of town rides.
Technically I open my shop at 11a. But today, the earliest it
looks like I'll make is 11:50a I am sure to piss a few people
off.
Maybe leave a few pamphlets or biz card of YOUR service in that
vehicle! :D
And.. if we stuck to CASH, the banks would not have the
opportunity to snatch a part of it.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Tiny <=-
It seems like all of the small business employees displaced by business closures can find a job at a local Amazon warehouse. Self-serving, it
is.
Before that, I used to purchase my books at the store of
the guy who lost me as a customer because he didn't buy a
single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful,
revengeful bastard, as you may have noticed.
I don't expect my barber (when I *did* go to the barber) to
come to my shop to buy a book. Maybe he's got other interests.
(But he *did* put in a good word for my shop to his customers
when they were captive in his chair)
I don't expect my barber (when I *did* go to the barber) to
come to my shop to buy a book. Maybe he's got other interests.
(But he *did* put in a good word for my shop to his customers
when they were captive in his chair)
Dunno, it depends on the sort of investment you have been making in the other's business.
I mean, I have been purchasing stuff at worse prices and conditions than available elsewhere at this guy's shop for years because I wanted to support the corner bookstore. I think it is no secret halñf my purchases there were goodwill driven.
If goodwill is not returned then I am not giving any more.
Some merchants in the area did the token effort of
purchasing something at my store. Maybe they purchased a
shampoo upon first opening or something. Not a great effort
but they at least showed up.
Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the next street if I know I will see my money back when the owner comes to my store for vitamins. Which is the reason why I have switched a lot of purchasing habits - it is just so much better to be your customer's customer.
As for Amazon leveraging books in order to sell other products and services, that is not new. Books are a devaluating commodity, and when a commodity is no profitable enough to sell on its own its only outlet is to use it to sell something else that is actually profitable.
Let's face it,
from a logistical point of view, traditional books are awful propositions of value (they weight too much and offer too low margins), whereas electronic books are simply worthless (something that is unlimitedly replicable is unlimitedly worthless).
There are lots of books published,
but I have found that a whole lot of the new publications are not a product, but a tool to leverage another product. Or, very frequently, the publisher is siphoning money out of the author rather than the readers.
I mean, I read somewhere in my teen days that Spain was one of the countries in which more Fantasy books were published, and also one in
which close to nobody was reading them. It seems fishy to me.
Just wondering.. did you ever say something like.. "hey bud,
your prices are a bit higher than I've seen elsewhere.. but I
like coming here because <insert why>. BTW.. I operate my own
shop just down your the way.. and sell quality soaps and health
products."
Maybe just hoping people will notice is not good enough. We
have to do human networking.
Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the
Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the
You can always feed them to the fillies. You'll build your goodwill with them :P
Spec
*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
he didn't buy a single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful, revengeful bastard, as you may
have noticed.
he didn't buy a single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful, revengeful bastard, as
may
have noticed.
Username checks out.
(Seems obligatory)
Actually, my favorite mare's sister loved roses. She would sneak into her owner'ws rose garden and lay among the plants. And snatch a flower
every now and then. Her owner was an old dude who lacks what it
takes to deal with a naughty horse and lived perpetually stressed
I hate it when horseowners are lazy and prefer to get rid of a horse that is mostly not troublesome than educate her.
Hey Arelor..
I just got a notification that the international parcel has been delivered.
Don't you have private Netmail over there? I sent you one but I think you didn't get it.
Nevertheless, the pizzas arrived no problem. Also, I loved the extra toppings added to the pizza. I am nearly crying, stupid me :-)
Ogg wrote to Arelor <=-
Hey Arelor..
I just got a notification that the international parcel has been delivered.
Not too bad at 14 calendar days total.
Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a letter to get across town, via certified mail.
Due to changes in mail routing, all mail (including local mail) needs
to go 35 miles away to a processing center instead of being processed locally. Then it needs to go back to the local center for sorting and delivery. All in the name of cost-cutting and efficiency.
Several of the changes being blamed on the current postmaster have actually been going on for years. What you describe in the second paragraph there happened to us 20+ years ago. That means if you have to post anything to ou state capital, it goes to one of two cities first, one of which is ~ 50 mile away. Local mail goes all the way to one of those two towns before coming back.
Arelor wrote to Blue White <=-
It sounds like the logistics agency I use for running my business. When you leave a parcel in their office, they always send it to Madrid and, from Madrid, to its final destination. This is stupid because it often means that a package supposed to go, say "north", is sent "south" first and then "north" later.
Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a
letter to get across town, via certified mail.
Due to changes in mail routing, all mail (including local
mail) needs to go 35 miles away to a processing center
instead of being processed locally. Then it needs to go
back to the local center for sorting and delivery. All in
the name of cost-cutting and efficiency.
Our current postmaster general is in the process of being^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
fired. It couldn't happen fast enough, but we'll be
disgusted to hear the terms of his severance. Hopefully
they'll mail it to him.
Ogg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
LOL. And certified!
Hello poindexter FORTRAN!
Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a
letter to get across town, via certified mail.
I don't understand how that is even allowed to happen.
Also I told him of my shop and website obviously.
Bonus points because he has todlers. Todlers consume things
such as infantile bathroom products. Therefore I don't buy
the idea that I don't have anything he may want to use. I
mean, book store owners have a shower from time to time, I
think.
Regarding other issues you have mentioned: I have read the
Brief History of Time. And have read it.
Expecting other people will do advertising for you is too
optimistic to be realistic at all. Mainly because they are
very bad at it when they actually go and try. I have
memories of fans of mine pursuing people and trying to
force them to buy my books at conventions XD
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