The Price of Razorblades.
I've been buying the same blades for about ten years now. They're not advertised by Gillette anymore, and haven't been in some time, and they will probably be discontinued soon as the handle's been unavailable for a couple of years now.
So with no advertisement, and no cost of R&D, you'd think the price would stay roughly the same, right?
Wrong.
Ten years ago: about $10, or $1/blade.
Today: $17, or $1.70/blade.
You can't tell me that inflation has caused the price to increase 70%. A piece of plastic housing two thin strips of metal (Yes, mine only have two blades. I don't need 16 blades to shave.) should cost mere pennies to produce. By the time you package and ship and resell that ten pack it should cost no more than $3 or $4.
But it's a monopoly market, as there aren't any inexpensive alternatives. Professional waxing and laser hair removal cost small fortunes. Electric razors don't come cheap either, and with a lifespan of only a couple of years, they probably cost more in the long run. Disposables aren't as good (not to mention the unnecessary garbage they create), and generic brands, if you can find them, aren't up to snuff.
And what are we supposed to do in protest? Boycott razorblades? That's only hurting ourselves.
I'm just going to start buying lots of blade packs of ebay. Still not as cheap as it should be, but a substantial savings over what you'll pay at the grocery store.
Bikram's Yoga, aka Hot Yoga.
Ok, so let's get this straight. The same temperature and humidity that causes the government to issue heat warnings about when it happens in the summer is the same environment that you're working out in? You're spending anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes in a makeshift sauna, when a real sauna is filled with signage warning you not to stay for longer than 15 minutes, and to leave immediately if you begin to feel nauseous or dizzy.
And everyone is getting their sweat on. But unlike in a gym, where the air is circulated and conditioned, Bikram's is in a sealed-off room. Nice. You're breathing in everyone else' sweat and breath. Better hope no one's getting a cold, because you'll be getting it too.
What's worse is that you're told not to drink any water. This goes against everything we've been taught since the beginning of PE classes.
In the 45 minutes I spend doing cardio on the elliptical at my gym I will polish off an entire 1 litre bottle of water, and another 500mls on my drive home.
"Oh but I lose so much weight with Bikram's! I feel so awesome after Bikram's!"
Yes, you do. But you put it back on as soon as you rehydrate yourself. That's probably why you feel so good after your workout; stepping outside into cool air where you can finally drink water is bound to feel euphoric after you've been trying not to pass out for an hour.
Feeling dizzy, light-headed or nauseous while working out = bad
Not staying hydrated while working out = bad
Paying $20 for an hour-long group workout = stupid
I'm not anti-yoga, nor am I anti-saunas. But together? Anyone who participates in this needs to give their head a good shake.
"It makes me feel amazing!"
If you're lacking amazement in your life, here are some other, not-so-stupid things you can try instead:
-regular workouts (including regular yoga!)
-recycling
-volunteering
-cuddling puppies
-giving hugs
And the best part? None of those cost $20/hour to do! You're welcome.
AirCare
Oh wait, we already went over that.
Showing posts with label AirCare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AirCare. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
AirCare's Sole Purpose is to Remind Poor People That They're Poor
Alternate blog post titles:
Volkswagens and AirCare: enemies to the death.
"Did it pass AirCare?" "It's a Volkswagen. Of course not."
AirCare: The Bane of My Existence
First World Problems
I'm probably not going to elicit much sympathy from this, as I could have had a new(er) car instead of the one I already have. But because I made the "fun!" (aka irresponsible!) choice to quit my job and then spend my big pile of money gallivanting around some continents for a while, I came home to my high-mileage 1997 Golf.
I loved this car when I got itfive years ago. After driving an awesomely charismatic but supremely unsafe and unreliable yellow '72 Superbeetle for three years, upgrading to a car that was produced when I was already alive was amazing.
I still love you, Mabel. You death trap on wheels you.
And I love things about this car. Like how a tank of gas that will get me 550km costs less than $40. Or how... it has a manual transmission! And... doors. And wheels... And it gets me from point A to point B relatively unscathed... Ok, so there isn't much that's great about this car. But it's (usually) cheap to run, and I don't have any sort of monthly car payment.
Car payments are why I don't have a newer, nicer car.
Do you know how much a monthly car payment for a new Civic is? $300
And the car payment for the sole car that might actually motivate me into taking on a monthly car payment, aka a Dodge Challenger?
At least $600.
(That was the sound of my bank account getting raped.)
So I still have my 13-year-old, junky-but-mostly-reliable, practically-free-to-drive Golf. I should probably throw some money at it, like to paint the hood or fix the cracked-to-shit windshield, the latter of which would not hold up in a vehicle inspection. But as it's high mileage and never been rebuilt, it would probably be smarter just to sell it before its maintenance bills are more than the car's value.
I cancelled its insurance pre-departure and put storage insurance on it. And I was actually excited to reinsure it, as three years has now elapsed since my car accident and ICBC's accident forgiveness would have kicked in, making my already practically free to drive car even freer. Whoa that's actually a word? Awesome! Freer freer freer.
I head to the local Autoplan to reinsure my car, hand her all my paper work, get my blank cheque ready (as I had forgotten it on the first attempt), and smugly wait to hear just how cheap my monthly insurance payment is going to be.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Your AirCare's expired."
If hopes and dreams dying was audible, that's the sound.
She could have also said, "Cry. Then please go to your nearest mechanic and pay $300."
AirCare is a tax on the poor.
New vehicles are exempt from AirCare for their first seven years of life. After that they only need to be checked every two years, and they usually pass with flying colours.
AirCare was implemented in 1992. Does this mean that vehicles built prior to 1992 are exempt? No. Cars built in 1992 or previous need to be checked every year.
AirCare should be much the same as how the seatbelt law works: if your car was built without seatbelts before the seatbelts law came into effect, you don't need to install seatbelts in your car.
And while I realize that this still wouldn't make my 1997 Golf exempt from AirCare, it would make me a little less bitter about all the hell they caused me with my 1972 Bug. But AirCare is government, which means it's not much more than a thinly-veiled cash grab, and despite similar programs being nixed throughout the states they had been implemented in because it's becoming increasingly pointless, AirCare still exists because the BC government likes to tax the poor.
I don't drive a '97 Golf because I think it's fun to not have things like airbags and air conditioning and ABS brakes and power windows. I drive it because I can't afford anything else right now. Because I spent all my money on silk and silver in India. Pity me.
You know what else I can't afford? The mechanic bill, to fix my off-the-chart nitrogen oxide rating. Because I quit my job before I went on said silver and silk shopping spree. Cue more pity.
Do you think they looked at my supremely-below-average carbon monoxide reading and gave me a break? Or averaged the three readings? Or though, ehhh two out of three ain't bad, off you go. Nope. Not even a high five.
Carbon monoxide? WILL KILL YOU.
Nitrogen oxide? Makes your car go fast! Wheeeee!
If you are in the 1992 or older category, where regulations say you need to go through AirCare every year, they charge you $23 for the exam.
If you are in the 1993 and newer category, where you only need to go through AirCare every two years, the testing fee is $47.
Whoa, what's that?
Both exams are exactly the same. But if we're only going to see you every two years, we're going to charge you double! That's the price you pay for being able to afford a new car that was built to meet modern emissions standards!
My car is pretty economical in the grand scheme of things. It even rated as having better than average gas consumption for its class in the AirCare test. If I were to take that $40 tank of gas and light it on fire, it would still be more Earth-friendly than a new V8 diesel that spews out a thick plume of black smoke every time you hammer on the pedal.
Maybe this is Mother Nature's vengeance for how I drove Richie's truck. In that case, I'm sorry MN. Love you!
But because that brand new $78,000 F350 V8 meets the emissions standards for its class, it doesn't even need to go on its first date with AirCare until 2016. And that first date won't even be awkward and it'll pass with flying colours and it'll do the stride of pride out of the AirCare lineup like no tomorrow.
So let's break it down.
Typical redneck: $15,600 for truck/year* + $6,000 for diesel/year** = $21,600 annual vehicle expenses
*($78,000 / 5 year payment plan)
**(20,000km / 400km per tank x $120 per fill)
Me: $900 for car/year*** + $1455 for gas/year**** = $2,355 annual vehicle expenses
***($4,500 / 5 years of ownership)
****(20,000 / 550km per tank x $40 per fill)
I'm not even factoring in insurance, which is exponentially more for a vehicle that expensive, compared to what it costs me for mine.
One of us can afford expensive car repairs, and the other cannot.
One of us is hands-down spewing more pollutants into the air than is necessary, and the other is not.
But I'm the one being penalized for emissions and on my way to fork out a few hundred dollars in repairs.
AirCare is a tax on the poor.
Volkswagens and AirCare: enemies to the death.
"Did it pass AirCare?" "It's a Volkswagen. Of course not."
AirCare: The Bane of My Existence
First World Problems
I'm probably not going to elicit much sympathy from this, as I could have had a new(er) car instead of the one I already have. But because I made the "fun!" (aka irresponsible!) choice to quit my job and then spend my big pile of money gallivanting around some continents for a while, I came home to my high-mileage 1997 Golf.
I loved this car when I got it
I still love you, Mabel. You death trap on wheels you.
And I love things about this car. Like how a tank of gas that will get me 550km costs less than $40. Or how... it has a manual transmission! And... doors. And wheels... And it gets me from point A to point B relatively unscathed... Ok, so there isn't much that's great about this car. But it's (usually) cheap to run, and I don't have any sort of monthly car payment.
Car payments are why I don't have a newer, nicer car.
Do you know how much a monthly car payment for a new Civic is? $300
And the car payment for the sole car that might actually motivate me into taking on a monthly car payment, aka a Dodge Challenger?
At least $600.
(That was the sound of my bank account getting raped.)
So I still have my 13-year-old, junky-but-mostly-reliable, practically-free-to-drive Golf. I should probably throw some money at it, like to paint the hood or fix the cracked-to-shit windshield, the latter of which would not hold up in a vehicle inspection. But as it's high mileage and never been rebuilt, it would probably be smarter just to sell it before its maintenance bills are more than the car's value.
I cancelled its insurance pre-departure and put storage insurance on it. And I was actually excited to reinsure it, as three years has now elapsed since my car accident and ICBC's accident forgiveness would have kicked in, making my already practically free to drive car even freer. Whoa that's actually a word? Awesome! Freer freer freer.
I head to the local Autoplan to reinsure my car, hand her all my paper work, get my blank cheque ready (as I had forgotten it on the first attempt), and smugly wait to hear just how cheap my monthly insurance payment is going to be.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Your AirCare's expired."
If hopes and dreams dying was audible, that's the sound.
She could have also said, "Cry. Then please go to your nearest mechanic and pay $300."
AirCare is a tax on the poor.
New vehicles are exempt from AirCare for their first seven years of life. After that they only need to be checked every two years, and they usually pass with flying colours.
AirCare was implemented in 1992. Does this mean that vehicles built prior to 1992 are exempt? No. Cars built in 1992 or previous need to be checked every year.
AirCare should be much the same as how the seatbelt law works: if your car was built without seatbelts before the seatbelts law came into effect, you don't need to install seatbelts in your car.
And while I realize that this still wouldn't make my 1997 Golf exempt from AirCare, it would make me a little less bitter about all the hell they caused me with my 1972 Bug. But AirCare is government, which means it's not much more than a thinly-veiled cash grab, and despite similar programs being nixed throughout the states they had been implemented in because it's becoming increasingly pointless, AirCare still exists because the BC government likes to tax the poor.
I don't drive a '97 Golf because I think it's fun to not have things like airbags and air conditioning and ABS brakes and power windows. I drive it because I can't afford anything else right now. Because I spent all my money on silk and silver in India. Pity me.
You know what else I can't afford? The mechanic bill, to fix my off-the-chart nitrogen oxide rating. Because I quit my job before I went on said silver and silk shopping spree. Cue more pity.
Do you think they looked at my supremely-below-average carbon monoxide reading and gave me a break? Or averaged the three readings? Or though, ehhh two out of three ain't bad, off you go. Nope. Not even a high five.
Carbon monoxide? WILL KILL YOU.
Nitrogen oxide? Makes your car go fast! Wheeeee!
If you are in the 1992 or older category, where regulations say you need to go through AirCare every year, they charge you $23 for the exam.
If you are in the 1993 and newer category, where you only need to go through AirCare every two years, the testing fee is $47.
Whoa, what's that?
Both exams are exactly the same. But if we're only going to see you every two years, we're going to charge you double! That's the price you pay for being able to afford a new car that was built to meet modern emissions standards!
My car is pretty economical in the grand scheme of things. It even rated as having better than average gas consumption for its class in the AirCare test. If I were to take that $40 tank of gas and light it on fire, it would still be more Earth-friendly than a new V8 diesel that spews out a thick plume of black smoke every time you hammer on the pedal.
Maybe this is Mother Nature's vengeance for how I drove Richie's truck. In that case, I'm sorry MN. Love you!
But because that brand new $78,000 F350 V8 meets the emissions standards for its class, it doesn't even need to go on its first date with AirCare until 2016. And that first date won't even be awkward and it'll pass with flying colours and it'll do the stride of pride out of the AirCare lineup like no tomorrow.
So let's break it down.
Typical redneck: $15,600 for truck/year* + $6,000 for diesel/year** = $21,600 annual vehicle expenses
*($78,000 / 5 year payment plan)
**(20,000km / 400km per tank x $120 per fill)
Me: $900 for car/year*** + $1455 for gas/year**** = $2,355 annual vehicle expenses
***($4,500 / 5 years of ownership)
****(20,000 / 550km per tank x $40 per fill)
I'm not even factoring in insurance, which is exponentially more for a vehicle that expensive, compared to what it costs me for mine.
One of us can afford expensive car repairs, and the other cannot.
One of us is hands-down spewing more pollutants into the air than is necessary, and the other is not.
But I'm the one being penalized for emissions and on my way to fork out a few hundred dollars in repairs.
AirCare is a tax on the poor.
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