Printers, Jewelry, Telemarketers, Brain Harvesting
Anyone need a printer? Quite awhile back my HP Deskjet ran out of ink. However, I didn't bother getting new ink cartridges. Why not? Because about the time I ran out of ink, I bought a new laptop. And Dell gives away free printers (with ink, and no shipping charge) with their laptops. Not that I wanted a new printer, but hey, it came with ink.Well, that printer ran out of ink a couple weeks ago. Not a big deal. Because I just bought a new desktop computer from Dell. And guess what they give away with new desktop computers. Yeah. That's right. A new printer.
So, I now have two Dell printers. They're probably worth about as much as I paid for them - not the greatest printers I've ever seen, and apparently you can only buy ink directly from Dell.
So...anyone need a printer? Or two? Or should I haul 'em off to the dump?
On another subject. I came up with a cynical theory yesterday. I think that jewelry store sales take a dramatic jump about two to three days before Christmas. Why? That's when all the husbands realize "Oh no! I haven't bought my wife anything! What's quick and easy? I know...JEWELRY!"
And, of course, she says "Oh, Bill! That's so romantic!"
Yes, yes, very romantic.
On another subject. I got a call today from a telemarketer.
"Hi Tim! Did you know you can get satellite TV for...(blah blah)...press one for more information."
Well, I don't want satellite TV, but I am curious to know how I ended up getting a name change. So I pressed one. "Hi! This is Alan, with Satellite Sales. How can I help you?"
"Hi Alan. This is not Tim."
"Errr..."
"What is your company? And what are you selling?"
"What's your name?"
"I'm sorry, what company did you say you represent?"
"What's your name, buddy?"
"I'm not sure how I got to be your buddy; I just wanted to know what company you represent."
"Why don't you tell me your name first."
"Look, you called me. I just want to know who I'm dealing with."
"What's your name?"
"Well, it's not Tim, that's for sure, even though that's what you guys called me."
"No, the call was from Tim. He said, 'Hi, this is Tim.'"
"Uh huh. Right. Okay. Well then, I'd like to talk to Tim, please."
"He's not here right now."
"But he just called me!" <-- This is me being super dumb.
"What's your name?"
"Why don't you tell me what company this is?"
"What's your name?"
"You know, this is fun. I could do this all afternoon. What company do you represent?"
"Hang on, buddy."
*pause while he gets a supervisor*
"Hi there. What seems to be the problem?"
"Oh, no problem. I just wanted to let you know...I don't need satellite service."
*click*
On another subject. Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. This was never demonstrated so clearly as on the local news this afternoon. There was a news story about "brain harvesting". Apparently a research institute havested brains from deceased Mainers without the permission of loved ones. Only, when the channel 13 news reported on it, it became:
The suits say Maryland-based Stanley Medical Research Institute collected nearly 100 brains from diseased Mainers without the permission of loved ones.
Huh. Glad I'm not a diseased Mainer. I think we should pray for good health for all Mainers everywhere.
And God bless us all, every one!
Posted On Dec 20, 2005 at 7:29 PM
On Dec 20, 2005 Beth wrote: A) Your conversation with the telemarketer made me laugh. I get called almost every day from different companies about consolidating loans, but I'm never eligible because I'm in school. I'm starting to get creative with how I deal with things.
B) That brain harvesting deal is really scary. Wow.
C) Did you hear/read in the news about a woman named Darcy Wakefield with Lou Gherig's disease? She died last week or so? That was my mom's cousin, and before she died, she was writing a book using a computer that typed the letters as she looked at them. How does that work?
Doug Replied: no...didn't hear about Darcy Wakefield. I've never heard of the typing-by-looking-at-letters thing...sounds pretty cool.
On Dec 21, 2005 Mr. T wrote: You realize that printer companies make next to nothing on their printers, don't you? The ink is where all the profit is.
An example - I sell a particular brand of compatible ink cartridges - not the OEM brand. They carry a 100% guarantee that they are as good or better than the OEM. For one particular printer, that the OEM brand of black ink retails for $26.95 at an office supply store, my wholesale cost of the compatible cartridge is $1.95. Now, I have to believe that the printer company can make their cartridge for a similar cost, which means when this cartridge is sold for $26.95, there is a huge markup that someone is making.
So - with that kind of markup on the ink, the printer companies can afford to sell printers at a loss, knowing they will make plenty of money on the consumables.
Unfortunately, this is all leading to "throw-away" printers - I have seen printers, that include both black and color ink, selling for a price that is LESS than the retail price of the two ink cartridges. So it is cheaper for someone to throw away their printer and go buy a new one, then it is to buy the ink for their current printer.
And so our landfills fill up more and more. . .
Doug Replied: yep. that was more or less my point...but you said it much more eloquently than me.
On Dec 21, 2005 Mr. T wrote: Quote:
| you said it much more eloquently than me. |
Eloquent? I think that's the first time someone said my writing was eloquent! Thanks!
On Dec 21, 2005 BackStage wrote: Just so you know, I can buy ink for my Dell printer at Staples. It's a bit cheaper than Dell's ink, and I don't have to order it. But I'm sure Dell doesn't want you to buy from anyone else but them!
Doug Replied: of course not...that defeats the purpose of giving away free printers!
On Dec 21, 2005 Laura wrote: But Doug, didn't you just write a blog a while ago about how you should be nice to telemarketers because they're doing jobs that no one else wants to do? ;-) All the same, I found that conversation very funny. Sounds like the other guy had a pretty short script to work with.
Doug Replied: yep. But being nice to telemarketers doesn't mean letting scam artists get you. When a company refuses to give you any information about themselves, you are not dealing with a legitimate business person.
I had a similar one recently in which the "telemarketer" claimed I had won a prize, and tried to get personal information from me. But, when I tried to find out information on the company sponsoring the "prize", I was informed "we aren't allowed to give out that information."
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