So many of these big box stores are horrendous places to shop—-Circuit City was among the worst.

I run a smallish retail chain and I am amazed at how many people in retail have no conception of what it is they’re doing or supposed to be doing.

You hit it right, it’s never about the product or whether anybody actually needs it; it’s all about running people through the credit wringer and trying to tag them with a warranty along the way.

I’m glad I don’t have to live that way.

That being said, I still feel bad for the 30,000 people losing their jobs.
Right about now a shitty job is still probably better than no job.

Good advice re: liquidations. No real bargains there, and the stuff they don’t sell will end up somewhere else in short order, at real discount prices.

Circuit City, through tons of bad management decisions, had no real reason to be in business other than easy credit; it was a terrible place to shop and, from what I understand, an equally bad place to work.

Short-term thinking, greed, and screwed up priorities—as per usual with American BigCorp MBAs enmeshed in the Human Resources Culture.

Offhand, though, I can think of a half-dozen big chains that are in similar shape.

I like Fry’s a lot, but I have to wonder about their prospects given that they let this paranoid psychopath and degenerate gambler stay in the executive suite for years.

What do we do with an economy that’s structured around people speeding up gratification and delaying the costs of said gratification for years at a time?  Well, if this is any indication, we hurt, a lot, until it’s over.  Huzzah.

So say we all. Anyone who hasn’t been anticipating this Bush-sized hangover for the past 2 years is in for a world of pain, at least some of it of their own making.

IP MASKER: KILLSCRIPT

A Circuit City in my town went out of business in December.  We went in a couple of times to see if there were any deals, but everything was much more expensive than the regular price at other stores.  And yet, in the end everthing sold.  People see 80% off and they automatically assume it’s a good deal.

When I checked out the CompUSA liquidations, I could see everything was a sucker’s bet. The discounts start small (5% - 10%) and get deeper as the liquidation goes on. The problem is that so many people get sucked in to buying at the “great deal!” of 5% off that by the time things get to 40% - 60% off, everything has been picked over. Meanwhile, you could get a better deal elsewhere on those items you actually wanted if you just shopped somewhere else to begin with. I assume that the Circuit City liquidations will proceed in a similar manner.

When Linens&Things;went belly-up in our neck of the woods, we went a couple times, and it was surprising how much of the stuff still cost more than a sensible person would be willing to pay. I scored a couple of $10 knives, but that was about it. (And the daylight-burning value of having something to do with a couple of offspring in lousy weather.)

I think it’s sort of interesting how computers have changed our perspective on buying stuff—if it’s more than 2 or 3 years old it’s supposed to be garbage, and the new one is supposed to cost half of what the old one did. Stuff that actually lasts is a hindrance to the economy. (And just today I was using some one of the stainless-steel bowls that my ex gave me more than 20 years ago when she was moving; she’d had them for 5 or 10 years from someone else, and they’ve probably got another 20 or 30 years in them.)

IP MASKER- KILLSCRIPT

“computers have changed our perspective on buying stuff—if it’s more than 2 or 3 years old it’s supposed to be garbage, and the new one is supposed to cost half of what the old one did.”

I’d kill for 2-3 years of life for laptops: one from HP bought at Circuit City lasted 6 months! (After 3 MONTHS of waiting to get it back repaired from HP, they sent me a replacement (which died after 5 months!)

I next bought a Dell from Best Buy, which died after 2 months: luckily, I’d bought a warranty from BEST Buy, and they replaced the motherboard (only 2 weeks wait.)

(I’d buy my computers elsewhere from big boxes, if there was any elsewhere than big boxes around here.)

I’ve still got a Quasar TV bought in the early ‘90s, it’s VHS player finally died last year. The Syivania I bought a couple years ago, well, the DVD player died within a year, the VHS player the next, the set itself went in about 3.

Junk, most of it from China - where, I read in the New Yorker, the business model includes building in an early fail, so as to employ more workers on the replacements.

Meanwhile, I’m still using the pots and pans I bought at yard sales 20 years ago.

I haven’t shopped at Circuit City since they pulled this crap. Not sorry to see them go, even if similarly anti-consumer bullshit wasn’t exclusive to them.

IP MASKER: KILLSCRIPT

Maybe this link will work better for what I didn’t like about CC.

Give it a rest, Chrysler Goat.

paul:
I had the same experience with Linens and Things.  I had a hell-drive to get there and so my mood certainly didn’t get any better after looking through a “liquidation” to find out that much of the stuff on the shelves was still at its regular (over)pricing, and that the reduced stuff was still too expensive for what you were getting.

I’d kill for 2-3 years of life for laptops: one from HP bought at Circuit City lasted 6 months! (After 3 MONTHS of waiting to get it back repaired from HP, they sent me a replacement (which died after 5 months!)

I was doing some shopping for a laptop for someone else over the holidays—the salesman, seeing I was a fellow tech geek, told me that they turn around new laptop models every 3 months or so. Amazing.

I’m fortunate in that I can build the desktop machine on my own, and upgrade incrementally over 3 years. I can’t do that with laptops, so beyond one old Dell now running Ubuntu that I use in emergencies, I’ve moved my portable computing to flash drives (one with portable apps) and smartphones, which are usually good for a few years.

I remember hearing about a barcode scanner which would do it automatically.

Probably the AndroidScan application for the G1 phone, now known as Compare Everywhere. It’s truly nifty.

Anyone who hasn’t been anticipating this Bush-sized hangover for the past 2 years is in for a world of pain, at least some of it of their own making.

This.  If you’re carrying major credit card debt for reasons other than extraordinary circumstances (illness, divorce, foolishness 5 years ago that you’re still paying off, etc.), then you’re a fool.

I’ve been worried about not having a credit card at all for the past couple of years, but I’m not good with them and the penalties were so high it wasn’t worth it, so I never got around to it.  Now I’m thanking my lucky stars I didn’t succumb to the temptation (and I probably would have, sadly).

I’d kill for 2-3 years of life for laptops: one from HP bought at Circuit City lasted 6 months! (After 3 MONTHS of waiting to get it back repaired from HP, they sent me a replacement (which died after 5 months!)

I’m glad to say that my iBook G4 is nearing its fifth year of life.  The only thing that’s gone wrong on it in all that time is 1 dead pixel in the display.  I feel pretty lucky; I don’t have very high-powered computing needs, and I’m not limited to a particular OS due to software limitations.  I realize that neither of those conditions apply to others, though.

Not sure what the big complaint is.

Crappy store (your definition; I bought a phone and a turntable there and they both were fine) goes out of business.  OK, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

In liquidation, usually the company is unable to pay all of its debts.  So the the idea is to sell its stock and other assets, leases, etc., for as much money as possible so that as much of the debt can be paid as possible.  If it works well, equity owners might even get a few bucks.  The idea for them is, not to do customers a favor, but to sell at the highest possilbe price to pay off as many creditors as possible.  If a customer pays more than he would elsewhere, well that too happens every day.  The creditors looking to get paid range from big companies, to banks, to employees etc.

I’ve been worried about not having a credit card at all for the past couple of years, but I’m not good with them and the penalties were so high it wasn’t worth it, so I never got around to it.  Now I’m thanking my lucky stars I didn’t succumb to the temptation (and I probably would have, sadly).

Sadly, I did.  Not all of my credit card debt is silly debt, but a significant chunk is.  I fully admit that, and I’ve ended the foolishness.  Live and learn *shrug*.

So, economics is 100% wrong, then? If Circuit City could ship its entire inventory by raising prices, why didn’t they try doing that when they could have stayed in business?

I know, empirically, that you are right, Jesse, and that they will do this. (I may pop in today and see if there’s any local sales or discounts before the liquidators take over.) I just don’t understand how it makes any sense. Raise the prices to sell more merchandise? The next time Megan McAddled defends the field of economics with the observation that stores don’t raise prices during sales, point her to one of these liquidations.

Stores are going out of business left and right by me. A biggish strip mall, once anchored by a Mervyn’s, a supermarket, and an independent version of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, is down to a coffeeshop and a Walgreen’s. This is not a poor area by any means.

When I need something, I go to independent businesses. Plus I spend much less time in their stores than in the big boxes. A couple of rants:
Big box stores are characterized by no service, and a lack of stock. At the approach of someone obviously wanting to ask a question, the teen employees at the big box sports store fled like minnows from a Chinook salmon.  So I go to the sole remaining independent.
My kitchen drain was leaking, so I walked over to Home Depot. They had no undersink parts in stock. Instead, they had stickers on the hooks where the parts normally were, stating the date when they were due to be restocked. To make things worse, the expected dates were the week before. The only person who knew anything about it was stocking shelves for an HD supplier—I could not find an HD employee to ask within the same zip code. So I drove to the nearest ACE hardware, who not only has everything in stock, but at prices less than Home Depot wanted for stuff that was out of stock. Plus their employees come up to you asking if you’d like help; you don’t have to track one down.

Libertarian - I don’t think this was a complaint so much as it was a warning to consumers who might otherwise get sucked in by liquidation smoke and mirrors. There’s nothing wrong with helping fellow consumers out!

___

Re: computers—yeah, I can’t imagine buying a computer from a big box store. Build it yourself or get it from a reputable custom builder—you’ll save money with the former and you’ll pay a bit extra for great service and reliability with the latter.

Re: computers—yeah, I can’t imagine buying a computer from a big box store. Build it yourself or get it from a reputable custom builder—you’ll save money with the former and you’ll pay a bit extra for great service and reliability with the latter.

My stepdad’s an electrical engineer, so he builds his own desktops.  I don’t know where he gets his laptops from, but he’s had few problems with them, probably because he knows what to look for.  I always ask his advice about such things, and usually get some cast-off electronic device as well.

I worked for Linens-n-Things about six or so years ago. The upper management was remarkably cliquey and our store manager was the living embodiment of Dilbert’s boss in female form. Their final collapse was no more surprising than Circuit City’s.

Not sure what the big complaint is.

The big complaint (really more of a redress to information asymmetry in the market) is that Circuit City seems to have no problem with treating its “valued customers” like suckers, even as they liquidate. That approach, emerging from the culture I described at 12:33pm, is one of the things that got them into trouble in the first place. In other words, regarding capitalism: Circuit City, ur doing it rong!

To their credit (heh), at least CC isn’t going hat in hand for a government bailout like those other paragons of Libertarianism who manage the i-banks and auto manufacturers.

Hector:

Absolutely. For us the big boxes are more of an entertainment than a retail experience. Sorta like going to Dean&DeLuca;was when we lived in NYC, but you’d hardly buy there. The little local hardware store has what I need, as does the local lumberyard, plus the expertise to help me figure everything out (and the locals complain about how its service has gone downhill).

Another Ibook G4 heading into its fifth year, and a desktop that’s heading for 7 here…

it was a warning to consumers who might otherwise get sucked in by liquidation smoke and mirrors

Which makes Jesse’s post ever MORE insidious, because here he goes discouraging good, thinking Americans from shopping at those not-really-a-good-deal liquidation prices, forcing creditors and maybe even shareholders from getting some of their money back!

What makes you think bank and auto execs are lib’s?

You can be mad at them; don’t blame libertarians.

ANY person advocating bailouts for these banks or execs
is, by definition, NOT a libertarian.

Any person who uses the Internet or drives on a road is, by definition, not a libertarian.

Also have a iBook, going on year 6. Slow, but faster than half the computers at my job.

If you don’t need a laptop, buy a desktop, they age much better and are easily expanded as time goes on to allow for new programs and technology.

But see, people love the laptop. They do buy them just cause. (if you bought yours to be mobile, I get it, some people do actually need that mobility, or live in small apts. But speaking as someone who worked at an apple store, a lot of people don’t need it and don’t realize how much they are paying for portability and less power.)

IP MASKER: KILLSCRIPT

You mean I DON’T need that special pan that flips pancakes for you, because nobody ever was able to turn a pancake over with a spatula?  And how about that folding board thingy that folds shirts.  It’s so professional!

But see, people love the laptop. They do buy them just cause. (if you bought yours to be mobile, I get it, some people do actually need that mobility, or live in small apts. But speaking as someone who worked at an apple store, a lot of people don’t need it and don’t realize how much they are paying for portability and less power.)

I just read somewhere - can’t find the article now - that laptop sales have just surpassed desktop sales for the first time, and that the trend is probably going to continue.

Linnaeus:

That trend is only going to accelerate, for two reasons: 1) mobility, and 2) laptops use much less power than desktops.

I’d be tempted to wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea in a time like this for retailers to take more active roles in product development, but we’ve already seen what good that did for Circuit City (Divx), and it would run the risk of creating a Walmart-like situation, where the suppliers are forced to play Lando to Walmart’s Vader to get any placement at all.

What makes you think bank and auto execs are lib’s?

Not all, but many I’ve seen some very libertarian statements in the past from the head of GM (when he wasn’t busy denying climate change), especially when discussing unions. And I couldn’t even count the number of i-bankers I met back when I lived in NYC who went on (and on, and on…) about the wonders of libertarianism (not that they knew the names Mises or Hayek or Schumpeter—Rand was usually the best they could do).

You’re right in that they’re not educated libertarians, but they used the name, espoused the zero-sum doctrines of “I’ve got mine, Jack” and “f*ck you, buddy,” and expressed their faith the fantasy of completely free markets—just like large-L Libertarians. They also were wont to use the same tactics Randians do in debates, especially ignoring uncomfortable questions and facts.

Oh, and what Chet said: a true economic libertarian would refrain from using a computer network, the useful robustness of which is predicated on the Health of one of those States you claim to loathe so much. You get to stay if you’re one of those pseudo-libertarians who makes a special exception for defence spending.

Circuit City should have been nationalized. Then the government planners could have figured out what goods the public should have. All products could have been packaged in identical gray re-cycled cardboard boxes. Circuit City did not fail because of poor financial management, but because they did not have enough diversity in their workforce.

Hom Lee,

Your reductio ad absurdum scenario of limited choice no doubt emerges from the same mindset that only allows you to conceive of two only alternatives in any choice: black and white. It’s a wonder to me that extreme free marketeers are able to operate thermostats, volume knobs, and dimmer switches.

I have no idea what that “worthwhile product” would have been, though, but I’m certain Divx was not it.

That worthwhile product would have been Netflix, but since that doesn’t involve you going to an actual store they wouldn’t have even considered it (if somebody clever were to have thought of it for them).

Gracchus:

It’s a wonder to me that extreme free marketeers are able to operate thermostats, volume knobs, and dimmer switches.

The Programmable Communication Thermostat, or PCT, will allow power authorities to control home temperatures while denying consumers ability to override settings during “emergency events.”

See, even free marketeers will be protected!

The Programmable Communication Thermostat, or PCT, will allow power authorities to control home temperatures while denying consumers ability to override settings during “emergency events.”

Last I heard, the “power authorities” planning to use these devices are private corporations—heavily regulated public utilities, to be sure, but private corporations none-the-less. And guess what? Government regulation or not, private corporations use new technologies to better manage their product/service flow all the time (oooh! scary! conspiracy!).

Your problem, going back to my earlier comment, is that you’re picturing the central control element of this new thermostat as an on-off switch, with only one range of horribly uncomfortable temperatures when the element is on. And you seem to believe that these “emergency events” are just excuses to for the utilities to arbitrarily make people miserable on behalf of the government that regulates them.

Then again, I’m sure you were a big fan of Enron back in the day—lots of crony capitalists spouting libertarian dogma there, too—even as they shut off power in their “free” market and joked about old ladies roasting in their homes.

We stopped in at Linens & Things during some part of their going out of business sale. The store was more packed than I’d ever seen it . . . and the “super duper” prices were exactly the same as they had been when the store wasn’t going out of business. L&T;was one of those stores where you were a fool if you ever bought anything at its list price—and where 95% of the store was always discounted from the list price.  I was looking for a twin sheet set for the kid, and walked out without one, because I still could get the same stuff, better prices, elsewhere.

This is where I go for all my houseware needs:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/new_linens_n_shit_opens

The government is seeking to limit rolling blackouts and free up electric and natural gas resources by mandating that every new heating and cooling system include a “non-removable” FM receiver. The thermostat is also capable of controlling other appliances in the house, such as electric water heaters
, refrigerators, pool pumps, computers and lights in response to signals from utility companies. If contractors and residents refuse to comply with the mandate, their building permits will be denied.

The proposal, set to be considered by the commission Jan. 30, 2009 requires each thermostat to be equipped with a radio communication device to send “price signals” and automatically adjust temperature up or down 4 degrees for cooling and heating, as California’s public and private utility organizations deem necessary.

Claudia Chandler, assistant executive director for the California Energy Commission, told WND the new systems would be highly beneficial to residents.

The government is seeking to limit rolling blackouts and free up electric and natural gas resources by mandating that every new heating and cooling system include a “non-removable” FM receiver.

You mean the government is imposing standards on corporations in the interest of averting widespread failures in a massive-scale system? How awful. Much better for companies to go without anti-risk standards, like China does with just about any product they can get away with.

The thermostat is also capable of controlling other appliances in the house, such as electric water heaters, refrigerators, pool pumps, computers and lights in response to signals from utility companies.

In other words, the device can control any major appliance or system that operates on its own dedicated circuit. A sure sign that the government’s first priority is to shut down your militia’s Web servers (so you can’t tell the world), plunge you into darkness, turn off your fridge so you have to drink warm Jolt cola, etc.

If contractors and residents refuse to comply with the mandate, their building permits will be denied.

Again, see “standards” above. You must be frightened of building codes, too—all part of the same government plot.

The proposal, set to be considered by the commission Jan. 30, 2009 requires each thermostat to be equipped with a radio communication device to send “price signals” and automatically adjust temperature up or down 4 degrees for cooling and heating, as California’s public and private utility organizations deem necessary.

4 degrees?! Either way? Infamy! Tyranny! And really, what do public and private (bolded that for ya) utilities know about adjusting supply according to demand and emergency conditions?

You know, I’d be willing to do more than mock your bed-wetting paranoia over items like this if you didn’t spend the last 8 years giving BushCo a free pass on every subtractive measure and every questionable workaround to the Constitution—because he claimed (falsely) that he was an economic libertarian.

One piece of good news, though—after next Tuesday you and your friends who are so worried about diversity in government and the UN will be able to point to Marine One as a real example of a “black helicopter.” Git it? Git it? Har-har-har.

Jeebus. Did someone start a contest to see who could copy/paste the most paranoid loony rantings from websites written by abject morons while I wasn’t looking?

Here’s a hint, jackhole: if the only source you have is WingNutDaily, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

On the life span of laptops: My 8 year old Dell did not die as much as go quietly into exile for lack of periphery willing to work with him. It still runs quite fine, but the only way to get data off it is via an 56K modem. The two-and-a-half year Fujitsu still seems to have the energy of youth. However, the one-year old Dell is showing signs of weakness…

Hector B.: When I need something, I go to independent businesses. Plus I spend much less time in their stores than in the big boxes.

Word. About once every two years I think “Well, it can’t be as bad as I remember”, and then I go to a big box store because it seems easier, and find out that it’s worse. Happened again only last week, so I should be inoculated until early 2011.

Circuit City… The store that bet on HDDVD and the Xbox360 and they don’t actually stock Playstation 3 products.  (Which might not have been a bad decision, the latter did sell less units… But that really defeats the purpose of being a store, what with having things people might actually want.)

The only things I’ve bought from them were… Umm… I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything from them, despite going to a Circuit City every time we go to Best Buy etc.  They never had the cable, expansion card, modem, whatever I wanted; either they were out or didn’t know what it was.  The PS3 is just one example; then their Blu-Ray movies were always more expensive than anywhere else by like a dollar or two.

I think I bought a router and a maxtor drive from them for my mother.  But I had to go to another store to buy the cables I needed to plug them into her computer.

I can remember exactly the only trip I made to a Circuit City in the past 10 years.  I went in for the special extended edition DVD of Dune, bought two $5 movies, and waited in line 45 minutes to be checked out.  The only reason they made any money from me that decade was the fact that I couldn’t find these movies elsewhere.  I paid through the ass compared to Best Buy and Wal-Mart prices on movies.  Good riddance to them, and I can honestly say, Best Buy can join them in their hand basket to hell.  I need computer crap, I’m going to Newegg and the local liquidation warehouse.

I get pissy about people not knowing their departments or not trying to be helpful, but I don’t get pissy about them not caring.  The way I see it, if their company wanted them to care, they’d be paid enough money to care.  Emotional investment costs more than minimum wage.  Not putting your people on commission also makes for happier customers.

I read somewhere* that about 40% of retail chains should be in bankruptcy or close to it by the middle of 2009.  When KBToys announced BEFORE CHRISTMAS that they were going under, this all became very believable.

These chains lived on easy credit, cheap goods sold for big profits, a public that had lots of money to spend or at least the credit cards to prop up that illusion, and pretty much an unworkable and unsustainable business model.  This model assumed unlimited growth, easy credit for business and customers, and low-wage labor except for a few highly-insulated players at the top.  We got what we asked for and it’s kicking our asses.

The Era of Stuff is over.  Frugality is not going to be a trendy choice but a necessity soon.  And Ebay won’t save us any more than those ever-rising home prices did.  Stimulus packages and tax discounts won’t save us, only frugality can get us through this time, and this is going to hurt.

*It was one of those cranks on the www.kunstler.com weblinks page.  Unfortunately, in the time I’ve been reading those Peak Oil Economist and DIY Environmentalist type pages, their predictions have gone from crankish to plausible to daily reading.  I’m not yet on the bandwagon, but I’m watching their parade.

All products could have been packaged in identical gray re-cycled cardboard boxes.

/me looks at the box our refurbed DVD recorder came in
/me looks at the box my dad’s refurbed Sansa came in
/me compares against Sony’s hideously overdecorated shipping boxes and the mindboggling hell that is opening the typical small-electronics plastic bubble pack

Hom Lee, you say that like it’s a bad thing.

/me compares against Sony’s hideously overdecorated shipping boxes and the mindboggling hell that is opening the typical small-electronics plastic bubble pack

Off-topic, but have you seen that Amazon.com will now sell you things that in “Frustration-Free Packaging”?  I’m curious how it works—do you really end up with less packing crap, or is it just easier to open?

I’d kill for 2-3 years of life for laptops: one from HP bought at Circuit City lasted 6 months! (After 3 MONTHS of waiting to get it back repaired from HP, they sent me a replacement (which died after 5 months!)

I next bought a Dell from Best Buy, which died after 2 months: luckily, I’d bought a warranty from BEST Buy, and they replaced the motherboard (only 2 weeks wait.)

(I’d buy my computers elsewhere from big boxes, if there was any elsewhere than big boxes around here.)

I have noticed that most laptop manufacturers have been cutting serious corners over the last 7-8 years.  Both my old late 90’s era Toshiba Satellite and my Dell C600 notebook have been humming along fine to this very day whereas I’ve seen friends having to send more recent Dell and Toshiba models back after a few months because a motherboard, video, or some other component ended up being screwed up.  I’m glad despite having a great deal of interest in computer technology…I have no compulsion to get the latest and greatest like some of my friends and colleagues.  In fact, I’ve been advising my clients and friends to hold off on buying new computers as long as they can….especially with the possible upcoming release of Windows 7 sometime later this year. 

With the exception of one failed notebook in the early-mid-90s…..most computers tend to last a while with me despite the fact I run them hard 24/7 for work-related tests and for my own uses. 

A part of that may also be due to the fact that the last computer I ever paid money for myself was 7-8 years ago…..and every other computer…including newer models was gained free from clients, relatives, or the various apartment trashpiles in my area during my evening/weekend walks. 

My two fastest desktop computers….a 4 year old Dell Dimension 4600 desktop and 7 year old homebuilt PC were found on the street and dumped on me by an uncle respectively have both been turned into my Hackintoshes.  Got to save them from the dumpsters…..have two testbeds to run Mac OSX Leopard apps on….and paid nothing for them. 

Maybe it’s just my area, but I never had any trouble with Circuit City and in fact preferred them over Best Buy - the service and prices were better at CC, and I didn’t get my eardrums blasted out by the “music” blaring over the PA system and the idiots turning anything with sound up to 12 that always made shopping at BB such a hellish experience.  And of course I feel sorry for anyone losing a job right now.

That being said, I’ll more than likely avoid CC’s “liquidation”.  I have enough electronic gizmos anyway.

This.  If you’re carrying major credit card debt for reasons other than extraordinary circumstances (illness, divorce, foolishness 5 years ago that you’re still paying off, etc.), then you’re a fool.

I’ve been worried about not having a credit card at all for the past couple of years, but I’m not good with them and the penalties were so high it wasn’t worth it, so I never got around to it.  Now I’m thanking my lucky stars I didn’t succumb to the temptation (and I probably would have, sadly).

This fear from watching older relatives, high school/college classmates, and others go into deep credit card debt because of the inability to resist temptation was one reason I refused to get…much less use a credit card during my undergrad years despite relatives urging me to do so.  The fact I had practically no spare money beyond what I could earn from tutoring college classmates and other freelance computer work was another factor. 

This was one reason why I only started using credit cards well after I started my first job after undergrad.  Those experiences along with witnessing the spendthrift habits of older co-workers from more socio-economically privileged backgrounds which placed them in an economic sinkhole is such that when I did gain my credit cards…this has yet to be a serious issue because I am absolutely terrified of ending up in a financial sinkhole and having to go through bankruptcy…especially when it WAS a result of irresponsible frivolous spending as was in their case.  The resulting unwillingness to spend…especially on myself has caused those co-workers and acquaintances to label me cheap…..and they wonder why I have a “no asshole” lending policy. 

The CC in my area tended to have helpful staff and decent prices on televisions when my family or I needed to purchase one.  Other than TVs, media headphones, and some onsale media…..I rarely buy anything else/get extended warranties from them because their prices tend to be too high. 

I will miss having a CC in my area as Best Buy is further aways…and they were great to restock on cheap burnable media for work stuff.

I have an iBook G3 going on seven years here despite having been dropped a few times (not a recommended part of computer maintenance).  I bought it at a big box store on impulse with a truly horrid financing scheme that took ages to get rid of—never again!  The former means that I keep an eye out for its replacement (it would be nice to get a newer one that I can also run Windows on) and the latter has cured my ‘need it now!’ -itis.

Anyone who hasn’t been anticipating this Bush-sized hangover for the past 2 years is in for a world of pain, at least some of it of their own making.

We have an entire trillions of dollars economic system designed for the task of manipulating people into buying shit, so clearly it’s their fault for being successfully manipulated.

Dan,

I hear and appreciate the snark.  But it is their fault.  Just as it was my fault.  It was my fault before I declared bankruptcy two years ago (painful, but I recommend not putting it off if needed since the relief it grants is both financial and mental,) it’s my fault I still owe $750 on my post-bankruptcy credit card (yes, you can still get credit after bankruptcy) and owe $3500 on my vehicle (which I’m paying off early,) and it’s my fault I have something like two decades plus of student loan payments (though at 2.9% I can’t see where this is a priority, especially with the inflationary flags being hoisted by everyone since 2002.)  It really is our responsibility while shopping to ensure that our homes, bellies, and bills come before purchasing the latest toy or upgrade, whether or not there even is fine print in the payment agreement.  I may be a fiscal history hypocrite for saying so, but: If you can’t afford it, try to go without.

I have an iBook G3 going on seven years here despite having been dropped a few times (not a recommended part of computer maintenance).  I bought it at a big box store on impulse with a truly horrid financing scheme that took ages to get rid of—never again!  The former means that I keep an eye out for its replacement (it would be nice to get a newer one that I can also run Windows on) and the latter has cured my ‘need it now!’ -itis.

If you know any college students/employees, wait till the summer and have them buy a new mac for you as Apple has ran these summer “Buy a Mac, Get free/discounted Ipod” promotions which come on top of the educational discounts which did make some difference. 

Another thing to consider is the fact that Windows 7 is going to be released sometime later this year…Microsoft says sometime in August….though that may be pushed off…..

If you can’t afford it, try to go without.

Good words to live by. 

Unfortunately, living by this can result in your being labeled “cheap” and a “miser” by many from sheltered folks from middle/upper-class backgrounds who seem to be infected with a serious case of “gottagetitnow-itis”. 

Even those who aren’t as extreme from such backgrounds tend to have a serious problem distinguishing between their WANTS and NEEDS…...especially when it makes a difference whether someone goes into hundreds/thousands of dollars in debt or not.

As for computers…I’m using a Dell I bought about7 years ago.  It’s fine, I upgraded the memory so it still clicks along, but I discovered to my dismay yesterday that somehow it’s eaten it’s Excel program.
Admittedly, it’s Excel 2000, so it’s old, but it worked, for years, and I can’t help wondering if it evaporated b/c Microsoft is refusing to support it anymore.  Programs used to have drop-dead dates built in, so that after so many years, they just died.

Caren,

What version of windows are you running on it? When you said it “ate” excel, do you mean the excel shortcut disappeared from the start menu/desktop/anywhere else or the program has stopped functioning/crashes?

Caren, you can try OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/).

I’m not going to pretend it’s just the same, but if you need a working speadsheet it’s a quick and free way. It will usually read and write xls-files too.

Karen,

I needed Office 2000 since they made Office 2007 incompatible with anything in an effort to force you to upgrade. I got on Craigslist and found a copy for $10 shipped to me. It was a great solution.

Dodge

I needed Office 2000 since they made Office 2007 incompatible with anything in an effort to force you to upgrade. I got on Craigslist and found a copy for $10 shipped to me. It was a great solution.

FYI, you got the whole thing backwards.  If you have a newer version of office, you can always access/work on/save to a file created by an older version of office and you can save it in a format compatible with older versions of office. 

On the other hand, you cannot be sure the same is the case for attempting to open a file created by the newer/newest version of MSoffice in an older version of office….especially when Microsoft changed the default file formats in Office 2007(PC)/2008(Mac) so they cannot be accessed by older versions of office (i.e. Microsoft word’s .docx format vs .doc format). 

This is not an insurmountable problem, however, if the user of office 2007/2008 is aware enough of this problem to go into file, select save as, and select compatible with older office formats (.doc).  To make it even easier, you can even have Office 2007/2008 save it by default in the older doc formats by default in the preferences. 

IMHO, Office 2007/2008 is not much of an improvement over older versions of Office for a home user who just needs a word processor and spreadsheet.  Most of those “improvements” are the implementation of a newer incompatable file format, features that are mostly used by corporate document support specialists, and much more of a resource hog than its predecessors.

Most of those “improvements” are the implementation of a newer incompatable file format, features that are mostly used by corporate document support specialists, and much more of a resource hog than its predecessors.

For the uninitiated:

The Windows version uses a new interface to reach features and threw away the Chart Wizard in Excel such that all Excel 2007 charts must be fiddled with extensively to get to the same place the Chart Wizard got you to in a handful of clicks.  The Mac version dropped support for VBA such that there is no good way to write macros/scripts for it.

In short, it is easier to stay on Office 97/XP/2003 or move to OpenOffice.org (when possible—for advanced Office users it won’t do at all) than to “upgrade” to Office 2007/2008.

The Windows version uses a new interface to reach features and threw away the Chart Wizard in Excel such that all Excel 2007 charts must be fiddled with extensively to get to the same place the Chart Wizard got you to in a handful of clicks.  The Mac version dropped support for VBA such that there is no good way to write macros/scripts for it.

Agreed.  And the supporters of Office 2008 for the mac saying that one can always use applescript to replace VBA is not really much of an answer…..especially for people/institutions with VBA macros….

In short, it is easier to stay on Office 97/XP/2003 or move to OpenOffice.org (when possible—for advanced Office users it won’t do at all) than to “upgrade” to Office 2007/2008.

Agreed.  And that’s probably one reason why Microsoft created new proprietary file formats incompatible with older versions of office….and OpenOffice…..to force everyone to “upgrade” whether they want to or not.  Already ran into this incompatibility issue with some clients who had Office 2007/2008 and didn’t know about this issue…..talk about a major headache…:(