10:06 – I managed to cut down on the backlog of labeled bottles by about a third, which still leaves me with 1,400 or so labeled bottles to be filled. I’ll try to get a few hundred more of those done today.
I really wish we could ship forensic science kits internationally, but it’s just not practical both for cost reasons and the amount of hassle involved for us. In the last two or three weeks, I’ve gotten four queries about shipping forensics kits internationally, one to the UK, two to Canada, and one this morning to Australia. I hate turning people down, but the only option would be to ship them as hazardous materials via UPS or FedEx, which costs hundreds of dollars. And even if the prospective customers would agree to that, I’d have to go through the process of getting certified by UPS and/or FedEx to ship hazardous materials, which would take a lot of my time and cost several hundred dollars. It’s just not worth it, but I really do hate turning people down.
Barbara leaves next Monday on a driving trip up the Parkway into Northern Virginia with one of her friends. They plan to spend the week sightseeing and making side trips, staying in B&B’s along the way. Colin and I of course will be desolate, but we’ll manage somehow. Colin suggested having lots of human food and watching Heartland re-runs, which sounds like a plan to me. I’m already most of the way through season one. At 13 hours per season, Colin and I will probably make it through season two and most of season three before Barbara returns home.
Boy, talk about inflation. The other day I mentioned that Amazon Pantry was selling the 16-ounce cans of Bush’s Baked Beans for $1.48, but the 28-ounce cans for $1.78. Yesterday, I noticed that the 28-ounce cans were now $2.59, a 45.5% increase in only two days.
What’s really odd is that if I scroll down to read the reviews they’re all about marshmallows: http://amzn.com/B000Q5G7TW
Amazon has algorithms that change prices daily. In fact, they make roughly 2.5 million price changes per day! You beans got caught by the algorithm.
See
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/amazon-changes-prices-millions-of-times-every-day/
Colin and I of course will be desolate
You will be desolate, Colin will be heartbroken. The human that he really cares about will have left him. Again.
The other day I mentioned that Amazon Pantry was selling the 16-ounce cans of Bush’s Baked Beans for $1.48, but the 28-ounce cans for $1.78. Yesterday, I noticed that the 28-ounce cans were now $2.59, a 45.5% increase in only two days.
Were you logged into Amazon? They are amazingly good at detecting your purchasing habits and repricing stuff accordingly. Of course, they could have been running a clear out the inventory special for a week and you just caught the tail end of it.
Yeah, I noticed the marshmallow thing.
As far as Colin, he actually prefers my company to Barbara’s. Slightly, anyway, and that’s assuming she’s not working outside or something else interesting.
As far as the price change, I doubt it had anything to do with clearing inventory. I suspect Amazon ships a thousand cases a day of the things, if not more. What’s very strange is that it didn’t say anything about the price change. Usually, if there’s been any change, it says that x items in my cart have changed prices, with the old and new prices shown. This time, it said nothing, which leads me to believe it was a pricing error that they corrected.
http://www.amazon.com/Bushs-Best-Baked-Beans-Original/dp/B000Q5G7TW/
I got the same price, $2.59 each. I also noted that this is an exclusive item for Amazon Prime members only.
“Scientists: Go ahead, kill all the mosquitoes. The world will be better for it.”
http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2010/07/scientists-go-ahead-kill-all-the-mosquitoes-the-world-will-be-better-for-it/
Old blog but I liked it. Of course, the first thing that struck me is the absurdity of feddies putting mosquitoes on the endangered list. Off would be banned and traded on the black market for 100s of dollars per can.
“Introducing the newest tactic for governments to raise cash”
http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/introducing-the-newest-tactic-for-governments-to-raise-cash-14566/
I just checked Texas. One year for dormant bank accounts!
http://www.window.state.tx.us/up/generalinfo.html
Dadgum thieves!
Introducing the newest tactic for governments to raise cash
One criteria that has to be used for a dormant account is that the statement has been returned as undelivered. As long as the statement is not returned the lack of activity is not a factor. At least in TN. I suppose the government could change that.
In my dealings with the states over my relative’s affairs dormant accounts have always gone to the state as dormant accounts. People could lay claim to the funds or property by filing the proper paperwork. There is no limit on the time allowed to claim.
I claimed a couple of properties belonging to my uncle, who died many years ago, when I was settling my aunt’s affairs. I had to prove they were married, prove that he was dead and that she was dead. Since there was no will I had to convince the state of Oregon that I was entitled to the money. I was able to do so by having a statement notarized that I was raised by them and they had no children.
States have long been the recipients of dormant accounts. This is nothing new. The duration of dormancy may be changing. That may be driven by banks that don’t want the dormant accounts, especially the accounts with less than $100.00 in the account. They would rather the state keep the money.
It is my experience that here in Texas that the definition of dormant is zero transactions. I keep a business checking account in a bank as a backup and never touch the money. Last year, the bank contacted me about dormant status and I never quite understood what was going on. Now I do.
It is my experience that here in Texas that the definition of dormant is zero transactions.
It probably varies by state and the regulations have probably changed since I was in banking about 25 years ago, credit union about 16 years ago. It may also be a policy of the institution. I really am not sure. At the CU I worked at it was considered undelivered mail. There was always a transaction against the account due to interest unless the amount was really small.
I do know that if the property is turned over to the state there is no time limit to file a claim. The owner, or their heirs, can file a claim years after the property was abandoned. So I don’t really consider changing the rules for abandoned property as the state seizing the money.
I do know banks really despise small accounts with no activity. Somehow they claim it costs them money. I guess mailing statements at least yearly is some small cost. There is ZERO cost to maintain the account in the system. However, the accountants would take the IT budget, divide by the number of accounts and would arrive at a cost per account to maintain an account. I think this may have had something to do with taxes the bank would avoid, perhaps closing a dormant account could be claimed as a tax loss for the maintenance of the account for 7 years. Banks are not in the game for customers, only for themselves.
Would it be feasible for you to send incomplete forensic science kits internationally? A smaller box, along with a list of the stuff you can’t send, and hope the good folks in Australia can get it on their own? Or even an e-mailed list – ‘If you can procure X, Y, & Z on your own, I can ship the reduced content kit to you.’
Or bgrigg and Miles_Teg can become distributors in their countries. Assuming their domestic postal regulations allow for cost-effective shipment of de-e-e-e-e-adly che-e-e-e-e-emicals, not a safe assumption.
I take my grand kids to the bank once each summer and make a deposit for each.
Regarding marshmallows: The socialists in NYC have two sales tax rates for them, one for the standard size and another for the smaller ones. Their rationale is that one is candy and gets the higher rate while the other is a baking ingredient and gets the lower rate (like flour). I just can’t recall which is which.
This just in via my wittle nooz feeds here:
Iran sez we can bomb the shit outta Al-Q.
And the House killed the A-10 Warthog finally.
Both utterly stupid.
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-11.html
“In fact, however, the tea party had nothing to do with Brat’s victory. Only the small, local tea party groups stand for anything anymore, but they’re as different from the media-recognized “tea party” as lay Catholics are from the Catholic bishops.”
“National tea party groups did not contribute dime one to Brat. Not Freedom Works, not Club for Growth, not the Tea Party Express, not Tea Party Patriots. They were too busy denouncing Sen. Mitch McConnell — who has consistently voted against amnesty.”
“As I have been warning you, the big, national tea party groups are mostly shysters and con-men raising money for their own self-aggrandizement. (Today, they’re blast-faxing “media availability” notices to television networks claiming credit for Brat’s victory.) ”
“Brat didn’t just win; he walloped Cantor, 55.5 percent to 44.5 percent. ”
Huh. Ann don’t lie. Cantor, a RINO in the making, lost on amnesty.
I see Obummer, our CinC, has now started shuffling illegals off to military bases. What choice do they have when the CinC orders it? Next he’ll order the war fighting budget shifted to housing, chow, clothing etc. for illegals. Might as well send them to on base schools, also.
We have a lot of facilities in South Korea. Maybe we could C-17 the illegals there.
“Ann don’t lie. Cantor, a RINO in the making, lost on amnesty.”
But La Coulter didn’t lie. She got it all right, per usual. She rarely makes mistakes, call her what you will. Cantor may have lost on amnesty but that was no thanks to the people she listed. She was right about lay Catholics and Catholic bishops, too. And also lay Catholics and other lay Catholics. But we do have a handful of good bishops here.
“We have a lot of facilities in South Korea. Maybe we could C-17 the illegals there.”
Hell, we have gigantic bases and facilities all over the world; over a thousand at last count, to the tune of many countless billions, much of it forever hidden. The Camp of the Saints for North America, thanks Barry. And a posthumous thanks to Teddy Kennedy.
What overseas bases are we going to be abandoning by the end of the year? We should air-ship the illegal “children” (you know, the teenage thugs flipping off the cameraman) over there. And if the host country of the to-be-abandoned base views that as an act of war, well, do we really care? And if Mexico announces it’s an act of war, well fuck ’em. Mexico has long since declared war on the US.
Agreed, but the Plan is to let them all in, in their tens of millions, and then take care of them totally at the expense of the rest of us.
Just spoke w/Mrs. OFD, who is out there in the Bay Area with Princess this week; Princess has learned yet another musical instrument, the balalaika. And is be-bopping tonight in Berkeley somewhere, probably meeting with other communists. Mom won’t be taking her along on any more of her job trips around the country, which I about fell on the floor laughing at. Seems the Princess schtick is now starting to wear thin on Mom and MIL whereas previously they knew nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing.
My dad used to take me with him sometimes on his boiler, machinery and turbine insurance inspection trips around southeastern MA and RI; trips which I absolutely loved and was a paragon of good behavior for throughout. IIRC, no siblings got that little treat, but most of us have ended up working with machines. Instead of people or paperwork. Fine by me.
Does Princess know yet that the carnival is over?
there is no time limit to file a claim
How do you file a claim if the records have been destroyed?
This reminds me of the lawsuits against Swiss banks a few years ago, by Jewish organizations (actually, by money-hungry lawyers). The Swiss banks actually still had the money, and still had the account records going back to the 1940s. This made it possible to find out how much money was still unclaimed, and the lawsuits forced the banks to pay the money out – not to the account holders or their descendents, but to the lawyers and selected Jewish organizations.
There was at least as much money, likely far more, stashed in American banks. However, the government had long since claimed that money as “dormant” and American banks do not retain account records for decades. So while there may be no time limit to claim your money (in theory), in practice, you must do so while there are still records around that allow you to prove ownership.
This is all just a giant money-grab by the government. Here’s another example: Lots of companies sell gift cards. So: A customer pays your business money and received essentially a credit, which they (or the recipient) can use at some future date. Some states in the USA have passed laws that require gift cards to have a limited validity (typically one or two years), after which any unused amount goes to the government.
How do you file a claim if the records have been destroyed?
If the account is turned over to the state the information is kept by the state and cannot be destroyed. The account number, name and address on the account along with the funds are turned over to the state.
For accounts of long ago it is probably difficult as you would have to prove a trail of inheritance. For accounts that were surrendered 50 years or less the information is available online and can be looked up by name. I found money that was unclaimed for both of my brothers. The most difficult part is proving ownership or the right to claim the funds or property.
For accounts more than 50 years old I suspect that the family has long since forgotten about the funds or has no knowledge of the funds. I have no problem with the states keeping those funds.
When I was in banking it was required that account records be kept for 100 years. We were required by the state auditors to keep archive copies of all paper ledgers on archival microfiche along with those 6250 GCR 9-track magnetic tapes created with Burroughs LOADMP. 85 years from now I doubt the tapes can be read as the hardware to read the tapes will not exist and any knowledge of the LOADMP format will be long since forgotten. But the tapes are safe in a fire proof vault just in case.
As for the Jewish settlement that was nothing but a money grab by the lawyers on a treasure hunt.