Packaging materials

Do you sell on eBay? Send out packages? Do you buy packing materials? Stop! I have sold lots of expensive, delicate items on eBay, and have never bought packing materials, like bubble-wrap. I have not had a single item that was damaged due to dropping or hitting other objects. The answer is old newspapers. A single or a double sheet of newspaper can be crushed or compressed down by hand to a small, springy, ball-like amount and a bunch of them can add cushioning to any package.

I was at a carrier's package drop depot once and watched the clerk put one of my packages (containing a camera lens) on a high stool. When he let go of it, it fell over 3 feet to the concrete floor. I let the clerk know I saw it happen. I saw the package was undamaged by the fall, so I let it go through. The new owner wrote to say how perfect the lens was and how well it worked. I, of course, would have given a refund to the buyer if he had said there was some damage, as I saw the package drop, and I usually insure expensive items that are sent by any carrier because such things happen. (I would have also asked the carrier to cover the lens if it had suffered damage.) I was confident there was no damage because I cushioned the item with newspaper balls, all the way around.

Put balled-up newspaper in the bottom of the package prior to inserting the item. Put the item in a plastic bag or other clean covering material if you are concerned with newsprint damaging or soiling the item. Insert the item in the middle of the package, and fill all sides tight enough with newpaper balls to keep the item from moving, but not enough to completely compress the newspaper balls. Put more in until the lid can be pushed shut with a little resistance. When the box is completely closed, you should be able to shake the package and not hear anything rattle around. And, for goodness sake, please be neat, but use generous amounts of packaging tape. It makes a much more solid package and less prone to crushing by having a lot of packages laid on top of it.

Newspaper packing is free for those of us who get a daily paper - we just have to remember to save it for packaging. If you don't get a paper, ask a neighbor, or raid neighborhood trash to get some. You can't beat free, and it is recyclable once it makes its destination.

The Drug Trade

Chalk one up for Wal-Mart! By lowering the price on a list of generic drugs to $4.00 on a 30-day supply, they may have made a real difference for you and me. For me, they saved me some money, even though I do not normally shop there.

We have a Wal-Mart in our town, several miles from where I live. I do have a Target, K-Mart, several supermarkets, and a Fred Meyer much closer to where I live. We have determined that for most things, we either go to Target or Fred Meyer. Sometimes the price on an item is better at one store than the other. For prescriptions, I go to Fred Meyer. I have medical coverage that includes prescriptions. I have been paying $10.00 each for a 30-day supply of two generic drugs I have to take daily, through my health insurance. Wal-Mart announced its plans to charge only $4 each, as these two drugs are on their list. I had just visited my doctor to get new prescriptions, and made a deal with him. One of the pills I take has to be cut in half so I get the correct amount. The medical insurance company insists that I am only allowed a 30-day supply at any given time. I guess that they are worried that if I get a 90-day supply at a time, I may sell the drugs to someone else, at more than I pay. I don't know anyone who would want these two drugs besides me, but I have to run to Fred Meyer once a month to get my pills. If my doctor writes a 90-day prescription for the drug, I get it doled out to me over three months. The deal I made with my doctor was to prescribe a whole pill a day, while I know to cut up the pills and only take half. The same $10.00 I was spending on 15 pills (which, cut in half, was a 30-day supply), I am now spending on 30 pills. This tactic would save me $60.00 for the year and cut use of my car for this purpose by half. Then Wal-Mart lowered the prices. I called Fred Meyer and asked if they would sell me the drugs at the same price Wal-Mart was selling them - $4.00 for a 30-day supply. They said they would. So I went to Fred Meyer with a fresh prescription for 90 whole pills, and told them I wanted to buy the 90-day supply without putting it through my insurance. I bought what looks like a 90-day supply for all of $12.00, while it is actually a 180-day supply, as the pills are to be cut in half for my consumption. Instead of these pills costing me $120.00 per year, plus gas and wear and tear on my car, these same pills cost me $24.00 for the year and only around trips to the store for that purpose. A savings of $96.00 for the year on just one drug. Next month I will get a large supply of the other drug.

I hope that Wal-Mart with their huge pricing clout has started something to start lowering the cost of health-care in this country. Wal-Mart has everything to gain from this: It gets people into their stores, it lowers the cost of drugs to their own employees, it forces other companies to pressure the drug manufacturers to lower their prices, and it is better for you and me!

Complaints can be good!

I just have a little time to add a new way to save money. Complain when you don't get what you want.

We went to the local Olive Garden Restaurant the other night, and we ordered two dinners with one of those $4-off coupons. My wife ordered the five-cheese ziti, and I ordered a chicken dish. My wife first ordered the five-cheese ziti a few months ago and it was "wonderful." The 2nd time she ordered it, it wasn't wonderful, and did not seem the same. This last time she ordered it, she told the waitress the story when she ordered it, asking for it to be made with sort of a crunchy top or crisp top. Well, they burnt the top, instead. The waitress brought our meals, and checked back with us several times to see if the meals were satisfactory. Mine was OK, but my wife was unhappy with hers and told the waitress. And when I asked the waitress for a box to take my left-overs home, my wife refused one for herself, as she didn't like the meal enough to want to take it home. My spouse wanted to return to shopping and left early, leaving me to pay for the meals. When the waitress brought the check, it was only for around $8.00! The waitress said that she had gone to management, and that my wife's meal was comped, as she was unhappy with it, and we had gotten to use the $4 coupon to boot. Needless to say, I gave the waitress extra on her tip for taking our cue and acting on it without us asking her to.

Several years ago, I went with my family to dinner in LA at the Red Lobster. Due to kitchen mixups, we got our dinners very late (we were seated for almost 45 minutes before getting our meals). We complained. The manager came over and apologized, and comped all of our meals, and told us to have dessert on them.

The moral to the story is that if you have a legitimate complaint at most large chain restaurants, the last thing they want to do is antagonize you into never coming back. Complain if you don't like the meal or the service. You may get your cake, and eat it, too. Even if it does arrive late. And by all means complain if your meal is not to your liking. My advice is to tell them when there is still a lot on your plate. Don't try to finish it. Most good restaurants will replace the meal for you with another, or give you a discount.