May 13, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, VanHammersly said: I don't have have a problem with any of them. There's a place for a private parcel service and there's a place for a public one. They all serve their own purpose and their own clientele. I just don't see why Congress needs to be so hell bent on killing an American institution that provides a good - albeit different from private companies - service. Having a successful Post Office doesn't undermine conservatism. It's silly ideological purity stuff like that that screws the American people unnecessarily. I don't have a problem with UPS or private parcel delivery. My problem is with FedEx and their large level of suckage. Their call center response when I called after a package was marked attempted delivery, mind you this was a $1,700 guitar that I needed to sign for, which they never contacted me nor bothered to deliver was "Yea, the drivers tend to do that if they don't feel like going to X". Since this was a Friday, they wouldn't try again until Monday where they again didn't contact me but just left it out in the open when I was suppose to sign for it. This was only the most recent interaction with this "innovator". To conservatives though anything government run is bad so good luck there.
May 13, 20205 yr 5 minutes ago, Bill said: In terms of service I would put FedEx above USPS, which itself would be infront of UPS. I don't understand your hate for FedEx. They give great rates and I've never had a problem with them. See my post above this one. FedEx is easily the worst. I've done my own eCommerce stuff, and almost exclusively buy online. USPS is easily the best. Fast delivery, always get my item, and I can't think of many issues I've had with them. UPS is fine and really never have a problem. They are slower than the post office, but compared to FedEx they are Usain Bolt. FedEx is just straight trash. Typically the most expensive, easily the slowest of the 3, and then if they bother to attempt to delivery doesn't even do that job well. I can name dozens of times "out for delivery" on their tracking, and then never gets delivered. It is only them too. I certainly love when they just leave purchases that require a signature outside in the open as well. They really have some great call service as well. Can't say I've ever heard a response of shrug yea they do that when inquiring why something hasn't been delivered.
May 13, 20205 yr I would go USPS UPS FedEx In a rating system. The post office's problem, is that being government run, it is bloated, stupid and if it made money, Congress would steal it.
May 13, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Ride the Walrus said: See my post above this one. FedEx is easily the worst. I've done my own eCommerce stuff, and almost exclusively buy online. USPS is easily the best. Fast delivery, always get my item, and I can't think of many issues I've had with them. UPS is fine and really never have a problem. They are slower than the post office, but compared to FedEx they are Usain Bolt. FedEx is just straight trash. Typically the most expensive, easily the slowest of the 3, and then if they bother to attempt to delivery doesn't even do that job well. I can name dozens of times "out for delivery" on their tracking, and then never gets delivered. It is only them too. I certainly love when they just leave purchases that require a signature outside in the open as well. They really have some great call service as well. Can't say I've ever heard a response of shrug yea they do that when inquiring why something hasn't been delivered. My experience has been the opposite. For awhile I ran fulfillment for an eCommerce company and never had those problems with FedEx. Once we had an issue where we packages got missing so our rep took it to corporate to figure it out and it turned out they assigned some dead tracking numbers to us. Outside of that they were good. USPS was great shipping small stuff and stuff to zone 5, but keep in mind USPS priority packages and first class are moved by FedEx. USPS only handles them the first and last mile. So if you compliment USPS on their priority mail service you also have to give props to FedEx because they're the ones that handle it.
May 15, 20205 yr On 5/13/2020 at 12:59 PM, Bill said: In terms of service I would put FedEx above USPS, which itself would be infront of UPS. I don't understand your hate for FedEx. They give great rates and I've never had a problem with them. The problem with comparing these companies is that they offer different services. For example, UPS is the work horse of the country. They handle levels of volume and parcel types at prices that no one else will touch. In exchange for that level of volume, you’re going to get more damages because they are simply pushing more packages that on average weigh a lot more through their system.
May 15, 20205 yr 12 hours ago, TEW said: The problem with comparing these companies is that they offer different services. For example, UPS is the work horse of the country. They handle levels of volume and parcel types at prices that no one else will touch. In exchange for that level of volume, you’re going to get more damages because they are simply pushing more packages that on average weigh a lot more through their system. No, they offer the same services. I think you're mistaking FedEx as a whole for FedEx Express. UPS does move twice as many packages than FedEx, however FedEx does everything UPS does, just a little differently. Instead of packages going through the same sort center like UPS, FedEx splits it up and does Ground and express in different locations. At the destination FedEx splits it further between Ground and Home Delivery. But, yeah, they handle the same packages in the same way and they are becoming a cheaper option than UPS. The reason why UPS damages packages is a lot simpler than volume. UPS is union; FedEx Ground is not.
May 15, 20205 yr LINK Coronavirus Takes Swipe At The United States’ Top 10 Exports Motor vehicle part exports, down 22.37%. Computer part exports, down 31.29%. Computer chip exports, up 16.53%. LNG and other petroleum gases, up 17.31%. The latest U.S. Census Bureau data is offering a first glimpse at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on U.S. trade. It’s a first glimpse because the data, released last week, is for March, as the world began waking up to the coming threat, rather than April. Unfortunately, there’s a five-week lag on the data release, meaning April data won’t be released until the first week of June. But the data is, nonetheless, instructive. Overall, U.S. exports fell 9.22 percent, when compared to March of 2019. Here’s a quick look at the top 10, which accounted for 43.97% of all U.S. exports in March. Civilian aircraft and parts. Boeing BA ’s problems — and this is largely a Boeing category — predates the pandemic though it will certainly be exacerbated by it. Who’s getting on a plane and when? Translation: Who is ordering new planes and when? Prediction: The numbers will get worse before they get better. Gasoline. One of the nation’s faster-growing exports over the last several years, the value of gasoline and related petroleum products fell 6.86% in March. With downward pressure on gasoline prices that predates coronavirus and accelerated by it, my prediction: More challenges ahead, at least from a value if not tonnage measurement. Oil. The value of oil exports increased in March. Startling as this might been given the bloodbath in oil prices, this is testament to the massive growth of the domestic mining industry centered in Texas but also in New Mexico, North Dakota and elsewhere. The value of crude oil exports is up 655.41% when compared to March 2016. Prediction: Oil’s reckoning is coming. Passenger vehicles. Car and light truck exports fell 12.24% in March. A great deal of the decline was with China, which accounted for 13% of U.S. exports last year but only 6.5% in March. Was it the U.S.-China trade war? Was it that China was largely shut down in February by the Chinese New Year and the rapidly advancing coronavirus? Prediction: Frosty relations between the leaders of the two countries will only hurt U.S. exports. Computer chips. This was a bright spot, as mentioned above, with an increase of 16.53%. While U.S. manufacturing of computer chips has waned over time, leading to more imports, exports have been ranked No. 5 in March three of the last four years. Prediction: I imagine increased demand — if exporters can find cargo space, with so many passenger flights cancelled. Low-value exports. Think of this as e-commerce, though it can include almost anything under $2,500, including "just-in-time” parts for the automotive industry. Generally, more that 40% of these exports head to NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico. As the automotive industry wobbles, I would expect some downward pressure here. Motor vehicle parts. A tough month for motor vehicle part exports, to be sure, with the value off 22.37%. The percentage going to Canada and Mexico has slipped from 76% last year to 70% in March, with China’s market share increasing. Prediction: Motor vehicle parts might do well, if people put off buying new vehicles due to what we are now starting to call a deep recession. Petroleum gases. LNG and other petroleum gases, like oil and gasoline, are part of the hydraulic fracturing story, which was given a boost when President Obama decided to allow U.S. oil exports toward the end of his second term. (They had been largely restricted for four decades, after the Arab Oil Embargo.) Petroleum gas exports were up 17.31% in March and are up 197.45% from March of 2016. Medical instruments. These exports, which can be a wide range, from syringes to MRI machines, fell 4.95% in value. I would expect these to do well in a coronavirus-hobbled world, though many expenditures in health-care going forward might be more specific to attacking the pandemic. Vaccines, plasma and other "blood fractions.” These slipped 6.30% in March but have been a rapidly growing exports — and import — for several years. Prediction: There’s only one risk to these exports continuing to do well: restrictions on exports of life-saving vaccines or blood fractions, like white-blood cells, plasma and the like.
May 16, 20205 yr LINK New York (CNN Business)Okay, so if you're a loyal reader of CNN Business (and we hope you are!) you might have seen a headline Tuesday that said "Prices are falling at an alarming rate." Or a headline today that said producers' prices fell by a record amount. That probably feels ... off to you. And for a good reason: Every time you go to the grocery store, that number at the end of the receipt keeps getting bigger. Both things are true. Prices are falling across just about every category: Apparel, hotels, cars, car insurance, and airfare fell through the floor as people stayed home. Everyone knows gas prices are way cheaper. But American grocery store price tags are soaring. Overall, the price of groceries grew 2.6%, including seasonal adjustments, in April. That was the biggest increase from one month to the next since 1974, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices at the supermarket are rising sharply because coronavirus has disrupted the food supply chain: When restaurants shut down, Americans started cooking at home, and demand for groceries shot up. But food producers and farmers didn't have the ability to quickly shift their food deliveries to grocery stores. Supply chains are super-complex beasts. The supply-demand imbalance got even more out of whack when meatpacking plant employees started to catch coronavirus. That created its own backlog, and meat producers had to shutter plants across the country, and the United States now faces some meat shortages. Also not helping keep your grocery bill in check: Panic-shopping customers are buying lots of food they don't need to eat immediately. Some grocery stores are putting limits on purchases to keep from running out of stock completely. Others are raising prices to ration certain items, and some are passing rising costs onto consumers as they face higher costs from their suppliers. So it's economics 101: Food supplies are pinched, and demand is high. That makes prices go up. There's not much escaping it. Breakfast Thinking about making an omelette before you start your work day from your couch? That's going to cost you. Egg prices shot up 16.1% last month. Keeping it simple and switching to cereal won't help. Breakfast cereal prices rose 1.5%. So did milk, bread and juice, with 1.5%, 3.7% and 3.8% increases, respectively. Treating yourself got more expensive, too. Doughnut prices shot up 5% last month, and muffins are 4.7% more expensive. Coffee for your morning commute walk to the den? Roasted coffee prices rose 1.2% and instant coffee was up 2.5%. Lunch Maybe you want some soup for lunch? Soup will cost you 2.6% more. A soda for a mid-day treat? Carbonated beverage prices are up 4.5%. Maybe a cookie to get some sugar in you? Cookies cost 5.1% more in April than in March. OK, let's keep it healthy. How about some fruit? Fruit prices were up 1.5%, led by apples (4.9%) and oranges (5.6%). The entire citrus category shot up 4.3%. Dinner Meat prices spiked 3.3%. So maybe you want to try something else? Pork costs 3% more. Chicken shot up 5.8%. Fresh fish soared 4.2%. And if you want to grill, hot dogs got 5.7% more expensive. The news isn't much better even if you're trying to stay healthy. Vegetables rose by 1.5% and canned vegetable prices soared 3.6%. Feeding your baby got more expensive too. Baby food prices rose 2.7%. Some good news There's just not a ton of relief out there. But if you are looking for food prices that are getting cheaper, you've got a few options. Ham prices fell by 1.7% and breakfast sausage was down 0.3%. Butter was down 1.3% and prepared salads fell by 3.6%. Fresh cupcakes fell 2.3% and tomatoes fell by 1.4%.
May 18, 20205 yr LINK U.S. shoppers are making more trips to the dollar store. They’re stocking up with items from stores’ private-label brands more than usual and cutting back on snacks and sodas at convenience stores. Those emerging data points, captured by market research firm IRI in recent weeks, may preview the next wave of grocery shopping during the coronavirus pandemic. They all have something in common: They are the buying patterns that herald an economic downturn. "As this drags on, you are going to see a lot more recessionary behavior coming up,” said Krishnakumar Davey, president of strategic analytics at IRI. "We are just seeing the beginnings of it.” In the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, customers stockpiled food, toilet paper and other essentials for prolonged stays at home. They shopped for different kinds of items, such as hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes to stay healthy, computer monitors to set up home offices and supplies to help kids attend school remotely. And they began filling up bigger baskets as they avoided stores or made less frequent shopping trips. Since then, the financial picture has become bleaker. Unemployment has risen to 14.7%, after 20.5 million people lost their jobs in April alone. The total number of jobless claims is up to 33.5 million over the past seven weeks. Pay cuts have squeezed family budgets. Even those with the same income may feel uneasy, as they read unemployment reports or see neighbors, family or friends get furloughed or laid off. Davey said all of those factors "have an effect on the psychology of the consumer” and can linger in the back of shoppers’ minds as they scan store shelves or pick items to put in their virtual basket. About a third of the 2,105 U.S. consumers surveyed by McKinsey & Co. in late April and early May said their income has been hurt by the coronavirus. Nearly half of all of those surveyed said they’re cutting back on spending. About half also agreed or strongly agreed that given the economy and personal finances, they have to be "very careful” about how they spend money. This economic downturn is sharper and more complex than others, though — and that may make consumer behavior harder to predict. Grocery spending has been up significantly since the start of the pandemic. It was nearly 27% higher year over year in the week ended May 3, according to IRI. People are still buying more food as they cook at home. They’re paying more for the same items because of rising grocery prices. And people are juggling health worries along with budget-consciousness. "In the past recessions, people were just concerned about money,” Davey said. "In this recession, people are concerned about money and their health.” He said Covid-19 is "a huge X factor.” And, he added, unlike other recessions, the pandemic caused a sudden downturn "in a matter of weeks.” Despite the differences, he said the pandemic-induced downturn may follow some of the same patterns. One area that grocery industry analysts are watching is private labels. Typically lower in price compared with national brands, sales of store brands are growing at a faster pace than national brands during the pandemic — though sales have surged for both. Private-label sales were up nearly 19% over the four-week period ended May 3 compared with a year ago, according to IRI. Meanwhile, national brand sales were up about 12% year over year during that period. Private labels had already been on an upward trend and have more room to grow. In the U.S., they make up a smaller market share in terms of units and dollars. They’ve made up about 16% of the dollar share of the market so far this calendar year, according to IRI. Laura McCullough, Nielsen’s executive vice president of U.S. manufacturer client success, said the private-label trend "has accelerated during the timeframe when consumer spending has been impacted by COVID-19.” "As the economic downturn continues, private label has significant opportunity, particularly within lower price tiers,” she said. During the stockpiling phase of the pandemic, Davey said private labels sold at a higher rate as customers cleared shelves and bought whatever was available. Now, as people tighten their belts, he said the trend will stick for a different reason: People will be more willing to skip a favorite brand and choose a value option. "You look at it and say ‘Do I need to buy that expensive brand or should I buy something that is more affordable, but it will meet my needs?’,” he said. "That is what we are seeing now.” During the 2008-2009 recession, shoppers reined in spending by buying smaller items or smaller packs — different than shoppers’ current tendencies of fewer shopping trips and bigger baskets. But then and now some habits are looking the same, Davey said: Preparing more meals at home, splurging occasionally on affordable luxuries like chocolate or wine and clearing out the pantry before the next trip to the store. "There’s a lot more of a hunkering down and spending only on what you need,” he said.
May 18, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Mlodj said: It's not even close to true that they've "killed the epidemic". They have by far the highest fatality rate among Scandinavian countries - almost 7x Finland and almost 9x Norway. 34% higher than the United States. Time will tell whether or not the approach cost lives. But claiming that it "killed the epidemic" is not supported by numbers. The total deaths per million number graphed out is pretty linear, and MAY be starting to show a curve downward. But it's STILL climbing at a rate many times its neighbors. And daily confirmed cases (this is a 3-day moving average) doesn't appear to be bending downwards: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/daily-covid-cases-per-million-three-day-avg?tab=chart&country=FIN+NOR+SWE+USA+OWID_WRL
May 18, 20205 yr 53 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: It's not even close to true that they've "killed the epidemic". I don't disagree, and that comment wasn't what I was posting about. It was the Tweet below linking to an article talking about the effect on the Swedish economy.
May 18, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, Mlodj said: I don't disagree, and that comment wasn't what I was posting about. It was the Tweet below linking to an article talking about the effect on the Swedish economy. I know, my response wasn't really at you - I was basically concurring.
May 18, 20205 yr Even more taxes City Council is skeptical of Philly Mayor Jim Kenney’s plan to offset the coronavirus impact by hiking taxes by Sean Collins Walsh, Updated: May 18, 2020- 5:18 PM Setting the stage for debate over how city government should navigate the coronavirus era, Philadelphia City Council members on Monday questioned Mayor Jim Kenney’s plan to raise taxes to help plug a $649 million budget hole caused by the pandemic. "I’m not in favor of having a tax increase across the board coming out of this pandemic when people can barely afford food,” Councilmember Allan Domb said at Council’s first-ever virtual budget hearing. The proposed revenue increases — primarily a wage tax hike for suburban commuters and a property tax increase that would benefit the School District — amount to only $49 million. But they are shaping up as a point of contention as Council and the Kenney administration begin finalizing the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Raising the political stakes, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart have released their own plans to weather the coronavirus’ economic fall without raising taxes or laying off hundreds of city workers, as the mayor has proposed. Their plans include redirecting money from the sugary beverage tax — Kenney’s signature legislative accomplishment that funds pre-K, community schools, and a program to improve parks and recreation centers. "While I recognize these decisions are not easy, raising taxes, employee layoffs, and making significant cuts to city departments should always be a last resort,” Rhynhart said in a statement. Like state and municipal governments nationwide, Philadelphia’s bottom line has been devastated by the pandemic, which led Kenney and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in March to issue orders shutting down all but essential businesses. Through Monday, 19,953 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with the illness and 1,040 have died. Kenney on Monday said his budget proposal is designed to prioritize "core services" and fiscal stability. "We must transform our priorities to best meet the needs of Philadelphians, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” he said at a virtual news conference. Council President Darrell L. Clarke, while not taking a stance on whether to increase taxes, questioned the administration’s reasoning for each of the proposed hikes. And Councilmember Kendra Brooks asked why the city, instead of raising real estate taxes that will impact longtime homeowners, would not instead curtail the property-tax abatement program, which gives a break to property owners for new construction and improvements. Kenney is proposing to raise the rate for the portion of the real estate tax that goes to the School District, which would result in residents paying just under 4% more in property taxes next year. For the owner of a home assessed at $150,000, that would mean about $58 more a year. The parking tax would also go up, from 22.5% to 27%. The nonresident wage tax rate would increase from 3.4481% to 3.5019%, while the rate for residents would remain at 3.8712%. For a worker who commutes to Philadelphia and makes $50,000 per year, the hike would mean about $26 more in wage taxes per year. Before the coronavirus came to Philadelphia, Kenney in early March had proposed a $5.2 billion budget with no tax increases and some modest decreases in line with the city’s long-term strategy of reducing its wage and business taxes. But the pandemic scuttled those plans. So Kenney on May 1 submitted a revised $4.9 billion budget proposal that, in addition to the tax and fee increases, included tapping reserves, laying off hundreds of city workers, freezing planned tax cuts, postponing new priorities like bringing street sweeping to every neighborhood, and eliminating funding for arts programs. Jim Engler, Kenney’s chief of staff, said Monday that the administration was aiming for a balanced approach to the pandemic’s burden on city government. Raising the portion of the real estate tax that goes to the School District, he said, was designed to prevent a repeat of the education cuts that followed the 2008 global financial crisis, which led to "lasting ramifications that impacted a full generation of kids” in city schools. The tax increases, he said, amount to only a small part of Kenney’s plan. "The vast majority of our balancing act was around cuts or reductions,” Engler said. The city has not finalized its plans for layoffs, but Managing Director Brian Abernathy said Monday that about 400 city workers are likely to lose their jobs. The administration proposed raising the wage and real estate taxes, Engler said, in part because of the immediacy of the cash crunch: Adjusting those taxes can be accomplished unilaterally by the city and doesn’t require approval from Harrisburg. "We have this immediate crisis that we’re dealing with for the next fiscal year,” he said. "There’s a number of things that we can do that require other governments to approve.” Kenney last week objected to Thomas’ suggestion that the city could redirect soda tax revenue, saying the education programs it funds are especially vital during an economic crisis, and taking a shot at the freshman Council member. "I’ve been through probably 27 or 28 budgets in my career. I appreciate the councilman’s effort on his first budget, but we’ll have those conversations going forward,” Kenney, who served on Council before becoming mayor, said Thursday. "But I’m not going to redirect soda tax money, beverage tax money, away from our 4- and 5-year-old children to other purposes.” At Monday’s hearing, Thomas doubled down on his proposal. "I already believe that we are already asking people to pay too much money right now in taxes,” he said.
May 19, 20205 yr "I would have suggested, and I did suggest, in pretty much all cases, you get rid of the [inspectors general] because it happens to be very political whether you like it or not." President Trump You know who doesn't like oversight? Criminals. There's billions and billions of relief money just waiting to be stolen. All you Trump supporters and conservatives are on board with these firings, right?
May 19, 20205 yr Author Has anyone bought a vehicle during all this? If so, were you able to negotiate any good deals?
May 19, 20205 yr 19 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said: It's not even close to true that they've "killed the epidemic". They have by far the highest fatality rate among Scandinavian countries - almost 7x Finland and almost 9x Norway. 34% higher than the United States. Time will tell whether or not the approach cost lives. But claiming that it "killed the epidemic" is not supported by numbers. The total deaths per million number graphed out is pretty linear, and MAY be starting to show a curve downward. But it's STILL climbing at a rate many times its neighbors. And daily confirmed cases (this is a 3-day moving average) doesn't appear to be bending downwards: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/daily-covid-cases-per-million-three-day-avg?tab=chart&country=FIN+NOR+SWE+USA+OWID_WRL Sweden has the population density of Arizona and one of the strongest public health care systems in the world. They are one of only a handful of countries in the entire world that even had this as an option. It's going to be a long time before we can really dissect their response next to other countries like them, but for God's sake why are people repeating this bold faced lie that they are successfully on the verge of herd immunity, there is no such data available.
May 19, 20205 yr 31 minutes ago, dawkins4prez said: Sweden has the population density of Arizona and one of the strongest public health care systems in the world. They are one of only a handful of countries in the entire world that even had this as an option. It's going to be a long time before we can really dissect their response next to other countries like them, but for God's sake why are people repeating this bold faced lie that they are successfully on the verge of herd immunity, there is no such data available. There was a report out of Spain - among the absolute worst hit nations - that showed a MUCH smaller percentage of people had developed anti-bodies than was anticipated. Somewhere around 5%. They aren't even close to herd immunity. This is why you're now seeing people convince themselves that "you don't need 70% for herd immunity", even though that's been the science all along for this type of virus. Herd immunity is mainly achieved through vaccines, not naturally. Natural herd immunity in humans is very hard to achieve, apparently.
May 19, 20205 yr 23 hours ago, Mlodj said: Sweden banked on citizens self-isolating. They didn't close up. As a result, the have the highest death rate in Scandinavia, and actually even worse than the US. The COVID-19 death rate in Sweden is 36 per 100,000 people. In the U.S., it’s 27.
May 19, 20205 yr 9 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: There was a report out of Spain - among the absolute worst hit nations - that showed a MUCH smaller percentage of people had developed anti-bodies than was anticipated. Somewhere around 5%. They aren't even close to herd immunity. This is why you're now seeing people convince themselves that "you don't need 70% for herd immunity", even though that's been the science all along for this type of virus. Herd immunity is mainly achieved through vaccines, not naturally. Natural herd immunity in humans is very hard to achieve, apparently. When they tested for herd immunity in WUHAN, it was like 1%. Sweden hasn't even conducted such a test that I know of, yet the right is shamelessly putting forth this lie about how they have reached immunity.
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