Why does it cost so much to buy tickets to a LOCAL event?
My family were trying to buy tickets to a Local event – the 2012 Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival. This is an event held in March to allow wineries outside of Martinborough to try and get some of the kudos (and $$$?) of Toast Martinborough which they are not allowed to be part of. Martinborough Wineries are however represented at the Harvest Festival.
It’s been running for a few years now, and is actually quite good. Instead of Toast where you visit several wineries an buses – at the Harvest festival the Wineries come to you – at a site not far from where we live. Set in a beautiful little park near the Ruamahanga River – it does make quite a lovely day.
Now tickets are only $40 – compared t the $70 of toast – but bear in mind you still need to buy your wine (at not exactly cheap prices) and food on site. In fact over the years the staff running the event have got stupidly draconian about not letting you on the bus from the car park to the site until they have checked your bags for water or food.
I don’t bother going now as I refuse to let someone poke their nose in my bag for no good reason!
Now last year – we bought tickets at the Wairarapa Wines shop in Greytown (again an answer it seems to the Martinborough Wine Center), and is run as a collective of the wineries. but this year you can only buy tickets through Ticketec.
Which means added fees.
You either have to pay $11.75 or $13.75 depending on where you want the tickets “couriered” to. The extra is for rural delivery – which in our case means it comes via the normal postman anyway. And of course 2%-2.6% for the “credit card fee”.
Plus of course Ticketec will also be taking a commission from Wairarapa Wines for the privilege of having their tickets sold for them.
So on three tickets costing $120, we would have to pay $16.50 in order to buy them. That’s 13.45% of the price of the tickets.
Which is a bloody rip off – when postage actually costs 60c and would be free if we were allowed to buy them form the outlet bloody well organising the damn thing.
When asked about this – the Wairarapa Wines Center in Greytown basically couldn’t give a stuff on the basis that they will sell the tickets. So why should they care? Only this is local event. Why wouldn’t you allow locals to buy tickets locally? Why would you force them to pay over the odds for the tickets – especially when Ticketec is taking a cut from them as well as from us?
Then they got really snotty and proceeded to tell my mum all about how expensive it is to run a stand at the event. This did not go down well – on account of my parents having run stands at several large UK events a year – with fees that would make the eyes of the wineries here water.
They have a snotty attitude – and for the first time – my family is not going to the Harvest Festival.
Instead, they will take the $120, buy some nice wine (which may or may not be Waiararapa Wine, and enjoy it in the garden, where they wont be overcharged for the wine or the food (and wont have to use portaloos). And can rest easy that they arent subsidising some very snooty people. All they will miss really is the entertainment.
Finance Challenge not going so well.
“Could do better” I think
A financial challenge
As I am gearing up to tidy up my end of year budgets and accounts, I thought it would be kinda interesting to set ourselves a little challenge.
I want to see on how many days of the month we don’t spend money. And I want to see if tracking that actually means we spend less money.
I’m thinking that a bit like forcing yourself to work with cash only makes you more aware of how easily you fritter away money, this would do the same thing. I’ll let you know if it works!
So here is what I am going to do:
I have downloaded a blank calendar from CalendarLabs and printed it out. On a day that we send money that is unnecessary, we mark the day with a red pen.
As you can see – it’s not going so well to start with – we even managed to buy coffee on New Years Day!
Now – this only looks at certain types of spending. It’s not everything – because often its the small amounts you don’t think about that make the difference. For me – coffee, lunches, a paper now and then. So we are not going to count the following:
- Bills such as electricity, phones, rent.
- Groceries (but if we grab some “extra” outside of a big shop – we will count that – we need to be more organised and popping out for a bottle of milk always seems to end up with more than a bottle of milk have you noticed?
- Sanity Spending. The point of which is you don’t have to justify it.
- Normal business expenses. Which does not include buying lunch because you couldn’t be arsed to make your own!
Anything else we will track and see what it tells us.
Edited:
Hubby has insisted that not only should we mark the days we do spend money with a big red cross, but we should also get a big green tick if we don’t spend money.
The 47 Rules of money
Filed under: Avalon's Money Thread, Banks, Cost of living, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
This appeared in the Herald on New Years Eve, written by Diana Clement. I really like her articles about personal finance, and shes well worth a read. Unlike Mary Holm, she writes about general finance and makes an awful lot of sense, rather than just bleating on about how wonderful Kiwisaver is and how bad eveything that isn’t Kiwisaver is.
She has written her 47 rules of money, apparently in line with 47 years of life. I have to agree with just about all of them – and actually practice many of them. So here they are – with an occasional comment!
General:
1 Track your spending. You can’t budget if you don’t know what you’re spending.
- Probably the single most important thing you can do with your money.
2 Needs and wants are often confused. This is perhaps the biggest financial mistake that people make.
3 Talk money with those linked to you financially. Whether it’s parents, partners, children, employers, or business associates, get financial discussions out in the open.
4 People are too quick to judge others’ financial decisions, me included. But that needs to be balanced against my next rule, number 5.
5 People will justify their bad financial decisions to the end of the earth. “I did all the right research,” one finance company investor told me as my eyebrows went through my hairline.
6 Monkey see monkey do. Children learn about finances by watching their parents, not listening to hypocritical lectures.
7 You can earn a good salary and still be poor. Budget advice services sometimes see people with six-figure salaries who still can’t make ends meet.
- This is one of the biggest fallacies many people believe about money – people who earn more cannot be poor. It just doesn work like that.
8 People can and do lose all their money. A couple of times a generation a collapse such as Black Monday arrives with disastrous effects for thousands of people. Others fall for tricksters such as the off-the-plan apartment salespeople or Ponzi scheme promoters.
9 Entrepreneurship is good. Grounded but entrepreneurial people do well financially. They may not succeed in making their fortune first time around, but often do if they persevere.
10 You can be a capitalist and still have a social conscience. I admire philanthropists.
11 You don’t have to have a high-paying job to get wealthy. I once interviewed a successful property investor who worked by day on the shop floor at Noel Leeming and made his real money after 5pm.
12 Don’t blame your parents, your children, your partner or your education. Responsibility is good when it comes to finances.
13 Even beneficiaries can save. Some people live within their means no matter how little they earn. Saving money is a choice.
14 Some people want to be poor. They think they’re poor and that they’ll always be poor and sabotage their financial future.
15 Pay your taxes on time. The IRD has a big stick.
- And endless funds (paid for by you) to chase you with!
Spending:
16 I regret frittering money on coffees and unnecessary eating out. It would be better to direct that money towards savings.
- Um, Ok – can’t agree with that one clearly!
17 Spending money on experiences is good spending. I am eternally grateful that I sold all but one of my shares at age 22 (by coincidence in August 1987) and went backpacking through Latin America. It’s good spending if the experience enriches life.
18 Braking wastes fuel. This was one of those wonderful chestnuts that it takes a few seconds to get your head around. If you drive too fast and brake regularly, you’re using petrol on wasted momentum. Driving well can save 10 per cent of your fuel bill.
19 It’s moronic to incur fines. Like the maniac driver in a big red American-style pickup truck who overtook me on State Highway 2 on December 17, just to be pulled over and fined.
20 You can get rich one dollar at a time. Every dollar is precious. Think before you spend it.
Debt:
21 Save before you buy. A bit of a radical concept in 2011, but it can change people’s financial future.
22 Interest-free hire purchase deals are for suckers. You still pay an establishment fee and the majority of people fail to clear the debt on time and pay interest anyway.
23 Credit cards make you look rich. Anyone can live well for a few years, but the debt catches up.
- I would add to this that often when you see people splashing the cash around, and you feel sorry for yourself because you can’t do the same – you might want to spend some time wondering if that’s really their money – or a credit card they can’t afford to pay off. They may not be as rich as they look.
24 The only “good debt” is mortgage debt. Provided you don’t over-leverage yourself.
25 Interest payments on personal loans, credit cards and HP are “idiot tax”. Why throw money away unnecessarily?
26 Having a credit card debt need not be the norm. A credit card limit is a safety net, not personal money to spend.
Investments and financial products:
27 Beware of investments discussed at barbecues. When the whole world is piling into an investment such as property, gold, tech shares and so on, you’ve almost certainly missed the boat.
28 Buy property young, preferably in your 20s. Move heaven and earth to get the deposit. Rent is wasted money.
29 Any offer that comes over the telephone isn’t worth having. Just ask the people who were cold called by Blue Chip, timeshare schemes, or horse betting scams.
30 Having life insurance is a good idea. Paying that monthly premium feels like dead money (excuse the pun). The payout when you die can give your beneficiaries choices at a difficult time in life.
31 An entire class of investment can crash and burn. Who remembers: Equiticorp, Chase Corporation, Renouf Corp, Judge Corp and more that collapsed like a pack of cards after the 1987 crash? Then there were tech stocks, mortgage-backed securities and finance company debentures.
32 Shares can be “safer” in the long term than bank deposits. The argument, which I first read on the Motley Fool website, is that over 10 or 20 years good share investments will keep pace with inflation, while bank deposits will be eroded.
33 KiwiSaver is good. This is a red rag to many readers. Government-led retirement programmes get people saving for their future.
- Ok – one point out of 47 – at least it’s in balance!
34 Insurance policies are full of gotchas. For goodness sake READ EVERY WORD of your policy.
35 Property investment isn’t always as safe as bricks and mortar. It can turn to custard. Mortgagee sales happen all the time – especially with investment properties.
- A lesson many people are learning the hard way – you still need to watch your money, be sensible, and understand the basics. It is NOT easy money, it is NOT guaranteed, and it is NOT always a fast road to riches. (You will also meet a lot of arseholes willing to screw you over (Mr Agile Property management AKA Eric Voice) among some of the friends you will make.
36 Markets overshoot and undershoot. If a market’s fundamentals (such as the yield on investment property) are out of historic kilter the market is probably brewing a bubble.
37 The best time to buy is just after a crash. Buy fundamentally good investments when everyone else is bailing out of the market.
- I so wish I was flush with cash right now. One of the painful side effects of buying property at the hight of the market is not having cash to buy in the crash!
38 Beware of investing just to save tax. Is the investment actually any good or is someone desperate to sell it to you?
Financial advice and salespeople:
39 Take your advice from people who have been through several cycles. Johnny-come-latelies going through their first financial cycle underestimate the risks.
40 Your money is your responsibility. Yes, employ a financial adviser, mortgage broker, accountant and other professionals, but make sure you understand what they tell you and double-check that your money is adequately spread.
- Abso-fragging-loutely. NO ONE will care as much about your money as you do. Unless they are looking to take it off you.
41 Seminar presenters aren’t always financial experts. They probably make their money from seminars, not from the actual investment they’re preaching about.
42 Credit rating agencies don’t always get it right. Some companies deceive the agencies, others are part of an industry that may not be well understood by the ratings agencies.
43 Don’t believe the get-rich-quick conmen. You should aim to get richer slowly, but steadily.
44 Government subsidies are a magnet for spruikers. Sharks swarm around government money. Just look at the people selling insulation, heating, and ventilation or those who have been caught selling KiwiSaver door-to-door.
Others:
45 Passive cash-flow rules. Finding ways to make money that don’t need your hourly input makes sense.
46 Telling the truth infuriates some readers. Suggesting that people can change their financial ways brings in a flurry of outraged emails.
47 You can learn more about money. The easiest and cheapest way to improve your knowledge is to get a book out of the library.
- Or – ahem – buy mine!
And I’m adding one of my own:
48. Have a Sanity Allowance. Pocket money is not just for kids, and it will save you a whole heap of money and arguments. Along with tracking our money and actively managing the money – this would be the most useful thing I ever learned about dealing with finances.
How far would you go to save money?
While browsing the online Dom Post last week and reading the articles about Occupy Wellington, I saw a comment that talked about the protesters running a workshop on how to make your own Moon Pads.
For those who need to ask – those are Sanitary Towels.
Which got me thinking – as much as I love saving money – I do think there comes a point when you can go too far. Dealing with periods is bad enough- without having to go back to medieval personal hygiene methods and making my own supplies.
I take my hat off to anyone who goes to those lengths – either for monetary or environmental reasons. I am definitely in the camp that money saving shouldn’t be that hard and that there are indeed some benefits to having some money in the bank!
Would you spend $30 to avoid losing $16.
Filed under: Cost of living, Exchannge Rate & Currency Transfers, General Budgeting
I hope not.
But that’s what the people at ThinkGeek were expecting me to do, and as I am sure you can imagine I was a bit peeved.
So whats the deal?
Well, Think Geek is one of my favorite online stores. They sell Lightsabers. And a myriad of other geeky good things: the coolest T-Shirts, Gadgets, toys and gizmos – and at prices that often work out nearly half what we would have to pay in New Zealand (if we could get the stuff here).
We placed our usual Christmas order. The only downside to buying from ThinkGeek is the shipping costs. I have no idea how its worked out, but shipping is via UPS or DHL and will often double the cost of the order at least. Prices in New Zealand are so high that usually that still saves a small fortune – which is highly depressing – but some things do become prohibitively expensive to buy from there.
Anyhow – for the first time, we had damaged goods – a mug. While the overall package was packed securely – no one thought to stick a bit of extra packing inside the mug box – and it arrived in pieces.
Normally ThinkGeek need you to send damaged goods back for replacement but they said given the cost we didn’t have to – and gave us a Gift Certificate for the cost of the mug ($16 USD).
The problem is that shipping costs start at about $30 USD. So to use the $16 (that I have already spent) – its going to cost $30 more. So I emailed the monkeys at ThinkGeek to ask if they would cancel the gift certificate and refund the card instead. The response was that they couldn’t cancel the certificate, but they gave me a code to take another $5 off the order of I placed an order for $40, and $10 off if I placed an order for $40.
So it would only cost $25 USD to avoid losing $16.
Not happy.
So I emailed back expressing my dissatisfaction – and that this would stop me buying from them in future. I really love ThinkGeek – but I will not shop with a company where I stand a chance of losing money like that.
I had an email straight back saying they had refunded the card – not only for the Mug, but for the shipping for the entire order. Now that impresses me. As a “save” of a customer dissatisfaction issue its one of the best Ive seen.
But it does go to show that you may need to stick to your guns. I can see what ThinkGeek were trying to do, but with the shipping costs being so high – giving Gift Certificates instead of refunds just doesnt work.
Of course – we also had the option of going to VISA and getting them to reverse the charges. We actually paid for the order on our UK card – which is a lot easier to get a refund on than the NZ card. But it is good that they did the right thing in the end – and it means I can one day buy my next Lightsaber from them.
Thanks ThinkGeek.
Are you the 99%, 53%, 1% or who cares what %?
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, Economics, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
The “Occupy Wall St” protest has hit New Zealand this weekend – “occupying” Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. I have tried to get my head around this – and I have to say I am failing miserably. When I started seeing “We are the 99%” posts coming up on my Facebook feed – I took a look at that and understood what they were saying.
We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.
I get anger that banks and financial institutions had screwed up, lost an awful lot of money, got bail outs, and yet still managed to find many millions of dollars to pay huge bonuses to the people who screwed it all up, while people lost homes and jobs.
Well who wouldn’t be pissed at that? I find it astonishing that governments are bailing private companies out, but there’s not a penny for us if we hit the skids. No one bailed us out when IBM got rid of hubby. We had to manage that ourselves – as does everyone. We have friends who have lost everything – no one bailed them out.
But I am also somewhat confused about why the blame is only being shoved on the corporates – and not those of us (ie just about all of us) who have spent the past decade or 2 spending vast sums of money we don’t have (ie debt) on cars, various iGadgets,clothes, shoes, posh food, holidays and houses. We have to take some responsibility here. Blaming the big bad corporation doesn’t change the fact that as a whole the western world gorged itself on debt and consumerism. No one forced us to buy iPhones. (I wonder how many people occupying Wall St still have smartphones, and are updating Facebook with their adventures via the very items the corporations sold us, and we willingly bought with money that the banks invented for us to spend, increasing the debt balloon that they now say is the source of all ill in the world).
But what has got me really confused was this has morphed into a strange anti-government, anti-money,anti-whatever-we-can-think-of-to-be-peeved-about-as-long-as-we-can-blame-the-anyone-who-is-richer-than-us sort of movement. Everyone is supposed to have a voice – no one is considered to be worth more than anyone else. This to me is an alien concept – in $ terms of course people are worth different amount – please never let a brain surgeon work on me if you only pay them the same as the cleaner. In human terms – I will always value kindness and decency in someone more than I will value someone being an arse.
I saw this video of the “assembly” in Atlanta – I gotta say – if that’s the alternative to the current political system we have – no thanks.
I am way too independent to sit there and parrot back what I am told to say – what are we? 5? Repeat after me “You are all individuals”…
So – are you the 99%? Probably not.
Global Rich List puts your income into world wide terms. And you may be surprised at how little income it actually takes to get you into the top 1% of earners in the world. Global Rich List doesn’t work for NZ$, but just £25,000 a year or $49,000 USD gets you there. At current exchange rates that works out at $49,500 or $61,500 NZD.
The New Zealand minimum wage is $27,040 a year which (using the UK£ to work it out – £13,600) puts you in the top 10.5% richest people in the world. And yet on that how many people still have mobile phones and internet access?
The median wage in New Zealand is $49,000. That means that 50% of wage earners in New Zealand are actually among the top 1% of earners in the world.
Those of us who pay for those of you who whine about all of that… or that… or whatever.
Ok – so this made me laugh. Can’t see this lot repeating back what they are told 3 words at a time and looking gormless.
So I won’t be occupying Wellington. To be honest I am too damn busy dealing with our current financial situation, budgeting our money, saving where and I can and spending what I have spare on stuff produced by people who also earn money. Some of them earn less than me, some of them earn more than me. Some of them are worth that much, some of them aren’t. I make that decision myself, and decide for myself where I will spend money, how much to spend, and whether to take on debt. If I take on debt – I take full responsibility for that decision, and for any mistakes I may make.
And I have absolutely no idea which % I am.
I am not a number – I am a free man .
Pharmacy Savings (Updated)
Filed under: Cost of living, Exchannge Rate & Currency Transfers, General Budgeting
So after the debacle trying to buy some Ibuprofen without having to take out another mortgage, we finally put together an order at on online UK Pharmacy. It took us a while because we had some concerns about ordering from OneClickPharmacy as they get a lot of bad reviews (and the good reviews are classic sock-puppet reviews like the crap that Woburn International wanted to paste on here.) Most of the problem seems to be in the length of time it takes for people to get their orders (which lets face it isn’t so much a worry – its gonna take a few weeks anyway), and crap service (when compared to getting ripped off here and getting bad service – ill take bad service and not getting ripped off as an improvement.
We looked at using Chemist4U – but they don’t list NZ as one of the countries they ship to. I emailed them to ask and got the annoyingly unhelpful reply “It depends on what you want”. So in the end we went with One Click.
I have had a questionnaire come through about one of the items – they Syndol Tablets – which I’ve answered and they have confirmed that it’s all ok, and the order is now being processed.
I will let you know if it all gets to me ok.
In the meantime – I thought it would be worth posting just what I bought and how much it cost.
(And yes – I’m a fake redhead – and yes I really do use different hair dyes depending on which particular shade of red I fancy being at the time.)
I’ve used the exchange rate as it was on the day I placed the order – but also thought it was worth looking at how much the order would have cost if the exchange rate had been at $3 to the £1. Even then – its still cheaper to buy abroad and ship it.
Let’s see if the order goes smoothly.
RESULTS:
Order Placed 9th October
Pharmacist questions recieved 12th October
Responded to 13th October
Email to say order shipped 15th October
Credit to CC – email sent to ask why 17th October
Responce that splenda out of stock (with apology for not letting us know) 17th October.
Order arrived 20th October.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that’s a fantastic result!
Rip offs and lies from NZ Pharmacies.
I tried to buy some painkillers today. And failed. I went into the Radius Pharmacy on Lambton Quay to buy some generic Ibuprofen 400mg tablets. Now you have to ask for these as here in New Zealand pharmacists do not want to sell you generics – they want to sell you expensive brands. Well screw that – I don’t want to buy Nurofen – I want to but the cheap version.
I was asked if I needed any help, and asked the young girl for Generic Ibuprofen. I was told they only have Nurofen. This is bollocks – no pharmacist would dispense a brand – its too expensive – so they will have buckets of the stuff in the dispensary. I was offered Maxigesic instead – which isn’t Ibuprofen – as I pointed out to the staffer – its Ibuprofen and Paracetamol combined. It’s also expensive. Having got past that piece of crap – I then explained that I wanted 400mg tablets. Apparently that’s not sold in New Zealand. Which is also bollocks.
Having been told now 3 outright lies in about a minute – I stormed out in professional disgust before I got all uppity and started coming out with the line about me being a pharmacist and could we please dispense (pun intended with all the crap. (I used to hate being told when I was working “I am a nurse, doctor, vet, dentist, whatever – I know what I’m talking about” and swore never to utter such a phrase in my life.
This isn’t new. I have yet to find a pharmacy that doesn’t try and spin this line. UK Pharmacists tend to try and put people off buying brands – here they force you to pay over the odds – and woe betide of you know they are lying. I have been able to buy generic Ibuprofen 400mg tablets here before though - so it’s definitely not true that you can’t do it. Its just more effort as they pharmacist has to be involved – but that is only because they refuse to sell it over the counter. It’s not a prescription medicine and there is no (legitimate) need not to have it on the shelf.
In fact when we first moved here there was a news item in which this was discussed. A representative of the Guild Of Pharmacists came on TV and outright lied, saying that the reason pharmacists did this was because Generics were not as good as branded medicines. Now IF that were true (it’s not) that means that pharmacists all over New Zealand are dispensing substandard medicines on prescription – which I highly doubt.
It’s all about the money.
I have flicked the Guild an email about this – as I am curious as to their take on pharmacy staff lying to customers to try and convince us to pay more for medicines than we should.
In the meantime – some searching shows that online pharmacies here in New Zealand suffer the same issue – only allowing you to buy Nurofen. However – after some digging around - One Click Pharmacy in the UK will ship here with a shipping fee of £13.99 (which is a flat fee). Now that’s a lot of money – but then they are only charging £1.35 for 48 Ibuprofen 400mg tablets – which is equivalent to 96 200mg Nurofens. So because of the postage you need to bulk buy – you can buy a maximum of 3 packets.
- 3 x 48 Ibuprofen 400mg £4.08 (That’s equivalent to 288 Nurofen 200mg Tablets)
- Postage £13.99
- Total £18.07
- Total NZ$ (2:1) $36.14
- Cost of 96 Nurofen 200mg $20.99 (Cheapest price I have found in NZ)
- Cost of 288 Nurofen 200mg $62.97
- Saved $26.83
Now since its a flat fee postage – I thought I would look at other items I want. Paracetamol ( you can buy a maximum of 32 tablets at a time – that’s UK law) – 35p or 70c. The cheapest you can find here is $2.99 for 20. Syndol – which I use for really bad headaches is £4.50 or $9.00 whereas here it’s $16.99 (I would also recommend buying heayfever tablets from here as well if you need them and know what you want).
That takes our total savings on one order to a whopping $37.11.
May as well make the most of the exchange rate and refuse to be ripped off.
How not to budget.
This popped up on Facebook today. I have no idea where it came from, but if I find out I will add a link.
And we wonder why US credit was downgraded
The numbers leading S&P to downgrade U.S. Credit:
• U.S. Tax revenue:_______________________$2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget:________________________ $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt:_____________________________$1,650,000,000,000
• National debt:__________________________$14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut:______________________$38,500,000,000
Let’s remove 8 zeros and pretend this is a household budget:
• Annual family income:___________________ $21,700
• Money the family spent:__________________$38,200
• New debt on the credit card:______________$16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card______$142,710
• Total budget cuts:_______________________$385
You can kinda see where the problem is.
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