Michigan’s Item Pricing Law
While I was cruising one of Detroit’s online newspapers, I came across an interesting article that brought to light the subject of item pricing.
For those of you who don’t know, the state of Michigan has a law that requires retail stores to have a physical sticker price on almost all items for sale (exceptions for pets, plants, some food items, etc.) This means having extra workers performing the task of attaching prices to every can of soup, each DVD, every pack of pencils, etc. You get the picture.
The main purpose of this law is to protect consumers from unethical business practices (mainly the bait-and-switch tactic) performed by some shady retail store owners. By having an attached price to each item, the consumers are able to do the math ahead of time, add in the sales tax, and know exactly how much they should be paying upon checkout at the cash register. If the price charged at the register is higher than the price marked on the item, then the customer is entitled to a cash bonus.
The problem though for businesses is that the process of attaching the price stickers and changing prices can be an extremely time consuming process, costing the company time, money and manpower. The extra cost of dealing with this business law is ultimately passed down to the consumer through slightly higher prices. Read more…
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: government
ECHL – South Carolina vs Gwinnett Gladiators
Earlier this week my girlfriend and I attended the South Carolina Stingrays versus Gwinnett Gladiators ECHL game at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, and IT WAS AWESOME!!!
This was my first time visiting the Gwinnett Center and my first live hockey experience since I attended an Atlanta Thrashers game back in 2003. My girlfriend is an avid ice hockey fan and proud supporter of the Gladiators, and she wanted to treat me to my first ECHL game.
The Arena at Gwinnett Center is a fairly new facility, having opened back in early 2003. The arena is clean, well maintained, easy to access, and to those of us first timers, it still has that “new arena” feeling to it. I’m looking forward to future visits for more Gladiators action and perhaps some Georgia Force arena football and other events too.
Gladiators' mascot Maximus tossing a souvenir to the crowd.
As far as the Gladiators, I like the team. They don’t get all of the press and national attention like the Atlanta Thrashers, but it’s still a real ice hockey team. They skate fast, have good puck handling skills, and the fights are great. It’s just a little bit disappointing that Atlanta isn’t much of a hockey city, whether it’s for NHL or ECHL teams. Read more…
Categories: sports Tags: hockey
Book Review – Tom Rob Smith’s “Child 44”
What would scare you more: a serial killer preying on children, or an oppressive government that will send you to the gulags (or execute you) if there’s a hint that you may disagree with its politics?
Combine them both and you get a thrilling murder mystery novel set in 1953 Soviet Russia.
“Child 44” stars Leo Demidov, a hero of the Great Patriotic War and rising star within the State Security Force (MGB). His wife is one of the best looking women in town, and his parents are set living in a spacious apartment. But if your name was on a list, Leo and his men would kick open your door, arrest you in the middle of the night, and haul you off to the local processing center. Read more…
Categories: book reviews Tags: book review, government
Attending School on MLK Day
Fannin and Gilmer Counties in North Georgia are creating a bit of a controversy because they are
Oh, the absolute horror!
Are those two counties being racist and trying to dishonor the late Dr. King, insulting him and all he stood for back in the late 1950s and early 1960s?
No, of course not.
Winter weather has struck the northern half of Georgia especially hard this year, and those two counties alone have already missed nine days of classes because of the snow and ice. It’s either have the students go to school on holidays, or extend the school year into the summer break. One way or another, those students are going to have to make up those missed classes.
But according to one of the local NAACP leaders, having students attend class on that day of days is rather “humiliating.”
And here we go! Read more…
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: society
Welcoming Coach Hoke to Michigan
As a Michigan native and lifelong fan of the University of Michigan football program, I was extremely pleased to see Coach Brady Hoke take the reins as the new head coach of the Wolverines.
For the first time in three years, I am optimistic in seeing a real coach bring the Wolverines back to life and restore honor to the university, alumni, and fans across the country. I’m not expecting to see a miracle first season as it’s going to take some time to erase the damage that Rich Rodriguez has done to the team.
But what I do know is that after seeing what Coach Hoke has done at Ball State and San Diego State University, and after listening to the press conference, Coach Hoke is an OUTSTANDING choice for the University of Michigan!
University of Michigan press conference with Coach Brady Hoke
Read more…
Categories: sports Tags: football
Misleading Promotion for Medieval Times
Near the end of 2010, the Atlanta location of Medieval Times was running a really good buy-one-get-one-free ticket promotion.
If you purchased a regular-priced adult admission (about $50), then you received a second ticket for free. Apart from not being valid with any other promotion, and also not being valid for the New Year’s Eve show, that was pretty much it for the fine print. The promotion was valid until December 31, 2010.
Okay, that sounded pretty good. I wanted to take my girlfriend to the show since she’s a big Renaissance Festival fan but has not been to Medieval Times. I’m not a rich man and this was a good offer for what is normally a VERY expensive dining experience.
Medieval Times BOGO promotion - Atlanta show - Dec 2010
Medieval Times BOGO promotion - Atlanta show - Dec 2010
But when I tried to purchase my tickets on December 30th for a show in mid January, it turns out that the promotion was not exactly intended to be used that way. Read more…
Winter Visits Atlanta — Again!
Or as I like to call it, Storm of the Century II.
On Sunday evening, the Atlanta metro area experienced a heavy snowfall that literally dumped 4-5″ inches of snow upon the city.
This wasn’t one of those all day weather events, but instead a snowstorm that made an attempt to bury the city within an hour. We’re talking about looking out the window and seeing nothing one minute and tons of snow the next. The winter precipitation quickly covered not only the grass and bushes but also driveways and streets in no time at all.
A blanket of snow covers my car.
The warnings were already in place for a major snow storm, and sure enough, the weather struck with a vengeance.
Schools were already closed before the first snowflakes hit the ground. In fact, most of the school systems in the Atlanta metro area are still closed on Wednesday. Most of them probably won’t have students at all this ENTIRE week. The problem for the schools is that in addition to not having nearly enough plows and salt trucks to make the roads a little bit safer, this time around the weather is not cooperating.
How so? Read more…
Death of the “Energy” Wristbands?
A few weeks ago, the makers of the Power Balance bracelet were forced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to admit that they participated in misleading conduct.
The company actually admitted that there is no credible scientific evidence to back up the claims about the Power Balance bracelet improving a person’s strength, flexibility and balance. Such a negative admission should be a major blow to the company, especially when you consider that Power Balance is one of if not the biggest brand of those popular energy bracelets. The company is famous for having a growing number of celebrity athletes who wear and promote the bracelets.
So does this mean that the great number of average people buying those energy bracelets are going to be shocked or even horrified that they *may* have been intentionally misled by the company’s TV commercial or magazine advertisement?
I doubt it.
Read more…