Gimme Back My Money

I don’t get it. Over the past couple of months I’ve applied for different credit cards to try to rebuild the credit my ex trashed. I keep getting turned down with each new application. No biggie; I’ll just keep trying. What’s been happening lately, though, is puzzling. Every time I go to the post office to check my mail, I’ve got “pre-approved” credit applications in there. Granted, I know I’d still have to get approved by the company and that won’t happen. Why, then, are they wasting money sending me this crap when they obviously know I haven’t been approved by anyone else? I have gotten those “pre-approved” letters in a long while. Just because I’m applying now and getting turned down means they all have to send me this other stupid shit? Stop wasting my time and your money.

I told that to my insurance company, too. I won’t mention Geico’s name; I’ll just say it’s a really well-known company. When I got back to NY and found out that my insurance rates had more than doubled, I wasn’t too happy. The reasoning was that NY is a place where getting into an accident is highly likely. Okay. But then they send me all this bullshit that I don’t need. At least twice a week I get a notice from them asking my opinion on something or updating me on my billing status or some other non-essential information. When they sent me a survey asking how I was handled by their customer service department, I completed it. In the section where I was asked how I think things in the company could be changed, I told them to stop wasting money sending me all this useless crap and lower my rates. I know they get a bulk rate on mail but all the administrative work that goes into it must cost something, right? Save the money and pass the savings on to me. Now there’s a novel idea.

While companies like that are wasting my money, there are others that are stealing my money. Not that the insurance company isn’t stealing my money, but retail stores (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Kohl’s, etc.) are really stealing my money. I don’t like Kohl’s and don’t shop there if I can help it but Kara and I did some of our Christmas shopping there because we had really great coupons and gifts cards. Since I’d spent as much as I did I was rewarded with $20 in Kohl’s Cash that expired on 1/1, so I had to spend it. I needed a pair of slippers with a hard sole on them so I can wear them outside. I got to the store, found what I was looking for and noticed the price tag said $20. Okay, I could pay the tax.

Then I saw a sign above it that said the slippers were whatever percentage off because of the sale that was happening. With tax they would have been around $14. Cool, I wouldn’t have to pay anything for them. Even better. I get to the register and the kid rings up the slippers. They only came to $9 and change. I didn’t realize, until then, that there was an additional discount. I always love to find that something I’m buying is on sale. When I get to the register and that discount shows, I get giddy. I don’t like surprises but those I can handle. Anyway, it got me thinking. If Kohl’s can sell all those slippers for only $9 and change during a sale, why can’t Kohl’s sell them for that price all the time?

No, don’t say, “Because if they sold them at that price all the time they’d lose money.” No they wouldn’t. With the mark-up that stores put on items, there is no way in Hell that any store would lose money by marking down its items on a regular basis. The dollar stores, maybe. But I’m talking about the big stores that we all frequent. Stop bullshitting me and charge me a fair price for an item. If you lower your prices, I might shop there more often. And I’m not just talking about Kohl’s.

Wal-Mart has gotten out of hand with its prices lately. I think I’ve mentioned it before that I love Wal-Mart and usually end up spending more than I need to when I go there. But I was looking for something online the other day and went to one of those comparison web sites. Wal-Mart had the third highest price for whatever item it happened to be at the time. Seriously? Wal-Mart is supposed to be fairly priced and lower than the competition. They always have been. Why, then, am I finding that I can get those same items at other store for a lot less than Wal-Mart is charging? It’s because people are getting greedy. The way it stands, I may not be doing any shopping ever again.

I have no problem paying for something, as long as I’m not being ripped off. Today, though, everyone is out to make the most money at the expense of the consumer. And it’s being said that the recession is over and gone? I don’t think so. When I don’t even want to shop at Wal-Mart because of the price hikes, there’s a problem. Maybe from now on all my shopping will have to be done online so I can make a better comparison of products and shipping costs. I don’t like shopping anyway, so online might just be the best way to go for me.

If stores had preferred customer cards or something where I could get great discounts all the time, I might consider them. Until then I’ll just have to do what I can until companies realize that customers are the ones who keep the stores open. Drop the prices, do better business. I just don’t think corporate people get the hint; and I’m in no position to tell them all how I feel. Perhaps just one or two and others will take the lead. Nah, it’ll never happen. I’ll just have to stick it out for now and hope for changes for the better. Maybe you can hope with me to get the changes to come about faster. Let’s try, shall we?

Until next time…peace to all.