I Need A Support Group
From sometime Wednesday until Friday afternoon, our phones were not working. We don’t get inundated with phone calls, so I didn’t notice on Wednesday. Thursday morning, I enjoyed the silence, though I found it odd that my mother hadn’t called (she had, and getting a busy signal, assumed I was on the phone). And generally, the phonelessness hasn’t bothered me very much. Until I realized I couldn’t get online. Then it hit me. I couldn’t handle it.
Who won during day 1 of the tournament? Sure, I could open up the paper sitting right next to me, but my online picks are different from my paper picks, so I didn’t know how I was doing (since I don’t actually ever remember my picks).
I got an ad in the mail Thursday from the local Honda-Toyota dealership. Along with advertising Corollas for only $79.50 a payment (which, the fine print points out, are bi-weekly), it included three scratch-off ovals. I scratched off the ovals and found three matching numbers, which meant that I had won either a $1000 shopping spree on goshoppingmall.com, $1500 cash, or a 42” plasma screen TV. I’d have to go into the dealership to redeem my prize. Well, I figured that in the worst case, I would get on their mailing list. But since I’m planning on getting either a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna this August, that’s a reasonable risk. However, I would have liked to have checked out goshoppingmall.com to see if I really wanted the shopping spree (which is, as it turns out, what I got). But, without the Internet available, I couldn’t check.
So I went in, and I got my prize, and I got my 2006 Honda Odyssey brochure, and I left. And later that evening, when my friend was returned to me, when he had recovered from his coma, I asked him about this site and he gave me the answer I was afraid of. I needn’t have bothered. Sure, I didn’t know which prize I would have received, and the 42” TV would have made a nice wedding gift (because we certainly don’t need another TV in our house, already having 2). But the shopping spree, yeah, that’s pretty much a scam.
You see, the prize has a catch. Of course. They all do. The recipient is in charge of shipping and handling. That sounds fair, right? Well, my issue is that the shipping prices are ½ to 2/3 the cost of the item. Seriously. I found a $20 retractable dog leash with a flashlight, with shipping and handling costing $11. So I searched online, and found on another site, a similar product costing $5, plus $3 shipping. So I would pay more just to ship this leash than I could buying it from another site. A $30 rice cooker costs $18 to ship. $18. I can’t even choose to have it take longer to ship, thus decreasing the shipping cost. Because I suppose that’s the “handling” side of things.
The following text is from their Terms and Conditions:
The shipping and processing charge is designed to compensate GSM for the services we provide that enable our members to enjoy the convenience of home shopping and delivery of our products, as well as overhead costs associated with those services.
Okay, I suppose that’s reasonable. GoShoppingMall.com has to make money somehow. But then, why give out gift certificates? How much would I have to spend to use up my $1000 gift certificate? Right now, my cart has 2 items (the leash and the rice cooker). To use up $49.98 of my $1000 gift certificate, I would have to spend $28.98. Or, proportionately, I would have to spend almost $600 in shipping to “get” $1000 of free stuff. The way I decided to look at it was that if there’s stuff I was planning to buy anyhow, then I could buy it cheaper (well, a little bit, anyhow, considering the markups and absurd shipping costs). But that’s not exactly a shopping “spree,” is it? Or, maybe it is. But the sad thing about this is that many people who can’t necessarily afford that $550 - $600 shipping cost will still go out and buy $1000 worth of goods they don’t need.
But the point is, I could have known ahead of time that the shopping spree was a scam, and perhaps skipped that trip out to the auto dealership (I don’t think they realize how poor a gift it is; the salesman commented that I could go out and buy a new car seat on there, obviously not realizing the limited scope of the selection on the site), had my Internet been working.
So, I am addicted to the Internet. There, I’ve said it. Last week, I learned about potatoes. Maybe that should have been a sign. But no, I had to lose it – at a time when the library is under construction so I can’t go there to get my email fix – to finally see it. I went to a friend/neighbor’s house for lunch on Friday – so our kids could play and we could chat. It took so much restraint on my part not to ask her if I could borrow her computer and get online. But I did resist, which tells me that I still have hope. But perhaps I should find an Internet Addicts Support Group just in case things get worse. Perhaps there’s a chatroom. Let me go check…
Who won during day 1 of the tournament? Sure, I could open up the paper sitting right next to me, but my online picks are different from my paper picks, so I didn’t know how I was doing (since I don’t actually ever remember my picks).
I got an ad in the mail Thursday from the local Honda-Toyota dealership. Along with advertising Corollas for only $79.50 a payment (which, the fine print points out, are bi-weekly), it included three scratch-off ovals. I scratched off the ovals and found three matching numbers, which meant that I had won either a $1000 shopping spree on goshoppingmall.com, $1500 cash, or a 42” plasma screen TV. I’d have to go into the dealership to redeem my prize. Well, I figured that in the worst case, I would get on their mailing list. But since I’m planning on getting either a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna this August, that’s a reasonable risk. However, I would have liked to have checked out goshoppingmall.com to see if I really wanted the shopping spree (which is, as it turns out, what I got). But, without the Internet available, I couldn’t check.
So I went in, and I got my prize, and I got my 2006 Honda Odyssey brochure, and I left. And later that evening, when my friend was returned to me, when he had recovered from his coma, I asked him about this site and he gave me the answer I was afraid of. I needn’t have bothered. Sure, I didn’t know which prize I would have received, and the 42” TV would have made a nice wedding gift (because we certainly don’t need another TV in our house, already having 2). But the shopping spree, yeah, that’s pretty much a scam.
You see, the prize has a catch. Of course. They all do. The recipient is in charge of shipping and handling. That sounds fair, right? Well, my issue is that the shipping prices are ½ to 2/3 the cost of the item. Seriously. I found a $20 retractable dog leash with a flashlight, with shipping and handling costing $11. So I searched online, and found on another site, a similar product costing $5, plus $3 shipping. So I would pay more just to ship this leash than I could buying it from another site. A $30 rice cooker costs $18 to ship. $18. I can’t even choose to have it take longer to ship, thus decreasing the shipping cost. Because I suppose that’s the “handling” side of things.
The following text is from their Terms and Conditions:
The shipping and processing charge is designed to compensate GSM for the services we provide that enable our members to enjoy the convenience of home shopping and delivery of our products, as well as overhead costs associated with those services.
Okay, I suppose that’s reasonable. GoShoppingMall.com has to make money somehow. But then, why give out gift certificates? How much would I have to spend to use up my $1000 gift certificate? Right now, my cart has 2 items (the leash and the rice cooker). To use up $49.98 of my $1000 gift certificate, I would have to spend $28.98. Or, proportionately, I would have to spend almost $600 in shipping to “get” $1000 of free stuff. The way I decided to look at it was that if there’s stuff I was planning to buy anyhow, then I could buy it cheaper (well, a little bit, anyhow, considering the markups and absurd shipping costs). But that’s not exactly a shopping “spree,” is it? Or, maybe it is. But the sad thing about this is that many people who can’t necessarily afford that $550 - $600 shipping cost will still go out and buy $1000 worth of goods they don’t need.
But the point is, I could have known ahead of time that the shopping spree was a scam, and perhaps skipped that trip out to the auto dealership (I don’t think they realize how poor a gift it is; the salesman commented that I could go out and buy a new car seat on there, obviously not realizing the limited scope of the selection on the site), had my Internet been working.
So, I am addicted to the Internet. There, I’ve said it. Last week, I learned about potatoes. Maybe that should have been a sign. But no, I had to lose it – at a time when the library is under construction so I can’t go there to get my email fix – to finally see it. I went to a friend/neighbor’s house for lunch on Friday – so our kids could play and we could chat. It took so much restraint on my part not to ask her if I could borrow her computer and get online. But I did resist, which tells me that I still have hope. But perhaps I should find an Internet Addicts Support Group just in case things get worse. Perhaps there’s a chatroom. Let me go check…
Labels: favorite
posted by BrainHickey | 1:22 PM
1 Comments:
Not much of a blogger but couldn't resist.
You will have to let it be known which car you choose to get as I am in the same dilemma and interestingly enough between the same two models.
Nice poem on Fatherhood. I think it is a more about independence than maturity. Not at a loss of independence felt by the father but sensing a greater independence of the child, who one day will not need his help.
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