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If you want to go to Harvard Law, you can get there from a flagship state university. If you aren't getting scholarships to that university, odds are you won't be acing the LSAT anyway. The prestige undergrad thing only matters in the northeast. Nobody else cares.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:35
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He earned $240,000 last year, but has only $3k in savings. He took major investing advice from a stranger on a golf course. He used Turbo Tax to file his 1%er tax return. He jetted off to Africa with all his money tied up in a nosediving stock. This is definitely SlowMotion. I think he just threw in the humanitarian angle so no one would suspect him.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:47
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Me being bad with money: I'm buying a used car but I don't have enough money to pay in full in cash Me being good with money (I hope): I'm taking a loan from my dad to cover the remainder, instead of financing it. I could afford the payments and get a pretty good interest rate as I have a credit score around 800, but if some kind of financial emergency pops up, Dad is going to be a lot more forgiving than a bank. Honestly, after this next paycheck, I probably could pay for the whole car myself, but I don't want to wipe out all of my savings to do so.
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Feb 8, 2015 20:55
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Centripetal Horse posted:He earned $240,000 last year, but has only $3k in savings. He took major investing advice from a stranger on a golf course. Radioshack. The same company whose stock has been in the toilet for over 5 years, and who has been a running joke in the retail world for even longer than that. melon cat fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 21:02
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I guess when he heard "buy low, sell high" he assumed a toilet-stock was the perfect idea 
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Feb 8, 2015 21:12
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Just think of how many years he'll be able to write those losses off for, though
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Feb 8, 2015 21:23
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melon cat posted:But the thing is, he didn't just take third-hand investing "advice". He invested in Radioshack. Of all of the companies to make braindead investment decisions on. But dude, "Zimmerman's Litespeed Management LLC disclosed an 8.1% in RadioShack", whatever that means. It was sure to explode into the stratosphere. It's just too bad that he was in that part of Africa with zero phone or internet access for a month straight.
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Feb 8, 2015 21:27
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Do you think that, in general, when controlling for GPA and standardized test scores, that admittance to graduate and professional school is unrelated to the undergraduate institution one attends? I think that proposition is strikingly false; undergraduates at schools considered selective and prestigious are probably at a significant advantage for admissions to graduate programs considered selective and prestigious. Law school is GPA + LSAT score. Nothing more. The only advantage in getting into a graduate program is the connections and other students. You're more likely to run into someone who can show you how to get into a prestigious graduate program at Harvard than at University of Bumfuck. But if you know what's needed, you can accomplish the requirements at either school.
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Feb 8, 2015 21:27
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I had a professor (at a top grad department) who got his PhD from the #1 school in our field but his undergrad from... not a top school like at all. He helped a lot of students in our department get competitive national fellowships. He was of the opinion that for most people it's actually easier to get into a top program and/or fellowships if you went to a lesser school because of the big fish little pond phenomenon. Given a person with the same ability and 'go-getter' attitude, it was his experience that often the shining stars with incredible recommendations and research experience from bumfuck nowhere school would've probably been average at best at a top ivy league where they were competing with Rhode Scholars; and the former translates better than the latter.
Rurutia fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Feb 8, 2015 |
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Feb 8, 2015 21:38
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It's easy to get in to grad school if you just figure out with whom you want to work and build a rapport with them in advance of the application process. You look motivated and you pretty much get rubber stamped in to the program. Get someone batting for you on the inside; pretty basic poo poo you should get down if you ever want a job. If you just put in an application like everyone else and write down potential supervisors' names without ever having talked to them then you're kind of dumb.
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Feb 8, 2015 22:12
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Magic Underwear posted:But dude, "Zimmerman's Litespeed Management LLC disclosed an 8.1% in RadioShack", whatever that means. It was sure to explode into the stratosphere. It's just too bad that he was in that part of Africa with zero phone or internet access for a month straight. That might be the private equity firm that extended Radio Shack a 100 million dollar LOC. So you look at that and Radio Shack's marketing push in 2014 and you might think, "here's a company on the verge of a turn-around." The difference here is that I'm pretty sure Litespeed has a clause that gives them priority over common shareholders. So even after the bankruptcy, they've still got a stake in the new Radio Shack/Sprint venture. The problem is that everything Radio Shack sells is offered cheaper, more conveniently, or with broader selections elsewhere. If you asked any of these dumbass investors to describe a profitable and vibrant Radio Shack, I don't think they could. There's no amazing product The Shack could offer that would fill up their stores. Well, maybe drones. Radio Shack should have gone balls deep into drones.
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Feb 8, 2015 22:39
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Krispy Kareem posted:Well, maybe drones. Radio Shack should have gone balls deep into drones. That actually seems like it would have been a good idea. Drone enthusiasts still do poo poo like build their own radio control devices, and build 'copters from scratch and/or parts kits. Maybe Radio Shack should have gone entirely radio-controlled shack.
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Feb 8, 2015 22:51
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Centripetal Horse posted:He earned $240,000 last year, but has only $3k in savings. He took major investing advice from a stranger on a golf course. He used Turbo Tax to file his 1%er tax return. He jetted off to Africa with all his money tied up in a nosediving stock. This is definitely SlowMotion. I think he just threw in the humanitarian angle so no one would suspect him. Being a 1%er means that you only ever hold 1% of your income as savings and the rest goes into truck equity.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:00
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Centripetal Horse posted:He earned $240,000 last year, but has only $3k in savings. He took major investing advice from a stranger on a golf course. He used Turbo Tax to file his 1%er tax return. He jetted off to Africa with all his money tied up in a nosediving stock. This is definitely SlowMotion. I think he just threw in the humanitarian angle so no one would suspect him. Slow Motion doesn't make remotely close to 240k.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:09
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Centripetal Horse posted:That actually seems like it would have been a good idea. Drone enthusiasts still do poo poo like build their own radio control devices, and build 'copters from scratch and/or parts kits. Maybe Radio Shack should have gone entirely radio-controlled shack. They also get their advice and buy their drones and drone parts on the internet, not from sales guys in hobby shops. There are all kinds of cool, fairly profitable new hobby toys that Radio Shack could have sold - drones, 3D printers, Arduino/Raspberry Pi type hobbyist microcontrollers and tinycomputers, whatever. Every single one of them would have people coming into the store to play with the gadgets, then leaving to actually buy them online. The business model of being one of the few places in town that can get you specialty parts for your hobby, with reasonably knowledgable salespeople to help you with your purchase, is pretty much completely dead thanks to the internet.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:12
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Nail Rat posted:Slow Motion doesn't make remotely close to 240k. But he spends like he does!
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Feb 9, 2015 00:35
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Bloody Queef posted:But he spends like he does! He's also extremely generous as he donated $50,000 of his taxes to charity in the last financial year.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:40
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Space Gopher posted:They also get their advice and buy their drones and drone parts on the internet, not from sales guys in hobby shops. I've bought two Phantom 2 Vision+s at a store around the corner from where I live. The store is called Drones Plus, sells nothing but drones and drone accessories, and seems to be doing very well. The internet has changed the game, but it has hardly replaced walk-in stores. Edit: They also have a repair shop which is always packed with people and injured 'copters. There are way more people who don't fix their own gadgets than ones who do.
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Feb 9, 2015 04:23
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Space Gopher posted:There are all kinds of cool, fairly profitable new hobby toys that Radio Shack could have sold - drones, 3D printers, Arduino/Raspberry Pi type hobbyist microcontrollers and tinycomputers, whatever. They literally sold all of those.
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Feb 9, 2015 05:01
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Space Gopher posted:The business model of being one of the few places in town that can get you specialty parts for your hobby, with reasonably knowledgable salespeople to help you with your purchase, is pretty much completely dead thanks to the internet.
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Feb 9, 2015 05:22
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Saw a nice bad with money train wreck in front of my while grocery shopping this morning. Guy has a cart that is loaded to the brim with stuff, I didn't pay much attention to what, but it looked like mostly food and what seemed to be a fishing reel. While staring off into space, I heard him ask the cashier to give him a subtotal before $250, as that was the limit on his card. I look over and he's swiping a card through the card thingy, it goes through and she continues running items through. She reaches the end of his pile, gives him the total for that group, it sounded like it was around 180 bucks, and he pulls out a stack of credit cards, and starts swiping them. Every few seconds I hear a "beep" followed by him saying poo poo quietly. He goes through about 6-7 cards before giving up, asks if they can hold his stuff while he gets money from somewhere. Maybe if you have a limit that low, it might be better to not load your cart from top to bottom and roll the dice.
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Feb 9, 2015 05:24
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Centripetal Horse posted:I've bought two Phantom 2 Vision+s at a store around the corner from where I live. The store is called Drones Plus, sells nothing but drones and drone accessories, and seems to be doing very well. The internet has changed the game, but it has hardly replaced walk-in stores. That's a bit different though since it's a specialty store. I walk into a drone store, I expect the staff to be experts in drones. I walk into a music store, I expect the staff to be experts in music. I walk into a Radio Shack and I expect the staff to be my enemy. About six or seven years ago, the closest Radio Shack to me walked all of it's managers out in handcuffs. Turns out they were working together to steal customer's Credit Card information. I never walked into any Radio Shack since then. CitizenKain posted:Saw a nice bad with money train wreck in front of my while grocery shopping this morning. Guy has a cart that is loaded to the brim with stuff, I didn't pay much attention to what, but it looked like mostly food and what seemed to be a fishing reel. While staring off into space, I heard him ask the cashier to give him a subtotal before $250, as that was the limit on his card. I look over and he's swiping a card through the card thingy, it goes through and she continues running items through. My first impression when you said stack of cards was the good old pre-paid Visa gift card scam, but no, it was even sadder than that  You're giving me flashbacks of working retail. I worked at a BJ's in a less than stellar neighborhood and I saw all kinds of bad with money things there.
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Feb 9, 2015 13:59
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Renegret posted:
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Feb 9, 2015 14:05
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blugu64 posted:They literally sold all of those. Radio Shack was going to fail regardless. Maybe if they drastically reduced their 4k stores, retrained their work force, and focused on doing something better than anyone else (drones) they could have survived. But even if they defied all odds, survived, and made a meager profit again - they'd be such a smaller company that their stock would still be worthless. The next Radio Shack is probably Sears or JC Penney. Two more companies that sell absolutely nothing that I can't buy easier and cheaper elsewhere (except for the occasional Craftsman tool).
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Feb 9, 2015 14:28
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Eh, nothing really specific, it's been a good 12 years since I worked there. It's just a grey haze of people angry at me over Food Stamps and declined credit cards. One woman who bitched me out over a 5 cent deposit on a wine bottle on a $700 order. I remember a lot of crushed people who came in all excited that they finally got their food stamps, would load up their cart, then be disappointed to find out that the food stamps didn't cover half of what they took. I remember a nice Texan couple who where here on vacation who didn't have a membership card and were okay with the 15% non member surcharge, even though I practically begged them to give me 5 minutes to scrounge up a membership card from somewhere. Some guy yelled at me because he had several hundred in food, and something valued at ~$5 didn't count and had to be paid separately (The registers at that place would pay whatever it could with EBT and leave the balance leftover, no need to separate your food and non-food items). He made me go through the entire receipt, find that one item, and take it off, because he didn't want to pay any money. Once I was finally rid of him, he went over to the Cigarette isle and bought two cartons of Cigarettes and a bunch of lotto tickets. I guess really bad with money would be a few years later when I worked at Best Buy when their Credit Card was rolled out, but this thread has gone over that one to death. I was the worst salesperson there, because once I realized that a customer couldn't afford what they were buying, I just couldn't let my conscious push more garbage on them. Yet those were always the people who were always asking for more more more. I hated that job, if for nothing else, because I just didn't see the value in our products. e: Come to think of it, working at BJs really went downhill once they made the change to accept Food Stamps. Business skyrocketed, but the quality of the customers plummeted. It's hard to explain why without sounding like a racist/classist rear end in a top hat though. Renegret fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 14:35
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Krispy Kareem posted:The next Radio Shack is probably Sears or JC Penney. Two more companies that sell absolutely nothing that I can't buy easier and cheaper elsewhere (except for the occasional Craftsman tool). Renegret posted:Best Buy 
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Feb 9, 2015 18:58
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Actually I think you're both wrong. Guitar Center. http://www.metalsucks.net/2015/02/05/analysis-is-the-end-near-for-guitar-center/ quote:The fact is, the die is cast. In a couple of weeks, Guitar Center will need to report its Christmas performance to its bondholders. If things do not look good, its bonds will be ripped apart like Radio Shack’s. Moreover, if I had to guess, the $10 million in Guitar Center’s coffers will not be enough to make the payment to their bondholders due in April 2015. In advance of that, they will need to seek protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Maybe they have another ultra-complex trick to bring out of the private equity playbook, but this whole thing is a waste of time. None of this sells guitars or inspires kids to be better musicians in a world where laptops play the tunes. We’re all analyzing the most mundane details of the terminal symptoms of this sickness that has seized American business culture in the past twenty years. Perhaps we need to heal that disease before we can back to fun things such as playing guitar and running profitable companies.
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Feb 9, 2015 19:06
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Renegret posted:e: Come to think of it, working at BJs really went downhill once they made the change to accept Food Stamps. Business skyrocketed, but the quality of the customers plummeted. It's hard to explain why without sounding like a racist/classist rear end in a top hat though. Something I haven't thought of. Is food stamp acceptance voluntary or mandatory? Since they are on EBT cards now anyone with a credit card terminal that sells food items can accept EBT but do they have to? Has anyone become unpopular for not accepting EBT?
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Feb 9, 2015 19:11
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Haifisch posted:I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping that afloat is extended warranties and store credit cards. It...really is, and they know it. The margin on a laptop is anywhere between ~$0 to $10. That means if it goes on sale or the price is knocked down for whatever reason, the store takes a loss on it. In fact, because of overhead, selling any computer without accessories was a net loss for the company. Basically the rule of thumb in that place is that if it's a big box item that you went in there to buy, it's sold at cost and there's no profit on it. TVs, computers, cameras, MP3 players, and to a lesser extent home appliances. Not car sound systems, we made a killing off of those, only offset by the low volume of customers they dealt with. The general sales strategy for computers was finding out the customer budget, down-selling them to a cheaper computer, then tacking on warranties and accessories with a higher margin until you reach their budget again. This way, the customer gets their computer and extra toys they weren't expecting while staying in budget, the company gets their money, and everyone's happy. At least, in theory, anyway. It never actually worked like that because of shady salesmen and stupid customers.
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Feb 9, 2015 19:13
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I was in a Sears Grand this weekend. What a depressing place. It's actually a nice enough looking store on the surface. But there were just aisles of almost no stock, the food section had been ripped out and replaced with mattresses, the portrait studio was closed...just ugh. I do love my new Kenmore toaster, though. I kind of hope the brands survive even if the chain dies.
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Feb 9, 2015 19:14
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Renegret posted:The general sales strategy for computers was finding out the customer budget, down-selling them to a cheaper computer, then tacking on warranties and accessories with a higher margin until you reach their budget again. This way, the customer gets their computer and extra toys they weren't expecting while staying in budget, the company gets their money, and everyone's happy. At least, in theory, anyway. It never actually worked like that because of shady salesmen and stupid customers. Plus then that downsold piece of poo poo laptop made entirely of crappy plastic, underpowered components, and loaded to the gills with shitware won't last more than 12-18 months before the customer is back looking to "upgrade".
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Feb 9, 2015 19:18
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Crazy Mike posted:Something I haven't thought of. Is food stamp acceptance voluntary or mandatory? Since they are on EBT cards now anyone with a credit card terminal that sells food items can accept EBT but do they have to? I'm not sure to be honest. I'm going to assume it's voluntary because accepting food stamps opens the store up to risk (I think the retailer is held partly responsible for allowing a customer to use food stamps on non food-stamp items, but don't quote me on that), not to mention it has to be integrated into whatever system they have. BJ's made a big deal when they first started accepting it, and they certainly refused them for a long, long time. Wickerman posted:Actually I think you're both wrong. Guitar Center can get hosed, I hope they go the way of circuit city. Yes I'm holding a petty grudge because of the one time I went in there looking for strings, and they acted like if I replaced the strings myself I'd just gently caress it up  I know it was just a sales pitch for them, but they didn't have to be so rude about it. Guitars are the same deal as laptops, the profit margin on them is generally very small in order to stay competitive. Guinness posted:Plus then that downsold piece of poo poo laptop made entirely of crappy plastic, underpowered components, and loaded to the gills with shitware won't last more than 12-18 months before the customer is back looking to "upgrade". Though to be fair that describes the majority of consumer They actually do uphold the word of their warranties, at least. edit: Good with money: The day I left Best Buy, I bought a Sony E-Reader with a 3 year warranty (20% employee discount on the warranty). At the 2 years and 10 month mark, I accidentally sat on it and cracked the screen. A quick trip to Best Buy that same day, and I walked home with a brand new Kindle Paperwhite without paying another dime. Even if I didn't accidentally sit on it, I would've..."accidentally" dropped it underneath my foot at the end of the warranty anyway. Renegret fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 19:24
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Renegret posted:
Back when I was working at Best Buy in the 96-98ish timeframe employees could buy the warranties for pennies on the dollar. They were like $1.94 for a $25 warranty. Looks like it really is the only place they make any profit these days if they're only giving a 20% discount to employees.
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Feb 9, 2015 20:04
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Barry posted:Back when I was working at Best Buy in the 96-98ish timeframe employees could buy the warranties for pennies on the dollar. They were like $1.94 for a $25 warranty. Looks like it really is the only place they make any profit these days if they're only giving a 20% discount to employees. The employee discount when I started working there was a 5% markup on warehouse price. That means you got to buy those silly $50 monster HDMI cables for a dollar and change. It was still 20% on warranties and services though. (Even though nobody in their right mind would charge a fellow employee for labor) My first year there, they changed the rules so that you could only get a max of 50% off retail price and I thought there was going to be a riot. The employees cleaned the shelves of all the high margin items in one night. It ended up not being that big of a deal because not too many things were priced at a >50% markup except for those stupid cables everyone loves complaining about.
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Feb 9, 2015 20:59
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Renegret posted:The employee discount when I started working there was a 5% markup on warehouse price. That's exactly what it was when I was there. Even then you didn't tend to save too much on computers/TVs. Stereo equipment was always marked way up.
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Feb 9, 2015 21:05
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Wickerman posted:Actually I think you're both wrong. So big chains like Guitar Center and Mars Music came in, pushed out the mom and pop stores, and then...went out of business? I never understood how that worked out. Did they see a low volume hole-in-the-wall local business model and think they could somehow support huge store rents and a corporate infrastructure? The local music store here would be shuttered if not for band rentals and music lessons. And it's not doing great and even with those.
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Feb 9, 2015 21:13
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Wickerman posted:Actually I think you're both wrong. I'm sure that getting loving gutted by Bain Capital has nothing to do with it.
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Feb 9, 2015 21:21
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Guitar Center started at the end of the 50s. It's something that made a lot of sense for a time, but with the internet including instructional videos it's become less and less relevant over time. There's still something to be said for a place where you can go in and gently caress around with instruments and equipment before choosing what to buy, but I do think this, like bookstores, is something that's going to return to a more mom and pop type of thing. It has to get back to being something on low margin, with very specific services (i.e. a rehearsal space you can rent out if it's in an urban area, and lessons catered to the kind of music people around the store listen to). And like bookstores, there are probably whole areas that don't need a music store, and those that do, don't need more than one for a wide area. Within a couple miles of my place, there's a Sam Ash, a Guitar Center, and a Best Buy with a large music section. That poo poo is unsustainable when you're also competing with the internet and smaller independent stores. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 21:23
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Krispy Kareem posted:So big chains like Guitar Center and Mars Music came in, pushed out the mom and pop stores, and then...went out of business? I never understood how that worked out. Did they see a low volume hole-in-the-wall local business model and think they could somehow support huge store rents and a corporate infrastructure? Yup I take lessons from a small mom and pop shop, and the only reason they've lasted for over 40 years is because their bread and butter are lessons. That and the store is only open 3 days a week because they're both still professional musicians who play at events. They told me that they don't make any money from selling instruments. In fact, all of the instruments I've bought from them have been at cost. The last bass I bought from them was more like me doing them a favor because they wanted to get it out of the shop because it was taking up too much room and wasn't selling. Really they only deal with instruments because they have to so they could sell to their students.
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Feb 9, 2015 21:47
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Nail Rat posted:There's still something to be said for a place where you can go in and gently caress around with instruments and equipment before choosing what to buy This is the lesson I think a lot of modern retailers need to learn. There's a reason I don't buy shoes online, and there are plenty of other items that demand to be held and tried on before you make a purchase. It's odd how so many retailers managed to change and adapt as the box store model began to dominate, but can't seem to go back in the other direction. I think a lot of these places could survive if they were to shrink back down to a couple of knowledgeable employees in a strip mall unit, or a small stand-alone. Maybe the problem is that they aren't interested in surviving. Maybe run-it-into-the-ground followed by bankruptcy is the most immediately profitable and satisfying path.
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Feb 9, 2015 21:55
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