Fogbow

raison de arizona wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 11:15 am We recently had to purchase a car. We went to the Honda dealership and tried to negotiate a new Civic. By the time they added market adjustment ($$) and everything else, we were looking at nearly $46k. For a Honda Civic. With a sticker under $30k.

We ended up buying a seven year old babied used car from our neighbor at blue book.

I recently bought a car from Avis. One of the best cars I have ever had was a car I purchased from a Budget car rental place - they rent the cars for a certain time and then sell them. Generally they are sold quite a bit below what you normally would pay for them. Based on that previous experience I decided to purchase a car from another rental car company recently. So far I'm very pleased, they offer almost the same full warranty that you would have gotten for the car had it been purchased new - they chip in the difference between what is left. There are certain warranties that only go to the original buyer, so if that's important to you, that would make a difference. I still thank the person who turned us on to the idea of buying from a rental company all those years ago and regret a couple of car purchases that I didn't make from rental car companies. YMMV.

RVInit wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:13 pm ...car rental place - they rent the cars for a certain time and then sell them. ...

I was once told that car rental companies buy their fleeet fresh from the production line, and after the guaranteeruns out they sell them off. If something fails the new car gets repaired by the producer.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 2:00 pm

RVInit wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:13 pm ...car rental place - they rent the cars for a certain time and then sell them. ...

I was once told that car rental companies buy their fleet fresh from the production line, and after the guaranteeruns out they sell them off. If something fails the new car gets repaired by the producer.

Some rental companies probably do things differently. There is usually a portion of any warranty that only is offered to the original owner of a car and that is standard. So, if you buy a used car from anywhere, you never get that portion of a manufacturer's warranty. But Avis will replace whatever portion of the other warranty periods would normally be lost when you buy a used car. So for instance certain things have a three year warranty. If you buy the car from Avis after one year of that three years is gone, they provide that extra year so you have a full three year warranty on those items normally covered for three years, same on the five year portion. It's just that long term warranty that manufacturer's offer only to the first owner of a car that you would not be entitled to. But you always have to buy a brand new car to get that. So if you are going to buy used, no matter where you purchase from, you don't get that as you would not be the original owner.

Container shipping company profits
First 9 months of 2021: $80 billion
All of 2010-2020: $38 billion

"man, those supply-chain problems and inflation is just killing us"

Container lines report record profitability in the third quarter
November 30, 2021

Αll global ocean carriers saw revenues increase substantially as a consequence of the record-high freight rates, with year-on-year revenue growth ranging from 83.9% for Maersk to 274.1% for Wan Hai, αccording to data from Sea-intelligence.

In terms of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), the shipping lines made a whopping US$37.24 billion in operating profit in Q3 of 2021 alone, according to the Danish firm.

"Combine this with the 2021 first half operating profit of 42.10 billion, and the carriers have made nearly US$80 billion in operating profit so far this year," noted Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence.

This does not include MSC, the world's currently second-largest carrier, which as a privately held company is not required to publish its accounts.

"To put this into perspective, the combined 2010-2020 operating profit across all quarters was US$37.86 billion," added Murphy.

In short, the industry has doubled its operating profit during the three quarters of the year, compared to the entire 10 year period of 2010-2020, reflecting an unprecedented level of profitability.

https://container-news.com/container-li ... d-quarter/

This area is about to experience a major supply chain bottlenecck. I don't know about the rest of the country, but here during Lent, fish fries are really popular. They are major fund raisers for churches, social halls, volunteer fire halls, and some other groups. The list of those holding them this year is minuscule. The fish, usually cod, is hard to get and expensive. One of the biggest and best, Holy Angels, isn't even doing one. I can't ever remember their not doing one, going back to when I was a kid.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had an excellent piece on truck driver shortages. Dead serious but still funny AF. Find time to watch it.

Walmart launches truck driving training program for supply-chain workers, raises driver starting pay to $95K

Walmart workers who once unloaded trucks now have a chance to drive them.

The nation's largest retailer has launched a training program that gives employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centers a chance to become certified Walmart truck drivers through a 12-week program taught by the company's established drivers.

Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also said it is raising pay for its 12,000 truck drivers. The starting range for new drivers will now be between $95,000 and $110,000, according to Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield. The retailer said that $87,500 had been the average that new truck drivers could make in their first year.

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/walma ... pay-to-95k

finally there will again be toilet paper on the shelfs

I'm a licensed PE with 22 years of experience, and that's my current salary range.

(I don't begrudge them the money. Good on them.)

Unless driving for Walmart's is very different from the rest of the trucking industry, from an article I read the other day, they never really see anywhere near all of that money. I'll try to see if I can find the article, maybe WAPO.

My V-6 engine has gotten lost in the supply chain.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 12:27 am Unless driving for Walmart's is very different from the rest of the trucking industry, from an article I read the other day, they never really see anywhere near all of that money. I'll try to see if I can find the article, maybe WAPO.

I think I may have seen the same thing, although it was an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It's about six posts up this thread. So the question is, are those soon-to-be truckers going to have to pay for everything out of pocket or does WalMart cover things like fuel and oil changes, and will they get compensated for sitting in line waiting to load/unload?

Slim Cognito wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 9:06 am

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 12:27 am Unless driving for Walmart's is very different from the rest of the trucking industry, from an article I read the other day, they never really see anywhere near all of that money. I'll try to see if I can find the article, maybe WAPO.

I think I may have seen the same thing, although it was an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It's about six posts up this thread. So the question is, are those soon-to-be truckers going to have to pay for everything out of pocket or does WalMart cover things like fuel and oil changes, and will they get compensated for sitting in line waiting to load/unload?

That's it! Thank you. I watched it Sunday. I was also just reading a story about women in trucking on WAPO. That was pretty harrowing.

Considering that the US almonds make a majority of the world market this will üut consumers everywhere at loss.

Well, something I ordered yesterday is actually scheduled to deliver today, but I suspect it will be partially disassembled. Therefore, I will be making a stand.

Cute!

Page turner.

northland10 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 9:14 am Well, something I ordered yesterday is actually scheduled to deliver today, but I suspect it will be partially disassembled. Therefore, I will be making a stand.

► Show Spoiler

As the husband of a musician, been there, done that.

Let me guess: you got it for a song

The link between Texas's truckers shortage and inflation
Trucking companies having to compete for smaller pools of ageing truckers can drive shortages and inflation.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local ... 639bc95902

The American Trucking association estimates the U.S. is 80,000 truckers short of where it needs to be and, according to one trucking industry expert, it has a lot to do with an ageing workforce.

The average age of a trucker in the US is over 50. As many prepare to retire, the shrinking population of drivers is likely to push inflation even higher.



Grundy said when other kinds of trucking companies struggle to find workers, it has a ripple effect on the rest of the economy, causing price increases and product shortages.

"What's being left out is the lowest-paying freight, or general paper freight, or general goods that hasn't traditionally payed a whole lot, but it's easy,” Grundy said. “That stuff's getting left on the docks. That stuff’s being left at the ports."