It is Sunday, May 31 and there are only 99 days until Labor Day.  Keep an eye out for the Back-To-School sales coming soon.  Today we remember the birthdays of Norman Vincent Peale, John “Bonzo” Bonham and Brooke Shields.  On this day in 1678 Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry in a protest of taxes, in 1790 the US copyright law was enacted and in 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded “Give Peace a Chance.”  It is President’s Day in Botswana, Union Day in Namibia and South Africa and Independence Day in Zimbabwe.

I would like to take a minute to go back to Memorial Day.  I thought it was interesting to hear people wish others a Happy Memorial Day.  I understand that it is a holiday, but it is not a day that warrants the greeting “Happy.”  It is a day to remember those who gave their lives in service to their country.  Unfortunately, it has become the day that unofficially ushers in summer.  It is a day that everyone looks forward to.  I get that and I enjoy the day as much as anyone else.  I just think that we need to make a better effort to understand what the day means.  I want to start a trend – from now on instead of saying “Happy …” let’s say “Remember Memorial Day.”  Thank you for letting me vent.

My question this week is what is the deal with the way we price things?  The other day I went to get gas in my car and the price was $2.42 9/10.  Really?  Why don’t we just say $2.43 and be done with it?  What I find even more interesting is that when someone asks what we paid for gas we say $2.42.  We don’t add the 9/10 and we don’t round up to $2.43.  When you go shopping, the item you want to buy is never priced at a straight $60 (as an example).  It is usually priced at $59.99.  Do you really feel like you are getting a bargain by seeing a price of $59.99 rather than $60?  Especially when you know that the item you are getting probably only cost about $20 to produce, ship and put on the shelf.

I know that some stores set the price so that the register can tell if it is a specialty item or a store brand or special sale or whatever.  That explains why some prices end in a 7 or 8 or 9, but I would think that with the level of technology we have today, the register would know regardless of what the price ends with.  The different prices are not for the employees.  Some of the people I have dealt with are lucky they can remember their name, let alone what the various numbers mean.

In the future, I would like to see prices be more honest.  Tell me that gas costs $2.43.  Let me know that the shirt I want is $60 and that it is a special sale that will end on a certain date.  The idea that it is necessary to confuse people with the way we price things bothers me and, frankly, confuses me.  There was a time when it was believed that the price was set so that when sales tax was added, it would create a round number.  I think we all know by now that is a myth.  

On the home buying front, it appears that the lovely Elaine and I have found our next abode.  We went and viewed it a second time and checked certain things we glossed over the first time.  It offers us the space that we wanted, it gives us one floor living and it is close to the kids.  After seeing it the first time, we were discussing it and the lovely Elaine suddenly realized that she did not remember seeing towel racks in the bathrooms.  She started to get worked up over this.  I assured her that there were towel racks.  I also pointed out that if there were not, we could buy some and install them ourselves.  That mollified her, somewhat.

When we decided to make an offer, we went back the realtor’s office and began filling out the pounds of paperwork that are required to make this purchase.  I get the feeling that the amount of paperwork is commensurate to the size of the purchase.  I thought we had to sign a fair number of documents when I purchased my car recently.  That size pile was nothing compared to what we signed for the house and that was just the initial offer and contract.  I know there will be more when we finally close.  I just hope that some of the paper is made from recycled products – such as paper.

I know that there will be a number of issues for us to deal with as we progress, so I will keep you up-to-date on things as we go along.  There will be the need to schedule inspections, knowing that each inspector feels that his or her time is more valuable than ours and will schedule the inspection when it is convenient for him or her.  Fortunately, they get done before we buy the house so the current owners will have to deal with the inconvenience, I hope.  We will also have to deal with selecting paint colors, some floor covering and other incidentals.  The lovely Elaine and I each have our own ideas on what we want so it will be interesting to see which of her ideas we will use and which of mine we will chuckle about and then ignore.  Anyway, watch this space for updates.

This week our fact tells us that it takes about 142.18 licks (see that is what I am talking about – not 143 licks, but 142.18) to reach the center of a Tootsie pop.  I am still not sure why people feel they need to find this type of information out.  Why do we care?  What is the official definition of a lick?  Most importantly, how does one measure .18 of a lick?  I just hope that now that we have solved this weighty issue, we can move on to more important issues like where Jimmy Hoffa is buried.