DansDeals.com

From the archives-Originally posted on 11/22/07.

Black Friday used to be an awesome day, one of my favorite days of the year.

It is always within 4 days of my birthday, so the bargains of the day coincided nicely for me right off the bat.

I remember the good old days (before all the ads were available online weeks beforehand) when I would run out of my dorm first thing Thursday morning and buy the local paper. Back then stores like Best Buy actually had amazing deals.

One year I was able to get 4 $400 cell phones out the door for free after $250 off instantly and a $150 Best Buy rebate without even activating a plan!

Another time I got tons of fairly expensive electronics at CompUSA all for free after rebates.

I went religiously every year and often camped out at stores like Best Buy until 2005. (Besides for when my birthday came out on Black Friday on November 26, 2004, when I was down in S. Paulo, Brazil. I was so down about missing the deals that in a stroke of fate I decided to start a blog called ctownbochur.blogspot.com and shared it with a couple friends on AIM…maybe you’ve heard of it?)

I was always able to make enough money reselling the goodies on Ebay to feed my technology bug for the entire next year.

Last year’s Black Friday sales were lame.

This year’s offerings are worse.

I mean for 364 days out the year, no savvy shopper would ever walk into a Best Buy or CompUSA, but at least they had 1 day of good deals.

Do they think that the Black Friday hype is so great that they can still draw the same crowd while not offering any compelling offers?

Or have they simply gotten smarter and realized that selling items at a loss doesn’t make good business sense. After all the term “Black Friday” is thought to have come from the fact that this was the day when retailers would finally climb out of “the red” and into “the black” for the year, due to it being the busiest shopping day of the year.

It actually made perfect business sense. There were only a very limited number of deeply discounted items, but every store still drew thousands of customers buying other items to make up for it. Besides the best deals were always after rebates, which most people seemingly don’t even bother to apply for.

Black Friday used to be a bunch of marketing hype, but savvy shoppers could still come out ahead.

Now it is all hype, without any of the benefits.

Goodbye Black Friday. It was nice while you lasted.

Related: iPhone 3G: Apple Still Doesn’t Get The Whole Battery Thing…

Today is the 30th day from the iPhone 3G’s release, the last day from which you can still escape AT&T’s clutches without paying an ETF.

According to Cnet, internet boards, including those on Apple’s own site, are ablaze with reports of the new iPhone dropping calls left and right and generally poor 3G coverage handling and reception.  Apple and AT&T have been predictably silent.

Sounds like it’s time to return your impulse iPhone 3G purchase and hold out for the 3rd generation iPhone, or better yet, one that isn’t exclusive to AT&T and their highway-robbery iPhone pricing plans…

Walt Mossberg, perhaps the most highly respected technology writer, has written his review of the iPhone 3G, here are some excerpts:

“…There are two big hidden costs to the new iPhone’s faster speed and lower price tag. First, in my tests, the iPhone 3G’s battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks. This is an especially significant problem because, unlike most other smart phones, the iPhone has a sealed battery that can’t be replaced with a spare.

Second, Apple’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T Inc. (T), has effectively negated the iPhone’s up-front price cut by jacking up its monthly fee for unlimited data use by $10. Over the course of the two-year contract you must sign to get the lower hardware prices, that adds $240, overwhelming the $200 savings on the phone itself. If you want text messaging, the cost rises further. With the first iPhone, 200 text messages a month came free. Now, 200 messages will cost $5 a month, or another $120 over the two-year contract…

…In daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day. I overcame this problem by learning to use Wi-Fi instead of 3G whenever possible, turning down the screen brightness and even turning off 3G altogether, which the phone permits.

The iPhone 3G’s battery life is comparable to, or better than, that of some other 3G competitors. But they have replaceable batteries. The iPhone doesn’t…

…Bottom line: If you’ve been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it’s worth getting the new hardware.”

Great, another Apple product with lackluster battery life and no replaceable battery.   But don’t worry, if you just turn off the 3G you’ll be fine…

Excuse me?

The only important difference between the iPhone and iPhone 3G is just that, the 3G! (Well, and the higher rates)

I would’ve picked up the incredible Macbook Air in an instant if just it had a removable battery.  But who would buy such an expensive product meant for traveling without the ability to carry a spare battery?  Surely a company like Apple can come up with a way to fashionably design a product with a removable battery?

Regardless with the cheapest ATT iPhone 3G plan (just 450 minutes) with unlimited texting starting at a whopping $90+tax, I’d be caught in a Yankees jersey before being seen with an iPhone 3G…

As you’ve probably read, the state of New York has adopted a so-called “Amazon tax” effective 06/01.  While it is unconstitutional for states to force a company to collect sales tax on items that are being being shipped to a state in which the company has no physical presence, NY has taken the novel position that since Amazon has advertisers based in NY it is required to collect the tax.

Amazon is challenging this constitutional interpretation in court now.  The ramifications of the outcome are massive.  If Amazon fails, then without a doubt states across the nation will adopt similar online purchase taxes.

Although it was adopted in order to grab a slice of the Amazon pie, many other companies will wind up having to charge tax to New Yorkers.

Overstock.com has taken the opposite move.  They have terminated all relationships with NY based advertisers in order that they can continue to ship items to NY tax-free.  They have even had to terminate their coupons in the Entertainment book, due to fears that advertising in Entertainment would force them to charge New Yorkers sales tax!

It should be interesting to see how other companies react to the new law…

At any rate, here is the new Amazon policy:

Items Shipped to New York State
Effective June 1, 2008, Amazon.com LLC will begin collecting sales tax on items shipped to destinations within the State of New York as New York has enacted a new law requiring out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales tax based on advertising. Amazon has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this provision. However, as required by the law, we must still begin collecting New York sales tax beginning on that date.

Please note that if you place an order prior to June 1, 2008, your Order Total may not include an estimate of New York sales taxes, but those taxes may still be charged if your order is readied for shipment on or after that date.

If tax has been charged on any portion of your order and you need to take advantage of your tax exempt status, the process will differ depending on the merchant who sold the taxed items.

If the taxed items were sold by any of the following merchants, Amazon Customer Service can facilitate a refund.

• Amazon.com LLC
• Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Borders Teamed with Amazon.com, Inc.
• Target.com/ITC

If the taxed items were sold by any other merchant, please contact that merchant directly using the contact information provided in the merchant’s Contact Customer Service section.

In those cases where Amazon.com can facilitate a tax exempt refund, you will need to provide us with acceptable proof of exempt status for the state where the items will be shipped.

How to submit this information

First, place your order through our Web site. After you’ve placed your order, please submit the necessary information by fax in order to receive a refund of any sales tax. Our fax number is (206) 266-2005.

Please include the following:

• Your order number (17 digits in this format: XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX)
• E-mail address
• Acceptable proof of your exempt status (as outlined above)
• The name of the merchant who sold the items
• The name of the organization that purchased the items
• Mark your fax “Attn: Amazon Tax Exempt”

AMR announced today that in a nod to shareholders they will divest of their wholy owned subsidiary, American Eagle.

Why do I care?

As airlines start to realize that they are not being properly valued as a whole they will continue to divest units of themselves in order to unlock greater shareholder value.

I do not want to see frequent flyer programs divested.

It is said that in this era of $100 oil that the only profitable airline operation is the frequent flyer business. Credit card companies buy billions of dollars worth of miles to throw at consumers as incentive to use affinity co-branded airline credit cards. The incremental cost to the airlines is minimal, the vast majority of seats given away as mileage tickets would not have been sold anyway.

Some programs have been estimated to be worth upwards of $20 Billion, far more than the airline itself.

The problem as I see it is that airlines still view mileage programs as a way to gain customer loyalty, and for the most part are very careful to preserve its’ value.

If the program is spun off into its’ own for-profit entity, the benefits of the program will surely be eroded…

Update: If you did make an order thinking you would get 20% off here is Paypal’s CS email address to check if you qualified in time: customercare@paypal.com
You’re better off emailing than writing because then you have proof in case they promise that you’ll get the cash back and never do.  HT: Asher O.

Paypal has got to be one of the most crooked companies on this planet.

Their marriage to Ebay means that you pretty much must use them and pay their outrageous credit card processing fees when selling on Ebay. Ebay doesn’t allow you to use Google Checkout to process sales because they don’t like competition. (Especially because Google currently charges nothing to process credit cards)

Paypal has also been known to freeze your entire selling account with all of your assets in it for 6 months based on their whims.


Today, Paypal ran a promotion that I purposely didn’t cover.

Normally I have no problem covering companies that I don’t care for, especially when they run a great promo that will cost them big bucks!

At first I was getting ready to run the promotion-Then I read the ridiculous full terms and conditions.
They were purporting to offer a 20% automatic rebate (up to $50 cash back) at a variety of online stores for paying with Paypal.

The automatic rebate would show up as a credit in the user’s paypal account by 01/31/08.

They said that the promo is valid for purchases between 11/26 and 12/10 and that any participating store can be pulled at any time without notice.


Lo and behold they pulled a number of stores such as Dell, Newegg, Toys R US, and others just hours into the promo leaving users scratching their heads. The claim was that there was an “overwhelming response” to the promo.

Now everyone who bought stuff just because of the promo has no idea if they actually qualified for the promo!

There was no confirmation of promo eligibility.

If you ever want to create an obscene amount of badwill during a promotion look no further than Paypal.


Last holiday season Google ran a promotion done right. They offered $10 off every $30 order to all customers with unlimited uses. The $10 off was reflected at checkout. There were no smokescreens about receiving a possible rebate in 2 months time. There was no bait and switch with regard to stores only being eligible for a few hours. At a cost of millions of dollars Google continued to offer the promo even to existing customers throughout the holiday season.

If you ever want to create a significant amount of goodwill during a promotion look no further than Google.

Trust me, you’ll thank me later for not posting this ridiculously stupid promotion.

Maybe you didn’t notice: I’ve been on the road since early Sunday morning.

In the past I’ve always had an excuse for enjoying some precious days off from updating this website while traveling, but now I have a Palm Centro.

The Centro is the best device from Palm yet.

At first I had my reservations, the thumbpad seems to small to be usable, and the casing a little too “plasticky.” However after some use it was clear that the Centro is a winner.

It is significantly smaller and lighter than previous Treos, it actually feels like a regular phone when you’re holding it.

As far as the thumbpad-I was pleasantly surprised with how good the accuracy was.

It has a speedy processor and suffers none of the lags than plagued some previous Treo’s.

Even better: The internet speeds and push email functionality are top-notch.

The Centro has the fastest web-browsing that I have seen on a phone, and it performs flawlessly and swiftly when tethered to a laptop. (I’m talking about speeds better than the wretched AT&T DSL that I recently canceled when I finally made the switch to cable!)

Best of all: Sprint doesn’t charge me a penny to use their high-speed EV-DO data network and the push-email program and service is on the house!

Blackberry-What for?!?



As for where I was…

Sunday: In Crown Heights at the L’chaim (engagement party) of Yarden Blumstein, my chassidus chavrusa (learning partner) of 5 consecutive years!

Monday: In Monsey at the wedding of a first cousin of mine, Avigail Eleff to Ariel Fogel—Mazal Tov!
(Special kudos to Eli for the place card…lol)

Monday night was spent at the Sheraton in nearby Mahwah, NJ. This was really a beautiful hotel. It cost a whole $60 thanks to priceline, and they gave me a sweet Starwood Gold upgraded suite on the club level just for the asking!

Finally, thanks to Sruly Kotlarsky for the tip to dine at the Purple Pear in Monsey yesterday-I can heartily recommend it!

There’s no wonder airline CEO’s want consolidation. Mergers lead to less competition, fewer seats, and higher prices.
They also mean less pressure to maintain the value of their miles.
Here’s a quick look at America’s “Big 6″ carriers merger prospects:
Airlines are listed in order of size.


AA: Likely to look for a merger partner only in response to another merger or to break up a merger. Very likely to try to block any mega-mergers via anti-trust pressure.

Main Hubs: Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Miami (MIA)

Primary aircraft manufacturer: Boeing

Alliance: OneWorld.

Key strengths: World’s largest airline. AAdvantage is the first, the largest, and arguably the most generous frequent flyer program in the world.

Most likely partners: Continental, Delta.


United: Desperately seeking a partner since emerging from bankruptcy. CEO Glenn Tilton is the industry’s biggest proponents of consolidation.

Main Hubs: Chicago (ORD), Denver (DEN), Los Angeles (LAX), S. Francisco (SFO), Washington D.C. (IAD)

Primary aircraft manufacturer: Airbus and Boeing

Alliance: Star Alliance.

Key strengths: Trans-Pacific presence. Mileage Plus is right behind AAdvantage in terms of worth/size.

Most likely partners: Anyone!

Delta: Investors are pressuring to look for merger candidates.

Main Hubs: Altanta (ATL), Cincinnati (CVG), NYC (JFK), Salt Lake City (SLC)

Primary aircraft manufacturer: Boeing

Alliance: SkyTeam.

Key strength: Trans-Atlantic presence.

Most likely partners: AA, Continental, Northwest.


Continental: Northwest own a “golden share” of Continental that means Northwest will have to approve any Continental merger move that requires shareholder approval.

Main Hubs: Cleveland (CLE), Houston (IAH), Newark (EWR)

Primary aircraft manufacturer: Boeing

Alliance: SkyTeam.

Key strengths: Trans-Atlantic presence. NY area hub with full domestic/international network.

Most likely partners: AA, Delta, Northwest.


Northwest: Worst labor relationships in the industry, considered a last-resort partner by other airlines.

Main Hubs: Detroit (DTW), Minneapolis (MSP), Memphis (MEM)

Primary aircraft manufacturer: Airbus and Boeing

Alliance: SkyTeam.

Key strength: Trans-Pacific presence.

Most likely partners: Continental, Delta, United.


USAirways: Still struggling to overcome effects of the American West-USAirways merger.

Main Hubs: Charlotte (CLT), Las Vegas (LAS), Philadelphia (LAX), Phoenix (PHX)

Primary aircraft manufacturer: Airbus and Boeing.

Alliance: Star Alliance.

Key strengths: —

Most likely partners: United.

Post from November 16th, 2006’s Merger Rumor de jour Linky
I predicted then that USAirways’ $8,000,000,000 buyout would fall through.  I don’t recall, but seemingly I also had a lot of fun going through the hypotheticals of the merger…

The differences today?

-Gerald Grinstein, a major proponent of a standalone Delta, is no longer CEO.
-The buyout partner isn’t some two-bit airline, but one of the largest in the world.
-$100 oil is a reality, and not a distant nightmare.

I don’t know if Delta will merge with United, (even if they wanted to, the anti-trust pressures of creating the world’s largest airline would be massive) but it seems that here is a lot of internal and external pressure for market consolidation…and market consolidation is rarely ever good news for the consumer.

How many times have you called a company twice and gotten 2 different answers?

It happens to me all the time.

If I get a CS rep that doesn’t know what they are talking about, I’ll just hang up and keep trying until I get someone more knowledgeable.

Why can’t companies spend the money to educate their CS agents???

At any rate, here is an excellent example of clueless CS reps just making stuff up at Verizon Wireless.

56 phone calls, 56 different answers.

Just 1 out of 56 reps gave the correct answer to both questions asked.

Am I surprised? Not in the slightest.

Bottom Line: Take anything a CS agent tells you with a huge grain of salt-because it’s probably wrong!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdKwRdWocco[/youtube]

Non-baseball fans, feel free to skip this post, there’s no need for nasty comments as I won’t publish them.


Preface: For some great “Manny Being Manny” stories, check out his wikipedia entry’s section on it…

The Cleveland Indians are a win away from sending Boston home and advancing to the World Series.

During game 4 after the Tribe played an incredible 7 run, bottom of the 5th inning, the BoSox came alive as Youkilis and Big Papi homered.

Then Manny knocked one out of the Jake. (Fast-Forward to -0:20 to watch his celebration)

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-Y6sGYv78[/youtube]

The national media, as well as Beantown and Cleveland fans, united in criticizing Manny Ramirez for “preening” and “admiring it for a few seconds like a golfer watching a 70-foot putt heading into the hole.” You just don’t do that when you’re still losing 7-3 and about to fall behind 3 games to 1.

Here’s one excuse suggested by a fan from Red Sox Nation,
“When Manny went deep, my first thought was, ‘Quit posing, Manny, we’re still down 7-3.’ Then it dawned on me that Manny probably had no idea what the score was. In fact, he probably isn’t aware that baseball games are determined by which team scores more runs.”

Ouch.

Today, Manny got himself into more trouble when he was asked about the possibility of losing the series,

“It doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”


He has my forgiveness, and the reason for that takes me for a trip down memory lane…

Manny played 8 great years with the Tribe, but what I’ll always remember will be the encounter I had with him as a 10 year old at the Westin Harbour Castle (No, we weren’t there to get Starwood points, it’s simply the hotel that the Indians stay at when playing the Blue Jays!) in Toronto in August of 1995.

My brother (age 8 at the time) and I were having the time of our lives getting signatures from the players of the excellent, World-Series bound team. We had gotten everyone’s John Hancock except Albert Belle, (He was really mean and actually screamed at us for having the chutzpah to ask for a autograph) Eddie Murray, (Who simply ignored us) and Manny (Who we somehow hadn’t bumped into)

Retrospectively, perhaps many of the players were so nice to us because they were together with their families for that series…

We had some interesting neighbors, on our left was Jim Thome, who was quite friendly, and on our right was Jim Poole, whom I hated and had already nicknamed “the nightmare on the mound.” (He would go on to give up the only run scored in the 6th and final game of the ‘95 World Series against the Braves.)

On the day of the last game we were in the elevator about to go up to our room when a guy calls out to hold the elevator. Well, not just any guy, as soon as we pushed the “open door” button we realized that the man who just walked in was none other than the 23 year old Man-Ram himself. We shyly asked him for his autograph, which he readily gave to us. Then he asked, “So, do you guys have tickets to the game tonight?” We actually didn’t have enough tickets for the whole family, so we told him that we didn’t. “Well, let me take down your name and I’ll leave 6 tickets for you at the box office.” He came through and our whole family was able to enjoy the game, courtesy of the “Baby Bull.”

Pure class.

So, Manny, for all I care you can act all you want when you go yard. Just don’t beat us, OK?

As much as I hate to harp on Pittsburgh’s high quality press, this journalism faux pas just can’t be overlooked.

Back on June 27th some loyal Pittsburgh readers alerted me to a Post-Gazette article about an absolutely incredible Jetblue promotion, which I and many others were able to take advantage of.

At the time I cautioned that the newspaper had goofed and neglected to give the real way to receive the free ticket:


“ That article just says that you get a free ticket by booking on Jetblue.com-it neglects to mention that you NEED TO REGISTER FIRST, or even how to register!
(Insert Pittsburgh newspaper joke here…) ”


This Sunday Dan Fitzpatrick, who wrote the original article, wrote a follow-up article for the Post-Gazette entitled, “Confusion over 2-for-1 offer frustrates JetBlue customers.”

Mr. Fitzpatrick, who never even clearly ponies up to writing the original misleading article, chooses to insert choice quotes from the locals regarding Jetblue such as, “They certainly haven’t gained my loyalty.”

Hey Dan-It was your poor reporting that caused all of the problems.
Go back to your editors and have them work with Jetblue to rectify the issue!

Thanks Marty C. for the heads-up…

Back in May Palm announced the launch of a laptop like device called the Folio.

At the time I wrote a highly critical preview of the device.

Yesterday Palm announced that they are cancelling the device, just as it as was due to ship out.

Kudos to them for realizing the folly of their ways, and here’s hoping to see some actual innovation from the once great company…

Arieh Raichman, a good friend of mine, got engaged today (Mazal Tov!!!) and had his L’Chaim (engagement party) in New York.

So, I did what any 18-22 year old from Cleveland that wants to travel at the last-minute to NYC would do, I checked availability with Airtran U.

The Airtran U program (formerly known as X-fares) allows any 18-22 year old to fly standby without a ticket for just $69 each way as long as there is a seat on the plane.

So, I confirmed that there were plenty of seats to La Guardia(LGA) tonight and back tomorrow morning, checked that the flight was on-time, and took off on the 50 mile drive to Akron-Canton Airport. (Being a LCC (low-cost carrier) Airtran keeps costs down by flying from secondary airports, like Akron-Canton(CAK) instead of Cleveland(CLE). Mind you, being able to park 10 feet from the terminal and the free wi-fi make up for part of the hassle)

Unfortunately, when I arrived at the airport the check-in agent informed me that the flight was delayed.

“How delayed are we talking about-When will I actually arrive at LGA?”

“Well, the arriving flight hasn’t yet left Atlanta due to thunderstorms, so it’ll be however long it takes for them to get cleared for takeoff, and then a couple hours for that flight to get here, plus about half an hour to turn the flight around, and then another hour and a half to get to LGA, barring any holding patterns from air traffic control there…”

Great, so by the time I actually do make it to LGA, it will be about time to fly back to CAK.

Taking the cue from above that it just wasn’t meant to be, I decided to cut my losses and drive home.

My question here is twofold, and it does not only apply to Airtran, it applies to all carriers. (Just read this USAToday article on the state of USeless Airways’ performance)

1. Why couldn’t Airtran have updated the flight status for CAK-LGA as soon as they knew about the storms in ATL?

2. Considering that many delays are due to late-arriving aircraft, why can’t every airline’s website tell you the flight number for the arriving aircraft, so that you can have a better idea of what the real situation is?  I do not know of a single airline website that has that capability.

The iPhone must be the most overhyped piece of technology in the history of mankind.

It launches in stores and online (click on the pictures for the online store link) at 6pm today and promises to ring up huge day one sales.
Then again, the overpriced Playstation 3 also rang up insane sales on its first day and is now rotting on store shelves.

Apple’s stock price has gone up by over 40% since the iPhone’s unveiling, adding 34 BILLION DOLLARS to their market cap!

If sales in the coming weeks don’t match expectations, AAPL may very well come tumbling down.

All this for a phone that:

-Will only be featured on a single US carrier.

-Claims to be a “widescreen ipod”, yet only has a fraction of the memory found in a regular ipod, and does not allow for memory cards.

-Claims to be a “revolutionary phone”, but doesn’t even have a removable battery. That means no spares, and it means that once the life-cycle of the battery comes and goes and it no longer holds a charge, you’re up a creek without a paddle!

-Claims to be a “breakthrough internet device”, yet it runs on the archaic and VERY SLOW 2nd Generation (EDGE) data network. The New York Times reported that just to load yahoo.com took a full 2 minutes. “You almost ache for a dial-up modem.” The iPhone will not be able to be upgraded to a faster, more recent, data network. (Yes, it has wi-fi, but if you are in a wi-fi hotspot, wouldn’t you be using a laptop to be surfing the web? It’s when you leave the hotspot’s that you need fast internet on your phone!)

-Lacks a physical hard keypad for dialing/typing.

-Will require a 2 year contract, yet at $500-$600, will cost more than a top of the line ipod and smartphone together!

In my opinion the iPhone is THE “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

I could very possibly be dead wrong and have to eat my words, but I think that Steve Jobs has finally “jumped the shark”…