Mainstream Corporate Scam Artists

In Seattle recently we got a car at Hertz. I had a prepaid package deal and after saying no to the optional insurance, I was offered gas fill up for the car for $2.91 per gallon. (I'd just been in LA where the gas was about $3.45/gallon, but didn't think that Hertz would give me a great deal and figured it would be cheaper outside the airport and said no.) If I didn't take this option, they'd top off the car at $6.99/gallon. When we got out on the road, gas was around $2.99 and I thought, hmmmm, maybe I should have gotten that. Until my daughter said that at $2.99 I needed to bring the car in empty because they'd charge for a full tank. That certainly wasn't clear at the counter. And one would have to work really hard to bring it in totally empty. And why $6.99 to top it off? That's more than 100% surcharge.

It used to be that there were reputable businesses that treated their customers with some level of respect and then there were scam artists. And while there were gradations, there was something of a gulf between the two. The first basically let you know the terms and conditions of a transaction and if there was a problem they would make a correction. Of course, businesses always were out to make a profit, but many in the past had some level of integrity (shame?) that kept them reasonably fair with customers. There still are some places like that - Nordstrom and Costco come quickly to mind. You can bring products back, no questions asked. The scam artists were like the guys who'd offer to resurface your driveway cheap because they were "in the neighborhood and had some hot asphalt leftover we need to use up." But all they did was paint it black and when it rained the scam would be revealed.

But nowadays we have mainstream, well known companies that act like scam artists making you guess which shell hides the pea. Either the rules are so complicated that few people actually read them or they offer you 'deals' that turn out to cost far more than you expected. Like the gas scheme at Hertz. Or like phone companies with all those free minutes, that suddenly become outrageously expensive when you go over the limit or out of the area. Or they set up arbitrary fees such as the ridiculously expensive late fees many credit card companies charge.

These aren't customer friendly. They are purposely devised to trick people into behaviors that will cost them much more than they were expecting to spend. And banks and phone companies, the sorts of formerly mainstream businesses that used to be reputable, are scamming customers with legal sleight of hand too. Why?

Some thoughts here, and maybe you have some other explanations:

1. Corporate mergers and concentration have had several affects here:
----First, there is much more focus on the bottom line and pressure to find ways to squeeze out more profits

----Formerly locally owned businesses answer to some distant headquarters, that don't have local accountability

----Large trade associations heavily lobby legislatures and government agencies to get rid of any consumer oversight or regulations

----The concentration of ownership means there is less competition and consumers have fewer choices (One might argue that there are lots of choices for credit cards arriving in the mailbox daily. But the hype ("0% Interest") is highly misleading and the small print is impossible without reading glasses not to mention a law degree and an extra hour a day. And once you have a credit card, they can change any of the conditions they want and it's take it or leave it.)

2. Consumers are not taking their responsibilities to be savvy shoppers.
----They are too lazy or too tired to shop around. (The internet usually gives me several choices, of say, decent car rental places that charge a half or a third of the Hertz' and Avis'.)

----They just can't say no. We do have the option to not buy on their conditions. We can shop around or even do without. When we stop accepting these outrageous conditions, the companies will respond with better options. Though it is hard to not have a credit card if you want to buy an airplane ticket or rent a car, so in many ways not having a credit card is like not having a car. You can do it in today's world, but not easily.


Even with the influence business has today on legislative bodies at the state and national levels, we can be more intelligent consumers. The market does work if consumers are discriminating. Though the outrageous bilking of the consumer raises serious questions about the fundamental assumption of market economics - the so called 'rational man.'

Some places that offer more information on these things:

Credit Card Nationis a book by Dr. Robert Manning which examines how credit card companies prey on cardholders and would-be card holders.


Justice Talkinghad a show yesterday on consumer debt that discusses many of these issues, including how the poor are especially hard hit by check cashing stores.


An Unreasonable Man, the movie on Ralph Nader's long consumer advocacy reminds us that large corporations have always gone for profit over consumer safety.

Midnight Soapscum: PORN!

Mad Myrna's website explains






Midnight Soapscum this way:

"This is a live action soap opera with a new episode going up every two weeks. Come find out what straight boy Rex and Gay boy Basil are going to do when the evil Oleg Smirnov and his dreaded mother get the addicted to drugs and force them to work in the Porn Industry!!!!"

Christian, a former student of mine, and the director, writer, and an actor in the play, told me it was going to be a comedic look at the porn industry. We missed the first two episodes, but episode 3 was fun, Though any commentary on the porn industry was pretty light. The actors were great and we had a good time.

Meetup.com hike

I've been getting emails from Doug about joining an outdoor meetup group online. So I checked it out and decided to take advantage of someone organizing a hike while Joan was at Tai Chi this morning. Another great use of the internet to get people with similar interests to meet. This got me out into the woods for an eight mile hike from Rainbow to Potter Marsh. Lots of snow and some ice still. Wet feet at the end. Thanks Doug.





























We even had a photographer from the Anchorage Daily News come part way to take a picture. Reminded me of how the media shapes the news to fit their needs for a good photo. Would we have taken a group picture without him? I don't think so. In this case it isn't a big deal, but in other cases the picture (even if not set up by the media) tells their story of the event.

And we even had some blue sky for a bit.

Travelodge Basics - Face, Body, Hair

In this age of increasingly frou-frou hotel toiletries, Travelodge is refreshingly straighforward and unpretentious.

American Jewish World Service in Thailand

Although we are back, I'm still processing through some of the Thai photos and will include some Thailand posts for a while.


Looking to the future, I had surfed various international volunteer websites and saw that the American Jewish World Service had various projects in India and Thailand. I wasn't able to meet any of the volunteers while we were in India in November (though I had some email contact and one good phone conversation). But in Chiengmai, I got to meet the four volunteers there at the time as well as the Thai coordinator.

Mike had just arrived a week earlier, but he was already involved in the Thai non-profit he was matched with, working to develop an organic market where organic farmers could sell there stuff. He's an interesting guy who has an MBA, worked in corporate America in New York, and has traveled widely. While he speaks Arabic, he's now working on his Thai. We had dinner with him at a middle eastern restaurant in the Chiengmai night bazaar and talked about all sorts of things. A couple nights later the whole group had a dinner and we were invited too.


Grib, on the left, is the Thai coordinator of the program. She also is involved with programs involving Burmese refugees, so during the dinner I called Somprasong in Umphang and let them talk about what they are both doing. Nick, whose been in Chiengmai about eight months, is teaching photography and working with a group that promotes community theater - for both traditional and more contemporary work. As I understand, it involves the communities developing their own productions and including issues facing the community such as health and other issues. He's getting connected with a whole network of groups and sounded really into his work. I'm not doing it justice here at all. Since he teaches photography, we did have a discussion about teaching photography in the digital age. We agreed on preferring natural light to flash, even if it results in a little 'action' (otherwise known as blur) as you can see in these evening shots.


Emily and Shana were both getting ready to leave after about a year in Chiengmai. I wasn't taking notes, and it's been a couple of weeks, so I may get the details mixed up a bit, I think the general idea will be right. Shanna has been teaching English to Burmese refugee women and generally helping them to adjust and find jobs. Emily was working with a similar organization and monitoring women who were interning in jobs. She was disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to see the next round of internships. Both had very mixed feelings about leaving; they were really involved in the work they were doing and it seemed that one or both might be back in Chiengmai before too long.

If these volunteers and Krib are representative of the AJWS program, it looks pretty good.

Vote Here

We made it back to Anchorage in time to vote today. But ever since they moved our polling place from the Fire Station to the church across the street, I always feel a little funny voting. The first time I voted at the church, you walked into the building and the inside doors to the sanctuary were open and you looked right at Jesus Christ. For Christians, that might be reassuring, for non-Christians, at least for me, it is disconcerting to have Jesus and voting so closely linked. What about people from religions that don't allow them to go into other houses of worship? I know some Christians might be scratching their heads and saying, "What's with this guy? He's really sensitive." But I think about all the letters to the editors from "Christians" who complain that they are under attack, so maybe they can understand how it feels, even if they can't understand why I feel that way. I can't understand their complaint either. From my perspective, every President of the United States has, at least nominally, been a Christian. Our current President has been strongly advocated for Christian values and giving government funds to Christian churches for various programs. All the pillars of power in the US - the military, business, elected officials - are heavily dominated by Christians. So, if Christians can feel persecuted in that environment, imagine how Jews or Moslems or Buddhists feel when they have to vote in a church.

Any way, we're back after a long trip. There was frost on the car in Seattle this morning. And the temperature here in Anchorage wasn't much different from when we left February 10 (low 30s). But, according to the cab driver today (as well as emails while we were away) it's been very cold since we left, and it only got back above freezing the other day. The Canada geese are due around April 6 or 7. I wonder if they've been reading the weather reports.

Almost Home ~ Seattle

One last stop before Anchorage.






Passing by Ranier















Banking over downtown.











Cherry trees at UW.













And finally at the dog park.

Thai Designer

Pranee Sullivan was someone we met at the breakfast buffet at the IBIS hotel in Bangkok. She's a Thai married to an American, living in a small northern town in Japan. We found her delightful and enjoyed having breakfast with her. Her website Exclusive Thai Decor needs some updating, but it's a starting point for someone who wants some Thai accents in their house or office.

LA Changing Houses

We've made it to LA. Staying at my mom's before stopping in Seattle to see the kids on the way home next week.Took my; camera on today's run and here are some pictures of how this 1950's subdivision is changing as the old houses are being remodeled or totally demolished and replaced.
First a few of the houses that are basically like they were built. But imagine the trees as little saplings. And yes, we are getting really blue sky for the first time since we left.

























































And here are the newer versions. Note - this is a hilly neighborhood, so the ones that look like they are tilting are my fault with the shots.

Peace Corps Thailand 45th Anniversary Part 2

Here are a few pictures of the 45th Anniversary of Peace Corps Thailand.




This picture was taken Saturday night at the Peace Corps office. This is the same building that has been the office since the 80s near Krung Thai Bridge. But where you used to be able to freely wander in and out, now the entrance is blocked by a small security building you need to go through. There is also a recently completed new building that houses, among other things, a library, computers and internet access, and showers for visiting volunteers.





The ceremonial parts were held at the Erawan Hotel which is now a very fancy Hyatt Grand. Back in the day, as I recall, it was an elegant old dowager of a two story hotel with a wonderful restaurant at the swimming pool that was reasonable enough that even Peace Corps volunteers could occasionally eat lunch there.


Joe Hye, as you can tell from his yellow jacket, is one of the new Group 119 inductees. He's from St. Louis and headed for Trang Province.






Jim Lehman was the only other Group 19 member (my group). Of course, for anyone who knows Jim, it is redundant to say "here is Jim talking.' I don't remember all the posts Jim has had since Peace Corps, but he worked for Peace Corps or AID most of his career, including being Director of Nepal and Sri Lanka. He was the volunteer in Maesod and has agreed to help Somprasong get a Peace Corps volunteer for his school in Umphang, which is down the road from Maesod.








Pam was a teacher volunteer in the 60s and went on to teach at Cal State Sacramento for 30 years.




John Robertson is the new volunteer from Anchorage.




We've been experimenting with Joan's new digital audio recorder and so I didn't write everyone's name down. But I discovered that I pushed the record/pause button instead of the record button for a few of these. So I don't have all the names. This guy is from Group 117 and is getting ready to head home.