Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[Kak]

Sales are really picking up. Another biz is dropshipping my product and had 5 sales last night.
Absolutely fantastic, the problem is I can't keep up with shipping!

Also, their shipping is only $10 through Shopify for my product but when I ship it, it's usually over $20?!?

Knowing what your product is, you really should check out fedex smart post. It’s going to save you at least a bit.

Get all the discounts and shit too. Make sure you use an Amex and have a fedex account and look up all the other permanent discounts you can get.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

Knowing what your product is, you really should check out fedex smart post. It’s going to save you at least a bit.

Get all the discounts and shit too. Make sure you use an Amex and have a fedex account and look up all the other permanent discounts you can get.

thanks for the tip, I've never heard of Fedex Smart Post before. I'm going to set up an account.

Been needing to find a good solution for commercial shipping (I hate waiting in line at the post office with 3 or 4 boxes)

 

[Kak]

thanks for the tip, I've never heard of Fedex Smart Post before. I'm going to set up an account.

Been needing to find a good solution for commercial shipping (I hate waiting in line at the post office with 3 or 4 boxes)

Oh damn dude. Get a DYMO and never look back. I don’t even have an e-commerce business anymore and I can’t live without one. They’re not like a normal printer they actually last forever.

Free USPS shipping software | Pirate Ship this is my favorite for shipping USPS. You’ll still want it for US territories.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Oh damn dude. Get a DYMO and never look back. I don’t even have an e-commerce business anymore and I can’t live without one. They’re not like a normal printer they actually last forever.

Free USPS shipping software | Pirate Ship this is my favorite for shipping USPS. You’ll still want it for US territories.

Yeah my issue isn't necessarily getting the label (although I pay too much when doing retail shipping prices).

The issue is waiting in line because my product is too big for the drop off box.

 

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[Deleted78083]

Anyone heard of Poparazzi? It's the new hype.


Instead of taking pictures of yourself, you take pics of your friends and have them take pics of you.

Then you post yours, and they post them.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

Ah, LinkedIn. This post reads like a computer wrote it.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

Can any SEO experts weigh in on what happened with this website? This is from SEMRush, and this website went from having 60K organic keywords to 4K in 2 months.

Bad data from SEMRush? Or malarkey by the website?

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

Ah, LinkedIn. This post reads like a computer wrote it.

View attachment 38261

Lmao at any moron who is okay with “vaccine passports” but thinks an ID to verify who you are when voting is a horrible thing.

Sheep working with the butcher honestly

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1400092805557522436

View: https://twitter.com/basedizzyy/status/1400092805557522436

 

[Deleted78083]

Today I received an email entitled "Diversity and inclusion events!...and vaccination update".

All of the things I love most in life!!!

 

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[Mathuin]

The Scripted Nightmare

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

"unruly behavior" = Stalinist euphemism for the proles refusing to wear masks

People who make a virtue out of mindlessly following rules are traitors.

 

[Kid]

No need to put on a tinfoil hat. Spain is broke. They have the worst debt-to-GDP ratio since 1902 and it continues climbing:

View attachment 38240

source: La deuda pública en España no para de crecer y se sitúa en máximos de 118 años tras superar el 117% del PIB

Someone wrote that Spanish people are mostly anti-capitalistic.
Anyone who is entrepreneur or businessman is frown at
by community.

So debt seems to be effect of "we want money, but we don't want anyone to create jobs" mentality.

Maybe they'll be next to default in EU.

 

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[Kid]

Anyone heard of Poparazzi? It's the new hype.


Instead of taking pictures of yourself, you take pics of your friends and have them take pics of you.

Then you post yours, and they post them.

- So, how do you call your friends nowadays?
- Autonomous selfie sticks.

 

[Deleted78083]

Lmao at any moron who is okay with “vaccine passports” but thinks an ID to verify who you are when voting is a horrible thing.

Sheep working with the butcher honestly

Ideology. Everything is ideology nowadays.

Someone wrote that Spanish people are mostly anti-capitalistic.
Anyone who is entrepreneur or businessman is frown at
by community.

So debt seems to be effect of "we want money, but we don't want anyone to create jobs" mentality.

Maybe they'll be next to default in EU.

Yes, it is true, but it is a cultural problem.

Have you ever seen how Spanish people lead their lives?

The individual does not exist. They're always moving in groups, go to the supermarket in groups, study in groups, and live and work in groups. They can't stand being alone. Litterally.

The problem is that groups foster "the average effect" where anyone moving up or down is quickly put back in the middle. That makes it difficult to make time for creating businesses, or even thinking about creating a different life since this requires you to think for yourself, which is impossible.

Shame, because they are hard-working people. I'd say they work much harder than we do. But they work for 8 euros/hour, instead of 500/hour.

I will always remember one of my Spanish friends telling me "we want to work, but there are no jobs".

I think it encapsulates very well the Spanish mindset.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

"Warner Bros. Discovery Will Be Name of Media Colossus Formed in Merger -- Update
3:13 PM ET 6/1/21 | Dow Jones
By Benjamin Mullin

The merger of AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia unit with Discovery Inc. won't be completed until next year, but the new company already has a name: Warner Bros. Discovery."

Good grief... The media is only getting more and more centralized and controlled.

We basically have "State Run News" already

 

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[Kid]

Yes, it is true, but it is a cultural problem.

Have you ever seen how Spanish people lead their lives?

The individual does not exist. They're always moving in groups, go to the supermarket in groups, study in groups, and live and work in groups. They can't stand being alone. Litterally.

The problem is that groups foster "the average effect" where anyone moving up or down is quickly put back in the middle. That makes it difficult to make time for creating businesses, or even thinking about creating a different life since this requires you to think for yourself, which is impossible.

Shame, because they are hard-working people. I'd say they work much harder than we do. But they work for 8 euros/hour, instead of 500/hour.

I will always remember one of my Spanish friends telling me "we want to work, but there are no jobs".

I think it encapsulates very well the Spanish mindset.

Very good points! Didn't know there's "that bad" in Spain.

Your post might throw a light on why US was/is so successful - namely the cult of individual they foster.

It's like states or other more developed countries know that if they want something
then someone has to do it and be rewarded for it adequately.

 

[Deleted78083]

"Warner Bros. Discovery Will Be Name of Media Colossus Formed in Merger -- Update
3:13 PM ET 6/1/21 | Dow Jones
By Benjamin Mullin

The merger of AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia unit with Discovery Inc. won't be completed until next year, but the new company already has a name: Warner Bros. Discovery."

Good grief... The media is only getting more and more centralized and controlled.

We basically have "State Run News" already

In the 22 immutable laws of marketing, the authors explain that the fate of any industry is to be dominated by two giant companies eventually.

But i do not think it's right. Drawing on Peter Thiel's insights, categories become dominated by...one company onlt. Apple has no competitors. Google either. Ikea either. Volkswagen is the only one that makes Golf, and Lamborghini is the only one that makes Aventador.

Coca-Cola is the only one to make Coca-Cola.

Very good points! Didn't know there's "that bad" in Spain.

Your post might throw a light on why US was/is so successful - namely the cult of individual they foster.

It's like states or other more developed countries know that if they want something
then someone has to do it and be rewarded for it adequately.

Ok I LOVE talking about this, I'll try to be short.

What you said about individualism = success is not only true in the US. This is true for many other cultures, such as like in Scandinavia (or in China).

Let's go back a few centuries.

The catholic church was hyper-centralized in Europe. It suited well the countries from the south, whose culture was already very centralized (the importance of family, hierarchies, and blablabla). If you ask me, I would answer it is probably due to the weather.

But centralization didn't suit colder countries. So when Calvinism and Lutherism spread, their ideas of decentralization appeared much more appealing.

Protestantism was born (Protestantism was all about telling people "the church is lying to you, read the bible and conclude whatever you want out of it, don't trust anyone else but yourself").

And so these northern cultures, which were already quite individualistic (probably due to the weather) became even more so.

But make no mistake! The type of individualism you see in Scandinavia is different than in the US. In Scandinavia, you work for yourself and do your own shit, sure, but you do so with the wellbeing of the group in mind. The idea is "if I am strong, and everyone else is strong, we will all be stronger". As such, these cultures are very oriented towards respecting other people (which may not make sense at first), a bit like in Japan.

A fundamental idea that sets Scandinavia apart is that everyone must take care of themselves first. I like to compare it with taking the plane. When you take the plane, they explain you you should put your own mask first, so that you can help others. You need to be strong if you want to help the weak.

Scandinavians operate within this logic. They maximize the wealth of society while minimizing the weight they may have on society.

The incentives to work over there are the following:

1. I need to work for myself to be prosperous
2. I need to work so that I am not a dead weight on society.

The second condition is what enables them to have such a generous social system: people don't abuse it.

It's some sort of individualistic socialism. It's a weird mix, but probably the best that there is.

This is not the case in the US, where individualistic individualism prevails. It's all about "if I succeed, then I take it all, and f*ck everyone else". This is what explains the social-economic inequalities....and the level of innovation and dynamism in the country. The incentives in the US, are the following:

1. No one will take care of me if I do nothing.
2. I will ripe the fruits of my work if I do something.

These incentives force people to give their best. Since they must work to survive, might as well work really hard for 5-10 years then retire.

In Belgium, the incentives are as follow:

1. I need to work for myself to be prosperous.
2. If I rely on society, I won't likely have enough to survive.

There isn't the similar care towards the system that exists in Scandinavia. As a result, the social system in Belgium is bankrupt.

In Spain, the incentives would be the following:

1. I want to do something that I like with people that I like because I like feeling good. What time is the party tonight?
2. I should do what my friends and family expect me to do so that I make them happy, because seeing them happy makes me happy, and I want to be happy and feel good.

The idea of being rich or prosperous does not cross people's mind. Somehow, they're not interested in that.

If you ask me why, it's probably because being rich wouldn't add so much to their lives. Life is pretty good already. They have amazing weather, great nature, people are nice, food and music are good, and the national sports team often wins competitions.

Why would you do so much efforts? To have a bigger house?

Meh.

I could talk about this for hours.

The important thing to highlight is this: what do you think happens when a culture which is not work-oriented (south of Italy, Sicily, Corsica, Bulgaria, Fiji, Samoa, etc) ends up in a system like in Scandinavia?

I'll stop here ; )

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

In the 22 immutable laws of marketing, the authors explain that the fate of any industry is to be dominated by two giant companies eventually.

But i do not think it's right. Drawing on Peter Thiel's insights, categories become dominated by...one company onlt. Apple has no competitors. Google either. Ikea either. Volkswagen is the only one that makes Golf, and Lamborghini is the only one that makes Aventador.

Coca-Cola is the only one to make Coca-Cola.

That's kind of silly though because you're acting like those products are so much better than all the alternatives.

In my opinion - they simply aren't!

Coca-cola is everywhere. That's their advantage.

I don't care if you give me a coke or a pepsi, or a walmart brand. I'm usually drinking diet anyway.

Lamborghinis? Shit, there are numerous exotic car brands - take your pick. If you buy a sports car for more than $200,000, it's going to be awesome in my opinion.

Apple? Well, they have quite the monopoly too, but of course there are other smartphones, computers, and laptops.

Google? Yup, there are alternatives that are just as good - they just don't control as much.

Basically every company you mentioned has a monopoly and maintains it by stifling and blocking competition.

They aren't the "best" - they're just the biggest. And they maintain their status through acquisitions and very careful maneouvers that force customers (and vendors) to buy, use, stock, or adhere to their products.

It's genius. But nah, it's not a real "productocracy" after some point.

 

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[Deleted78083]

That's kind of silly though because you're acting like those products are so much better than all the alternatives.

In my opinion - they simply aren't!

Coca-cola is everywhere. That's their advantage.

I don't care if you give me a coke or a pepsi, or a walmart brand. I'm usually drinking diet anyway.

Lamborghinis? Shit, there are numerous exotic car brands - take your pick. If you buy a sports car for more than $200,000, it's going to be awesome in my opinion.

Apple? Well, they have quite the monopoly too, but of course there are other smartphones, computers, and laptops.

Google? Yup, there are alternatives that are just as good - they just don't control as much.

Basically every company you mentioned has a monopoly and maintains it by stifling and blocking competition.

They aren't the "best" - they're just the biggest. And they maintain their status through acquisitions and very careful maneouvers that force customers (and vendors) to buy, use, stock, or adhere to their products.

It's genius. But nah, it's not a real "productocracy" after some point.

Not at all.

I didn't say these products were good, nor the best, nor whatever else.

Just said they had the monopoly on what they were doing and that every industry did not transform into a two-horse race like they said in the book, but was in fact eventually monopolized.

That's all I said.

 

[Kak]

"unruly behavior" = Stalinist euphemism for the proles refusing to wear masks

People who make a virtue out of mindlessly following rules are traitors.

View attachment 38273

I didn't even know you could order more than one or two drinks on a flight... Now that they're taking it away from me, I'm pissed.

If I can think of one place, in the entire world, that I would be delighted to drink enough to barely walk, that would be a God forsaken airplane. I never feel more poor and less free than when cramming in next to smelly strangers for hours and being ordered around by rude $30k per year employees like I am livestock.

This Is What Your Flight Looked Like In The Fifties

This Is What Your Flight Looked Like In The Fifties

www.huffpost.com

 

[Kak]

That's kind of silly though because you're acting like those products are so much better than all the alternatives.

In my opinion - they simply aren't!

Coca-cola is everywhere. That's their advantage.

I don't care if you give me a coke or a pepsi, or a walmart brand. I'm usually drinking diet anyway.

Lamborghinis? Shit, there are numerous exotic car brands - take your pick. If you buy a sports car for more than $200,000, it's going to be awesome in my opinion.

Apple? Well, they have quite the monopoly too, but of course there are other smartphones, computers, and laptops.

Google? Yup, there are alternatives that are just as good - they just don't control as much.

Basically every company you mentioned has a monopoly and maintains it by stifling and blocking competition.

They aren't the "best" - they're just the biggest. And they maintain their status through acquisitions and very careful maneouvers that force customers (and vendors) to buy, use, stock, or adhere to their products.

It's genius. But nah, it's not a real "productocracy" after some point.

There's really no such thing as a private sector or economic monopoly as it is a temporary condition. People with short attention spans are the ones that think no one will ever challenge Apple's, Google's or whomever's dominance. When decisions, by companies, are conducted by choice, there is always exposure to their dominance.

What you are experiencing right now with Apple and Google are products so good, and inexpensive relative to viable alternatives, that companies haven't bothered challenging them. It will happen when there is more legitimate opportunity to the challenger.

NOW, political monopolies are real AF. They are, at their core, held up by force. Utility monopolies are a big one. Government contracts drive a lot of monopolistic behavior. The funny thing is the government gets to pick and choose which monopolies are for the greater good (a euphemism for good for themselves and won't cause ruckus with their subjects) and calling things that aren't monopolies, monopolies, to appease some modern appetite for blood lust.

 

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[Mathuin]

If I can think of one place, in the entire world, that I would be delighted to drink enough to barely walk, that would be a God forsaken airplane. I never feel more poor and less free than when cramming in next to smelly strangers for hours and being ordered around by rude $30k per year employees like I am livestock.

Yet another reason why you need a Jet!

 

[Mathuin]

There's really no such thing as a private sector or economic monopoly as it is a temporary condition.

Idk man Netscape and Internet Explorer are still pretty dominant! /s

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1400196609590267904

View: https://twitter.com/BlackPopeVice/status/1400196609590267904

 

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[Madame Peccato]

It's ok, Italy doesn't let people buy guns without the person getting a license first. Which costs money and takes a while to get.

Meanwhile the mafia walks into your shop, points a gun at you, and shoots you in the leg if you don't pay the ransom. Every month.

I'll tell you a story about how backwards the idea about guns is in Europe.

Spoiler

At the beginning of May, thieves entered a jewellery store and threatened the 2 women working at the counter (mother and daughter).

The store's owner (husband / father of the 2 women) was in the back of the store. He almost died in 2011 after another robbery where the thieves beat him and his family up into unconsciousness.

He came out, saw the thieves threatening his family with guns, picked up his own gun and shot the thieves, killing 2 and injuring the 3rd who managed to run away.

The man is now on trial. "Excess of self-defense".

Someone can threaten your family with a gun and you can't even defend them, or it somehow turns into your fault.

It turned out that the gun used by the thieves was fake, but how is a civilian supposed to recognize a real weapon from a fake one? Do you really want to find out the hard way? Especially since you almost died because of a robbery 10 years ago.

Regular people still kill each other. They use knives, or strangle the victim, or the million of other weapons you can get in an average home. Glass bottles are a good example.

Why are guns wrong if I could kill whoever I wanted that easily? The problem isn't how easy it is to kill someone. That's already way too easy. The problem is stopping psychopaths from doing it.

 

[StrikingViper69]

It's ok, Italy doesn't let people buy guns without the person getting a license first. Which costs money and takes a while to get.

Meanwhile the mafia walks into your shop, points a gun at you, and shoots you in the leg if you don't pay the ransom. Every month.

I'll tell you a story about how backwards the idea about guns is in Europe.

Spoiler

At the beginning of May, thieves entered a jewellery store and threatened the 2 women working at the counter (mother and daughter).

The store's owner (husband / father of the 2 women) was in the back of the store. He almost died in 2011 after another robbery where the thieves beat him and his family up into unconsciousness.

He came out, saw the thieves threatening his family with guns, picked up his own gun and shot the thieves, killing 2 and injuring the 3rd who managed to run away.

The man is now on trial. "Excess of self-defense".

Someone can threaten your family with a gun and you can't even defend them, or it somehow turns into your fault.

It turned out that the gun used by the thieves was fake, but how is a civilian supposed to recognize a real weapon from a fake one? Do you really want to find out the hard way? Especially since you almost died because of a robbery 10 years ago.

Regular people still kill each other. They use knives, or strangle the victim, or the million of other weapons you can get in an average home. Glass bottles are a good example.

Why are guns wrong if I could kill whoever I wanted that easily? The problem isn't how easy it is to kill someone. That's already way too easy. The problem is stopping psychopaths from doing it.

There are stories like this all over Europe, it's sick. Someone breaking into your property has more legal protection than you do.

 

[Deleted78083]

Today I went to a new fish shop.

The seller yelled at me because the fish I wanted was at the other end of the shop.

A customer told me that his behavior was outrageous.

I told him that indeed, I would not be coming back.

If you want to open a fish shop in Brussels and you are nice to your customers, you will make a lot of money. I have done almost all of them, and they all pretty much suck.

 

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[Fox]

I need to make a full thread on this but I am very close to pulling my whole business out of Ireland.

There are many things driving me nuts but the worst is how terrible the banks are...

- I am limited to property loans that are x3.5 of my personal income (they don't consider my business)
- To pay myself personally is not fun - if I pay myself 6k a month 2k of that is gone in taxes
- Even with the 4k left per month you then have 48k a year which is a property loan of 168k euros
- 168k euros in Ireland gets you hardly anything and even then if you did find a place to rent the taxes / loan on that are also awful so its not that appealing
- PLUS tenant laws suck, someone can move in, stop paying rent right away, and its like 2 years to get them out

So to buy a rental property of 160k you would have had to pay 48k in taxes over two years to even get started with the loan. Plus then the banks are still slow and might still not approve your loan.

The end result of all this BS is I got no real way to invest my money in Ireland as a country. And since I am nomadic I just don't see why I should keep paying taxes as opposed to setting up someplace else.

And... taxes are very likely going up when the next budget hits.

----

If I was a bus driver though with a steady job and had a wife who worked at a post office I could probably get a 500k loan no bother. The whole system is stacked to get people with lifetime 9-5s into the biggest loan possible. If you own your own business, want to focus on investment property and are single then you are bottom of the list.

 

[Timmy C]

I need to make a full thread on this but I am very close to pulling my whole business out of Ireland.

There are many things driving me nuts but the worst is how terrible the banks are...

- I am limited to property loans that are x3.5 of my personal income (they don't consider my business)
- To pay myself personally is not fun - if I pay myself 6k a month 2k of that is gone in taxes
- Even with the 4k left per month you then have 48k a year which is a property loan of 168k euros
- 168k euros in Ireland gets you hardly anything and even then if you did find a place to rent the taxes / loan on that are also awful so its not that appealing
- PLUS tenant laws suck, someone can move in, stop paying rent right away, and its like 2 years to get them out

So to buy a rental property of 160k you would have had to pay 48k in taxes over two years to even get started with the loan. Plus then the banks are still slow and might still not approve your loan.

The end result of all this BS is I got no real way to invest my money in Ireland as a country. And since I am nomadic I just don't see why I should keep paying taxes as opposed to setting up someplace else.

And... taxes are very likely going up when the next budget hits.

----

If I was a bus driver though with a steady job and had a wife who worked at a post office I could probably get a 500k loan no bother. The whole system is stacked to get people with lifetime 9-5s into the biggest loan possible. If you own your own business, want to focus on investment property and are single then you are bottom of the list.

That sucks man.
Don't consider Australia then, it's even worse.

You can't kick people out if they don't pay rent and you have to foot the bill.

I've gone sour on property as a potential investment.