Category: economic issues

I’ve been using Amazon

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and…?

And I’m pretty impressed. They’ve entered into the fray in SA with a mountain to climb in terms of getting market share in online shopping delivered to your door, given that Takealot have been around for a long while here with virtually no opposition.

But Amazon have started small and sensible: a limited product range, but each one with the guarantee that it will get to you cheaply and quickly. And it works. I ordered a soundbar and paid a whole R2 (less than a penny) to get it delivered that evening. I ordered a mousemat (because my mouse doesn’t like how shiny my new desk is) and it cost nothing to get it delivered the following day.

Compare this with Takealot, whose confusing price structure for deliveries actually makes it difficult to compare, but a next day delivery would likely be R50 or R75. Or you could pick it up at one of their depots for R35.

Same day? Virtually unheard of, but almost always in three figures. (Yes, unless you have their monthly subscription service, but I’m doing apples and apples here.)

And it’s sad to say that Takealot have been lounging on their monopoly. Their prices – always allegedly discounted – only ever match with the normal prices everywhere else. I’ll certainly be using Amazon whenever possible for those online purchases. And yes, using local businesses for stuff too, but only if they are willing and able to offer decent prices and service.

You do wonder though – how quick could an Amazon delivery actually be? Like, if you needed something small, but really – really – urgently?

Mere seconds, it turns out (this service is not available in SA) (yet).

Such a good video, if you have the time to watch. Some delicious, subtle, dry humour, some incredible engineering and some amazing attention to detail and high quality workmanship.

It’s the future. Now.

It’s expensive

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Printer ink I mean.

Except, you need context and so actually, printer ink isn’t that expensive.

But let’s pretend that it is, because then this cartoon makes so much more sense.

Of course, these days, you’d be looking at the ridiculous price of pixel light if you were moaning about a blank screen. And while it doesn’t cost much to light a single pixel, apparently, you need bloody loads of the things for them to work properly.

Problematic graphic

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I’m not a social scientist or an economist, but I’ve done enough looking at graphs to see when a graph doesn’t look good. Whether that’s to do with money or infectious diseases, a bad graph always looks… bad.

This isn’t a graph per se (I think that it’s a treemap chart), but it could be a graph if it were presented just slightly differently. But it still looks bad.

Really bad.

How people spend their disposable income is of course completely up to them. But that almost 55% of it goes on any one thing is bad. That almost 55% of it goes on gambling is really bad.

The fact is that when you spend money on anything recreational, you’re know that not going to get anything tangible back. You spend it on the “entertainment”. Gym fees, tickets for sporting events, video games, movie tickets. You spend it on the experience. You know that you’re not seeing that money again.

With gambling, however, you might just get something back. Evidence suggests that you’re unlikely to, especially long term. But that doesn’t stop people trying. In fact, it’s the number one reason that they do gamble:

The worrying bit is that because there is that chance of winning, the outlay on gambling is often overlooked. Because you might get it – or more – back. That’s not happening with a cinema ticket.

But it’s a false premise. South Africans are spending R1.1 TRILLION on gambling every year. And sadly, in the vast majority of cases, it’s money that they can’t afford to lose. This is not a second income stream, no matter how good you think your football knowledge is.

None of those links and none of these graphics make good reading. Gambling apps are now so easy to get hold of and use, and we are surrounded by ads 24/7: on the TV, on the internet, and – of course – at the racecourses, where it’s not unusual to see a horse sponsored by Betway winning a race sponsored by World Sports Betting at a track sponsored by Hollywood Bets.

And yes, I’ve posted occasional ads on here for various betting companies. Hey, gotta make ends meet. But I didn’t know it was this bad. So, while gambling addiction has always been a problem, this flooding of the market with betting apps and the insane 42% per year increase in online betting since Covid means that I won’t be doing that any more. They clearly don’t need my help (although they keep asking for it), and I don’t want to be part of the problem, which is obviously spiraling out of control.

I would say that this problem needs nipping in the bud, but I think we’re well into the flowering stage right now, and no-one is doing anything about it.

Budget decisions

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There are always tough decisions to make. [Anecdotal evidence says that] prices are rising far faster than the official inflation figures would like to suggest, and the lack of any recent significant precipitation (dam levels are only at 92.6% vs 103.4% this time last year) has left the magic money tree in the back garden sadly fruit-free.

Some things are easy. I can’t get around without diesel (in my car at least), so we’ll definitely have to have some of that. But I really don’t need a new hob this month. I mean – I do – but it can wait. And so it will.

Other choices are tighter though. Those things which aren’t quite essential, but don’t quite fall into the “nice-to-have” category either.

I ran out of collagen this morning. External collagen, that is. There’s still some in my body. And like it or not, there are studies which show that collagen intake (if it’s the right sort of collagen you are intaking) can help with joint health. And I need all the help I can get with that sort of thing (because of knee and ankle).

But collagen is expensive and although it helps, I can live without it.
Oh, and also falling into my inbox, there was this offer:

Which comes in at around the same price: if you squint a little.

And if your knee or ankle does hurt because of a lack of collagen intake, then some of this will either dull the pain or – at the very least – make you care a whole lot less about it.

So: protein powder or magic liquid? Which will it be?

There are always tough decisions to make.

Buying beer in Finland

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I haven’t. And I’m not planning to. But if I were planning to, then why would I not go with this pack of Keisari lager from local brewer Nokian Panimo – literally “Nokia Brewery” – which yes, is in the city of Nokia, which yes, is where the phone brand started out.

But you won’t find 3310 cans in this case:

It “only” contains 3241. Which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity – for foreign nerds, at least.

€6,773.69 is R139,425.57 this evening, which equates to about R43 (€2.10) a can. And that’s really good value for Finland, where an average beer will set you back an average of €7. Albeit that that’s a draught in a restaurant, this is still a very good price.

And remember, even here in SA, beer is expensive.

Of course, aside form the price, there will be some other issues. Like how many friends you will need to have to help you drink it before the best before date. As an example, ten of you at four cans a night (or four of you at ten cans a night, I guess) will still take almost three months.
And how to get it to wherever you’re going to serve it.
And how you’re going to keep 3241 cans of lager cold.

But these are minor matters when it comes to the glamour and the fame that will come with buying The Emperor of Giant Beer Packs: The Very Biggest Pack In History, no less.

I’m tempted.