100 years ago fossil fuel and automobiles, 75 years ago plastics, 40 years ago personal computers and the web, 20 years ago genetic modifications, there is always someone making money on technology, thank goodness.Today's billionares are almost all from digital tech, but tomarrows will be from something else.
My favorite story about Ford is that $5 a day wage. It's often stated he did that so workers could afford his cars. In reality, it was to maintain a steady workforce. So many workers were quitting each day, they couldn't hire and train enough replacements. But at $5 a day, the workers basically sold their souls and put up with the horrible working conditions. I relate to it when I went to work for Caterpillar. I was not the type to be comfortable with working in a giant corporation, but for the money and benefits I did it. But I did it my way by quitting after 15 years, took 11 years off to operate a business, then went back when they offered to retain my previous seniority for another 15 years to be eligible for a pension. Worked out great!
I have the same mirror, but eyes in the back of my head still would be better. You still get a blind spot on curves, drops & rises. Gotta be
I´ve never had an attention span like that. I´m quite certain I´ve had at least 100 different jobs,(at least). If I didn´t like the outfit, I´d be gone
Speaking of coins , there was a guy named Tulving who wiped out a whole bunch of people who bought gold and silver coins from him, back around the time gold last peaked at $1900. The Feds went after him. Not sure what happened in the end, but it wasn’t his first rodeo where he got in trouble. A lot of the online E-Bike firms are gonna go belly up in the end. Just never know when it’s gonna be you, who gets left holding the empty bag. You paid your money and end up with no E-Bikes, and zero recourse, when they suddenly close doors. Even chargebacks won’t save you in those situations. As these critical component delays get worse and worse, due to severe shortages, and yours gets delayed going on months, at what juncture do you determine (before it’s too late) when to actually bail on the purchase and try to get your money back ? Already it’s widely known and talked about amongst insiders that Severe shortages are going to get even worse in 2021, and if these on line firms eat up too much capital or get over leveraged and then their E-Bikes get delayed not 1 or 2 months, but maybe even 4 or 6 months, they could go under before you have a chance to even find out that’s what happened. That would royally stink.Looks like a new business model is emerging-and we are bringing it upon ourselves! JIT. Means JUST IN TIME. In out quest to always buy the cheapest the online guys are accommodating our desire. But it's coming at a cost and risk. Hereafter is my opinion. And you know what opinions are? Everyone has one
I just ordered a 700 from Ride 1 Up. $1500 in advance with a delivery estimate of Sep 15. This is where the new JIT business model kicks in. They have no inventory. Your order gets in line with all the rest. After the charge is approved by the credit card company. They order the bikes from China, using our money and hope the product arrives close to the promised delivery date. It is more complicated I know but -in essence that's what it is. They can miss the promised delivery date by as much as 90 days and if you want your $$$ refunded, it costs you $45. Pretty clever I'd say!
It's not just R1U. Aventon has the same policy. And we're doing it to ourselves! How? Today's buyers have no concept of what a contract means. If you place an order it means you're committed. Truthfully, I'm happy these guys have figured a way to make it cost $ to be a "wishywashy" buyer. Your word to buy should be backed up with consequences.
The risk! A few years back I ordered $40,000 in good coins from The Washington Territorial Mint in Seattle. They too got all the $$$$ up front. They then ordered from the U.S. mint. My order was 6 months past promised date. I did get the coins. Three months later they declared bankruptcy. All those people behind me lost their $$$$.
Going in I knew the risks. I'm willing to take them to get something I want for a fair price.
Are you?
The new Rize (RX Pro) I just bought was 200 to get in line, and full payment just prior to actual shipping date. Bikes had arrived stateside and were on their way to the Rize warehouse when the full payment request was made. I was comfortable with that, and the bike was Fedexed about a week later.
I noticed that the online retailer of my bike now has a finance option through some company I've never heard of until last month or so.
Yeah, $200 is not going to make or break anyone shopping for an ebike. I did notice the new "instant" financing by "PayBright" - which seems like a bad idea, due to the feedback claiming poor responsiveness as well as messups.
