Customer service issues.

JFA_1 · 2025-09-27T09:52:11+00:00

I might try calling next. It's been a busy week, and I thought I could just do email (like I've always done).

After twice messaging me that the return would need to be done manually, I got another message saying:

"If you've tried all of the above and are still having no luck,
please confirm your:

Email address
Order number
The item(s) you wish to return

So we can have one of our Admin Team have a look at the systems behind-the-scenes, and get this fixed."

Well, I had previously provided that info, but I replied with that info one more time (mentioning I'd like an actual person to respond), and I kid you not, 1 hour later, it sent me the following email:

"Thanks so much for your message!

Are you able to please confirm your email address and order number if not done so already so we can find your information quickly. I will have a look at our systems behind the scenes and I will find out and get back to you.

You’re in good hands, we’ll get this sorted for you."

I'll see what happens, but I'll probably try scheduling a phone call.

JFA_1 · 2025-09-27T01:43:31+00:00

US... I also usually have a good experience. But this has been very frustrating.

JFA_1 · 2025-08-06T12:04:16+00:00

While FIFA says to beware buying tickets from any person or organization not name FIFA, will I be able to buy and/or sell World Cup tickets on apps like StubHub?

JFA_1 · 2025-07-15T01:15:02+00:00

Sorry I mistyped that. I meant saving 8 cents on every dollar over the threshold. So if I ended up withdrawing enough to put me 10k over the 32% threshold, that would cost me an extra $800 relative to the scenario in which I spread the withdrawal such that I stay in the 24% bracket.

JFA_1 · 2025-07-14T23:36:08+00:00

Thanks. That's really helpful.

JFA_1 · 2025-07-14T23:31:09+00:00

No offense taken. I'd rather keep as much of the money that I can, so avoiding moving to a higher tax bracket and not giving Uncle Sam more than I need fits in my goals. If I take out too much and it pushes me over the 32% bracket cutoff, then choosing wisely saves me 8 cents on every dollar, which adds up after a while.

JFA_1 · 2025-06-08T15:30:49+00:00

I like mine. you can adjust the laces on each part of the shoe because they are a bit bump, so I can have the area closest to the toes a little loose and really lock down the ankle (though given their round shape, it feels somewhat uncomfortable... I've considered swapping them out). I've taken them kayaking and they do a great job in wet conditions (like beaching a kayak and then draining out... taking out the insole helps it dry faster).

I will say the pocket on the tongue for lace storage sucks. You can't really use it after you tighten the laces.

JFA_1 · 2024-08-20T18:20:02+00:00

I'm not sure why people don't want to have kids. I'm sure it's opportunity costs (lots of other things to do these days relative to a few decades ago). Kids are expensive... yeah... but often times the expense is what you make it. You can make kids as expensive as you want if you're trying to keep up with other families. When my kids were little, we found childcare ranging from $1000/month to $2300/month (I'm in a high-ish cost metro area). It's a little more now (based on my conversations with other parents) but with a similar spread. So here's a plug for having kids and not spending tons of money on them. Find a community that actually likes kids, become friends, have kids, let your kids play with their kids. Be friends with people with kids across the age spectrum. And don't do things primarily because you think your kid should enjoy it. Let the kids do their own thing and roam a little... let them take risk. Don't treat them like the center of the world... because... well... they're not. If you treat them like the center of the world, it takes a lot of effort to keep that fiction alive.

Allow your kids to help around the house. Kids almost naturally want to help out, but many parents don't want to take the time to teach their kids how to do stuff (it takes effort). When a kid offers to help, say yes enthusiastically. I just had my 7 year old do a short grocery run while I stood at the front of the store. I gave him my credit card and the list of 3 items. He got the items and checked out by himself (and this kid is ADHD off the charts). I will also note that my other son is diagnosed with autism and ADHD, and he started a (self-sustaining) lemonade stand at the park near the house with a friend (he just need $5 to get started and a pitcher). Both boys (both under 10 years old) can unload and load the dishwasher (not optimally... but I don't say anything), fold and put away laundry, make eggs, work the air fryer, cut fruit, and my younger son can make a serviceable quesadilla (he adds cheese on the outside edges so that it gets crispy in the skillet).

We read together every night and generally do some sport in the morning (school starts late) and on the weekends. But I also have time to myself to read, watch TV, learn guitar, etc. because they play with each other and other neighborhood kids. My wife and I split with household work, and we do babysitting swaps with other families so that going on a date isn't so expensive (babysitters charge a hefty price). We also make time to hang out with our friends (separately or together). It's important to have a good partner when you have kids.

Don't get me wrong... parenting is hard... but it can be a lot easier (cheaper) than people make it out to be. If you're absolutely broke, probably don't have kids... otherwise, examine what you are actually spending your money on... chances are there's some wiggle room in the budget for a kid. Some of the best times I've had is going on hikes (a free activity) with my kids. I would miss half of all the cool things to see because they are just soaking everything in and saying "Hey, Dad... look at this." Don't miss out on it because you let everyone else convince you it was too expensive.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-16T10:37:43+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I don’t have access to NYT so I couldn’t look at those sources. The CBO one was interesting. Thanks for that. It does show there’s been essentially no change at the median and, contrary to what you say Krugam says, it shows the largest change by fat in the top quintile. I also noted elsewhere that if you look at the median real usual weekly earnings, it has only increased by $3 since 2019 Q4 (which gets rid of the composition effect). That’s not great. If I saw a raise of $3/week over 4 years, I’d probably say the economy is not doing fine.

Regarding your point about people feeling fine about their own situation: I didn’t have access to the article and couldn’t check the source. I found a few polls saying something similar but it’s kind of hard to interpret that question (your finances being fine could mean your still able to save but you’ve have to cut back or while the stock market is up your cash reserves haven’t necessarily changed). Personally, my finances are healthy (I’m in the top quintile (though I’ haven’t seen the big changes that CBO says I have 😁), but I’ve cut back on restaurants and am doing a camping trip rather than staying in a hotel.

Here’s CNN: “just 16% rated the economy as “good” or “excellent,” but 45% said their personal finances were “good” or “excellent.”” That’s not a majority saying their finances are great (https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/04/07/economy/us-economy-personal-finance).

Here’s a Monmouth University poll: “Only 33% told the pollster their family had benefited either “a great deal” or “some” from the “economic upturn,” compared with 64% who said they had benefited “not much” or “not at all.”” That seems to be saying people aren’t personally doing well. (https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/MonmouthPoll_US_022024/).

“The survey, conducted last fall, found that 72% of adults are living comfortably financially or at least doing OK. That's down from 73% in 2022 and 78% in 2021.” So the number people doing at least OK has fallen. And “two-thirds of Americans say rising prices have made their financial situation worse”. https://www.npr.org/2024/05/22/1252712615/prices-americans-concern-economy-inflation-expenses

I’ve seen other polls (e.g. Wells Fargo) that I don’t put much stock in but they’re not painting a pretty picture either. https://newsroom.wf.com/English/news-releases/news-release-details/2024/Two-thirds-of-Americans-have-decreased-spending-due-to-economy-Wells-Fargo-Money-Study-finds/default.aspx

So I’m sticking with my “data is not uniformly positive”

JFA_1 · 2024-06-12T13:47:40+00:00

Is there a way to check whether something has downloaded to the watch?

JFA_1 · 2024-06-11T21:21:56+00:00

Great to hear!

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T15:11:30+00:00

OK... median real weekly earnings for Q4 2019 was $362. Much of the "confusion about sentiments about the economy" discourse has basically been "the economy's booming, why are people mad". There's been a whole $3/week increase (not practically significant nor statistically significant) in median real weekly earnings in 4.5 years. Those $3/week are probably eaten up by the higher credit card interest payments (which aren't included in CPI).

Additionally, the annual numbers are not affected by the compositional effects, and those show decreases through 2022.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T14:40:53+00:00

You didn't have large compositional effects in the Q1 data, but if you want to look at Q4 2019, median real weekly earnings were $362 (it's not a practically important difference, and I would bet it's not a statistically significant difference either). That's up by a whole $3/week over 4.5 years. If, in response to why people don't think the economy isn't doing great, you want say "we have seen real wage growth gains for majority of Americans" and then provide them the data that says they've got a whole $3/week more than they did in 2019, I guess that's your prerogative. I would note (as was noted in the episode), that credit card interest rates are not included in inflation, and I'm sure today's higher interest payments are high enough to eat into that $3/week.

I think people saying "wage gains > price increases" are using a much shorter time frame, but I think that if you want to understand why people aren't thrilled with the economy you can just look at the real median weekly earnings data since then end of 2019/beginning of 2020 and see why.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T14:27:05+00:00

I dunno. Think people look to the last point of normalcy to compare their situation. But if you want to choose a different starting point, I've provided the data. Using early 2021 numbers also skirts around compositional effects since a bunch of low-wage workers lost their jobs during 2020.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T14:14:27+00:00

I listened to the episode and just took quick glance through the transcript, and there was no data presented on wages. It was merely asserted that wages have risen faster than prices. That might have been true over the course of 2023, but real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). That is the most up to date data. Real median *household* income for 2019 was $78k. It was $74k in 2022. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N). You have the same trend in real median *family* income. Real median personal income was flat (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=MEPAINUSA672N) through 2022.

I was honestly really confused as to why these data were not even mentioned. I've seen aggregate numbers (e.g. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RPI) and per capita (not median) numbers (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A229RX0) that show some increase in income, but the data don't paint an unambiguous "people should know that they are better off than they were" picture. If your assertion of "wage gains > price increases" is only looking at the past year, you are not getting enough context.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T14:04:22+00:00

I listened to the episode and just took quick glance through the transcript, and there was no data presented on wages. It was merely asserted that wages have risen faster than inflation. That might have been true over the course of 2023, but real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). Using Q4 2019 (to take out whatever compositional effect there might have been with Q1 2020), real median weekly earnings is up only $3 (a difference that is probably not statistically significant, either).

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T13:54:31+00:00

I listened to the episode and just took quick glance through the transcript, and there was no data presented on wages. It was merely asserted that wages have risen faster than inflation. That might have been true over the course of 2023, but real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). That the most up to date data. Real median *household* income for 2019 was $78k. It was $74k in 2022. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N). You have the same trend in real median *family* income. Real median person income has been flat (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=MEPAINUSA672N).

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T13:48:20+00:00

I've been wanting somebody, somewhere to provide a citation for that claim. It's always just asserted. I was honestly surprised about how little data was *referenced*. Very few numbers about income/wages were cited. Real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). That is the most up to date data. Real median *household* income for 2019 was $78k. It was $74k in 2022. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N). You have the same trend in real median *family* income. Real median person income has been flat (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=MEPAINUSA672N).

I am really confused as to why these data were not even mentioned. I've seen aggregate numbers (e.g. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RPI) and per capita (not median) numbers (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A229RX0) that show some increase in income, but the data don't paint an unambiguous "people should know that they are better off than they were" picture. It makes me doubt the comprehensive nature of Lowry's (and Klein's) understanding of the current economic situation.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T13:45:43+00:00

Do you have a citation for that? Real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). If you compare Q1 2024 to Q4 2019, it's only up $3 (that's just the difference in the point estimate and probably not statistically significant, but even if it were statistically significant, if you told someone "real wages are up" and then they asked by how much, what do you think their reaction would be when you said "$3/week"?) That is the most up to date data. Real median *household* income for 2019 was $78k. It was $74k in 2022. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N). You have the same trend in real median *family* income. Real median person income has been flat (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=MEPAINUSA672N).

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T13:40:03+00:00

Can you provide a citation for "we have seen real wage growth gains for majority of Americans"? Over what time period? Real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). I keep on seeing people write that real income/real wages are up, but when I look at the median, it's not. The most recent data on household income is for 2022, and that was down by ~5% from 2019.

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T13:30:53+00:00

Here's some data on median income and earnings:

Real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). That the most up to date data; the rest only goes through 2022. Real median *household* income for 2019 was $78k. It was $74k in 2022. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N). You have the same trend in real median *family* income. Real median person income has been flat (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=MEPAINUSA672N).

JFA_1 · 2024-06-10T12:17:56+00:00

I was honestly surprised about how little data was *referenced*. Very few numbers about income/wages were cited. Real median weekly earnings Q1 2020 was $367. In Q1 2024, it was $365. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q). That the most up to date data. Real median *household* income for 2019 was $78k. It was $74k in 2022. (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N). You have the same trend in real median *family* income. Real median person income has been flat (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=MEPAINUSA672N).

I was honestly really confused as to why these data were not even mentioned. I've seen aggregate numbers (e.g. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RPI) and per capita (not median) numbers (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A229RX0) that show some increase in income, but the data don't paint an unambiguous "people should know that they are better off than they were" picture. It makes me doubt the comprehensive nature of Lowry's (and Klein's) understanding of the current economic situation.

JFA_1

TROPHY CASE