Amazonomics

Every morning I check on my Amazon account to see what I sold the day before and what shipped. May started very strong but then sales really dropped off. The reason? Amazon ran out of the most popular battery pack. Rather than just say they were out of stock, they let a number of third-party sellers offer theirs, at much higher prices. The $25 pack went up to $35 and as high as $49. And for me, sales for that model went to zero for two weeks. I felt bad for visitors and found out that Best Buy had them for $20, so I put in a link to their product page and could tell from Site Meter’s out links that a few people a day were following the link.

Last night Amazon must have re-stocked that product because the price was down to $20 (a new low for them, perhaps to match Best Buy), so I took away the Best Buy link. Already people are following the link again, and I will find out soon if people are buying again.

What amazes me about this is the inefficiencies of capitalism. Theoretically the internet should bring prices in line at a similar low level. While visitors to my web site knew not to buy, I am sure others must be buying from the higher priced affiliates. The Apple Store sells the same product for $50 and there are enough product reviews on that page for me to think they do a pretty brisk business.

Lost Finale

I thought Lost’s finale was 2 of the best hours of television I’ve ever seen. Every time a commercial would come on, I would just think “Man, I love this show!” I loved that Desmond was back and that it was his flashback (with Libby giving him the boat, so she finally got some backstory too). I loved Eko telling John “But I *am* going to push the button.” The moment when Michael confessed that he had murdered two lostaways was just incredibly powerful. Finding out that the plane crashed because Desmond didn’t push the button and that the guy he was in the hatch with was the special forces guy that trained Sayid? Awesome. Then NotHenry gets off the Others’ boat and is clearly the one in charge. Even though I saw it coming, it was chilling to see NotHenry again.

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Brush With Greatness

Yesterday afternoon while I was at work the phone rang and when I answered I got a beep. I’ve gotten fax calls before and if you don’t do something about them, the fax will just keep calling, so I quickly transferred the call to our fax machine. A minute or two later I went to see if it worked and found a letter to the Georgia Secretary of State. The letter was from the CFO of a hair products company in Norcross, Bernard King, and had a contact number, so I called him. Mr. King wasn’t in, but once I explained the situation I was told he would call me right back.

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Grant’s Mix

Today I went up to Athens with Mom to see Nicole and the soon-to-be Park Avenue Cashins, see the new house, eat hamburgers, and drink beer. Before I went I made a CD for Grant of some 21st century music and other stuff that I like. I hope he likes it. I didn’t have much time to figure out the best song order or even necessarily pick the best songs, but it should still be good to listen to. Franz Ferdinand’s “Michael” is probably the weakest track, but since the last CD I made for Grant and Jami had “One-Eyed Fiona” on it, I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Now that I listen to it again I realize I should have included a more representative selection from M. Ward than the classical piece by Bach that I used. He’s kind of like Tom Waits with a guitar. Anyway, if any of that sounds good to Grant, I can make another CD with more from that artist.

  1. The Killers – Mr. Brightside (2005)

  2. Spoon – The Beast and Dragon, Adored (2005)

  3. The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (2003)

  4. Franz Ferdinand – Michael (2004)

  5. Modest Mouse – Float On (2004)

  6. The Killers – Change Your Mind (2005)

  7. Ben Folds Five – Lullabye (1999)

  8. Spoon – The Way We Get By (2002)

  9. Fat Boy Slim – Praise You (2000)

  10. The Strokes – Is This It (2001)

  11. Iggy Pop – The Passenger (1977)

  12. Franz Ferdinand – Jacqueline (2004)

  13. Liz Phair – Polyester Bride (1998)

  14. Rusted Root – Heaven (1996)

  15. The Strokes – Someday (2001)

  16. M. Ward – Well-Tempered Clavier (2005)

A Quiet Riot

Last Friday at work, all kinds of memos went out about the upcoming May 1 Immigration Rally to be held at the state capitol. Organizers said there could be up to 100,000 people attending, whereas previously the biggest demonstration ever held at the Capitol was only 10,000. The usual steps were taken when there is a big event downtown: the state patrol was called in, helicopters would be on hand, barricades were placed along some streets, and other streets would be closed. We had a special staff meeting Friday afternoon to let us know what was going on and that we would be open for business (and that anyone who decided not to come in on Monday would have to sign leave). I made a mental note to bring something for lunch so I wouldn’t have to go out in the throngs. Some people decided not to come in rather possibly get stuck downtown in the masses. One of my bosses said it would be like the Olympics again where the streets were turned into rivers flowing with people. I was looking forward to seeing it.

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