Swoopo Sucks

I keep seeing Swoopo ads on my site, which sucks because I hate their guts. 

Basically, they do lightning auctions, charge you per bid, and sometimes have stuff like Wii's selling for way less than they really cost. Actually, just checked the ad, someone got a Wii for $15 bucks. Lucky.

Anyways, it's a scam, based on one of the oldest tricks in the book. The experiment usually happens in class. The teacher walks in, and offers to auction off a $20, with a minimum bid of $1. The only catch is, both the high bidder and the 2nd place bidder have to pay up, with the winner getting the $20. Basically, the bidders think this is a good deal, and they'll most likely end up getting $20 for $8-9 bucks. Most of these auctions, however, end at about $40, when both players involved are losing quite a bit of money and they realize they've been had.

Swoopo is the same way - Everyone bids and pays. They get to auction off items for very low (and very marketable) prices, and some lucky person walks away with a $15 Wii. Everyone else walks away poorer and bitter. AVOID!!

(Keep in mind, anyone who reads this will go to Swoopo.com now and try and game the system. It's just the way people are. Sorry.)

BMW is Simply Better

You know what I like about BMW?... They don't try and sell you a car. You go in, you talk, you take a look around, but they never really try and sell you. This applies to advertisements as well. Think of how many BMW ads you see compared to the number of GM, Ford and Crysler ads. 

Anyways, our lease was coming due soon so we've been shopping around a lot. Several places (cough cough Audi cough) tried to convince me that their car was better than mine, even after I told them I was very happy with the BMW I was in (my old car). Why on earth would a sales person tell me I was wrong with the car I told them I was happy with? Did they really think they could convince me of the error of my ways? I was even told that Audi was a car that people aspire to... Give me a break - poor execution.

Anyways, if you are looking for a good deal on one of these guys, I highly recommend shopping VOB before the end of the year. Expect to get another 5-10% off of the list price, and they are even offering 0.9% APR on the certified 2006s. Our sales guy was J Forston, who I would highly recommend... Though with BMW the car did the selling, J helped me find it on the lot. 

The Wynn at $159 Superbowl Weekend?!!

This pretty much affirms that the ecomony is completely FUBARed!... Superbowl weekend is one of the busiest in Vegas, and The Wynn (that's right, THE MUTHER FLIPPIN WYNN) is booking rooms for $159 a night on that weekend.

The good times had a good run. I wonder how other Vegas industries have been impacted? (read: the pole).

Marketing Surveys Sometimes Don't Work

Dilbert sure got this one right. Good thing to keep in mind when doing surveys, focus groups or any other type of customer sourcing of feedback on your product. Not to mention, people lie... sometimes they know when they are lying, and sometimes they don't. You think when people were asked if they would buy a "Pet Rock," they said yes?

JP Morgan F*cks You, Again

I haven't posted in a while. Honestly, I get bored with stuff sometimes. Also, I really just started writing this crap to establish a web presence and learn a lot more about online marketing and advertising. That goal was accomplished, but sometimes I read some news that brings me to the edge of explosive rage - the only remedy for which is murdering everyone... just kidding, blogging.

So anyways, I'll keep this simple. Today, JP Morgan, a taker of $25 Billion TARP dollars and possibly one of the most risky banks out there (even though no one will tell you that... they have one of the ugliest mortgage portfolios out there, hold the most CDSs and other securitized crap, and also one of the biggest credit card portfolios... actually, probably the biggest now that they have WaMu's Providian portfolio... yucky).... Where was I?

Oh wait, I know, today they declared their quarterly dividend... a whopping 38 cents per share. That is the same amount they gave last quarter, and the quarter before that, and the quarter before that. It's like there's nothing wrong at all, eh?... Nice!!

This represents a current yield of 4.5%, paying more than any CD, T-Bill, high-interest savings account you could otherwise get. Oh, and with almost 4 billion shares outstanding, that's over $5 billion in cash dividend payouts to shareholders this year... funded by you. And you thought you were being frugal for Christmas this year?... Ho, Ho, Ho!!