Grab a Noose!

     I took the jeep to Express oil today for the full service change.  I'd put it off for too long and knew it had to be done.  I've used Express for about two years, after getting annoyed at our local Wal-Mart Service Center for taking too long.  I understood I was supposed to shop & buy more stuff while waiting, but it was ridiculous.  It became a "time" thing.
     If it is time you want to save, Express is the place.  It took just over ten minutes today.  Did you know time is expensive?  My bill was a little over $40.00.  With the company discount for oil, I suppose the actual cost was around seven dollars and the rest was profit.  The online price at my old place is only $24.00.  Guess I'll have to take a book with me next oil change.
     I don't know if you've figured it out, but profit margins are totally outrageous!  I found a website that listed the worst perpetrators;

     Women's cosmetics - made from clay with fragrance & oil mixed in.  Markup is somewhere around a gazillion percent.  I would never have thought you ladies looked so nice with dirt on your faces!  Just kidding, you look fabulous!

     Bottled water - world's most plentiful resource placed inside an almost free plastic container.  The profit is over 1000% people!  A city's tap water is required to be okay to drink at thrift store prices!  Not only that, it has been proven that chemicals nearby can leech through plastic containers.  That makes city water the safer choice.

     Greeting cards - this one caught me by surprise but my family will tell you I haven't bought one in a while anyway.  I like the homemade versions.  Let's see, almost free compared to five dollars... You do the math.

     Restaurant drinks - A no brainer here.  If a twenty-four pack of drinks can be purchased at the grocery store for the same price as one at the restaurant - they're making big bucks.

     Eyeglasses - A little scrap of plastic holding two lenses... Would you believe up to 1000% profit?  No wonder my vision plan at work is so bad.

     Movie theater popcorn/candy - I couldn't quit without giving you my favorite.  I skipped about three years before being talked into going to a theater and almost passed out at the counter!  I asked the manager in an email why they had gone to a "funeral home" pricing structure.  He actually replied, whining about what they were charged by Hollywood... Yep, it all gets passed down to us, the consumer.

     God blesses us with money and expects us to spend it wisely.  I believe there was an old saying, "a fool and his money are soon parted".  There should be a new one, "corporate thieves will be hung at sundown"!