Jack of All Blogs » Money

American Express Crosses a Line Under the Wire

Andrew G.R. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:22:40 +0000

The only thing worse than a shitty economy are the shitty businesses that use a shitty time to gouge the consumer even more than they usually do.

In Jack of All Blog’s crosshairs today is American Express Blue. I’ve been the owner of the funky translucent card since 2001, and overall, I have been a satisfied customer. The interest rate has been competitive, the rewards program fair, and customer service stellar.

Much to my surprise I received a letter in the mail from Amex Blue that looked a bit more important than the usual credit card company junk mail. It stated that despite my 8-year history of paying on time, I would no longer get to enjoy a fixed interest rate. My first reaction was how dare they change the rate of a long-time, low-maintenance customer. But then the next day my wife received the letter. Then my mom. My friends. And so on.

It was nice to know that I was not being singled out, but the costly proposition of a variable rate is too much for this consumer to stomach. But here’s where I went from pissed to incensed…

The first phase of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act passed earlier this year, designed to protect consumers by giving them a longer interest-free grace period, greater advance notice on rate increase and the ability to reject or opt-out of an interest rate increase, went into effect last Thursday. Guess when the American Express letter arrived? Mere days before; right under the wire.

They might have slipped a substantial rate increase in under the wire, but they did something far more damaging – they tarnished their brand name.

Under the guise of a weak economy, Amex is crying that the move is necessary to sustain their profits. Sorry, but I find it hard to feel any sympathy for a business that was able to generate over $340M last quarter alone.

I’m not a ‘variable rate’ kinda guy. So I’ll be paying off my small balance and removing the card from my wallet…permanently. Right now all of the credit card companies are jacking rates up (it’s a sad state of affairs when 12% is a good rate), but it’s only a matter of time until one of the banks figures out a way to lure business away from Blue, and I’ll be the first in line to take them up on their offer.

Women to manage blog networks FTW!

waldorf — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:36:08 +0000

Regular JOAB contributor Andrew G. Rosen reported over at the Blog Herald the findins of a survey by SAHM and Mommyblog network BlogHer.

The conclusion of said survey is rather simple.

Blogmums to run JOAB!

Wait, let’s try that again.

Blogmums and SAHM to run JOAB FTW!

Much better already.

The reason why we come to this conclusion is because ~~SAHM~~ ~~mommy bloggers~~ women seem to have less problems with accepting free gifts to review, than most bloggically correct Probloggers do.

98 percent of surveyed bloggers believe it is acceptable to receive a free product

I think after the identity crisis I fell in yesterday I will just return as a female Jack and grab all the free shit I can get. If I am really happy and go through a great period I might even review everything. Disclosure though, who cares!

When financial times are REALLY bad

waldorf — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:28:55 +0000

Here at Jack of All Blogs we already established that Techcrunch is broken but things seem to get worse and worse every day for the once so popular Tech/Web2.0 blog.

For months TC has been adding authors and quantity to it’s arsenal, but sadly no quality. One could argue that former blogging Guru and TC full-time contributor Duncan Riley was not the best author either, but at least he knew how to stir some controversy. Ever since DR left TC has gone downhill.

Last week (community) blog Mashable passed TC to become the new #1 tech blog. But things do not only seem to be bad on the quality front, especially the financial department seems to have suffered.

Since weeks, TC has had several adblocks in its feeds. Ads in feeds are nothing new and several bigger blogs do have several ads in their feed. But today TC updated the feed and now comes with not 1, not 2, not even 3 but 5 (FIVE!) ads in the footer.

A whopping 720px*425px of ad space in your feedreader!

The Hard Sell Goes Soft

Andrew G.R. — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:43:24 +0000

Is anyone still pressured by a hard sell? You know the type.

“Just sign on the dotted line. These could be gone by tomorrow! Prices are going up.”

Many industries still employ these irritating tactics, yet I tend to believe that Generation X, Y and everyone in between is more likely to take action with a soft sell.

Sorry Annoying Salesperson Guy, things that I want, sell themselves. You see, I operate on instinct; not just with what I’m buying, but with you. And my Spidey Sense tells me all you are about is making this month’s sales quota.

For some strange reason, salesfolks employ their full-court press routine when BIG purchases are at stake – cars, homes, life insurance and so on. However, these are usually the types of investments that the buyer will have thoroughly researched. They are also personal in nature. The last thing I want to think about when my car breaks down, my home goes up in flames, or my heart gives out, is that some slick-talking charlatan with an associates degree convinced me of what was good for me.

I’m confident that most JOAB readers will agree. But a single question remains: Who the hell still buys from these people?

Clearly, someone is still driving commissions. But why? Are you scared to say no? Desperate to just get away from this creep? Getting filibustered to death?

These might be the same folks who fall prey to Nigerian refugees looking to wire money to your bank account. Or perhaps they are waiting by the mailbox for their “miracle” pills to arrive.

Or maybe, we’re finally experiencing a true societal renaissance: The death of the salesman.

Somebody please shed some light.

TechCrunch Gets $240k a Month. Show Me the Money!

capslock — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:17:37 +0000

Sometimes life isn’t fair. There are the real winners, and there are the rest of us who are the real whiners. Or maybe that’s just in terms of money. But when you read about TechCrunch earning $240,000 per month, you’d be bound to have a double take. Hey, that’s more than what most of us earn in a year.

Today, TechCrunch has a full-time staff of eight. This year, it hired a CEO. In August, 1.25 million people visited TechCrunch or its affiliated blogs at least once, according to comScore Inc. It brings in $240,000 per month in advertising, according to Arrington, and pulls in additional revenue from conferences and parties. Most important of all, TechCrunch is in the black.

“When I started the blog, it was just a hobby,” Arrington said. But, after a while, “It was pretty clear that I could make more money blogging than from anything else.”

If I’d founded TechCrunch I’d be laughing myself to the bank right now. Wait, isn’t that what Arrington does? Probably.

I should stress that this is the exception rather than the rule. There are a very few excellent blogs out there that make really big bucks. Then there are those so-so blogs that still make even bigger bucks. A modest number of us in the blogging business make a decent living, but aren’t exactly swimming in cash. Then most bloggers out there can only dream of making a measly buck out of their blogs.

Yes, some blogs are profitable. Stress on some.