We all know that Corporate America is out for one person and that is not you. We also know that they carry the upper hand and we so often are left carrying the heavy burden of a credit card maxed out. Is there anything that we can do or are we just victims of capitalism? Good news: We certainly can make a difference and here is how.
1. Shop Around. That’s right! Shop … shops … shop. If you think you have found a bargain the chances are that you did not. Let me give you an example: When I was building my house I acted as the General Contractor (I do not recommend it unless your cholesterol ratings and time schedule are in mint condition). I was in need of a roof truss and figured I would go to a couple of stores that could farm this out for me. My first stop was at Lowes. They quoted me $15,000. I then went across the street to Home Depot and after I gave them my quote they came back with $13,500. Now, here is where the learning lesson comes in, I decoded to not stop there but go to another Lowes close by (I live in an area that has almost 10 Lowes and Home Dept. stores in the Metro community). I did not tell them about my stopping at another Lowes but did mention the Home Depot quote of $13,500. They came back and said $12,000 was the best they could do, I didn’t believe them. After it was said and done I wound up going with the fourth Lowes I found for a total of $7,500! I am not bragging rather trying to convey the need to keep going when you think you got a deal; it often pays off and especially when looking 4 great buys on big ticket items.
2. Buying the Trap Items. What are these? Well, you know how Wal-Mart is famous for the yellow tag items. They admittedly do this so the buyer comes to get that but then they purchase the marked up items. By the time they walk out of the store they feel like they did well in reality they just got taken. I come from Corporate America and believe me they think like this. The truth is you can turn the table on them. How? Buy the Trap Items and get out. One of the golden rules to successful shopping is to be consistently disciplined.
3. Saying NO to the Extended Warranty: Stores often play on the fact that electronics are a big investment, scaring you into buying an Extended Warranty. Don’t be fooled! Extended Warranties are just a trick to get you to pay a much greater amount for an item than you need to. It’s incredibly profitable for the retailer. This has been well documented by people that look out 4 best buys (Consumer Reports, etc). The solution is to pay for your electronics items with a credit card that provides an extended warranty protection. Most do.
If you would like to see the whole all ten shopping tricks 4 great buys then click on the link to the blog below.
Jack Oblonski is involved in Corporate America and spends his time on a hobby that has become increasingly time consuming but equally rewarding: Finding Great Deal on the Web. He runs a blog that helps others find great deals on the web also. Check it out on: http://www.4greatbuys.wordpress.com
Playa De Las Americas is the largest and most popular resort in Tenerife; situated in the south of the island next to Los Cristianos and near the Renia Sofia Airport. Although suitable for all ages, Playa De Las Americas is mainly favoured by the younger generation for the profusion of night life to be found there and budget hotels. Whatever age you are thought, Playa De Las Americas resort is action packed and packs a punch.
Playa De Las Americas has a large amount of good quality hotels that offer a lively atmosphere and superior service. One such hotel is Caledonia Park. From there you can easily reach the main site of Playa De Las Americas including the bars and restaurants, beaches and the aqua park which provides anyone with a fun day out. The Caledonia Park Hotel offers lots of great facilities, good food, fantastic atmosphere and gargantuan cocktails on demand! It is one of the most popular hotels within the resort.
Playa De Las Americas offers much in the way of cuisine with restaurants offering a variety of dishes such as Chinese, Mexican and English foods and many more, tapas bards offering the very best of what Tenerife has to offer. If you’re a person who is constantly on the go then fast food stalls will help suit your lifestyle. Nightlife in Playa De Las Americas is astounding to say the least, with most places offering a happy hour or two which tends to lead to a few hours of happiness for the customers! Most places stay open till the early hours of the morning and offer the very best of music and entertainment.
There is so much to see and do in Playa De Las Americas that one holiday is normally not enough. There is plenty of shopping, trips around Tenerife, water sports by the bucket load, bungee jumping and even swimming with dolphins to keep you occupied, and that’s not to mention the beaches! Whilst often crowded, offer fantastic swimming and sunning opportunities and a lively atmosphere. So if you are thinking of taking a trip to Playa De Las Americas, be prepared for a seriously good time!
The United States condemned China for using prison labor to produce products for their economy. Well If you can’t beat them join them. 37 states have authorized prison labor to produce products. All of the major companies like IBM, Microsoft, Target, HP are running to take advantage of this cheap labor source. We have retreated from the high ground and got in bed with the profiters on wall street. Correction Corporation of America and the Geo Group are 1) and 2) in the private prison industries. Wall street loves it as millions of dollars of profit is being made off the labor of prisoners. Why should you care as long as Target sells you the TV at the right price. You should care as Americans are being taken advantaged of. Do You Care?
South Florida and Miami in particular is a magnet that draws shoppers from South & Central America and the Caribbean. It seems as if at every neighborhood in the city there is a mall and there is variety in the malls. There are strip malls, regular malls, outlet malls. Shopping in Miami is year round but seems to reach a fever pitch on the 3rd Friday in November which is the day immediately after the American Thanksgiving holiday. Known as Black Friday because the hordes of shoppers are expected to drive retailers into the black (profit). Black Friday is a day of deep discounts that marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. At some malls shopping starts at midnight, while at others the shopping begins at 5am. As soon as the stores open the hordes descend.
South Florida is also a magnet for migratory and Neotropical birds. Located along the Atlantic Flyway, Florida is in the pathway of birds migrating from their summer breeding grounds in northern and central U.S.A. to their winter grounds in Central or South America and the Caribbean. For some species Florida is their winter home. An abundance of ponds, lakes and waterways means that Florida is especially good for waterbirds.
This dual magnetic force means that during Thanksgiving you can combine two passions; shopping and birding. Or husbands can accompany wives to the mall and while the wife shops the husband indulges in some bird watching. Dolphin Mall located on NW 12th Street off the Florida Turnpike is a good location. The Mall has a huge selection of stores with a wide variety of items. The mall also has two ponds along 12th Street next to the mall parking lot. Among the birds that can be seen in those ponds are Anhingas, Coots, Grey Herons and Snowy Egrets.
At other malls, the desire to introduce greenery into an asphalt and concrete jungle has resulted in trees around and within parking lots. These trees have in turn attracted various bird species. So simply wandering the parking lots gives you the opportunity to see different species of birds.
Even if you do not go near the malls on Black Friday, it is easy to indulge in bird watching in South Florida. The numerous lakes and ponds in residential areas attract birdlife particularly waterfowl. Among the most easily seen Florida waterfowl are Double-crested Cormorant, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Moorhen, Green (Green-backed) Heron and the most common waterfowl found in Florida’s suburban areas, Muscovy Ducks. The Intracoastal Waterway and other canals along the highways and roads are also good locations for spotting avian life and it is easy to stop at an attractive spot. For the more dedicated birdwatcher South Florida has an abundance of state and national parks.
So when next you are planning a trip to South Florida, remember, you can combine shopping and bird watching.
Thanksgiving Day in America is celebrated with lot of fervor and euphoria on the fourth Thursday in the month of November. For the people in the United States, Thanksgiving is a time for intense feelings of happiness, excitement, love, gratitude, and expressions of those feelings with people they love. It is also a time for shopping, family reunion, feasts and family dinners. People also take time to thank God for His constant grace and for all the material possessions man enjoys. For many, Thanksgiving is also the time to thank near and dear ones and being grateful for their kindness. Thanksgiving Celeis a time for communal thanksgiving, feeling gratitude and having lavish feasts. It is a time to remember the pilgrims. The original pilgrims celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks. The feast popularly known as the ‘First Thanksgiving Day Feast’ was held as a gesture of thanks to almighty God. It was celebrated in the year 1621. After the United States gained independence from England in 1776, Congress recommended a yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate.
Celebrating the day in America with lavish meals and the gathering of family and friends, the day was originally thought to be one of Thanksgiving that the pilgrims shared with Native Americans. If it were not for the Native Americans teaching the pilgrims how to plant crops and cook in the strange land, the pilgrims could not have survived. It is a celebration to mark the respect towards the Native Indians and give a tribute, but it is mostly a gesture of thanks and gratitude to the Lord Almighty for His blessings. It epitomizes the holiday mood of people. Christmas shopping also begins the day after Thanksgiving with the biggest, busiest day for retailers, known as Black Friday. In America, traditionally the holiday is a day set aside for giving thanks, having a relaxed meal with family and friends which includes turkey, stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce and ends with desserts like traditional pumpkin pie and pecan pie, then watching sports on television while visiting. It is an annual event where most stores allow their workers to have the day off to be with their families. Thanksgiving gives Americans a chance to share with others and most Americans truly enjoy the day and the harvest season celebration.
James Ridinger founded market America in 1992, in Greesnboro, SC. James had been involved with Amway previous to this. Market America specializes in selling Internet Marketing and brokerage products, as well as health, beauty and nutrition products, of course. James Ridinger was later found to be fraudulent in setting up stock for Market America and selling it to distributors. You can find this information at the SEC Website. Where you will see that there was a bit of wrong doing and taking a bit of advantage of the distributors at the time.
When I go to their main website, I am not sure what kind of marketing system it is. It appears that distributors are able to obtain their own identical website with their name at the end after the “.com”. They market it as a “One-to-One Marketing concept, combining the Internet with the Power of People. I then looked up their Partner Program Contact to see what it was all about.
From what I am able to observe, a distributor purchases an Affiliate Partner Program and the focus is toward the distributor buying from their own website. They encourage that it will be cost effective to shop from you and therefore have the savings and the convenience. This again, does not really focus on a product as much as it does the distributor putting money back into the program and therefore benefiting their uplines revenue.
There is nothing on the website that give any information on how much it will cost to join the program, only and email address to write to. This is taken from the website itself on the Partner With Us page; “For our Distributors, shopping at http://marketamerica.com is more than just convenient– it’s cost-effective. Market America provides incentives and rewards to our Distributors to shop on our Web Portals, increasing the likelihood they will frequent your online store.”
As in all these structures, the income of the distributors at the top and to the corporations that sponsor them, come from the new “investors” at the bottom. Less than 1% of sales are made in these types of structures like Market America. Most of the sales are made through the new distributors who are hoping to “invest” in their new business that will one day make them millions.
The person coming into Market America will have high hopes and dreams that he will have this wonderful website, he imagines thousands of customers coming to his site to buy every product available. Well, what he doesn’t know is that the company is not so concerned if he sells anything or not, or whether he even makes any money. But they will tell him that he will gain his fortune by “helping others” make money by doing the same thing he has done. If only he can get 5 distributors to come aboard, then he will be making X amount of dollars and it will continue to grow.
This is the same old story and same method that has been used for generations now, just a different package. This just makes the rich at the top get richer and the bottom stay at the bottom.
You can read our Unbiased, expert review of the Market America from Brian Garvin and Jeff West at MLM Review Kings. This article may be used royalty free provided bio & links remain intact.
Having a week-long vacation is what everybody wants to enjoy and experience. For a few days, they will be spared from all the paperwork and stress brought about by their job. And when thinking about the holidays, they usually end up going to the typical vacation destinations where many other tourists go to. As a result, they also end up paying a high price for the air fare, hotel rates, and even at the restaurants. So if you want to have a different vacation, why not try spending your holidays in Playa de las Americas instead?
More often than not, tourists want to have a relaxing vacation under the sun. There are numerous natural beaches that can be found here in Playa de las Americas. But there are also man-made beaches that are covered with dark sand as well. Hotels and restaurants are flourishing in areas near the beaches of Playa de las Americas. Therefore, you will not have a hard time looking for a place to stay, even if you do not book a room in advance.
Shopping for souvenirs and other items are part of the whole vacation. And here in Playa de las Americas, there are a wide array of shops where you can purchase duty-free goods including gadgets, clothes, perfumes, and more. One of the best ways to get a great bargain while shopping here in Playa de las Americas is to haggle. Sometimes, the salesmen are quite aggressive when it comes to selling their goods. But keep in mind that there are numerous shops selling the same items and they can offer it to you in a lower price. If you want affordable items, you can head to Torviscas Market during Thursdays and Saturdays. However, you must be an early bird so you can get the best items and avoid the crowds.
Unless you rent an apartment with a kitchen, dining out is probably one of the main activities that you will partake in while you are on vacation. You can choose from a wide array of restaurants. Some of the top-rated restaurants that you must try include the Folias, El Molino, Restaurante Chino Yue Lai, and the Blanco Vista. These are usually quite expensive when compared to the other restaurants that you can find anywhere in the Playa de las Americas. You may also opt to dine at the restaurants near the beach. Stalls sell freshly grilled seafood, where you can also watch TV shows at the same time. The foods at the beachfront restaurants are varied. You may even get to order authentic Indian as well as Chinese cuisines – if you feel like tasting one.
The nightlife here in Playa de las Americas is also thriving. If you are up for a nocturnal holiday, there are tons of nightclubs that you can go to by the time the sun sets. More often than not, these clubs are open until the wee hours of the morning. So you can still stay up until the restaurants are ready to serve breakfast.
Pack Your Bags specializes in many destinations around the world with some of our most popular holidays in Playa de las Americas for families with all ages.
The idea of the shopping centre is nothing new. In fact, shopping centres have been around in many countries for centuries, although they tend to go by different names. In North America, the term “shopping centre” for some refers to an open air retail complex, although it is used interchangeably by most people with the term “shopping mall”.
Transition to the suburbs
North America only began to take on the look that we would associate with “modern” after the end of World War II, in the 1950s. During this time, people began moving en masse to cities for work and convenience, but many were not interested in living close to the industrialized centres of cities. Instead, they located their homes in neighbourhoods built slightly out of the way. As more and more people began living in the suburbs, the demand for convenience shopping grew. Stores began to follow consumers out of the city, often locating themselves centrally and grouping together to cut down costs of land or rental space. Eventually, these stores began to share a roof as well as walkways in front and parking lots. As malls grew bigger, and more floors were added, escalators and elevators became commonplace. Large parking areas and security were also added, making the shopping centre very appealing.
The mall as an area of socialization
As time went by, shopping centres began to not only be used for convenience, but also for social purposes. Parents who stayed at home would often use the mall as a place to meet up with other adults, and teens have always been attracted to the shopping and socializing aspects of malls (shopping centres offer a measure of security that parents tend to appreciate).
The mall hit its stride as an area for socializing in the 1980s, with historic West Edmonton Mall leading the way. Not only was this mall the biggest in the world for twenty years, but it was (and still is) the ultimate in mall social gatherings, incorporating not only hundreds of stores, but movie theatres, an amusement park, a skating rink, and a water park.
The food court is another sign of malls as gathering places, with most shopping centres including several varieties of restaurants conveniently placed all in one area.
The fall of the mall?
In recent years, shopping centres have not received the kind of popular attention in North America that they were known for in the past. In their essence, big box stores are essentially malls with the walls ripped out; everything you need under one roof, in one store. Some of these stores even include the in-house food concept.
Still, people continue to be drawn to malls both for the social aspects and the variety of shops and services they provide. The concept of the mall is still undergoing changes, as those in many big cities are now connecting to each other via overhead or underground passageways. If you thought remembering where you parked your car was hard before, you haven’t seen anything yet!
www.marketamerica.com Is more than a shopping portal that pays you to shop. It is also an opportunity to own your own business without all the risks. Email seoron@gmail.com for more info
