When Web marketing goes wrong...

There are a few companies making names for themselves in marketing. LivingSocial, Groupon, Gilt Groupe, and restaurant.com are some of the sites that have popped up that offer consumers deep discounts on various types of services. LivingSocial and Groupon are sites that are especially geared towards localized services. For example, my students and I looked at the sites the other day, and we saw packages such as a spa day, keratin hair products, and a day of go-kart racing, all offered at a discounted rate. The advantage for a company is they attract new customers by offering a discount, and the advantage to the consumer is they save money.

Is this a sustainable business model? I am not sure. I do know you sometimes hear horror stories about sites like that. Generally, they have to do with the stampede effect created by Groupon and LivingSocial. As opposed to restaurant.com, which will give businesses a random amount of business, Groupon and LivingSocial tend to bring a stampede of business in around the same time. Some companies report regular customers being driven away by deal-seekers.

These sites do allow businesses to limit the amount of purchases (see Groupon terms here). However, businesses sometimes underestimate the demand for deal-seekers. For example, a British bakery recently offered a deal for a dozen of their gourmet cupcakes for $10. This was 75% off their normal price. This bakery chose to do all the deals at once (link to article), rather than spreading them out over a few weeks, and also chose not to cap the number of purchases, which many companies do. The normal monthly sale volume was around 1,200 cupcakes a month, they ended up making about 102,000. The owner had to bring in temporary workers just to meet their end of the bargain.

Now, could Groupon do a better job helping the customer avoid disasters like this? I am sure they could. However, the bakery owner also has to realize that caps exist for a reason, and should have seen the potential issue with opening it up to everyone with no restriction. That said, you have to feel for the owner who made this decision and cut in to what was likely a thin profit margin.

Dining on a Budget

I enjoy saving money, and I also like food. A good intersection of these two interests is the Web site restaurant.com. I've been using this site for a number of years, and it's a pretty good site if you want to save money and try new restaurants. I know people see things like this and think "scam", but I've been using restaurant.com for years.

For example, my girlfriend and I went down to Baltimore in January. Rather than break the budget, we decided to see what restaurants were close to the hotel we were staying in were on the restaurant.com Web site. We purchased some gift certificates, and saved somewhere around $150 on food.

Here's how the site works. As a consumer, you go on their site, you purchase a gift certificate to a restaurant, and you use it. Different restaurants offer different types of certificates, but the ones I see most commonly are $25 off any purchase of $35 or more, or $10 off any purchase of $25 or more. A $10 gift certificate costs $5, and a $25 gift certificate costs $10. By that math, if I went to a restaurant and got $35 worth of food, it would cost me $20 ($10 for the gift certificate, and $10 for the difference between the gift certificate and the bill). Even that would be a pretty good deal, but restaurant.com also does one other thing that makes it a great deal. Generally, they have some code or another you can use to save even more. For example, right now they have a deal where you can take 70% off any order. So, going back to our previous example, that $20 gift certificate would cost me $3 instead of $10, and the $10 one would cost $1.50 instead of $5. Therefore, that $35 bill I mentioned before would cost me $13.

Now, restaurants can do things a little differently. Just a quick look at the site shows some restaurants do a deal where you can get a $100 off a $200 purchase for $50 (and, if you used one of the common 70% off coupons, a $200 order would cost you $115). Some restaurants charge a little more for their gift certificates, which make it less good of a deal, and others don't let you use them on weekends. However, it is a nice idea if you are looking to try a new place, or travel. They will apparently make it right if a restaurant you go to stops accepting them (I've never had that experience). Gift certificates don't expire, so you can use them or trade them in if a restaurant stops accepting them.

If anyone owns a restaurant, you can sign up with the site as well and offer the gift certificates to your site, though I can't speak to that experience, it seems like a nice way to get people to come in and try your restaurant.

You can generally find the discount codes if you sign up for their e-mail list, or if you visit their Facebook page.

Using Technology to Save Money

Among other things, I like saving money.  I brought this up in both of my CIS 101 courses, but when I look to buy things, I use the Internet to help me find some deals.
For example, rather than simply going to Staples to buy something, I check prices online.  It's not worth my time to go visit 20 sites to get the best price, so my time is also a consideration.  The best solution is to use one of the sites that do the work for me.  Two such sites are PriceGrabber.com and Google Products (formerly called Froogle).  Let's say I wanted toner for my home printer - a Samsung SCX 4100.  If I go to PriceGrabber, I see the price on Staples is $95.39.  However, if I were willing to go with another company, I could get it as low as $68.70.  Not bad for a few minutes work!  Now, in this case, the vendor with the low price is one I don't know, so I could also read merchant reviews on the site, and make a decision on how safe I want to be.

They also offer generic toner, so if I were willing to do that, I could get a generic cartridge for this device for $30.99.  That is a savings of almost $65 from the original retail price, if I am willing to go with a generic cartridge.  As a bonus, the retailer with the lowest price is one I am familiar with and one who has excellent reviews.  If I needed toner, I'd go with the generic cartridge for that price.

I used toner as an example here, but you can try anything and see the results...a Nintendo Wii...a Panasonic VIERA 50" Plasma TV...an LG Refrigerator...Acqua Di Gio Cologne...a Fellowes Intellishred SB-99Ci Shredder...Note that not everything on the site has multiple vendors listed, but it is a good site to do some initial research.  Remember - if there is a site you are not sure if you trust, read reviews, and feel free to make a decision from there.  These sites do not discriminate between big sites (Dell, Staples, etc) and small sites, so all will be listed.

There are other places I go for other deals, but if there is something specific I am looking for, I usually start on PriceGrabber or Froogle.

Textbook tax credit

This just came across the email at school and I thought it was worth sharing. Here is the email we received from our bookstore manager:

Recently, the Obama administration launched economic stimulus package includes a new Textbook Tax Credit for which many PCCC students are eligible. This new government program will now reimburse students for up to 100% of the cost of required textbooks and other course materials. For example, if your student has out-of-pocket course material expenses or tuition and fees during 2009 or 2010 and no other financial grant aid covers those expenses, they would be able to claim the expenses as a credit. For each student the credit is limited to $2,500.

In the past, the Hope and Lifetime Learning credits did not cover textbooks. This exclusion disadvantaged many students for which textbooks are a high proportion of their total costs of higher education. This stimulus bill creates the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which will credit 100% of a student’s first $2000 in tuition, fees, and course materials, and 25% of the next $2000. The credit is also 40% refundable, so even if a student doesn’t owe taxes, he or she can effectively get a 40% rebate from the federal government for all tuition, fees and course materials.

At the bookstore, we are very excited about this new government program and want to ensure that our students are aware of this new opportunity. We are spreading the word here in the Bookstore, but it would make a huge difference if you could help us raise awareness by mentioning this tax credit in class to ensure that all students hear about it.

http://www.textbookaid.org/

2009-2010 PCCC Scholarships - deadline extended to May 1

PCCC has made a bunch of scholarships available again this year. The deadline to apply is April 2nd MAY 1, 2009 at 4:30 PM. You can get applications in the Center for Student Success (Paterson) or the main offices in Wanaque or Passaic. You will likely need a letter of recommendation for this, so if you know of any faculty members who would recommend you, reach out soon.

As I've stated before, scholarships are a great thing to apply for. At worst, they say no, and at best, you pick up a little extra cash to help pay for school. I personally came from a family where I was the first person to go to college, and I didn't have a lot of money to pay for school. I did get two scholarships that helped a lot - without them, I don't know what I would have done. I received thousands of dollars a year in free money, because some groups wanted to provide opportunities for people like me.

Here are the general descriptions they sent us over the email. You will see some say "see additional requirements" - these are in the packets that they have in the offices.

Scholarship	General information
Academic Achievement	College level student, minimum of 24 college level credits, minimum 3.5 GPA, major in Humanities and/or Human Services, Business, Allied Health, Science or Technology.
Albert Payson Terhune	Part-time student, minimum 3.0 GPA, see additional requirements.
Eileen Thompson Academic Achievement	College level student, minimum 3.5 GPA, see additional requirements.
Professor Elaine C. Harrington	Full-time student, minimum of 12 college credits, minimum 3.0 GPA, NJ resident, see additional requirements.
Elizabeth Steinberg Memorial	Must have completed ESL or developmental courses, minimum 2.0 GPA, accumulated less than 24 credits, have unmet financial need.
Emmett & Evelyn Jones	May be part-time (minimum 6 credits); preference to GPA over 2.5, see additional requirements.
ESL Achievement	Current ESL student, minimum of 18 credits, minimum of 3.0 GPA.
Helyn and Larry Doby Memorial	Good academic standing, taking a minimum of 6 credits, demonstrates personal integrity, see additional requirements.
Manuel V. Lagos	Full-time student, involvement in PCCC activities or community service, minimum of 24 college level credits, see additional requirements.
Nursing Scholarships	Students accepted into the nursing program may also apply for scholarship aid through the department (office PAC 223).
Richard Pirozzi Memorial	Good academic standing with financial need, see additional requirements.
Rosalie Hojegian Memorial	May be part-time (minimum 9 credits), min. 3.0 G.P.A., see additional requirements.
Verizon	Matriculated student, minimum of 3.0 GPA, New Jersey resident, ineligible for other financial aid.

Good luck!

Free Applications for Windows

What a lot of people don't realize is that there are some very good quality software packages that are freeware that are just as effective as the paid ones.

(Side note: for some reason, what I just typed reminds me of a quote from the movie "Real Genius" - starring a very young Val Kilmer - "there's a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing". Classic when seen in context).

There are probably about 10,000 sites that have done this, but there is a site called freeapps.co.uk that promotes many of these products. It has a list of products for the Windows operating system here:
www.freeapps.co.uk/windows

What's kind of nice is that a lot of the things my student end up wondering how to get for free - for example, free anti-virus, free digital photo editors, free alternatives to Microsoft Office...most of the common software packages are listed there, and you can click on one for a more detailed description and a link to the publisher's Web site. This is a site that's trustworthy, and it does link directly to the download sites - you won't have to worry about spyware, you are downloading from the people who created the software.

If you are looking for something free (and also LEGAL), this is a nice little site to check out.

Black Friday 2008 - feel the excitement!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My favorite holiday of the year is almost upon us. No, it's not one of the ones you are thinking, it's Black Friday.

Black Friday is, of course, the day after Thanksgiving, where stores have crazy deals and lines at 5:00 in the morning. With the economy where it is, some companies seem to have put together some deals that are really exciting.

There are so many places with so many deals, and even in better economic times, it has always been fun to go out and get some of them.

You'll notice many stores have two types of sales - "early bird" specials (show up before a certain time), and all day specials.

One of the beautiful things about the Internet is that a lot of this information gets posted early. I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten the chance to really plan out what I want to do, but there are a ton of deals to be had. For example, I've been visiting bfads.net for years, and they post the deals that are out there, and trust me, there are pages of them. Kohl's, for example, has over 500 sale items this year.

It's worth the one day of getting up early for me to get deals on stuff I want to buy anyway. I am considering an iPhone, but I haven't seen any Black Friday deals for that yet...and I have a few other things that I would get for the right price (for example, a Blu-Ray DVD player).

Plan now, and save!

Web Link:

• http://bfads.net/

Microsoft Free Second Shot on Certification Exams

Microsoft is giving students a free "second shot" on selected computer certification exams. What this means is that if you fail a certification test, you can get a second chance for free. This is an excellent opportunity if you are going for a first certification.

Note that this offer only applies to the "72" series exams, so this does NOT apply to the Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access exams (MCAP, formerly MOS).

You can sign up on Microsoft's Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/2ndshot/default.mspx

If you are planning on getting a certification exam, this is a nice, cost effective option in case you make a mistake or two your first time around. Just remember - if you combine a degree with some certifications, it shows an employer a lot, and can help your resume to float towards the top of a pile.

Free Trial of Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft is giving out a fully functional 60 day/2 month free trial of Office 2007 Professional. If you don't have Office on your computer, this is a chance to try the new version for free.

Note that since this is the trial version of Office Professional, not only do you get Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you also get Publisher and Access, two other very nice tools, and a few other tools. For free, it's definitely worth a try.

If you were interested in simply purchasing it, there is a "Home and Student" version, which is designed for home users that will be doing common school related tasks. The "Home and Student" version includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This is much cheaper than the standard versions of Office, with a retail price of $150.

At this point, it is a little over $100 to purchase it on Amazon. I'll link to that below.

Web Links:

• Office 2007 Home and Student version on Amazon (PC Version)
  
  
• Link to free trial download page
  (Note that even though this is not from "Microsoft.com", it is what Microsoft links you to. I checked)

Free online faxing

Up until a few years ago, if I had to fax something, I'd bring it in to work with me (shhhh!). I am sure many of you do the same, if you can. The primary reason in my case was that I didn't have a fax machine at home, so places (such as my insurance company) who didn't want email would require me to print something, find a device I didn't have at home, send it to them, and hope it got picked up and delivered on the other end to the right person.

My solution? A multifunction device (fax, print scan, copy). Not this model, mind you, but it's a visual aid, and pictures are pretty after all.


Anyway, if you have a small fax to send, one alternative to this is to use faxzero.com - this Web site will allow you to send up to two documents a day, each with up to three pages in it. You can upload an existing document from your PC, or if you only need text, you can just type that in to their text box. The first page you send will have some sort of ad on it, but hey, for free, what the heck? It's better than paying to have it done at Kinko's or Staples...and better than waiting until Monday if you're not going to work for a few days. Plus, if you already have it electronically, it saves you printing pages you are going to turn around and throw out anyway. Thumbs up on this one, a good little site to bookmark.

http://faxzero.com/

Good Deal Alert @ Staples: Week of 7/5/08

It's time to stock up for school already!

Staples has some excellent deals this week. The following items are one penny. Yes, 1 cent.
8 pack of pencils
2 pocket folders
Purell hand sanitizer

They also have nice folders for 25 cents and some highlighters free after rebate.

The 1 cent deals are only good until Wednesday 7/9/08.

link to ad

Gas Prices

Perhaps you have noticed gas prices increasing. I certainly have.

The higher gas prices go, the better it is to take a moment to check out a Web site like gasbuddy.com - for example, prices in this state are as "low" as $3.75 a gallon, and as high as $4.79. You can see how this can save you some money.

Visit gasbuddy

I also came across this site from a visit to one of my favorite Web sites, thesimpledollar.com - it has a list of 75 gas saving tips. There are a lot of little things that we can do to get slightly better gas mileage, including getting all that extra stuff out of the trunk, which this reminded me to do.

One of the biggest things that saves gas, interestingly enough, was to stop aggressive driving. This is something that I think many NJ drivers could stand to learn...
75 Gas Saving tips