Technically Speaking

I don’t post about politics much, but this post is more of a history lesson than a politically-motivated post. I received the following message as an internet forward, but before I posted it here, I checked around to see if I could verify its authenticity. The website TruthorFiction.com verifies that this account is a faithful retelling of a speech that US Navy Captain Dan Ouimette gave in 2002 and then again in 2003. Captain Oumette was, at the time, the Executive offiver of the US Naval Air Station at Pensacola Florida. He has since retired.

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19 Feb 2003

America WAKE UP!

That’s what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 and maybe it was, but I think it should have been “Get Out of Bed!” In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world’s most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign US embassy set the stage for the events to follow for the next
23 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Viet Nam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America’s inability to deal with terrorism. America’s military had been decimated and downsized / right sized since the end of the Viet Nam war. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more. Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut. 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more. Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber. The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gates of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid. Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the Snooze Alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US soil is continually attacked. Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed. The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259. America wants to treat these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war…the Wake Up alarm is louder and louder. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I issue a call to screenwriters and movie producers everywhere. It is time for a true adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s Jane of Lantern Hill.

Last week, Christina and I hunted down the only copy of the 1990 made-for-TV movie Lantern Hill, and I have to admit, we were sorely disappointed.

The original book, by the author of the Anne of Green Gables series is a fantastic novel. If you liked Anne, you will love Jane of Lantern Hill. Published in 1937, Jane is the story of a girl whose lived the first 10 years of her life with her mother, all the while believing that her father is dead. Jane learns that her father is still living (where? on Prince Edward Island, of course!), and about a year later, her father requests that she come spend a summer with him. Jane is an adorable coming-of-age tale. As one Amazon.com reviewer writes, “This book is … about the how understanding and love can transform an introverted, unhappy child into a confident, intelligent girl.”

On the other hand the movie Lantern Hill takes the same characters (with the totally random addition of Colleen Dewhurst (think: Marilla Cuthbert) as Hepzibah–a totally non-existent character in the novel) and transforms the story into something of a ghost story, where Hepzibah (who is portrayed as some mystical character–maybe a witch?) tries to get Jane to reunite her parents, and where Jane is being haunted in her dreams by the ghost of a woman who some townsfolk accuse Jane’s father of killing.

While the acting in Lantern Hill is pretty good, the screen writers murdered the classic beauty of Montgomery’s tale. (It wasn’t Evelyn that was murdered! It was the storyline!) Frankly its amazing to me that the same director and writer that did such a great job adapting Anne of Green Gables could destroy Jane of Lantern Hill so completely.

Now I’m ready for a really good Pride-and-Prejudice-like version of this story. A version that is true to the characters, theme, and tone of the novel with superb acting and a great score. I’m thinking of something written by Andrew Davies. Alone. No writing-by-committee is allowed for this movie!

I read an article on CNN.com today that talked about how NASA is remembering fallen astronauts.

This weekend is a time of sad memorials for NASA. Jan 27, 28, and Feb 1 all mark dates of NASA disasters. I didn’t realize that these disasters all happened in the same calendar week (albeit very different years, obviously.)

January 27th marks the 39th anniversary of the 1967 Apollo 1 spacecraft fire during a countdown test at the launch pad. Three astronauts were killed.

January 28th marks the 20th anniversary of the Challenger explosion during takeoff. Seven astronauts were killed.

And February 1st marks the 3rd anniversary of the Columbia breakup during re-entry. Seven astronauts were killed in this disaster.

So this week marks a series of mournful anniversaries for NASA personnel and its families. On Thursday NASA administrator Michael Griffin made the following comment addressing these tragedies:

“Space flight remains the pinnacle of human challenge, an endeavor just barely possible with today’s technology. It is an enormously difficult enterprise, made more so by the fact that we are human beings and flawed. The losses we commemorate today are a mute and terrible reminder of the sternness of the challenge, and of awful consequences of our flaws.”

My hat goes off to those whose lives have been lost in the pursuit of this goal, and to the families they left behind.

Yesterday I ranted a bit about Amazon.com’s marketplace. Today I have two more examples that I’d like to share with you, demonstrating some flaws in the Amazon marketplace.

First, consider another book that we sold today. This book sold for $2.50 cents. This time the buyer choose expedited shipping. When a buyer chooses expedited shipping, the variable closing fee changes to only $.44 cents. Amazon’s commission is still 15% (in this case, $.38), and the just-because-we-can fee of $.99 is still assessed. Amazon’s total commission for this sale then was $1.81. Since the buyer chose expedited shipping, Amazon added $5.49 for shipping. Add those totals up: Buyer paid $7.99, Amazon took $1.81; I ended up with a deposit of $6.18 cents, from which I have to pay for packaging and shipping.

Since I’m sending the package out Priority Mail (after all, the buyer paid for expedited shipping, right?), I don’t have to pay for packaging. The post office covers that for you. However, because the book weighs 2.5 pounds, Priority Mail shipping is $6.40. Take that out of the $6.18 that I got paid, and I end up $.22 cents in the hole for having sold this book.

Amazon knows the shipping weight of the book. It is plainly listed in the item’s description. Why can’t they charge the customer enough money to cover shipping? How can Amazon tell a customer that the order will go out priority mail, and only charge $5.49 for shipping, when Amazon KNOWS that the item can’t ship for less than $6.40? Amazon needs to adjust their shipping prices accordingly such that shipping credits more accurately reflect actual postage prices.

Second, here is one book I have for sale: It’s listed at $.01. When this book sells, Amazon will get no commission, but they will still get the $1.23 closing fee and the $.99 just-because-we-can fee. That is $2.22 that goes into their lump “commission.” That means that the buyer will pay $3.50 with shipping, Amazon takes their $2.22 cut, and I end up with $1.28, from which I pay shipping and packaging. Mail rates start at $1.59, sans packaging. (Unless I can send the item first-class, which is cheaper if the book is quite light.) I’m realizing that I’ve got to raise the price of my book!

Amazon should not be allowed to take a commission larger than the amount of the sale price of the book. The commission in this example is equal to 2220% of the book’s sale price. How is that fair? It would be fair if Amazon would restrict their commission to a maximum of 100% of the item’s sale price. Then at least I could maybe afford to ship the item to the customer. At least I could get rid of the book without having to pay somebody to take it.

Third, Amazon’s shipping charges are different for marketplace orders than for Amazon.com orders. In the Marketplace, Amazon.com only collets $3.49 for standard shipping and $5.49 for 2-day shipping. Amazon however realizes that this isn’t enough money to ship items. Note that when THEY ship books from Amazon.com’s own stock, they collect $3.99 for standard shipping and $9.48 for 2-day shipping. Marketplace users get $.50 less for standard shipping and $4.00 less on 2-day shipping than Amazon charges their own customers! Why does Amazon think it costs them more money to ship an item than it will cost a Marketplace seller?

Ah well. In the end selling with Amazon marketplace is a choice. The trick is to only list books that you can sell for a profit. If you are considering selling on Amazon’s marketplace, beware of Amazon’s fees! Make sure you know in advance how much money you’ll make for a book’s sale, and then make sure that it is at least enough to ship the book wherever it needs to go.

Maybe its time to do as Dave suggested and check out eBay. Hey, maybe I’ll at least try it and see what happens. It can’t be worse than Amazon, can it? (Famous last words, I know!)

A week ago today I decided that the best way to get rich would be to list a bunch of books for sale on the Amazon.com marketplace. Those who helped us move a while back will remember that we had something like 25 boxes of books from our bookshelf. These boxes were the first ones into the moving van (while everybody was still feeling strong!), but they were thus the last ones out of the van when we arrived at our new place (when almost everybody but Jonathan and Keith had abandoned us). We decided it was time to get rid of some of the books, even if it is just so the Elder’s Quorum doesn’t have to move as many boxes of books down the road.

Selling our own books on Amazon, however, turned out not to be the way to make it rich quickly.

The first book we sold happened within 30 minutes of placing the books for sale on Amazon’s website. The book was listed for sale at $4.50. Amazon added $3.49 to cover shipping, so the buyer paid $7.99 for the book. How much do you think I ended up with? Just over $3.00. Where did the five dollars go? Well Amazon took a commission of almost three dollars, and it cost me another 2 dollars to buy packaging for and pay for postage on the book.

I was surprised that Amazon got a three dollar commission on a book that sold for $4.50. Sounds a little steep doesn’t it? Well, turns out that Amazon’s selling fees for books are as follows: (1) 15% of purchase price of book for Amazon’s commission. (2) $1.23 closing fee (this isn’t a house. Why are there closing costs?). And (3) a $.99 fee that I call the “Just because we can” fee. Amazon calls this a “per-transaction fee.” This is a fee that Amazon charges to sellers who aren’t registered for the “professional merchant” program. You see, for $39.99 a month you can become a “Professional Merchant” and can avoid the “just because we can” fee. If you sell more than 40 books in a given month, you save money. If you sell less than 40 bucks, you’re better-off paying the “just because we can” fee.

How does the fee structure break down in real-life selling situations? Here are some examples.

1. Our first sale was for $4.50. The shipping added was $3.49, so the buyer paid $7.99. Amazon’s 15% commission was $.68 (15% of $4.50), the closing fee was $1.23, and the just-because-we-can fee was $.99. That means Amazon got $2.90 of the total price, bringing our cash income to $5.09. From that, we had to pay for packaging ($.50) and postage ($1.50), so our net gain on the book was $3.09. (However, our friendly buyer, after the book shipped, decided that she really didn’t want this book, so she is going to return it. Amazon requires that merchants offer returns, so now she gets to return the book to us, but we get no compensation for the packaging or the shipping. We’re out two dollars on the purchase just because she decided that she didn’t want the book anymore.)
2. Our next book had hundreds of books in the marketplace, so we priced it kind of low. We sold it for $.50. With shipping, the buyer paid $3.99 for the book. Amazon got a $.09 commission, plus the $1.23 closing fee, plus the .99 just-because-we-can fee, bringing our cash income to $1.69. From that, we had to pay for packaging ($.50) and postage ($1.12), so our net gain on the book was a paltry $.07. Amazon’s fees on a $.50 book were $2.31. You can’t even justify the time involved for seven cents.
3. Another book sold for $3.75. With shipping, the buyer paid $7.74. Amazon’s commission, closing fee, and just-because-we-can fee added up to $2.78. Our cash income was $4.46, but this book was heavier. Packaging cost $.50, and postage was $2.00. We ended up with $1.96.
4. Our highest-price sale to date was for $15.50, so the buyer paid $18.99 with shipping. Amazon’s total commission, closing fee, and just-because-we-can fee totaled $4.55, leaving us with $14.44 cash income. Packaging and postage cost us $2.50, and we ended up with $11.94.

The way to make money from Amazon’s marketplace program is to be a high-volume seller, and join their merchant pro program, so you can pay them $40 a month, but not pay the just-because-we-can fee. Then you make a lot of sales, so that the little amounts you make on each book add up in the end. It helps if you can find books that people are willing to buy for more than $.50. Helps a lot actually.

The Amazon marketplace probably isn’t the place for the average low-volume user to make a ton of money on the books sitting in their bookcase. It turns out that the old saying really is true: there just ain’t no free lunch.