The Big Three

It looks as though the US may get more like the UK in one aspect; the loss of domestic car manufacturers. Large numbers of cars are made in the UK, but they are nearly all from foreign owned companies. Even such British sounding companies as Jauguar and Rolls Royce are owned by the Germans and Indians. Rover, the last British mass market manufacturer ceased to be a few years ago.

The Detroit three, Ford, GM, and Chrysler, are looking for assistance from the US Government to help them get through the next twelve months. It is ironic that after years of lobbying to prevent Congress passing legislation that would have required them to improve fuel efficiency standards, they are at the edge of financial ruin because people prefer to buy Japanese cars with better fuel economy. It is now looking unlikely that this Congress will provide the aid that they need. Senate Republicans presumably wish to make the economy even worse for the incoming Democratic administration. Bush is looking to find other ways of getting funds to the companies. I cannot see how in even the medium term, all three will still exist as independent concerns.

US Car Manufacturers

Food Packaging

I have noticed a couple of odd statements on food packaging in the last couple of days. Yesterday I had some pulled pork, whose packet proudly claimed that it had 10% more meat. 10% more than what? Based on the meat content, my guess would be that it is 10% more than their vegetarian version of the dish.

Today I looked at a tin of Ovaltine which stated that it was fat and cholesterol free. This is only true if you were to eat the powder. The moment you add milk as per the instructions this statement will no longer be true.

Coffee Cups

In the UK Starbucks Coffee purchased for drinking on the premises is served in ceramic mugs. Here in the US your coffee arrives in paper cups whether or not you get a to go. There can be mo doubt that it is more pleasant to have a mug with a handle. It may be psychological, but the coffee seems to taste better. We are in a Pete’s Coffee in Vacaville and they proper cups. Combined with the smell of fresh roasted beans and classical music it adds to a more enjoyable experience.

Online Guides

If you are traveling to a city and want to know what attractions to visit, you could take a look at Schmap. (Why do so many websites have such daft names?)  The site works on desktop browsers, smartphones, and offers the details for each city as downloadable content if you wish to print it out and carry it with you. Unfortunately, it does work correctly in Opera. I came across the site because they asked permission to use a photograph of the Kennedy Center that I had taken in DC and posted to Flickr.

Taxing Changes

In the US shops generally show prices without sales tax and the extra is added to the price at the till. In the UK, however prices are shown inclusive of tax. This has caused problems with the change of VAT (Value Added Tax) from 17.5% to 15%. The change was announced a week before it took effect, offering little time for stores to change notices. There seem to have been several ways of dealing with this.

Several shops have said that they will take the tax off at the till, so the prices you see on the shelves are higher than what you actually pay. Other shops are altering prices, but have not yet completed the exercise, so you may pay the quoted price or maybe a little less.

We had lunch at a restaurant today which had an announcement slip in each menu that they had previously planned to raise prices by 5% on December 1st, but in view of the fall in VAT have left the prices alone. This seems an awfully helpful coincidence that saves them reprinting their menu.

The third option was at Costa Coffee, where they announced that all prices were 5p less than the posted price. For the medium sized Cappucino that we ordered this was the correct change dictated by the rate reduction. However, for larger drinks they are short changing their customers.

Online it has obviously been easier to update prices, but all of a sudden you see items at 8.80 rather than 8.99.