Category: Commerce

Commerce is the whole system of an economy that constitutes, the value-creating activities of an organization for profit. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any country. This becomes annoying when greed steps in.

Recycling Floppy Disks Shouldn’t be Annoying

Johannah7 Comments

 When it comes to Floppy Disks, you have a variety of recycling choices. 

The first and the best way is to reuse them.  Floppy disks can last a long time.  Information can be written, deleted, or overwritten hundreds of times before the magnetic disk surface that retains that information wears out.  They can also be reformatted to clean off all the previous data, and then re-written with new.  There is so much more I could tell you about floppy disks that likely would surprise you – but alas, this article is about recycling them.

The second way is to recycle their parts.  Floppy disks besides being older are significantly different than CD and DVD media. For one thing they are made up of parts which when you unassemble them can each individually be recycled. The recording part of a floppy disk is a flexible piece of iron oxide film rather than a hard plastic surface like a CD and DVD.  The 3½” floppy disk has some additional steel parts over the 5¼” or 8” ones but otherwise they are similar.  Individually the parts we would need to recycle would be:

diskinsides1

 

  • Plastic – the outer plastic shell or housing, a plastic write protect tab and a plastic wiper tab.  These are all made of Polyvinyl Chloride and a recyclable #3  plastic.3-1Collage
  • Metal – a metal shutter, the spring and the hub are all made of stainless steel.  
  • Paper – A set of paper rings or liners (these liners are attached to the plastic housing and are used to clean the disk as it spins).  Paper, of course is recyclable.
  • Magnetic Disk – A “recording” ring which is made of pliable Mylar® – a polyester film coated with iron oxide (the same materials as cassette and videotape recording surfaces).  Mylar® is Polyethylene Terephthalate and recyclable as a #1 plastic.

The third way to recycle them is to use them in some crafty art projects.  Earlier this year, I sold over  100 – 3.5” perfectly good floppy disks to a person who used them to make unique coasters which she then sold on Esty.  In fact if you check out Esty here: Floppy Disk Crafts.  you will see some unique ideas for using them.

Here are some of the idea’s I liked for craft projects.floppy2Collage

Floppy disks stopped being produced last year and the remaining supply is limited.  So reuse, recycle or re-purpose, the choice is yours.

 

~~~~

Reply to question below – 01/15/13

Here’s what my dis-assembled floppy looked like:

R0013615

Its Annoying – Recycling CDROMS

Johannah14 Comments

Its Annoying – Recycling CDROMS

 

Recycling is usually not annoying for me.  It’s something I think we all should do on a regular basis.  There are so many useful things today that can be made out of recycled and reused materials that it just doesn’t make sense to fill a landfill instead of recycling.   But I have a dilemma – while I want to recycle the pallet of used CD/DVD media that I have in my warehouse, I cannot find someone who really wants to take the material off my hands.    After searching for a minimum of six months to find a recycler for my one  pallet of used CDROMS for recycling, I am getting annoyed.  There are a few places who will, but they aren’t local, and they will charge me several hundred dollars for the privilege.  I really want to recycle, but I don’t want to have to pay to give them away.  I understand that the process to recycle this media isn’t an easy one, and not many recycling centers even want to attempt the complex process needed to break down the media back into usable products.

PET7

If you have ever tried to recycle your CD’s – you may already know they are a #7 to the plastic industry ~ the  official “other”  category of the plastic family.   Anything that doesn’t fit into categories #1-#6, get by default into #7.  CD and DVD media falls into the #7 category because they are made of a combination of aluminum, polycarbonate (PC) plastic, lacquer and many times, if printed, ink.  They are not one of the easiest plastics or products to recycle.  Many recycling centers won’t even consider taking them.  Most #7 plastics are non-recyclable and some can be downright dangerous to you.

Nalgene water bottles, some Tupperware, some baby bottles, the inner lining of soft drink cans, some clear plastic containers as well as CD/DVD media are made with something called polycarbonate (PC) plastic.  This particular plastic releases a chemical called Bisphenol A or BPA as it decomposes.  BPA is a hormone, much like estrogen, and it when it leeches into our food and water supplies can cause significant health issues.  

So I thought I’d provide some “alternative” ways to recycle them into art and avoid piling them into a landfill.   Please note:  I am not a crafty person. I do this in partial desperation to encourage people to “want to have” used CD’s so that they can freely be creative!

First, I covered the CD.  I used regular CD label stock as well as using a large white adhesive label, tracing and cutting out the circle size I would need to cover the media.  If you don’t have CD label stock, you can always use adhesive sheet paper.  Alternatives to that include using paint (always fun for kids) and/or paper glued to the CD.  If you use paper, consider construction paper, or something a little more substantial in weight because the glue won’t dry super smooth and may soak into the paper.  After I affixed the circles I had cut out – I used a one sided razor blade to “shave” around the edges.  The beauty of covering the CD is that if you wanted to let the little ones color or draw on them, you’d be able to do that now and you’d be done.

CD label

These are now ready for the next step in the process. You can trace, draw, color, or even provide stickers for your artwork.   And if you plan on hanging the artwork you could do that through the middle of the CD.  If you want to use a string, or ribbon plan ahead and do it at the same time as your adhesive label material to hold it in place! 

If you have talent in the art or craft department, you probably can make some wonderful things! Sadly, I don’t.

Additional Ideas

If  you have thousands or want to use more than just a couple CD or DVD media pieces to complete your project, this next group should give you some more challenging  ideas.  These are not recommended for children.  The CD’s when broken, cut or punched can make very sharp edges and you should never let children attempt to do any of that themselves. 

Additional Ideas

 So now can I get anyone to take about 25,000 of these?

 

Common Sense

Johannah10 Comments

Common Sense 

Do you have it?  I always thought that someone who does something foolish is lacking in common sense…. but I am finding out sometimes people are just fools and to me that’s annoying!

Every day I see examples of people acting, doing and saying foolish things.  Who do they think they are kidding – doesn’t anyone else see the ridiculousness in all of this?   All my life I would have done just about anything not to be a fool.   Yet today people seem to embrace foolishness and call it being unique, one of a kind, “who they are” or “how they roll.”   I beg to differ.  You are not a fool if you dress differently, like a certain style of fashion or music, or even if you are unique in some bizarre way. 

You are a fool if you blatantly violate the rules of common sense.  Common sense says you don’t walk in front of a moving car – unless you are trying to kill yourself.  It says you don’t drink household cleaners or “mess” with bath salts.  It’s that small voice that says this is just plain wrong, don’t do it. 

Your common sense is lacking, and by my definition you are a fool if for example, you are a judge and make a ruling that clearly wasn’t backed up by the witnesses for any reason.  If you are a police officer who pulls someone over for having a light out and then beats the crap out of them because you felt like it.  If you are a mother who thinks she can have her crack and still take good care of her children.  If you are a father who thinks buying video games each month or anything else is much more important than paying your child support and worse still doesn’t understand that those children are your responsibility.

When you take things that are valuable in this life (justice, order, parenthood) and throw them away in favor of your own selfish and sometimes childish wants, needs or desires, instead of doing what’s right, and what needs to be done you are a fool.

I just pray I never fall victim to any of your foolishness.

Changing Times – 11 Things I Didn’t Have

Johannah16 Comments

I am not keeping up.  Things move so fast anymore that I can’t believe it’s actually 2012!

What annoys me today is teens and young adults take things I never knew existed, saw or had totally for granted.  They expect more from technology, and they whine when it’s not available.  So I thought I’d make a list of things that I didn’t have growing up which today we take for granted.  Here goes:

The Beatles

When I was growing up there was no:

  • Color TV  – it was actually just coming out – my parents bought one, it caught on fire and that was the end of that.
  • Microwave Oven – we bought one of these after we were married, a Quasar. It still works, and we still have it (35 years later), it’s a huge and heavy appliance and we aren’t sure how to properly dispose of it.
  • Canned soda –  wasn’t available.  Soda could only be purchased at the soda fountain in your local candy or variety store, or in quart glass bottles.
  • Bottled water – all water in those days came out of the tap, like it or not.
  • Microcomputers, and all that go with them like floppy disks, hard drives, and memory chips.
  • Cell phones – if you needed a phone, you would have to knock on someone’s door and ask to use their phone, find a telephone booth and have a dime, or just not have a conversation. No one called to tell you anything, like they’d be home late, or the traffic was bad, you just had to wait it out and wonder.
  • The Internet – no online games, no such thing as email, and certainly no facebook.
  • Satellite Dishes/Cable TV – we got the NY stations, all 3 of them from a antenna strategically placed on our rooftop – analog not digitally.
  • CD or DVD’s – that’s right… none. We did have 8 track tapes and record players. If you wanted to see a movie, you had to go to a theatre. In 1965, the ticket price for a movie was 35 cents.
  • Digital Cameras –  my dad loved photography, so he had a Polaroid camera which allowed pictures to develop right before your very eyes – otherwise your camera needed film and developing to get a picture – and that method was far from instant.
  • Air Conditioning – if you wanted air conditioning you bought a window unit to cool your bedroom. My dad installed an attic fan that basically sucked the outside air in each night. It was powerful enough so that you felt a breeze with your windows open, but it wasn’t always a cold breeze. Air conditioners were available but expensive and most households attempted to do without them where I lived. Most cars also didn’t have them because it was an expensive option.

Elvis

Anyone want to go back?

Counterfeit Coupons

Johannah15 Comments

Counterfeit CouponsI know about coupons. You probably do too.  You cut them out, buy the product,  and hand them to the cashier to save money on your food and other purchases.  Is there more to know?

Yes, I think you should be aware that there are counterfeit coupons in circulation.  People who do not know they have a counterfeit coupon become guilty of coupon fraud when they try to use it…. and to me, that’s simply not fair.  I never know definitively if the coupon I printed or any other coupon I possess  is counterfeit.  There is no 100% sure way to tell.   All the advice I have seen to avoid coupon fraud says, “Don’t buy coupons from anyone.”  I have never purchased coupons from anyone, does this mean I am safe?  — no.  Because if I search the internet for a coupon, and the site looks legitimate, and the coupon looks like every other coupon I see distributed on the internet….it could still be counterfeit but how would I ever know?

Counterfeit Coupons

 The Internet has become the most cost effective way to distribute coupons.  This method saves money by not having to design, print, and hire a firm to place their coupons in local newspapers.  But, where there is money to be made, it’s just a matter of time before someone figures out how to get around the system.  Coupons are counterfeited with the express purpose of either selling them to unsuspecting victims and to “steal” products from the stores.  Getting away with it, is as easy as bringing in a printed piece of paper…or putting up an online auction ~  how easy can it get?

Counterfeit Coupons

The caveat is that  not all stores will accept internet coupons, and still others limit their use.  Why?  The ease in being able to “photocopy” and counterfeit internet coupons of course.  I don’t have a problem with limitations in theory –  although when merchants won’t accept them, that defeats the entire purpose of having a coupon.  When I buy the exact item listed on the coupon, I don’t just have “high expectations” the coupon will be accepted, I feel it should be accepted.

Looking at the list of “known” counterfeit coupons ( find it here: http://www.couponinformationcenter.com/)  most aren’t free coupons, but instead are a cents off coupon, or a buy one get one free coupon — why?  The counterfeit coupons people circulate aren’t always for a free product.  You would think they would be.  And did you notice I said circulate?  For some reason,  the people who counterfeit them, also like to share them (sometimes freely, sometimes for a fee).  And, I really don’t get it, they risk jail time, a huge fine, and their reputation in addition to the embarrassment for a discount off a purchase?

Many people have written articles lately to scare legitimate users — telling them they will be guilty of coupon fraud as well as ….”this, that, or the other thing” if they print and use them.   However, that annoys me because none of that is even close to fair to the normal user of these coupons.  If a person prints 1000 of them, and then goes to use them or sell them — that is one thing,  if another person uses one they printed when that user shared them — I don’t believe there is one shred of guilt there.  Whatever happened to common sense?  Thousands of manufacturers have chosen this method to distribute their coupons, and it saves them considerable amounts of money and works to encourage customers to try their products.   Will coupon fraud end that?

Counterfeit Coupons

The most help provided as a way to avoid coupon fraud for the average person is “don’t buy coupons”.  So  why are there still so many sellers of them on eBay?  Why hasn’t eBay shut the category?  If the CIC (link above) and the other law enforcement agencies truly believed this was the foremost way most counterfeit coupons get into circulation, why haven’t they shut the venue/category down.  My check of eBay today had 68,483 listings in coupons.

And then what do you do when even the legitimate coupons are rejected at the store level?  To an honest consumer, this is one of the biggest hassles you can encounter.  You feel like you’ve done something wrong when you haven’t — you feel accused and found guilty.  You are embarrassed for no reason.  In my opinion, and everything I write is 100% my opinion, there is no reason for a store, cashier or policy to do this to anyone.  If it happens to you, my advice is to just pick up your remaining coupons and leave.

UPDATE:  Ever hear of the universal consciousness?  My sister talks about it all the time ~ and just a few days after writing this article  – they arrested several woman who they allege were running  the largest counterfeit coupon ring in AZ!  This wasn’t ‘thousands’ of dollars, it looks like it might have be ‘millions’ of dollars.  More info, if you are interested here:  Counterfeit Coupon Ring Busted