Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

ab348

28firefighter said:

We used CruiseCompete to send our sailing out for bidding - ended up saving $2k across 3 cabins.

I never knew there was a site like that. I can imagine @stickguy over there right now trying to get the most screaming deal on a cruise neither he nor his wife actually like. :laughing:

stickguy

not only do we have no desire to go on a cruise in the first place, the whole circus of trying to shop for one sounds like a nightmare!

28firefighter

I find the process to be fun - the bigger challenge is narrowing down the destinations, cruise line, and dates you want to go - that is overwhelming.

tjc78

Agreed. We’ve only sailed on NCL but I’m open to RCL or Carnival.

Carnival has some really nice ships and offers a lot of value.

NCL has seemed to really go up in price since their “free” at sea program was introduced.

explorerx4

We have unlimited PTO at work. My manager is pretty liberal about it.
Before we went to that, I had 33 days PTO per year.
I've taken a little less since we switched over.

28firefighter

I think I have 26 days of PTO. Not that I ever get to actually use all of it, so it just rolls over.

imidazol97

All of this shopping for cruises and doing price comparisons along with the variations in the extras and the character of the cruises sounds a lot like car buying. Or mattress shopping comparisons.

houdini1

Mahomes comes through again, Chiefs 31 49er's 20 SUPERBOWL CHAMPS YAHOO !!

imidazol97

IF anyone else is having trouble logging back in to Edmunds, I was told it's a known problem and it's being addressed. I turned in a trouble slip over the weekend.

qbrozen

I’d rather navigate half a dozen new car leases than 1 vacation plan.

tjc78

qbrozen said:

I’d rather navigate half a dozen new car leases than 1 vacation plan.

+1

My wife is kinda indifferent with me wanting to plan a vacation since it’s our first full year with the place by the shore.

I said I’d only do one in the off season (Nov - March).

cdnpinhead

Our 5+ week driving trip to AK and back last summer was a treat to set up. Not quite so bad as trying to coordinate a vacation on the east coast with a business trip, which I did a couple of times when I was still gainfully employed, but still a lot of work, with the various lodging choices and all.

Still, if you're an "independent traveler," it's possible to make a lot of the choices for yourself independent of the cookbook situation of group travel.

28firefighter

Trip planning is not something that brings my wife and I joy at this point. We don't get a ton of time to take off together as a family and work a lot of hours during the week. A cruise offers a low friction way for us to see some things, even if it isn't everything.

I'm planning to whisk her away to Europe next year, assuming all is well...I can post that here because she will literally never find it.

graphicguy

Agree about travel planning being akin to buying a car. You can certainly spend the same amount of time doing both.

It took me a few trips before I trusted my travel agent (same with my Acura and BMW sales people).

But, I tell my TA what my budget is, where I want to go, how long I want to stay, she gives me 3-4 options, and I choose the one I like best.

graphicguy

imidazol97 said:

IF anyone else is having trouble logging back in to Edmunds, I was told it's a known problem and it's being addressed. I turned in a trouble slip over the weekend.

Yeah....Edmunds forums has gone wonky, again!

andres3

stickguy said:

speaking of Uber, or in this case Lyft, my daughter told us today that she heard from one of her friends that they were out last night and took a lyft home. And for some reason, the driver came in hot, hit a parked car, then creamed her friends car. Saw a picture, and the thing was a mess. wiped out the front end. must have been moving pretty good based on the damage, and ended up careening up the driveway. No clue what happened, but apparently was not drunk.

kinda harsh to do the responsible thing and call for a ride, and still end up with your car totaled!

EVEN HARSHER when you are the designated driver for 3 young and obviously drunk passengers, pass the sobriety test as not a drunk (wasn't drunk), and get handed the next most expensive ticket instead, for "running a red light" which was actually just me making a right turn at 0.25 MPH without completely stopping (more to it, but this is enough).

This DISCOURAGED me from ever being a DD again. I hope that cop had to clean up a lot of messes caused by DUI crashes where someone wasn't using a responsible DD.

andres3

houdini1 said:

Mahomes comes through again, Chiefs 31 49er's 20 SUPERBOWL CHAMPS YAHOO !!

The announcer mentioning it was that time in the game where Montana threw a touchdown in the back of the endzone was the end of the 49ers chances. There's no Montana on the 49ers roster in 2020.

andres3

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/emma-czornobaj-loses-appeal-1.4152387


Punishment for unintended "accidents" Rightfully doled out if you ask me.

abacomike

andres3 said:

houdini1 said:

Mahomes comes through again, Chiefs 31 49er's 20 SUPERBOWL CHAMPS YAHOO !!

The announcer mentioning it was that time in the game where Montana threw a touchdown in the back of the endzone was the end of the 49ers chances. There's no Montana on the 49ers roster in 2020.

True - and wasn't the sinking of the Titanic just awful?

fintail

Unlimited PTO carryover, been a long time since I've seen that. I wonder if it is rare in the private sector for 2020. I had that until 2010 or so, then the powers that be considered it to be a liability on the books, and cut it to 80 hours, hinting at future layoffs. Lo and behold, there was a remarkably poorly planned layoff. Fun year during the pare down time though, I was taking a week off every month and took a 3 week trip to Europe that fall. Then a couple years later they cut it to 40 hour carryover on a whim, then bumped it back to 80. I wouldn't be surprised if it is cut again, as it's not a great working environment these days for many.

A friend of mine is public sector, now in a virtually unfireable position thanks to tenure, and has unlimited PTO and comp time both, so he hoards the PTO and vacations on the comp time. Must be nice, I got in the wrong line of work.

Regarding vacation planning, I like it, but I prefer to travel solo.

imidazol97

graphicguy said:

Yeah....Edmunds forums has gone wonky, again!

I signed in about 4 pm EST today. So it's fixed, for me at least.

stickguy

I work for a cheap company, and have no where near that much PTO (and no carryover, at least officially). But being FT WFH, I can get away with using a lot less PTO, including some times travelling. Hey, if they have no clue where you work from in the first place, how will they know when you aren't there?

pensfan83

No carryover here either, not that either of us ever need it though this year may be an exception.

28firefighter

I don't have unlimited carryover. There is a cap and a strong recommendation is to keep the rollover bank well below that cap.

dino001

fintail said:

Unlimited PTO carryover, been a long time since I've seen that. I wonder if it is rare in the private sector for 2020. I had that until 2010 or so, then the powers that be considered it to be a liability on the books, and cut it to 80 hours, hinting at future layoffs. Lo and behold, there was a remarkably poorly planned layoff. Fun year during the pare down time though, I was taking a week off every month and took a 3 week trip to Europe that fall. Then a couple years later they cut it to 40 hour carryover on a whim, then bumped it back to 80. I wouldn't be surprised if it is cut again, as it's not a great working environment these days for many.

A friend of mine is public sector, now in a virtually unfireable position thanks to tenure, and has unlimited PTO and comp time both, so he hoards the PTO and vacations on the comp time. Must be nice, I got in the wrong line of work.

Regarding vacation planning, I like it, but I prefer to travel solo.

Perhaps a time off forfeiture turns is a little bit of a favor to those people who don't know how to rest, as it would make them to take time off (or literally lose money). It may actually be good business not just for the company, but in the long run, for the employees, too, as long as the staffing is done is a way that doesn't make a normal vacation for people untenable (in that case, it is an obvious ploy to squeeze people out).

I think it's not healthy to not to take time off work, so for me carryover has never been an issue for me. I generally TELL my boss when I leave, as long I do it over three months in advance, I don't really need to ask. I'll keep repeating that I'll be gone every so often so they never had an opportunity to act like it's some kind of surprise. I also usually go far to places hard to reach (national parks, Europe, etc.), so there is even less temptation to violate that due to communication barriers. I have always said I'm not as arrogant to say the business cannot carry on without me for couple of weeks (sometimes even three) not being there.

From my observation people hoarding time off either somehow psychologically damaged (often by their upbringing) and unable to unplug, or very insecure about their work to point of being paranoid, like in this really old joke that if you always there nobody will ever notice don't need you.

There is something truly disturbing about American's general attitude toward vacation, like it's something naughty, almost unholy. I heard/read Americans on average take less time off than even Japanese, who are well known for being "married" to their work, at least on the institutional level. I also observed that people that never take any vacation are not particularly more productive than those who do - if anything they may often may be less productive, hence the insecurity and somehow need to make sure they're there at all times.

BTW, we get here 10 days of carryover, the rest would be forfeit, if not taken. The company is small enough to make exceptions when there was a gigantic "all hands on deck" push just before new year - they suspended that policy so people could take paid vacation after the push was over - so I heard, as it was before my time.

sb55

I don't know about PTO since I owned my own company, but my father-in-law was a Suffolk County, NY cop. He saved up so much vacation time that he retired 19 years in, a whole year early. One of his sons is a NYC teacher. He worked summer school for 2 years so he could pad his pay and will retire this year with a huge lifetime pension. His his other son is FAA employee. He works 4 10 hour days/week so has a long weekend every week. He will probably retire years early too, since he never takes vacations.
My wife wasn't smart enough to work for the public sector, was constantly frustrated and job hopped, so no pension for her at all.

tjc78

I had 25 days. That was about perfect for what I was able to take off. Two weeks in summer, Christmas week and enough days to make long weekends around holidays etc.

That’s one of the things I’m going to miss when I sign on at the next company. I’m sure I can get three weeks total as a new employee but 5 is going to be tough.

ab348

Working for the govt here I forget the exact limit on carryover vacation but in my case it was a few weeks, no more. In other parts of the public sector it was far more generous, and it was not unusual for long-term employees to have a year or more of accumulated time in the bank. Even more crazily, some places allowed that to be paid out in a lump sum upon retirement to let them start collecting their pension immediately. I think most of that has now gone away.

Years ago I dealt with a tech company that required employees who had been there for a certain number of years to take 6- or 12-month sabbaticals with pay. As one of them explained it to me they were encouraged to go and do something they had always wanted to do - build a cabin in the woods, take a world tour, whatever. The rationale was that it would keep them fresh and they would return to work afterwards with a new perspective. I suspect that was rare at the time and even more rare now.

tjc78

We were never allowed to carryover any of our time. Use it or lose it.

snakeweasel

We get the standard vacations (2 weeks to start then increases over the years), I am currently at 3.5 weeks a year and will increase to 4 weeks next year. We are allowed to carry over 2 years worth of accrued vacation every year. I usually bank away one or two days per year. Any unused vacation gets paid out when you leave.

Sick time we get 8 hours per month with no cap on accruals. I currently have over 950 hours on the books. Unused sick time does not get paid out but it will count as service credit for retirement purposes.

graphicguy

For good or ill, when I was younger, raising a family, I could have used more PTO. Even then, I rarely used the PTO and vacation time I was entitled to.

Now, given I have no family responsibilities anymore, I have more PTO and vacation, and take every bit of it....for no other reason than I CAN!

qbrozen

Places I have worked have all been different. Use it or lose it was, and continues to be, the dumbest. You wind up with everyone needing off at the very end of the year.

dino001

qbrozen said:

Places I have worked have all been different. Use it or lose it was, and continues to be, the dumbest. You wind up with everyone needing off at the very end of the year.

There are some businesses that this can still work. They just can't be consumer-facing service oriented, especially those that operate on premise of quick response. I work at a engineering design office that serves mostly public clients (state, municipalities, etc.), it can turn a ghost town during holidays and nobody really cares - unless there is some kind of proposal going out on January 2. Even submittals of on-going projects are usually scheduled to avoid being done during that period, so people can take time off (not always, of course, but as a general rule).

snakeweasel

qbrozen said:

Places I have worked have all been different. Use it or lose it was, and continues to be, the dumbest. You wind up with everyone needing off at the very end of the year.

I was in that situation last year an will likely be in the future. But I keep a close eye on my vacation and burned enough days taking 3 day weekends in the late summer/early fall. I will likely do that this year too.

qbrozen

With kids, I always had to keep 2 days in my back pocket until the very end.

carnaught

I only have UPTO being self-employed .

driver100

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All guests will receive the following:

Roundtrip airfare ($350-$1000 per-person value, depending on itinerary) available from 20 gateways: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago (ORD), Denver, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (EWR, JFK or LGA), Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. (DCA); discounted airfare available from all other U.S. cities
Premium beverage package ($71 per person, per day value), which includes beer, wine, cocktails, soda, bottled water, specialty coffees and more
Prepaid gratuities ($14.50 per person, per day value)
Unlimited Wi-Fi ($9.99 per person, per day value)
Third and fourth guests sharing the same room also get airfare, beverage package, prepaid gratuities, Wi-Fi and taxes included
Two coupon books per cabin for additional onboard discounts
Reduced deposit of $100 per person
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Some of our favorite deals — all with the perks above — include (per-person prices, based on double occupancy):

Caribbean: 7 nights from Fort Lauderdale including St. Thomas ... $1099
Alaska: 7 nights from Vancouver ... $1299

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Gratuities $14.50 a day per person???????

fintail

I agree on all counts. I know far too many people who "live to work", and it doesn't seem to really get them ahead. They are always frazzled from work, and don't seem to climb the ladder faster than anyone else. When my employer went to a use it or lose it system, many people chose to lose their hard earned benefit, as they were afraid of falling behind or looking bad - not that people who actually took the earned and deserved break were thought of as looking bad. A hyper competitive world where people worship bootstrap fantasy has many unintended consequences. Americans receive the least benefits compared to other developed western nations as it is, why sacrifice more? Especially when there's little or possibly nothing gained from it. Of course, poor managers love what is effectively free labor, especially those who don't understand that labor isn't productive when it is burned out.

Having the office deserted in December as people hurried to get to a banked 10 days is also amusing, although I suppose that's the best time to have off anyway.

I am surprised there hasn't been some kind of uprising regarding public sector bennies, maybe in the future as things become even more polarized and two-class.

dino001 said:

fintail said:

Perhaps a time off forfeiture turns is a little bit of a favor to those people who don't know how to rest, as it would make them to take time off (or literally lose money). It may actually be good business not just for the company, but in the long run, for the employees, too, as long as the staffing is done is a way that doesn't make a normal vacation for people untenable (in that case, it is an obvious ploy to squeeze people out).

ronsteve

ab348 said:

Working for the govt here I forget the exact limit on carryover vacation but in my case it was a few weeks, no more. In other parts of the public sector it was far more generous, and it was not unusual for long-term employees to have a year or more of accumulated time in the bank. Even more crazily, some places allowed that to be paid out in a lump sum upon retirement to let them start collecting their pension immediately. I think most of that has now gone away.

Here in the States, as a fed with more than 15 years of service, I rack up 26 days of vacation and 13 days of sick leave per year. At the end of the calendar year, we can't have more than 30 days of vacation in the bank, and anything over that vanishes. Good way to incentivize people taking appropriate time away from work! Come retirement, the vacation balance is paid out as a lump sum, but I've heard stories of it taking 2-3 months before that payment (or sometimes even pension) shows up!

Sick leave balances have no limit (I think I have about 11 months in the bank), and no ability to cash out, but can be credited as additional time in service for the pension calculation. Which isn't nearly as much for 99% of the people currently in federal civil service as some people would have you believe.

ronsteve

qbrozen said:

Places I have worked have all been different. Use it or lose it was, and continues to be, the dumbest. You wind up with everyone needing off at the very end of the year.

There is usually a memo that comes out around the end of September to prod people to get their leave scheduled if they have use or lose. I don't mind since I don't typically go anywhere for the holidays, so I am around and happy to pocket the double-time for working the actual holiday.

But fortunately the use-or-lose problem is minimized because we're allowed to carry over quite a bit.

venture

Glad to be back.

I was unable to log on for a few days. A known issue Edmunds said. Now I have over 200 posts to wade through here and another 150 on CCBA. Emotorcons are fixed too.

I wonder if I can even post a picture now...

stickguy

Cute baby!

ab348

You look younger than I had imagined.

dino001

fintail said:

Of course, poor managers love what is effectively free labor, especially those who don't understand that labor isn't productive when it is burned out.

Exactly. Some people think that just office presence at all times will make things run.

BTW, I've never understood people who would switch from one job to another and not take a single day off. Friday Job No. 1, Monday Job No. 2. That is really beyond my understanding. They'd even get paid all their vacation time, so it shouldn't be money issue. BTW, if one has been employed for number of years at a decent job and they still can't afford a week or two without issues, they should look really hard on their life. Just an opinion.

28firefighter

dino001 said:

fintail said:

Of course, poor managers love what is effectively free labor, especially those who don't understand that labor isn't productive when it is burned out.

Exactly. Some people think that just office presence at all times will make things run.

BTW, I've never understood people who would switch from one job to another and not take a single day off. Friday Job No. 1, Monday Job No. 2. That is really beyond my understanding. They'd even get paid all their vacation time, so it shouldn't be money issue. BTW, if one has been employed for number of years at a decent job and they still can't afford a week or two without issues, they should look really hard on their life. Just an opinion.

I'll give you a simple answer for not taking a day off between. Health insurance lapse. I did this during my last job transition to ensure that my new health insurance was effective by the first of the month following so that I could have my doctors request all of my medication authorizations immediately. The stress I would have felt by taking time off and worrying about my health coverage was not worth it.

stickguy

depends on the plans and the companies. coverage may go to the end of the month, or be retro to DOH. Plus, you get time to elect COBRA so if something unexpected happened in the short gap, you could do that.

ideal is having vacation time left, and just taking that at the end, so your last week working is actually out on PTO.

oldfarmer50

venture said:

Glad to be back.

I was unable to log on for a few days. A known issue Edmunds said. Now I have over 200 posts to wade through here and another 150 on CCBA. Emotorcons are fixed too.

I wonder if I can even post a picture now...

Well there’s your problem, you’re too short to reach the keyboard.

dino001

28firefighter said:

dino001 said:

fintail said:

Of course, poor managers love what is effectively free labor, especially those who don't understand that labor isn't productive when it is burned out.

Exactly. Some people think that just office presence at all times will make things run.

BTW, I've never understood people who would switch from one job to another and not take a single day off. Friday Job No. 1, Monday Job No. 2. That is really beyond my understanding. They'd even get paid all their vacation time, so it shouldn't be money issue. BTW, if one has been employed for number of years at a decent job and they still can't afford a week or two without issues, they should look really hard on their life. Just an opinion.

I'll give you a simple answer for not taking a day off between. Health insurance lapse. I did this during my last job transition to ensure that my new health insurance was effective by the first of the month following so that I could have my doctors request all of my medication authorizations immediately. The stress I would have felt by taking time off and worrying about my health coverage was not worth it.

It may appear to be a valid reason in some circumstances, but if you know the law, you'll see for many it is not. By law, old health insurance lasts until end of the month, so if you quit early in the moth, you're good until last day (may see bigger deduction from the paycheck to cover it, if you're paid biweekly). Now, depending on the next employer, next health insurance may pick up immediately, first of next month, or first of following month (my current employer, which really sucked). COBRA does not need to be declared immediately, it may be declared up to 45 days from the termination date (I think) and it valid RETROACTIVELY (again, by law), so if one needs healthcare that's more than just sniffles (which they can pay out of pocket), they can fill the paperwork when needed. The insurers generally won't purge you from their records on that last day of the month for the exact reason of COBRA eligibility. I know, COBRA costs a lot, so it can be a drag to pay one month worth of coverage, but it's an option.

qbrozen

driver100 said:

Is this a good deal.....from travelzoo?
In a new sale exclusive to Travelzoo, Prestige Cruises is including flights, beverages, gratuities and more perks on more than 275 Princess Cruises worldwide.

Not only do these packages make vacation planning hassle-free, but you'll also save up to 45% compared with booking everything on your own.

All guests will receive the following:

Roundtrip airfare ($350-$1000 per-person value, depending on itinerary) available from 20 gateways: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago (ORD), Denver, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (EWR, JFK or LGA), Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. (DCA); discounted airfare available from all other U.S. cities
Premium beverage package ($71 per person, per day value), which includes beer, wine, cocktails, soda, bottled water, specialty coffees and more
Prepaid gratuities ($14.50 per person, per day value)
Unlimited Wi-Fi ($9.99 per person, per day value)
Third and fourth guests sharing the same room also get airfare, beverage package, prepaid gratuities, Wi-Fi and taxes included
Two coupon books per cabin for additional onboard discounts
Reduced deposit of $100 per person
Includes all taxes and fees
Some of our favorite deals — all with the perks above — include (per-person prices, based on double occupancy):

Caribbean: 7 nights from Fort Lauderdale including St. Thomas ... $1099
Alaska: 7 nights from Vancouver ... $1299

http://www.prestigecruises.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Cruises/PrincessAirNewsFlash2020&Referrer=NF2320&utm_source=Travelzoo&utm_medium=NewsFlash&utm_campaign=princessAirNewsFlash2020

Gratuities $14.50 a day per person???????

Really tough to know. Much like a lease, options (room location) change things drastically, and there are all kinds of fees added after the fact.

Perks are iffy. Are gratuities worth it? Like you indicated, they are dictating a cost that you may or may not agree with. Am I spending $50/day for my family tipping folks on the cruise? Doubtful. The drink package may be worth it to lushes, but doesn't even come close to folks like us who don't care for alcohol.

jmonroe

venture said:

Glad to be back.

I was unable to log on for a few days. A known issue Edmunds said. Now I have over 200 posts to wade through here and another 150 on CCBA. Emotorcons are fixed too.

I wonder if I can even post a picture now...

That time away has not hurt you at all, in fact, you look much better now.Time to change that old goofy mug shot.

jmonroe