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Comments
In addition to the looks, the Edsel suffered from early build glitches. They also got introduced at the beginning of a recession.
It didn't help that 1958 was the year that people basically soured on wretches excess designs - tailfins and such - and Edsel took this idea to the extreme.
Gee, genetics. Maybe that explains my buying used cars. Throughout my childhood my dad was the king of the $150 car. Eventually things got better and he started picking up cars coming out of the State Farm company cars and finally made it to buying new and for maybe 15 years we has leasing Caddys. His last car was a leased Buick Century which he regretted the moment he did it. He only did that because the Caddys had gotten too big for him. If one of the Caddys was the last car I'd have grabbed it when the lease ran out and run it for as long as I could. It was not to be.
That's the one!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Thanks for the article. I remember going to the showroom with my Dad to see the new cars every year, and the Edsel was one that I remember seeing.
I think the name killed it. It was a bit redundant because you either got a Ford or you could go upscale and get a Mercury.
That designer was born where I am from, Hamilton Ontario Canada....hmm, maybe I should keep quiet about that.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I don't see what the problem with this situation was unless he had specific clauses in his contract where he was not allowed to moonlight with another company.
Otherwise if as you said he was one of the best sales people working at each company, and met or exceeded sales targets in each company, and both companies were not in competition of each other, then what difference does it make if he had two sets of benefits, and two paychecks? He held 2 jobs after all.
Unless I missed something here :confuse:
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Different strokes. . .
The last several years illustrate that working the system has become a cottage industry, especially if the system is the federal government.
Elmer Fudd could show Obama a better way to manage the budget. Obama has shown a remarkable ability to ignore good advice, but since it's all about the theater of looking like you're doing something, what's the diff?
I've used exactly the same technique and enjoyed the same results. AARP was the most persistent, but I think I finally got them to give up.
nah - I just think you like shiny new toys....
If he just did the 2nd job on the side without any of that, I would have no problem with it, if he was on commission and meeting his targets. That is a win win win!
Politicians and political hacks, now those guys are criminals (many of them) the way they have multiple taxpayer-paid "jobs" that add up to way too many hours, but no one seems to be bothered by it.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
"There's nothing quite like driving a Mercedes-Benz. We invite you to experience the rewarding feeling of driving a Mercedes-Benz, and for doing so we'll demonstrate our appreciation by rewarding you with a $100.00 Gift Card to Corbett's Restaurant.
Do so before February 28th and if you choose to purchase you can take advantage of special incentive packages such as:
$12,000 toward a 2013 S-Class Sedan
$7,000 toward a 2013 E-Class Sedan
$6,000 toward a 2013 C-Class Coupe"
I interpreted the "before February 28th" language to mean that only the incentives expired on the 28th. In any event, I've mellowed in my declining years and don't plan to make a big deal about it, although I am a bit tempted to write a very polite letter to the GM to advise him that future offers should be worded in a more accurate fashion.
Funny thing; this is the same dealer group that holds the MINI franchise we dealt with- the one where the sales manager told us that he wasn't going to reduce the price on an untitled hail pockmarked Countryman(that had been in the body shop for over two weeks) because "it wasn't damaged enough to justify a discount."
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Anyway, water under the bridge and here's to new times. I'll continue to come here for advice on dishwashers, coffee makers, windows, family and relationships, Chick Fil A, home renovations and even the occasional car story. I think I just gave away how long I've been lurking.
2024 Ram 1500 Longhorn, 2019 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2019 Ford Mustang GT Premium, 2016 Kia Optima SX, 2000 Pontiac Trans Am WS6
Truly remarkable! My hat is off to you js06gv! And your retention is superb!
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
Yes - just part of "my" ability to close the sale!
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
We always advertised on our website as well as in newspapers and local magazines that we would beat any advertised price for a new car from a competing dealership (same brand of car, obviously). One Saturday in the late afternoon, this middle aged man walks in the door with his wife and comes right over to my desk area (the sales desk was shielded by glass, but visible to everyone in the showroom). He walks into the office and lays down this advertisement from a competing dealership. He says he wants a black coupe with beige leather interior for less than what the other dealership advertised it for.
The ad was from a "local weekly paper" in Palm Beach County. I looked it over carefully because the price given along with the options and MSRP was suspicious. If I were to sell him an identical coupe as advertised in the paper he gave me, my dealership would lose $2700+ on the sale. As I read over every detail of the advertisement and looked at the photograph of the car in the ad, I just couldn't understand how other dealer could sell the coupe(s) at a $2700+ loss.
I ask the couple to have a seat at one of the tables, I call over a salesman to pull up a car from inventory identical in equipment and MSRP to the one in the ad, and I run upstairs to the GSM's office to show him the ad.
After the GSM reviews the ad, he calls the GSM of the other dealer to inquire how he could advertise that coupe for $2700+ under invoice. The response of the other manager was that they had no such ad running in any local magazine or newspaper. He told us to look at the right bottom part of the ad to see if we could find a specific code they print with every ad. We could not find one. He then said that the ad was a phony or a forgery.
So i make a photocopy of ghe ad and I go back downstairs to the showroom where the couple was just returning from their demo drive in the black coupe. I ask them to join me in my private office with the GSM. I take the ad and return it to them and inform them that I will sell them that exact vehicle as shown in the ad for $500 over my invoice. The man gets all upset and reminds me that our policy is that we would beat any advertised price of a new vehicle and that if he didn't get that price, he would sue us for false advertising and fraud.
I responded to this guy that the ad he presented to us was a forgery as we had contacted the other dealership and the assured us that the had not placed any ad resembling the ad we read to him over the phone. I then told him and his wife that if they didn't want the car at the price I had quoted them, that should leave before I threw them out of the showroom. I explained that they had attempted to defraud our dealership with a forged ad and that we were the ones who would do the suing, not them.
As they got up to leave, the wife says to the husband, "...I told you it wouldn't work! How stupid do you think they are?" She then turns to me and explained that he works for a printing company and prints up all kinds of idiotic things to deceive people as a kind of joke. I explained that we sure didn't see the humor in this charade at all.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
Now that rates pretty high on the dishonesty meter.
I think you should have said, "Well, Mr Scamman, what I am going to do is sell you the exact same vehicle for $1000 over invoice, or else I am going to call the fraud division at the police station."
I know, you are too nice to do that.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I would have thought the same as you. Poorly worded advertisment.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
Some companies I overlook if they send me junk mail. I wouldn't toss out junk mail from AARP (in Canada it is CARP), and the reason is they aren't a scam company. They actually do some good by representing issues pertaining to senior citizens.
I think it is a great idea to send junk mail back to the sender. But, I think legitimate organizations shouldn't be penalized....unless you have really tried to stop them and they won't take you off their list.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I know he was on salary with a minor bonus with our company. I don't recall the salary/commission situation with the other company.
The wording isn't quite correct, but, I would have assumed the worst...that the offer was over on the 28th. Looks like they want to move those 2013s to make room for the 14s. Does that mean MB has moved the new car dates up to May? Soon they will have next years car 2 years in advance.....presenting, the new 2018 Mercedes models, and they will be in the showroom on Jan 1st, 2016!
Those discounts sound pretty good...I wonder if those 13s are demonstrators, they don't say anything about that.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I think when you are working for a company it is implied that you are working for that employer, and any company would fire someone who worked at another job full time. No matter how good a salesperson he was, he can't work 80 hours a week and be doing justice to his employer.
Also, it sets a bad example, it means others could try it. The employee should definitely go, he isn't thinking of his employers interests, only his own.(in my opinion)
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
js, you have a better memory than me, and I wrote some of the posts on those topics! :sick:
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Well, it happened to me and I was fired, but not before my labor union got involved. In higher ed it is customary to teach at more than one institution. I did that for a while until the Dean at University #2 got upset with me (for an entirely unrelated matter) and used that as a pretext to get rid of me. The Chronicle wanted to do a story about me, but the Dean at University #1 nixed the idea.
The state of the state is not only strong, but it is getting stronger, to wit:
"Surging stock prices & steady home-price increases have finally allowed Americans to regain the $16 trillion in wealth they lost during the Great Recession."
Read more at http://news.msn.com/us/us-household-wealth-regains-pre-recession-peak
More good news!
US adds 236K jobs, unemployment falls to 7.7%
Read more: http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20130308&id=1621313- 1
More politics goes on in higher education and in the Vatican than goes on in Washington. That was unfortunate. It seems in higher learning, the more "jobs" you are into the more you are valued...with publishing being one of the major jobs.
Working for a company is great when you get along with the higher ups. Sometimes there is a personality clash and no matter how good you are, your career could be finished. Some people love that authority to be able to ruin people's lives. That is one reason I loved working for myself.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I am in awe of that film, to be sure
Yeah, there are some smarty-pants out there...huh?
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
When AARP stepped into pure politics in the recent and not so recent past, they lost that halo. The obamacare they pushed for is costing seniors who receive Medicare benefits more each year . Seniors are paying more and more of the bill with less being paid to the providers by the Medicare plan. Other folks have found their insurance bills 20% higher each year. Soon many preMedicare older folks (AARP represents supposedly anyone over 50) will lose insurance from their companies who don't/won't provide it and will just pay a small tax in its place.
AARP mostly is a sales company, peddling various insurance products from normal companies and receiving a cut of the action. Hence, the frequent mailings from them and from "associated" companies to whom they "share" your name, address, and phone number(s).
Alternative to AARP--don't know if they're in Canada or not to compete with CARP.
http://amac.us/
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
AARP does not represent me as a senior - they represent themselves! They were solidly behind Obamacare! Why would an organization that is supposed to represent the interests of seniors be in favor of pulling $500 million from Medicare and reduce reimbursements to Medicare covered services? Why would such an organization support additional cuts to Medicare? Because it really doesn't represent the interests of seniors - they represent their own interests.
Why would they be in favor of cutting Medicare Advantage Plans across the US when 8 million seniors are covered by Advantage Plans? It will cost those same seniors an additional $2500 per year or more to go on Medicare Supplement Plans with higher deductibles? Because they get huge kickbacks from United Healthcare.
AARP makes millions upon millions of dollars in kickbacks from their auto and health insurance affiliations. The government raised our social security but raised the amount of our Medicare deduction from our social security.
They certainly don't represent me!
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
What a way to go through life!
From all I've been hearing AMAC is a much better choice.
So, I accepted the challenge. Long and short of the story, I (we) won the contract. For the next 12 months, I was on a role.
They gave me a marketing position, and then a sales management position as a result. I learned a great deal about sales during that period. As a technical person at heart, I was thoroughly happy going to work, burying my head in my work, at my cubical, and going home when I was finished.
Sales was a whole different animal. It wasn't an 8 to 5 job. Plus, if you don't perform, the company as a whole suffers. You don't bring in the revenue expected of you, the company's plans get all out of whack. Other people's jobs were at stake if you didn't make your revenue and margin numbers. New product plans would have to be pushed back, put on hold, or cancelled completely. Hiring would slow, or stop.
I made a committment to the company to make or exceed a revenue number. In order to do that, my sales people had to make or exceed their number. When they didn't, and I had to let them go, everyone's job became harder. The number wouldn't change. But, we couldn't afford to fall further and further behind. So, I would pick up that sales person's duties until I could find someone suitable who could do the job. Then, there's the inevitable training period, where the new sales person has to come up to speed.
I can imagine this could be applied to car sales, too. There are no safety nets, no excuses. You hit your numbers, or your gone. It can pay phenomally well, or you can go begging.
As far as expenses are concerned, I always considered it a zero sum game. If you're going to cheat, cheat big. Don't get me wrong, I abhor cheating on anything. But ordinarily, there's going to be out of pocket expenses that you just can't plan. I had a suit get caught on a railing and was torn. I had to buy a new suit, and do it quickly while I was away once. That was a $700 bill that wasn't reimbursable. I can't even remember how many fiights I missed because of traffic, or car troubles, etc. That cost me money to change flights, additional parking fees, etc. None of those were reimbusable.
So, someone who's double charging for phone fees, gas, etc....that's just crazy. If someone does that, I wouldn't want them as an employee, not because they're a cheater, but because they're stupid.
What a way to go through life!
There are always going to be people who will go to any lengths to deceive others in order to gain from their fraudulent schemes. Some try to buy cars while others create Ponzi schemes to bilk thousands of investors out of a hundred billion dollars.
As for not selling them a car - we felt that if they were willing to pay $500 over, "...a sale is a sale!" All kidding aside, the GSM felt we had to offer the couple a deal based upon our demands, not their demands.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
AARP counts anyone who ever joined once as a permanent member. That makes their "member" counts seem higher as far as how many "seniors" they represent. I could not rejoin after not paying for a few years when I tried to do that online. Turns out I was still a member. I had joined to get a $500 rebate for a car purchase that they typically printed in the fall. Then I didn't pay for 4 or more years. So I was still a member. Fraud.
I did rejoin by phone and got the coupon that fall for another car purchase. Then I did not pay. During the AARP TV ads in favor of socialized insurance takeover, I called them and told them to quit sending me anything. I told them to take my name off their exmember list. I didn't want anything to do with their pushing a program to benefit them and their insurance kickbacks. That was at a time when lots of people were calling to cancel their active memberships. I had trouble getting through to cancel my inactive membership.
Using AARP's method of once a member, always a member, I wonder how many dead folk are still counted as members?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Neat would have been for the other store's GM to hurry over to your store and confront them in person.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I don't think the other GSM would ever set foot in our dealership - the principal of our dealership and that GSM were mortal enemies. Hard to believe that there would be such hatred among dealerships and their personnel! JUST KIDDING! The competition is fierce - we were the top selling dealership in the US for our brand which automatically created distrust and animosity.
But when it comes to ads and such, we always cooperated with each other because of possible willful misrepresentation and false advertising.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
They can be a capitalist pig type when it suits their needs. The alleged reason they supported universal health care is because it could cut Medicare Advantage by $200 billion and that could force seniors back onto traditional Medicare programs and boost business for it's Medigap policies.
IMHO, AARP is liberal when it meets their agenda (of government support of seniors). It's unfortunate that they've done such a great job of marketing themselves as the only voice for seniors.
My staunchly right wing SIL/BIL (she once asked me if I was hording like Glenn Beck recommended) are members of AARP and are always reading their magazines and the such. I try to tweak them as BIL grew up in public housing and now rails against any who who does today. They love Wal Mart but complain about the loss of American manufacturing jobs.
I try to tweak her on it. Recently she was talking about getting a Volvo. I'm going to let her buy it and then ask her if she is OK with owning a Chinese car.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
Not only Chinese car, but made in socialist Sweden, LOL
2018 430i Gran Coupe
2018 430i Gran Coupe
I'm so glad that you posted that comment. I've been sitting here thinking the same thing. Also, with the companies on opposite coasts, his business expenses would not have been the same places and the same amounts. I can't see that he duplicated the expenses. If he was that good a salesman, I wouldn't care if he held down two jobs. I held down two jobs with different expenses. No one seemed to care.
Richard
Richard
Remember, that was the rationale my Dad gave me for calling companies and telling them he got a bad box of this or a bad can of that, so they send him coupons for one or two products free! It's still wrong, no matter what.
Car dealers today are less inclined to cheat a customer than they were years ago, yet it does still happen. When a customer accuses a dealer of cheating or stealing, what they are saying is that the dealer made more money than the customer thought the dealer was entitled to on the car deal. Sometimes it's true, sometimes it is not.
With auto sites on the internet today that show invoices and incentives, etc., it is more difficult for a customer to be wronged by a dealer. Remember, there is always incentive money available to the dealership that the customer is totally unaware of. It is in the form of cas incentives for selling so many units, etc. These are not posted on Edmunds or Cars.com.
I believe that the dealers who make more than what they are entitled to is the fault of the consumer - they don't use the tools available to them to determine a fair price for a new car. As an example, a cutomer might research a new vehicle on Edmunds and come up with an offer - but he/she does not research the trade value properly. Sometimes, the actual trade value is more or less, depending solely on the current auction figures for that day/week. Manheim holds auctions all over the country so they list, for dealers, what a car brought at auction that was similar to the car they are trying to price for trade value. Those are the more accurate values for trades - what they actually bring at auction. Now if the trade is a super clean, low mileage car and the dealer could use a car like that on his lot, he might put a little more into the trade than Manheim suggests. But most cars traded today are not put on a dealer's lot and are actually wholesaled because a dealer does not have the room to take every clean car he takes in trade and put it on the lot after cleaning it up.
This is not news to most of our posters here, but who knows, there may be another "lurker" out there reading this post, right?
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
Ten years or more ago there was a professor in the speech department at my institution who was "double dipping" for several years. It came to light when people in his department (I believe he was a dept. head) complained about the unsavory characters who kept showing up in the office or who were asked to sit in the hall until he could meet with them.
You're probably thinking what kind of typical students were these? Turns out he was a local defense attorney and these individuals were clients accused of various criminal offenses including, but not limited to felonies.
In an irony that roadburner will appreciate, he was "let go" of his university job for obvious reasons and then became a county prosecutor and finally a a county judge. Apparently, his work-related misconduct did not prevent him from rising through the ranks of our local legal community. He retired last year before contemplating a career in politics where his misconduct also would have been seen as an asset.
I was told he was also a very good speech professor and valued colleague on college committees. He was certainly a very effective multi-tasker.
Gogiboy
If you need to get something done give it to someone who is always busy.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Sorry, I have to agree with your views on AARP. The Canadian version, called CARP only gets involved in issues that directly help senior citizens and gives them a voice in government. Some laws have been changed for the better because of their input.
I do agree that they use their position in order to sell a lot of goods that usually don't measure up and you find better products on your own.
Sorry for suggesting that it was a mistake to throw out AARP mail. Do with it, as you please.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
He was employed by two Boston based companies. He was a field sales person based in Ohio. He covered pretty much the same territory for both companies. The expenses for the most part would be easy to pass off at both companies.