Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

jwm40517 said:

I have found the more expensive lasers are much cheaper to operate in the long run. I have used Brother L5850 DW 's for over 10 years , though I believe a slightly one has replaced it. They used to cost $319 on sale and $499 recently. The most recent got 2600 copies on the "starter toner".
The large toner costs about $105 and is rated for 8000 copies. My last one got a little over 10,000 copies

The $250 copiers use toners that cost about $80 and only get 3,000 copies.

I use more pages than most of you guys, around 25,000 per year.

Maybe, more than all of us, put together.. lol

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You got that right. My arms would have needed replacing if I had to take that many copies out of a printer every year.

jmonroe

28firefighter

I don’t think I print 25 pages a year….

kyfdx

28firefighter said:

I don’t think I print 25 pages a year….

I don't even print my tax returns, any more. (not good, probably)

corvette

We still use paper files at the office. I get cheap toner and was printing a decent amount at home, but we got a new copier with “print and hold” functionality at work, so I’ve been using that more. My laser at home is old enough that Windows 11 really doesn’t like it, but it will usually eventually print, so I guess I’ll replace it when the four spare toners I have in the basement run out.

stickguy

This business travel isn’t for old people. Had to get up at 3 to be at airport at 4 for a flight to Dallas. Then meetings and activities all day. Now team dinner out. Talk about exhausted. Might need to call in sick tomorrow and hang out at the hotel pool!

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I don’t think I print 25 pages a year….

I don't even print my tax returns, any more. (not good, probably)

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I still print my tax returns but not my work copies (better known as cheat sheets) anymore. Can’t afford to leave evidence like that lying around.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

I don’t think I print 25 pages a year….

I don’t even own a printer.😥

explorerx4

Still coal on the back of he shovel?

tjc78

@corvette said:
@tjc78 - LMK if you decide to go, this was my fifth visit there and I keep a list of attractions and restaurants that I like and want to go back to.

Thank you!

xwesx

corvette said:

We had that issue on an estate my firm handled. Dude got divorced many, many years ago, did not update the beneficiary on his 401k. He died, and the ex-wife got the contents of that account.

One of my employees died back in 2012. It was a sudden thing (he was only 37) and I actually found him myself when I went to check on him due to the unusualness of his absence. I ended up helping out his cousin, who served as his executor and had to spend a bunch of time dealing with probate, etc.

Turns out, the deceased never changed any of his records to remove his ex-wife (they were divorced for about four years at the time of his death), to whom he was married for only a short time (maybe 18-24 months?) before she ran off with some other guy and had a string of affairs before eventually contacting him, months and months later, and demanding a divorce. Anyhow, she was initially quite keen on gaining control of his assets, and the cousin was fighting it, until eventually it looked like the deceased was heavily upside down on his net worth. Since her name was on everything, the cousin just said, "look, if you want the insurance, etc., I am going to make sure you get everything else, too, and it's going to cost you more than you'll get. But, easier for me."

She quickly disavowed any claim to anything, the cousin was able to get full PoA over the estate, I helped him for a couple weeks on cleaning out and fixing up the house and property, and he was able to sell off all the assets at just enough, with the insurance payout, etc., to settle all debts and walk away with basically nothing but "fond" memories.

I even held my employee's car for over a year at my house to ensure it didn't get stolen, vandalized, etc., while the cousin went through all of that hassle. He was eventually able to sell it to a local used car lot once the probate settled.

snakeweasel

@jwm40517 said:
I have found the more expensive lasers are much cheaper to operate in the long run. I have used Brother L5850 DW 's for over 10 years , though I believe a slightly one has replaced it. They used to cost $319 on sale and $499 recently. The most recent got 2600 copies on the "starter toner".
The large toner costs about $105 and is rated for 8000 copies. My last one got a little over 10,000 copies

The $250 copiers use toners that cost about $80 and only get 3,000 copies.

I use more pages than most of you guys, around 25,000 per year.

At work I do around that but I try to limit what I do at home.

driver100

corvette said:

We had that issue on an estate my firm handled. Dude got divorced many, many years ago, did not update the beneficiary on his 401k. He died, and the ex-wife got the contents of that account.

We bought a house that we really wanted, and at the time it was $60000 over our budget. The market was slow and we offered $40000 below asking price. The owner accepted it, and we found out why afterwards.
The owner was 80 years old and he had a 34 year old girlfriend who wanted him to sell the house so he could buy a condo in Florida. It was a great house for us, I hope things worked out for him and his girlfriend.

ab348

driver100 said:

We bought a house that we really wanted, and at the time it was $60000 over our budget. The market was slow and we offered $40000 below asking price. The owner accepted it, and we found out why afterwards.
The owner was 80 years old and he had a 34 year old girlfriend who wanted him to sell the house so he could buy a condo in Florida. It was a great house for us, I hope things worked out for him and his girlfriend.

She aimed too low. In the early ‘90s I went to Florida for a couple of weeks to visit my dad, who was wintering outside of Tampa. I met one of his neighbors who was a member of a golf club nearby and invited me for a round there the next morning. I had a good time and he talked me into buying a weekly membership which wasn’t expensive. I went over one day by myself and got paired with an older member named Bob who had a house on the course and his own golf cart. We played the first day and had a great time. He was a delightful fellow in his ‘80s and so we made plans to do it again the next day.

On day 2 we got to around the 12th hole when Bob pointed out his house and suggested we stop for a drink before finishing. He drove his cart over to a typical large newish Florida golf course home c/w pool in the back. It was lovely inside and when we entered we were greeted by this attractive and well-dressed lady of maybe 35 or so who fawned all over Bob, her husband, and served us drinks upon his suggestion. It was hilarious. I discovered that Bob was a mogul in the fabrics business in the south and had retired many years ago with a piece of the company. His wife had passed some years earlier and this new lady had snagged him. I’m sure she made out very well when Bob finally checked out.

Sandman6472

I usually am at BJ's Tuesday or Friday morning when the pumps open at 6:16 and fill up. Usually every pump has a vehicle in it and seems to be the same few of us doing this. Did go a week ago Thursday after dropping the other half off at the train for her D C trip and only waited for the car in front of me. This was about 9:30 am. Then went inside to get a few things and the place was pretty empty.

Best Buy will also take old television sets but they supposedly charge a fee. Went in the spring and the lady who wanted to charge us was on break and her replacement guy just took it from us and told us to go. Saved about $25 on his kindness so the small tip I gave him was definitely worth it.

venture

My insurance company finally sent a check for my deductible - 6 months after the accident where the guy went through the red light and totaled my car.

They said they haven't settled that portion of the claim. I said I don't care, and they owe me $1,000.

graphicguy

jwm40517 said:

I have found the more expensive lasers are much cheaper to operate in the long run. I have used Brother L5850 DW 's for over 10 years , though I believe a slightly one has replaced it. They used to cost $319 on sale and $499 recently. The most recent got 2600 copies on the "starter toner".
The large toner costs about $105 and is rated for 8000 copies. My last one got a little over 10,000 copies

The $250 copiers use toners that cost about $80 and only get 3,000 copies.

I use more pages than most of you guys, around 25,000 per year.

You must be a lawyer.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

graphicguy said:

xwesx said:

driver100 said:

Our laser does color....but we need the inkjet to make copies and for scanning!

The HP multi-function printers available at Costco do all of that, and these are very user friendly. The cost is reasonable, too, especially if you wait until they go on sale with a $100 "instant rebate," which is not uncommon. I want to say about $400 normally or $300 on discount. We used ours for nearly two years (with one high school homeschooler) before we needed new toner, and that was using the original "demo" cartridges that come with the printer.

Thanks! That's good to hear. I have "starter" toner in mine (and yes, snagged it on sale at Costco for $100 off, so good deal). I'm hoping the toner lasts a while.

I do volunteer work in my 'burg. So, I'm printing out meeting agendas and spreadsheets with it. Then, there's my personal use for things like scanning docs to attach to emails and printing out miscellaneous household stuff. I probably use the printer 5 out of 7 days/week.

Will double check, but I think Costco warrants it for 3 years.

Now, I have to figure out what to do with my inkjet printer. Contacteds f a couple of recycling places who said they don't take printers.

Best Buy will take printers for recycling. I just did it last week with my old printer.

DIdn't know that. Will head there today.

explorerx4

After putting it off for prbably a year, I bought a 23 ft multi position ladder last week.
Used it a bit for an inside, in progress project.
This morning, I watched a YT video about ladders being on sale at HD.
Returned the 23 ft ladder, about $330 all in, and bought a 22 ft, same brand but not as high a weight rating, for 1/2 as much.
I started on the center cabinet.

driver100

@explorerx4
Are you hanging on to the ceiling fan to take that photo.....or are you Spiderman?

explorerx4

@driver100,
Neither, we have a loft area overlooking the main floor.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I don’t think I print 25 pages a year….

I don't even print my tax returns, any more. (not good, probably)

————————————————
I still print my tax returns but not my work copies (better known as cheat sheets) anymore. Can’t afford to leave evidence like that lying around.

jmonroe

You could scan your tax forms or snap a photo, and save it on your computer.
I have to fill out a tax Form for the U.S. government to show how many days I have been in the U.S. for the year, it has to be less than 182 ( or 6 months). It is 4 pages long, one for me and one for MrsD100, I just scan them and save them. btw, if I am over the government is allowed to seize 1/3rd of my assets, and then you can hire a lawyer and an accountant and try to explain why you were over....so I stay 5 months or 150 days to have a cushion!

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

After putting it off for prbably a year, I bought a 23 ft multi position ladder last week.
Used it a bit for an inside, in progress project.
This morning, I watched a YT video about ladders being on sale at HD.
Returned the 23 ft ladder, about $330 all in, and bought a 22 ft, same brand but not as high a weight rating, for 1/2 as much.
I started on the center cabinet.

————————————————
I bought one of those ladders years ago, even before my flipping days. They are pretty versatile but mine must be the heavy duty job because it’s quite heavy.

You never did say what your project is. For me just schlepping that thing around is enough of a project for me now.

BTW, what was the intended use for those high voltage receptacles above the cabinets?

jmonroe

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
Neither, we have a loft area overlooking the main floor.

————————————————
I’m surprised the builder didn’t cover the tops of those cabinets since they can be seen from the loft.

When we had cabinets that didn’t go to the ceiling, Mrs. j put a few fake plants up there along with a couple nick-naks. I guess she didn’t want to waste the space.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I don’t think I print 25 pages a year….

I don't even print my tax returns, any more. (not good, probably)

————————————————
I still print my tax returns but not my work copies (better known as cheat sheets) anymore. Can’t afford to leave evidence like that lying around.

jmonroe

You could scan your tax forms or snap a photo, and save it on your computer.
I have to fill out a tax Form for the U.S. government to show how many days I have been in the U.S. for the year, it has to be less than 182 ( or 6 months). It is 4 pages long, one for me and one for MrsD100, I just scan them and save them. btw, if I am over the government is allowed to seize 1/3rd of my assets, and then you can hire a lawyer and an accountant and try to explain why you were over....so I stay 5 months or 150 days to have a cushion!

————————————————
You worry too much.

jmonroe

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
I’m surprised the builder didn’t cover the tops of those cabinets since they can be seen from the loft.

When we had cabinets that didn’t go to the ceiling, Mrs. j put a few fake plants up there along with a couple nick-naks. I guess she didn’t want to waste the space.

jmonroe

My thought was “darn glad I don’t have that view. The MRS would make me paint those or build something over them.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

I’m surprised the builder didn’t cover the tops of those cabinets since they can be seen from the loft.

When we had cabinets that didn’t go to the ceiling, Mrs. j put a few fake plants up there along with a couple nick-naks. I guess she didn’t want to waste the space.

jmonroe

My thought was “darn glad I don’t have that view. The MRS would make me paint those or build something over them.

————————————————
I’m beginning to think that might be his project.

jmonroe

explorerx4

Finishing off the tops of the cabinets is my project.
My wife didn't want the standard cabinets so she designed these with one of the cabinet guys.
The builder was not very responsive to fixing much of anything, so I finally decided to just do it myself.
I have to add framing along the walls so I can lay the waincoating panels flat over the top of the cabinet boxes.
Cove molding still needs to be painted and the outlets are for cabinet lighting in the standard design.
The electrician just put them in as normal, as he had no knowledge of us having a different setup.

explorerx4

Congrats to the Dodgers for winning the World Series.
They looked and played like a professional baseball team.

snakeweasel

Happy Halloween all.

Here is one of my pumpkins

nyccarguy

explorerx4 said:

Congrats to the Dodgers for winning the World Series.
They looked and played like a professional baseball team.

Also very well managed. I don't blame Boone for last night's loss. People HATE him. Roberts did an excellent job at managing his players, the game, & making adjustments.

driver100

I was surprised at the price of used cars. The average price is $31000, down 12% from a year ago.
The average price of a new car is $48,400.
On the TV they said used car prices are going to spike again, because they weren't building many cars 3 years ago during covid, so the supply of 3 year old lease vehicles won't be coming into the market.
Should you buy a used car now if you are thinking of buying, will prices jump up?

stickguy

You should buy when you need one.

sda

As many vehicles hurricanes Helene and Milton and other storms totaled, that may slow the depreciation of the used market. I haven't seen much decline in used prices locally.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

explorerx4 said:

Congrats to the Dodgers for winning the World Series.
They looked and played like a professional baseball team.

Also very well managed. I don't blame Boone for last night's loss. People HATE him. Roberts did an excellent job at managing his players, the game, & making adjustments.

I didn't watch much of the WS, but I was flipping through the channels and caught the top of the 5th, where the Yankees allowed the 5 unearned runs to allow the Dodgers to tie the game.

Sheesh.

jwm40517

Re: 25,000 copies, not a lawyer, but an accountant. My clients are forcing me to retire by death, selling out or quitting. I will do 7 S-Corps this year and 4 next year. Several years ago I did over 30.

jipster

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:

explorerx4 said:

Congrats to the Dodgers for winning the World Series.
They looked and played like a professional baseball team.

Also very well managed. I don't blame Boone for last night's loss. People HATE him. Roberts did an excellent job at managing his players, the game, & making adjustments.

I didn't watch much of the WS, but I was flipping through the channels and caught the top of the 5th, where the Yankees allowed the 5 unearned runs to allow the Dodgers to tie the game.

Sheesh.

You caught the wackiest part of the series then... other than the 2 clowns ripping and clawing to get that foul ball out of Mookies glove. Happy Halloween 🎃!

graphicguy

jwm40517 said:

Re: 25,000 copies, not a lawyer, but an accountant. My clients are forcing me to retire by death, selling out or quitting. I will do 7 S-Corps this year and 4 next year. Several years ago I did over 30.

That makes sense.

Mentioned previously I had sent many years with Xerox. I had just started with them when Charles Keating was indicted for fraud via his Lincoln Savings and Load debacle (who incidentally, Michael Milken had his fingers in, too).

Reader's Digest version....the Attorneys and Accountants for the gov't and the Attorneys and Accountants for Keating, all converged. Local Xerox people were all over this incident. REams upon reams of paper was generated.....10s of millions of copies.

We set up a satellite office near the S&L and another near the law firm (the firm President Taft originally founded) in downtown Cincinnati.

Neither side had the personnel to keep up with the huge demand of documents, so we (Xerox) provided equipment, personnel to run it, and a currier service to deliver documents to the other side. I'm thinking Xerox made million$ just on that installation, alone.

Michaell

Somebody explain to me the advantage of a curved PC monitor over a flat one. Thinking about replacing the 24" Lenovo that I'm currently using as an external monitor for my laptop with one that is 27".

But, do I really need a curved monitor? I don't do PC games - mostly web use and MS Office applications.

corvette

I don't think there's much of an advantage for non-gaming applications. I have a 27" or 28" Dell LCD I bought on sale when my old Acer refused to power up.

jmonroe1

corvette said:

I don't think there's much of an advantage for non-gaming applications. I have a 27" or 28" Dell LCD I bought on sale when my old Acer refused to power up.

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Let’s stop talking about old monitors. I have an old curved 30 inch Acer that’s doing just fun and I don’t want to poke the bear, alright?

The only reason I have it is because I was thinking about upgrading and OfficeMax had a deal I couldn’t refuse. I’m not thinking about upgrading again, so knock it off.

jmonroe

sda

I had to laugh when I saw this. I bought the pumpkin for my daughter to carve but it didn't happen. My wife intercepted and. .

snakeweasel

@sda said:
I had to laugh when I saw this. I bought the pumpkin for my daughter to carve but it didn't happen. My wife intercepted and. .

I did one like that a few years ago.

Here are my others for this year.

xwesx

Very creative!

The last time I carved a pumpkin, it was a different century!

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

I was surprised at the price of used cars. The average price is $31000, down 12% from a year ago.
The average price of a new car is $48,400.
On the TV they said used car prices are going to spike again, because they weren't building many cars 3 years ago during covid, so the supply of 3 year old lease vehicles won't be coming into the market.
Should you buy a used car now if you are thinking of buying, will prices jump up?

Enterprise et al are back to selling inventory again so that’s a million+ cars a year back on the market.

oldfarmer50

jwm40517 said:

Re: 25,000 copies, not a lawyer, but an accountant. My clients are forcing me to retire by death, selling out or quitting. I will do 7 S-Corps this year and 4 next year. Several years ago I did over 30.

Maybe they’re using the jmonroe1 method and just not paying taxes.😅

corvette

oldfarmer50 said:

Maybe they’re using the jmonroe1 method and just not paying taxes.😅

I knew an attorney like that (who has since passed away)... did a lot of criminal defense. Many of the accused pay in cash. Cash went into a lockbox at the bank and he just told his accountant he didn't keep track but averaged $500/week in cash intake (a vast understatement). Apparently, he did enough legitimate business and paid enough taxes that it never raised the requisite number of audit flags.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

I was surprised at the price of used cars. The average price is $31000, down 12% from a year ago.
The average price of a new car is $48,400.
On the TV they said used car prices are going to spike again, because they weren't building many cars 3 years ago during covid, so the supply of 3 year old lease vehicles won't be coming into the market.
Should you buy a used car now if you are thinking of buying, will prices jump up?

Enterprise et al are back to selling inventory again so that’s a million+ cars a year back on the market.

True, but since sales were so low 3 years ago when we had covid, and few cars were being sold, 3 year old leased cars would be coming to market now. The market has good supply right now, may not in a few months. Also, where do all these flood cars go, did you see the cars piled up after the rain in Spain - which came down hard on the Plain, - would make a good song?

jmonroe1

corvette said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Maybe they’re using the jmonroe1 method and just not paying taxes.😅

I knew an attorney like that (who has since passed away)... did a lot of criminal defense. Many of the accused pay in cash. Cash went into a lockbox at the bank and he just told his accountant he didn't keep track but averaged $500/week in cash intake (a vast understatement). Apparently, he did enough legitimate business and paid enough taxes that it never raised the requisite number of audit flags.

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If more small businesses knew even half of the volume of business being done in cash, they’d look into doing business in cash themselves. Doing business in cash has probably been around as long as taxes were implemented. But as you alluded to, as long as folks don’t get overly greedy the government can only guess and are satisfied to nab just the few who don’t understand the rules of doing business in cash. DOPES.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
If more small businesses knew even half of the volume of business being done in cash, they’d look into doing business in cash themselves. Doing business in cash has probably been around as long as taxes were implemented. But as you alluded to, as long as folks don’t get overly greedy the government can only guess and are satisfied to nab just the few who don’t understand the rules of doing business in cash. DOPES.

jmonroe

At my store, I can attest to cash sales dwindling year after year. Yes it costs money to take credit cards, but the money is in the bank the next day. My business is not in a good neighborhood. In order to make a cash deposit, I’ve got to send either my 76 year old Mom or 78 year old Dad to the bank.

stickguy

I read something recently that was an interesting analysis of why local businesses were much better off doing cash sales. Because of the fees sliced off of every credit transaction, as they go around the money in the community keeps getting smaller.