I buy my cut roses at Costco Warehouse. In fact most things that I buy come from Costco.
There has been some controversy about the roses from places like Costco or Sam's Clubs. Critics claim that imported roses from Ecuador and Colombia have been treated with pesticides that are banned in this country and may be hazardous to your health. Since 85% of the roses sold in the US are imports, what can you do?
I buy Roses on price, quality being relatively equal. Hearing this would make my local florist unhappy, but given the option of $14.95 per dozen at Costco or twice that or more at the corner flower shop, it is an easy choice for me. At $14.95 I can buy them with some regularity and brighten up my life a bit. Besides there are plenty of starry-eyed, love sick knuckleheads out there keeping the florists in business.
The florists and their lobby are not thrilled with the wholesaling of cut flowers because it makes it tougher for them to make a living. This is the same argument that we can make about most thing. It is the old WalMart argument. The giant killing the little guy. I don't buy it, because it is not the job of the consumer to keep businesses viable by paying too much for goods and services. Besides not everyone buys everything on price.
Home Depot and Lowe's should have killed Ace Hardware, but they didn't. Ace has a nice little niche, by providing the lowest price they can, while offering a personal touch. Many people, me included, will pay extra for hardware if we get fast and knowledgeable service.
We buy our car insurance from Hartford online. I had a local Allstate agent tell me that I needed a local agent, not some 800 number. If that is so, it is up to him to prove it to me, in order for me to pay a higher premium for the service. After seven years with Hartford I am not seeing it.
I may have mentioned that I am retiring in nine days. About everyone I work with has asked me the same question. What are you going to do after you retire? I suppose it is a fair enough question.
The questioners that get me though are the ones who assure me that I will be bored to tears in no time flat. That may or may not turn out to be the case, but why do they feel the need to tell me. Spoilsports.
The fact is that for the last thirty eight years I have trudged off to work each morning and I am sick of it. So starting on June 30th I am getting out of bed in the morning a free man. If that proves boring, I will come up with a different plan. What I won't do is go to a job that I hate anymore.
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
3 comments:
I have a dear friend who just retired. She's kind of flopping around, trying to figure out how to structure her days.
Maybe you could grow roses. Those Costco roses always look so sad to me.
I get out of bed a free man each morning too. If you need any advice, feel free to ask.
Spoilsports, indeed! Enjoy your freedom, revel in it for a while, and then if you get sick of it you can move on to something else. You're free, after all!
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