Seems Paradoxical
Came across a pretty interesting site today called ShippingOnly which, as the name implies, charges only the shipping for products. A reasonable $5.99 per item which means that they are obviously making their profit in the shipping charges as much of what they sell can be shipped anywhere for quite alot less than $5.99 or lets just call it six bucks.
This kind of site grew out of the whole practice on Ebay of having super cheap auction prices and then inflated shipping charges to cover the profit margin. Which wasn't really a bad thing for bidders and sellers but basically cheated Ebay out of their end of the transaction because their charges were hitched to the final sale price of the item, not the shipping.

Anyway, its kind of a neat shop to check out. Like an internet five and dime except everything costs the same.

It'd be better if they inverted their business model and went from the positive side. Everything at a set cost and shipping is free but I suppose that's already been done and they had to find some angle to exploit to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Which makes me question what their long term model looks like, eventually bringing in items with higher "shipping" charges most likely. But hey, I checked them out for kicks and nearly bought some stuff. If they got hooked up with PayPal then they'd be able to capitalize more easily on the impulse buy.

If there's one thing that Apple's model with the Music Store has taught the world. Make it easy to pay, effortless even.

Strange Segues and Bill Pays
Its official, I'm now starting to fully take control of my finances online, setting up automatic payments and generally doing as much as I can to maximize my income. The next six months or so will be a busy bunch of months and money will be a needed commodity. So now, as long as I have an income that's enough to cover it, my college loans are on auto feed. The same goes for the very nice credit agencies that were kind enough to extend credit during my underworking period last year.

Its an empowering feeling, knowing that I no longer have to forget payments and screw up my credit. For a small amount, i can have it all run for me. I just tell them what to do and bam, paid. Now, every six months I can call up the companies and request interest rate decreases for prompt payment.

Can anyone explain to me why I was this dense that it took me this long to set this up and use it? I hate to regret but I do, I wish I could go back and have done this from the get go. But then, that might have had to be through Wells Fargo and that's one company I'm thoroughly happy to get my life disentangled from.

So, hey, if you're an online geek and you haven't done it yet. Give it a run but choose your bank wisely as I'm sure there are fly-by-night wanks out there just waiting to prey upon thee. Another gift from my father is the ability to use USAA, if you can get with them then do, my motorcycle insurance dropped in half when I joined up with them. But they do have some membership requirements. Nothing draconian by any means, just be an ex-officer in the US military or the spouse or offspring of one. My dad was a Captain in the Army so I get to join up and use them.

Now all I have to do is keep my job for another 5 years and get it all paid off.