Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

The Cash for Clunkers program requires that vehicles that auto dealers receive be sent to the scrap yard. But before the clunkers are squeezed, slammed and sliced, the engine should be destroyed — preferably with sodium silicate.

Here is the wording from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Final Rule document:

The agency has determined that a quick, inexpensive, and environmentally safe process exists to disable the engine of the trade-in vehicle while in the dealer’s possession. Removing the engine oil from the crankcase, replacing it with a 40 percent solution of sodium silicate (a substance used in similar concentrations in many common vehicle applications, including patching mufflers and radiators), and running the engine for a short period of time at low speeds renders the engine inoperable.

Generally, this will require just two quarts of the sodium silicate solution. The retail price for two quarts of this solution (enough to disable the largest engine under the program) is under $7, and the time involved should not substantially exceed that of a typical oil change.

If the dealer removes vital parts, such as the heads, this procedure isn’t necessary.

The agency also testing drilling a hole in the engine block and running the engine without any oil as methods of destruction. That must have been a fun week to work at the NHTSA.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

A Consumer Reports survey finds that bargaining works better during a recession. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

CR’s nationally representative poll found that most consumers who asked for a discount were successful. Among those who haggled, 83 percent negotiated better deals on hotel rates, 81 percent reduced their cell phone bills, and 81 percent went home paying less for clothing.

Consumer Reports offers these tips for successful haggling:

1.Be patient and be nice.

2. Time your haggle. Late in the month, when salespeople are trying to meet their quotas, can be a good time to bargain for big ticket items. Evening or early hours are usually less busy, so clerks have time to talk.

3. Haggle out of earshot of other customers.

4. Research prices and store policies.

5. Learn to read the ticket.

6. Offer to pay cash.

7. Be prepared to walk.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Just as General Motors has in effect subsidized Big Oil by continuing to build gas-guzzlers in recent years, so has the USPS continued to subsidize Big Mail by shaping its operations to encourage what it now calls, revealingly, “standard mail”—that is, advertising junk mail. Most American citizens are blissfully unaware of the degree to which USPS subsidizes U.S. businesses by means of the fees it collects from ordinary postal customers. For example, if you wish to mail someone a large envelope weighing three ounces, you’ll pay $1.17 in postage. A business can bulk-mail a three-ounce catalog of the same size for as little as $0.14.

The price of a first-class stamp has risen a bit faster than the rate of inflation, but it tracks fairly well. A look at the consumer price index calculator at the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 44 cents today has the same spending power as 4 cents in 1919. But a first-class stamp in 1919 cost only 2 cents.

To look at it from the other direction, a first-class stamp that cost 2 cents in 1919 would cost 25 cents today based solely on the rate of inflation. The 3-cent stamp, which originated in 1932, is roughly equivalent to a cost of 47 cents today.

A first-class stamp hit the 10-cent mark in 1974, which is equivalent to 43 cents in 2009.

A look at stamp prices between 1919 to present.
Year — Postage, per ounce

1919 — 2 cents
1932 — 3 cents
1958 — 4 cents
1963 — 5 cents
1968 — 6 cents
1971 — 8 cents
1974 — 10 cents
1975 — 13 cents
1978 — 15 cents
1981 — 18 cents (March)
1981 — 20 cents (November)
1985 — 22 cents
1988 — 25 cents
1991 — 29 cents
1995 — 32 cents
1999 — 33 cents
2001 — 34 cents
2002 — 37 cents
2006 — 39 cents
2007 — 41 cents
2008 — 42 cents
2009 — 44 cents

Source: U.S. Postal Service

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

I wonder what the budget for this two-minute production was. It’s an impressive work, but I’m not sure it makes me want to buy anything.

The first time I saw this, I knew it was an ad; I just didn’t know what the product was. Turns out it was produced by Philips to help sell a new line of HD televisions. If you’d like to see a higher resolution version (or see some “behind the scenes” takes), go to the company’s Web site.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Here’s what we got:
A handheld gadget with four different video games.
Two “Brothers in Arms” action figures.
“Blades of Glory” DVD
“Team America” DVD
Unrated version of “Superbad” DVD
Pink craft carry case (which my daughter is using as a book bag).

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

The IRS has a site that offers a lot more information, including a list of all the stuff that’s for sale and some photographs. You can inspect the items on the afternoon of March 4. The auction is March 5. Registration of bidders begins at 8:30 a.m., and the auction kicks off at 9 a.m.

Some of the items clearly are more valuable than others. It’s up to the bidders to separate the trash from the treasure.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Consumer Action, a non-profit national consumer group, has highlighted five emerging cell phone issues likely to affect consumers this year.  

1. Continued early termination fees, with only minor relief for some consumers.

2. Little change on overage fees of up to 45 cents a minute.

(You may be able to avoid this problem by using the free service “Over My Minutes” to get warnings when you are near your monthly ceiling on cell phone minutes.)

3. A jump in mandatory cell phone contract extensions as more young Americans use cell phones.

4. A backlash against out of control texting fees.

5. A shift away from scandal-plagued international calling cards for immigrants.

This list and a streaming audio recording related to it are available online.

Don Mecoy
Business News

So the after-Christmas season is upon us.  I, like many, had a few things to return, a few sales to check out and expectations of huge post-holiday discounts. 

Friday afternoon, I ventured out to some of the larger retailers such as Walmart and Target.  I had returns to make at both and was pleasantly surprised there was no one in the return lines.   I expected to have to wait in long lines, herded by store personnel to open return registers, similar to last year.  But it is as obvious now as it was a month ago, that consumers were just not spending money this holiday season and therefore now have less to return. 

The economy also has another obvious effect.  Discounts, on top of discounts.  I made today my non-return day and took some time to peruse through my favorite stores to see if the sales were worth the wait.  Stores did not disappoint. At Quail Springs Mall, where shoppers came out in droves,  there was no mistaking that retailers had intentions of clearing out their merchandise.  The biggest discounts hovered around 75% off.  Others offered deals like buy 1, get 1 free, 50% off, and 20% off already reduced clearance. 

The rub: Shoppers have to be willing to dig deep for merchandise.  Shelves were ransacked or bare, clothes were more mixed than matched, and items that were left look a bit … handled.  Shoppers looking for Christmas season merchandise may already be too late.  Most trees are gone, and ornaments and gift-wrapping will soon be gone for the year. 

Overall, sales truly rivaled those of Black Friday, but the treasures just a bit harder to find.

Above: Shoppers kept Quail Springs Mall busy well into Saturday night.

Above: Department stores’ shelves are now bare where seasonal merchandise was stocked and heavily discounted.

-Erica Smith, Copy Editor

esmith@opubco.com