Sean’s blog

On news of the SIRIUS and XM merger there are rumors of some new radios, like the Starmate 5 and Stratus 5.  It will be exciting to watch.

I am a very frequent consumer of remote overseas labor.  I usually buy at least a project a week, sometimes I use providers that I know from previous engagements and sometimes I use sites like rentacoder and getafreelancer to find new people.

Usually I work with people in either: pakistan, egypt and argentina.  Last week I put a simple research project up for bid and awarded the project to two people, both in Nigeria.  They were incredibly cheap, both claim graduate degrees and I am paying an average of $4.00 / hr for their labor.  I haven’t seen the results yet because they are *both* late due to health problems.

One has a nosebleed that has lasted for several days, the other contracted malaria.  It could be that they are BS’ing me (I don’t really care, I don’t pay until the work is done), but it could be that public health in africa is causing a big problem for their economy due to lost productivity.

One of my businesses might be moving as a result of our landlord’s financial difficulties and their need to sell the building.  One of our favorite potential new sites has a geothermal heat pump.  The building is promising us that to heat and cool our 6000 sqft space it will cost about $125 / month.  We currently pay between $500 - 1000 / month to heat and cool our 5700 sqft space.  That’s amazing.  It seems almost magic.

Apparently it cost him $400K to put the system in. There are about 4000 sqft in the building - lets assume average savings of $600 - $125 = 475 / month for 6000 sqft, or about $1 / sqft / year savings - $40,000 / year for the full building.  Let’s assume that such a system lasts 30 years and energy costs rise at the rate of inflation, the NPV of the system is then 795k - quite a good investment, assuming that he can charge $1 / sqft / year extra.

We are considering paying $3 / sqft / year more than we are paying now - not just because of the decreased utilities, the building is also somewhat nicer, but the developer clearly is able to pass the cost along.  We also feel good about (potentially) moving there.

Also, I assume above that energy costs increase only at the rate of inflation.  If they rise faster, the investment would be even more positive.  I also understand that there are some tax breaks available for such systems.

It’s a bit puzzling that they are not more common.

I am embarking on a project to lower the shipping rates for a business I am involved in.  I am just reading up on it now.  I have found the following links:

Making a Case for a Rate Reduction - make sure to negotiate all the extra little fees like residence shipping, etc.

http://forums.oscommerce.com/lofiversion/index.php?t74335.html

http://www.webmasterworld.com/ecommerce/3449069.htm

 Parcel Trends Survey - This survey has a lot of great information but most important to me was the fact that of the businesses surveyed the average ground discount was 24% for UPS, 30% for fedex, 25% for DHL.  The surveyed companies were pretty big, I think, so those discounts may be out of range for some small companies, but still interesting to know.

A video about lowering your UPS rates.

What Do The Big Shippers Know that Small Shippers Do Not?

Shipping Coach Blog

I am really fascinated and excited by this, although I am somewhat suspicious of his motives.  Pickens Plan - it seems like a remarkably savvy use of online marketing for an old guy.