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> On 11/04/2012 02:43 PM, scott wrote:
>>> For example, Ferrari is famous for making luxury cars that only a few of
>>> the richest people in the world can afford to drive. Ferrari is
>>> currently owned by Fiat, famous for making shit cars that no sane person
>>> in their right mind would want to drive, never mind own. So... how the
>>> hell did Fiat manage to afford Ferrari?
>>
>> Because there are 2 million Fiats sold each year, yet only 5000
>> Ferraris. Which brand would you rather own?
>
> On the other hand, the profit on selling one Fiat pales into
> insignificance compared to the profit on selling a single Ferrari. So
> you don't need to sell anywhere near as many to make the same yearly
> profit. It /should/ be a no-brainer; Ferrari /should/ be making vastly
> more money than Fiat will ever own. So...???
>
Just because one car's sticker price is 10 times that of another one,
doesn't mean it's all profits. The fixed prices of the plant, and
engineering are not spread among the same number of manufactured units,
so the unit cost will be higher regardless of the actual materials used.
Speaking of which, there isn't much carbon fiber on your average Fiat,
making the Ferrari's unit cost even higher still.
I would wager that the the profit of a Fiat is much higher in % that the
profit on a Ferrari.
>>> Similarly, Cadbury, maker of fine chocolates, was recently bought by
>>> Kraft foods, makers of naff cheap crap. How the heck did /that/ happen??
>>
>> They offered a high enough price that was acceptable for the company,
>> much like any other trade.
>
> My question was more "how the hell can they afford that?"
>
Kraft Foods Inc. had $49.2B in revenues and $4.1B in profits in 2010.
an amount very easily obtained from investors by a company the size of
Kraft.
--
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/* flabreque */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/* @ */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/* gmail.com */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }
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On 14-4-2012 12:16, Warp wrote:
> andrel<byt### [at] gmail com> wrote:
>> On 13-4-2012 18:11, Warp wrote:
>>> Stephen<mcavoys_at@aoldotcom> wrote:
>>>> http://www.compucars.co.uk/used-cars/ferrari/?o=cheap
>>>
>>> I prefer this:
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LamborghiniAventadorJ.jpg
>>>
>> OMG, what a horrible ugly car. My first guess that this was a spoof made
>> by some 3D artist, but it actually is referred to on some page that
>> seems genuinely about Lamborghini.
>> Are there seriously people with enough money and no taste at all that
>> might want to buy something this ugly?
>
> Do I sense some underlying jealousy?
No, not at all. I just don't buy the "it is expensive and everybody says
it is beautiful, so let me drool with the 'experts'" kind of attitude.
I think Lamborghini has made a few nice cars in the past, but this
Aventador is not one of those. Like all 'supercars' it is an experiment
in design and this particular experiment failed. I find it rather
disturbing that it made it into production and people are buying it
simply because of the name of the company.
--
tip: do not run in an unknown place when it is too dark to see the
floor, unless you prefer to not use uppercase.
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On 14-4-2012 12:37, Warp wrote:
> Stephen<mcavoys_at@aoldotcom> wrote:
>> On 14/04/2012 11:16 AM, Warp wrote:
>>> Do I sense some underlying jealousy?
>
>> I can’t answer for andrel but I would be embarrassed to be seen in one.
What happened to the quote?
> I wouldn't.
because, clearly your mail program does support it.
Back to the subject, wouldn't you mind because:
- driving in one shows that you are rich enough to afford one?
- you assume that people find you more attractive if you drive one?
- you really think that it is a good design?
And you don't mind that some people see you driving and think 'OMG what
a twit'? Nor that you will mainly get attention from empty headed people?
--
tip: do not run in an unknown place when it is too dark to see the
floor, unless you prefer to not use uppercase.
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On 15/04/2012 9:56 AM, andrel wrote:
> And you don't mind that some people see you driving and think 'OMG what
> a twit'? Nor that you will mainly get attention from empty headed people?
A friend of mine had an open top Mercedes sports car. He found that
people used it as a waste bin and someone was even sick into it. That
might be jealousy but I think that it might just be contempt.
--
Regards
Stephen
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On 4/13/2012 0:49, Invisible wrote:
> country. Or that it wasn't Amazon themselves selling it...)
I've never known Amazon to sell something through a third party that wasn't
marked that way. What was it, out of curiosity?
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
"Don't panic. There's beans and filters
in the cabinet."
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On 4/13/2012 1:03, Invisible wrote:
> Then why is there no way of filing a complaint? Why do I have to dig through
> twenty five menu pages to get at an actual telephone number? Why is it so
> damned hard to contact them?
I clicked on the help button on the home page, then the "contact us", and I
filled out the drop-down list of "payment problem", and clicked "call me",
and got told they'd call me.
Given I've had them fix problems via email of exactly this "I didn't know it
was going to do that" kind of thing.
> (I might also ask "why is the Internet so full of people being given the
> run-around by their customer service department", but I guess the answer is
> that /every/ large company has that...)
Everyone but Amazon, because Amazon Gets It, and realizes that if they
aren't trustworthy, they have no business.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
"Don't panic. There's beans and filters
in the cabinet."
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> Back to the subject, wouldn't you mind because:
> - driving in one shows that you are rich enough to afford one?
> - you assume that people find you more attractive if you drive one?
> - you really think that it is a good design?
For me none of the above, the main point is that it would be fun to
drive. I'd still find it fun if I was out on a nice twisty mountain
road totally by myself and the car body was covered in brown cardboard.
Of course given the choice, I'd prefer something that is also nice to
look at, I prefer the softer curves of something like a Ferrari F430,
not too keen on convertible supercars :)
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Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Stephen <mcavoys_at@aoldotcom> wrote:
> > http://www.compucars.co.uk/used-cars/ferrari/?o=cheap
>
> I prefer this:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LamborghiniAventadorJ.jpg
>
> --
> - Warp
I like the closed one better:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2012-03-07_Motorshow_Geneva_4608.JPG
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On 16/04/2012 01:39 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 4/13/2012 0:49, Invisible wrote:
>> country. Or that it wasn't Amazon themselves selling it...)
>
> I've never known Amazon to sell something through a third party that
> wasn't marked that way. What was it, out of curiosity?
It was a shirt. Just an ordinary red shirt. I /assumed/ it was in
Amazon's warehouse just down the road from me. But when I ordered it,
they shipped it from South Korea. I had no idea they were going to do
that. I certainly had no idea I was going to be charged 50% again for
the import duty. Obviously if I'd known that, I wouldn't have bothered
purchasing it.
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On 16-4-2012 20:08, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 16/04/2012 01:39 AM, Darren New wrote:
>> On 4/13/2012 0:49, Invisible wrote:
>>> country. Or that it wasn't Amazon themselves selling it...)
>>
>> I've never known Amazon to sell something through a third party that
>> wasn't marked that way. What was it, out of curiosity?
>
> It was a shirt. Just an ordinary red shirt. I /assumed/ it was in
> Amazon's warehouse just down the road from me. But when I ordered it,
> they shipped it from South Korea. I had no idea they were going to do
> that. I certainly had no idea I was going to be charged 50% again for
> the import duty. Obviously if I'd known that, I wouldn't have bothered
> purchasing it.
last year I had an interesting problem with thinkgeek. They do not take
care of the taxes themselves, but they know how much it is and it is
taken into account, so you know what you will be paying. Except that the
invoice is in $ and I pay in €. They ship with UPS, so UPS has to do the
custom things. Which is also easy, they know how much it is so they can
convert. Here is the catch: between the day I ordered and the time they
have to pay our government the conversion might change, so they need a
temporary buffer and they might loose a bit, so they will have to charge
you afterwards. In short they take a small financial risk and they want
some payment for that. About 2% or so from the tax if I am not mistaken.
I assume you see what is coming: there is a minimum amount of €10. So my
actual order was about one cent wrong to their advantage and I had to
pay €10 extra for two shirts because of some silly company rule of UPS.
Or at least this is what I could understand had happened when I mailed
and phoned UPS later for an explanation.
--
tip: do not run in an unknown place when it is too dark to see the
floor, unless you prefer to not use uppercase.
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