They say spending the $8M for some old bones isn't practical.
Practicality is overrated.
I used to consider myself a practical person, but I'm starting to see that practicality is not exactly a useful trait, but more of a kind of blindness to the immaterial and unquantifiable benefits of things.
For example, is it practical to spend money on ice cream for your child on a regular basis?
Yet it is a good thing because of benefits that aren't truly practical. In fact, it can be more practical to just buy a board game or something that can entertain the kid longer for a lower price.
But can you imagine a childhood without ice cream?
In the developed world, of course.
It is not a waste of time and resources to make someone happy regularly using different methods, yet it is impractical and seeminly inefficient to use methods that are more expensive or time-consuming.
Oh, and that spending of time and resources only works to a certain degree that one must judge for oneself. Beyond that, it is indeed a waste.
Being practical merely means you're less able to appreciate the invisible effects of things, therefore making you focused on the quantifiable and visible ones.
I'm currently also looking for ways to set up an online store.
In addition, I'll keep an eye out for stuff I can sell when I go to China in the near future.
If this works out, life could be simpler than expected.
If not, well, it's as expected.
So far, I'm really interested in Google's online store feature together with its payment system, Google Checkout. It's the kind of interest that sets the heart pumping.
Mainly because it looks so simple. Furthermore, Google +.
I'll then be able to take advantage of what readership I have here by adding the store gadget on this very blog... Nah, better to keep personal stuff separate from money stuff.
As for fees, they merely charge US$0.30 + 2.9% per transaction. That's a pittance compared to what we're paying our buyers now, albeit without the various benefits like the branding and the salespeople.
That is going to be awesome.
If Google + doesn't fail and I find something to sell, that is.
It can't be this easy to make money online... can it?
As for China, I heard Yiwu is a good place to consider, but I don't believe the lower prices, if at all, will offset the significantly higher transport fee I will have to pay.
...
Oh wait... FUUUUUUCK!
The Google Checkout online store is only available for users in the UK and US! Dammit!
...
Maybe Shopify is still the best option. Maybe. 30 bucks a month and 2% of my transactions. Then there's the shipping, the storage and how I'm getting the goods.
I'll probably be able to handle shipping on my own, maybe via SingPost. Storage is already available in our office, and the income will need to cover my plane tickets and hotel stays in China. The hotel stays won't be expensive, probably about $100-150 per trip. My air tickets and taxes will take the bulk of the cost for that part.
Oh wait.. have I posted this before?
The Singapore Government is going to make it harder for employers to hire foreign employees.
Stupid stupid stupid.
Honestly, freedom of speech is going to destroy this country. (Or maybe we're still learning how to not abuse it.)
Idiocy breeds when the masses talk.
I just don't know why intelligence doesn't.
This will only result in short-term gains in exchange for long-term pains.
Now Singaporeans are going to think it's going to be easier for them to get jobs.
Honestly, how many Singaporeans were really retrenched to make way for foreign talents?
Nonsense.
From http://www.mom.gov.sg/statistics-publications/national-labour-market-information/statistics/Pages/unemployment.aspx
As you can see, unemployment among Singaporeans has not risen particularly much in the recent decade. In fact it even dropped last year after the spike in 2009.
Sure you can say it's because more employed foreigners gained citizenship during that period, but seriously, do the math and see the complete absence of sense in those words. How many new citizens will need to be added to reduce the unemployment rate by 1.2%?
From http://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/Pages/PressReleasesDetail.aspx?listid=373
Did everyone think prices didn't drop despite the cheaper foreign employees was because the fat capitalist pigs were keeping all the profits?
If they're so smart, why can't they also see how China is jacking up the prices of almost everything in the world?
You think we'd sell our jackets at what may seem to be exorbitant prices because we want the extra $5-10 from each sale regardless of the reduced number of sales caused by the prices?
Don't be stupid. My parents didn't make the business last for over a decade by being morons.
The reason why most hire cheaper foreign workers even though their products do not get cheaper is because the reduced cost of the employees barely offsets the rising costs of the products themselves.
If you dislike working or talking to people whom you can barely understand due to their accents, what makes you think the employers like it?
For all the talk about how the PAP wants to prevent populist politics, this move sure proves that wrong.
Don't misunderstand me, I don't blame them.
I blame the spreading idiocy.
It almost feels like some kind of inbreeding of minds.
And now that employers are going to have to spend more on employees, guess what the masses are going to whine about harder.
No comments:
Post a Comment