Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Transportation, Travel

It’s bad being an airline passenger in a coach seat. It’s pretty bad as an employee too. Especially if you work for US Airways. Apparently, employees are embarrassed to admit they work for this pathetic excuse of an airline.

US Airways is known far and wide as the worst large airline in America, and it’s not hard to see why. Employees are complaining about how bad the planes smell and how dirty they’re.

And apparently passengers aren’t too thrilled with the pretzels handed out in coach. Wonder why they suck? Because they cost…. get this…. three cents per package. Three cents. That’s what you, the hated passenger, are worth. Three cents. So at three cents per package, US Airways isn’t too eager to find a supplier with superior tasting pretzels, you see.

Employees are encouraged to give feedback directly to the company’s CEO, but that doesn’t seem to have much of an impact. In addition to dirty planes, the company’s current claim to fame is the worst on-time flight record, the highest rate of lost luggage, and the most complaints filed with the Transportation Department.

Well, at least US Airways isn’t offering passengers urine-soaked seats like AirTran is.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Filed under: Extracurriculars, Ripoffs and Scams

Few things make me happier than surfing the internet and eating Cheerios while watching late-night infomercials, and one of the most annoying is Kevin Trudeau’s Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About.

Last night, I saw one I hadn’t seen before: Kevin Trudeau’s cleverly-titled Debt Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About. I smelled his rat. His promotional manner and too good to be true claims wreaked of charlatanism so I decided to Google Mr. Trudeau and what I found inspired this post: What Kevin Trudeau doesn’t want you to know about.

There are many sites with information on Trudeau’s background but, for sheer volume, Wikipedia is the ideal. Here’s a brief summary: In the early 1990’s, Trudeau spent 2 years in federal prison for credit card fraud and posing as a physician to deposit $80 thousand in false checks. In 1996, Trudeau settled charges with 8 states that he was operating an illegal pyramid scheme through his involvement with a multi-level marketing company called Nutrition for Life. In 1998, the FTC fined him $500 thousand for making false and misleading claims in infomercials.

Read the Wikipedia article for the most up to date details of his battles with the FTC.

The point is, this is probably not a guy you should trust for financial advice, or anything else for that matter. The more massive message is this: Before you pay anyone to give you financial advice, check into their background a tiny bit. 20 seconds on Google showed that Kevin Trudeau is not someone people should trust.

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Filed under: Extracurriculars, Ripoffs and Scams

I’ve never understood the rationale behind the Lottery. If gambling isn’t a bad deal for society, then why isn’t it legal? And if it is bad for society, then why is the state using it as a revenue source? It looks like the cops busting up backroom card games aren’t promoting law and order: They’re protecting a state-run monopoly.

Even if you accept the idea that the Lottery isn’t inherently exploitative of those who can least afford it, I hope you’ll agree with me on this: A $50 scratch ticket is insane and extremely exploitative. But today’s New York Times reports on the rise of scratch tickets priced at $20 or higher and Texas, the say where everything is larger, has a $50 scratch ticket — The $130 Million Spectacular.

Of course, all lotteries urge people to “please play responsibly”. But I have to wonder: How many people are in a position where it is responsible for them to buy $50 Lottery tickets, especially in this period of record foreclosures and soaring consumer debt in the face of a sub-zero savings rate.

In Texas, the median income is $52,355, according to the US Census Bureau. If the median family purchased one $50 lottery ticket each week, playing the lottery would consume $2600 per year — 5% of its annual income, before any winnings it might have.

And as if that’s not bad enough, we know that most frequent Lottery players are not from median income families. A University of Texas study commissioned by the Lottery (required by law) found that players with an annual income of less than $12,000 spend 33 percent more a month than those with incomes above $100,000.

I would like to know what percentage of purchasers of $50 lottery tickets the Texas Lottery Commission believes are playing responsibly — I’d also like to know whether they care.

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Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Good news, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, US Airways Group (LCC), Contl Airlines’B’ (CAL), Headline news, Delta Air Lines (DAL)

As regular readers might have observed I am one to mull things over a while before offering up a slice of investment thought pie. A few weeks ago Barron’s (subscription required) ran a cover story titled “Open Skies” discussing the imminent deregulation of trans-Atlantic air routes.

In this context they reviewed the potential for airline mergers, (something I’ve written about before in Why no airline mergers? Finally the answer…) and they commented on who the winners and losers might be. The article highlights the fact that there has been a 30 year agreement in place, “the Bermuda airline agreement” that limited Heathrow-U.S. air traffic to just four airlines: two British and two U.S. Other foreign airlines were barred flying to the U.S. except from their own nation’s airports.

Under terms of a new agreement cast last April U.S and European Union airlines departing 27 nations will be able to fly direct routes. Barron’s does a fairly thorough analysis in my view of the potential success among various airlines and those that may come up short.

Under the heading of Dividing the Spoils they list the winners as Air France-KLM ADR (NYSE: AKH), Continental Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: CAL), Delta Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL), Deutsche Lufthansa ADR (OTC: DLAKY), Ryanair Holdings plc (OTC: RYAAY), UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA), and the US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC).

Without choosing sides and speculating as too which airlines might do the best financially in this new environment, as Barron’s has done, I would caution investors that it is all speculation. No doubt, this is a part of the investing world, still, there are industries that offer greater predictability than the the airline industry.

Airlines are capital intensive, subject to mountains of regulations and treaties, subject to fluctuations in fuel prices and politics, require heavy maintenance responsibilities, and must deal with unions and hijackings and more issues. Therefore while I’ve no reservations about making airline reservations to fly, I do get a queasy stomach when it comes to investing in them. If you normally think twice before investing, then think three times before you consider these stocks.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.

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Filed under: Major movement, Apple Inc (AAPL), Market matters, Headline news

Bravo to all those Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shareholders that were looking for the share price to pass $200 this year, because today it did just that! The stock reached $200.96 just before 2:00 PM EST.

I can just picture my colleague Georges Yared smiling at the news since he has been the most fervent Apple supporter. I’m sure one of our frequent commenters “Beltway Greg” is patting himself on the back at his massive call. Both of them envisioned this milestone as realistic, although perhaps not so soon.

Greg even wanted to bet me that Apple would reach the $200 mark within a twelve month period. If memory serves me correct he not only would have won the bet, but done so six months early. Apple shut on the 24th at $198.80 and is up pennies today after trading in a $4 range throughout the day.

The Associated Press reports Apple retail sales were strong this holiday season despite weaker over all indications that retail sales have been spotty, at ideal. This continues Apples strong momentum during 2007 as investor and consumer confidence in the iPhone, improved iPods, and notebook personal continue to be in high demand and finding new and expanding markets.

Apple’s newly released Leopard operating system upgrade is now being distributed and has found it’s way into our household and millions of others while most Apple stores are a buzz with people of all ages leading one to believe that the momentum of the company has not lost any steam.

At a trailing P/E of 50 and a forward P/E near 40 I don’t consider the stock to be anywhere near the bargain today’s investors think it is. However, value is in the eye of the buyer, not me sitting on the sidelines watching others rake in the profits this year. To those of you many investors that made the right call this year along with Georges and Greg, have a happy new year!

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.

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Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams

You’re standing there while a store cashier is ringing up your buy, and you see that the price you’re being charged is wrong. Or… maybe you’re not paying attention and so you never see that the price is wrong. Tiny did you know that you’re probably being over- or under-charged on a regular basis when you go shopping.

Data from state price-accuracy inspections shows that 38% of Wisconsin stores failed their tests in the last two years. In order to pass, a store must charge customers the correct price (not a penny off) on at least 98% of products.

Most of the errors detected in stores were of a relatively small magnitude, amounting to only a few dollars and a small percentage of buys. Of a total of 48,000 products price-tested in the last two years by state investigators, though, 4% had incorrect pricing.

Investigators state that the price problems are usually unintentional - personal aren’t updated to reflect sale prices, or store personnel forget to remove a sale sign after a promotion ends.

But the dollars can add up. Watch your buys carefully, especially if you’re budget conscious. With post-holiday sales right around the corner, you want to make sure you’re getting the correct discounts on your buys.

Forensic accountant Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations through her company, Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners honored Tracy as the 2007 winner of the prestigious Hubbard Award and her first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, will be on bookshelves in March 2008.

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Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams

You’re standing there while a store cashier is ringing up your buy, and you see that the price you’re being charged is wrong. Or… maybe you’re not paying attention and so you never see that the price is wrong. Little did you know that you’re probably being over- or under-charged on a regular basis when you go shopping.

Data from say price-accuracy inspections shows that 38% of Wisconsin stores failed their tests in the last two years. In order to pass, a store must charge customers the correct price (not a penny off) on at least 98% of products.

Most of the errors detected in stores were of a relatively small magnitude, amounting to only a few dollars and a small percentage of purchases. Of a total of 48,000 products price-tested in the last two years by state investigators, though, 4% had incorrect pricing.

Investigators state that the price problems are usually unintentional - personal aren’t updated to reflect sale prices, or store personnel forget to remove a sale sign after a promotion ends.

But the dollars can add up. Watch your buys carefully, especially if you’re budget conscious. With post-holiday sales right around the corner, you want to make sure you’re getting the correct discounts on your purchases.

Forensic accountant Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations through her company, Sequence Inc. Forensic Bookkeeping. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners honored Tracy as the 2007 winner of the prestigious Hubbard Award and her first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, will be on bookshelves in March 2008.

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Filed under: Finance, Productivity, Open Source

SugarCRM has just posted a much-anticipated, much-tested update to its CRM software. Already one of the leading CRM clients in the field, Sugar also has the honorable distinction of sporting the majestic and rare feather of open source in its illustrious and award-laden chapeau. Management for the masses, if you will.

Sugar 5.0 includes improved security, the capability to easily create custom modules, an AJAX email client compatible with the POP3 protocol, and hot new dashboarding abilities.

Following the old carpenter’s adage of “measure twice, cut once,” the Sugar CRM software was put through three beta cycles, and was tested over 30,000 times. In other words, if you think you’ve found a bug in the Sugar CRM software, it might be the one that splattered on your glasses as you cruised to work on your Vespa scooter.

SugarCRM is available as a free Community edition, as well as two commercial editions: Professional and Enterprise. Professional costs $275 per user per year; Enterprise costs $449. The Sugar website offers a wealth of demos, both hands-on and hands-off.

[Via InfoWorld]

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Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams

A piece in today’s New York Times looks at Robert J. Pyle, a 73-year old retired aerospace engineer who lost everything giving gifts to people he thought were his friends and then sold his home at a steep discount to its value to the first person who made an offer when he needed money.

Now he’s suing, charging that because he is old, he should not have to bear full responsibility for his mistakes. What makes the lawsuit and others like it unique is that Pyle isn’t accusing those who have his money of fraud per se — he just says they took advantage of an old man.

What the courts will do with his lawsuits remains to be seen — But the bottom line is that, for better or for worse, elders can’t rely on the government to protect them from opportunists.

If you’ve elderly parents or friends, offer to help them sort through their financial affairs. Many if not most will be resistant, not wanting to be patronized, but at least they’ll know they have someone to turn to if they find themselves in a pickle.

Here are a few sites that have some tips for preventing elder fraud against loved ones: Fraud.org’s elder fraud site, the Department of Justice’s publications on elder fraud, and perhaps Barry Minkow’s DVD Protecting yourself from elder abuse.

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Filed under: Finance, Productivity, Open Source

SugarCRM has just posted a much-anticipated, much-tested update to its CRM software. Already one of the leading CRM clients in the field, Sugar also has the honorable distinction of sporting the majestic and rare feather of open source in its illustrious and award-laden chapeau. Management for the masses, if you’ll.

Sugar 5.0 includes improved security, the ability to easily create custom modules, an AJAX email client compatible with the POP3 protocol, and hot new dashboarding abilities.

Following the old carpenter’s adage of “measure twice, cut once,” the Sugar CRM software was put through three beta cycles, and was tested over 30,000 times. In other words, if you think you’ve found a bug in the Sugar CRM software, it might be the one that splattered on your glasses as you cruised to work on your Vespa scooter.

SugarCRM is available as a free Community edition, as well as two commercial editions: Professional and Enterprise. Professional costs $275 per user per year; Enterprise costs $449. The Sugar website offers a wealth of demos, both hands-on and hands-off.

[Via InfoWorld]

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