The title seems to say, “I am super excited about the Thrifty Nickel being back”, I must say that isn’t 100% true but it is a great improvement over the “American Classifieds”
Let’s face it, I am way more excited about Ebay, Amazon, Auto Trader, Facebook marketplace, before I am the Thrifty Nickel but this paper is convenient.
When I am sitting somewhere waiting for my car to get fixed, etc. so long as I find quality in the paper I will pick up again. If I pick it up this time only to find a bunch of schemes and local car dealer ads then there will be another multiple year long drought before I spend my time turning pages in that thing again.
In a previous blog post I really went after American Classifieds because they seemed to destroy the old Thrifty Nickel beyond recognition.
I am not sure how many people even knew but the Thrifty Nickel hasn’t been around for several years because it became American Classifieds.
When this happened it seemed a bunch of mail stuffing national work from home ads began appearing all throughout the publication and other stupid non personal local ads.
Lots of car dealer ads were in the American Classifieds paper and it seemed to almost completely lose any local Tyler TX connection unless you were in the market to look at car dealer ads.
I was used to finding really good deals from local people in The Thrifty Nickel but the American Classifieds was so overrun with national ads and business ads I failed to find the local people ads with cool junk for sale.
Local people seemed to ditch publicizing in the American Classifieds maybe because it was too expensive for ad space or something else, I really don’t know.
I hope now that the Thrifty Nickel is back that more cool local junk ads will appear like perhaps an old Nintendo console for sale, some retro Rayban glasses, and a $60 push lawn mower.
NetFlix is a great way to watch the most movies from your home, and they keep making their business more convenient. For a while you had to wait for the mail to come in to get to watch a new movie. You would pre-choose your top movies that you would want to watch and make your list on the NetFlix website. They then send you one movie at a time starting with your first choice. They still use this old way of doing things, but they have added even more simple ways to watch movies from home. They first started the ability to instantly watch movies through their website. They give you many options of tons of movies to watch. Last year NetFlix came out with the technology to watch movies over your Wii or Playstation. They use to send you a disc to plan on your console but now you can now download a NetFlix application right to your game console. You can then scroll through the many different categories, such as; children and family, foreign, horror, television shows, drama, and romantic comedy. You can put any movies on your instant queue to watch whenever you want. You can also watch your instant queue through your computer. You can rate the shows and movies that you like and NetFlix will suggest movies to you that are like the movies that you liked the most. Do not expect that movies that have just been released to be on instant NetFlix, you can get all new releases through the mail though.
NetFlix has a very affordable monthly fee. You can get new releases through the mail and instant through your computer or your game console for only nine dollars a month. Although not all television shows or movies are on the instant NetFlix, there is such a large selection of movies that you are sure to find something that you are in the mood for. You do not have to leave your house to watch a movie, and there are no late fees for any movies through the mail. NetFlix is the most affordable and convenient way to rent movies.
It’s been about a year and a half since I wrote my original article on Southern Utilities Water Company in Tyler, and still their service has not improved. Their unhelpfulness, and extremely poor customer service has made this company a source of real frustration for Tylerites like myself. Unfortunately, their lack of concern for customers is not limited to the company’s owners. Evidently the employees who work there are tired of the complaints of unhappy patrons and now make a point of maintaining a sarcastic and superior attitude.
So why am I returning to this topic? Because; I’ve had yet another disagreeable encounter with the business just today. When I arrived at the drive through window, (which by the way I did before four in the afternoon because that is when they close), I realized that I’d forgotten my bill. I explained to the girl what had happened and she responded with a blank stare and a “you’ll have to go inside for that.”
Now I realize that this in itself would not be a huge issue but I had my three year old with me, which was why I selected the drive through in the first place. I let slip a rye chuckle and asked “don’t you have a computer there that you can just pull it up on?” She responded with slightly more emphasis and a great deal more sarcasm: “You’ll have to go inside for that.”
So what she successfully communicated to me is that the kids working at Sonic have greater technology, and probably knowledge of that technology than one of the oldest utility companies in the Tyler area. I won’t detail the story of my encounter inside the building, but while I was not disruptive I did make it clear that I didn’t appreciate the company’s complete disinterest in the satisfaction of its clients. “As far as I can see there’s not a single thing this company is willing to do to make its patron’s lives easier.”
There are two ways to pay your bill with Southern Utilities: a check through the mail, or cash or check on location. There is still no website (which seems unheard of in today’s business climate), there’s no phone payment method, and they don’t even accept check or debit cards. The lady behind the desk didn’t care. Big surprise. Is there anyone in the East Texas area who wants to start a new business? I suggest servicing water to those who don’t qualify for city water. I can give you the names of numerous folks in our area who quickly sign on to your service.
6004 S Broadway, Suite 100, Tyler – (903) 561-9393
5393 S Broadway Ave, Tyler – (903) 324-1117
4601 South Broadway Avenue, Tyler – (903) 939-1808
We have been having so many problems communicating with AT&T. Our cell phone bills in Tyler Texas have been higher than they should be. We decided that we should go up to the store and talk to them about lowering our bill. When we had gone up to the store we had explained that we are thinking about cancelling one of your phones. After we had expressed that the bills were more expensive than we had originally agreed on, they told us that we only had to pay less than half of what was on the bill. They had also told us that we would be getting $150 back on our next bill.
When we got our next month’s bill it was twice as much as the month before, and it stated that we had not paid the month before. We have been having a lot of issues like this one. The issues started to happen when we got the package deal. We got internet, direct TV, and two cell phones on one bill. Although this deal saves some money, it is really stressful that AT&T keeps on messing up our bills. It is really frustrating that when we go to the store they tell us one thing but then when we get our bill in the mail it states something completely different.
When we bought our phones we had got them from the Tyler Wal-Mart. We went up to the Wal-Mart phone section and talked to the guy that worked for the electronics. We had told him that we wanted to cancel our phone. He told us that soon AT&T will not be offering the unlimited internet package and that if we decide to cancel or switch phones we will lose the unlimited internet. He explained to us that soon other companies that Tyler Wal-Mart sells phones for are soon going to offer unlimited internet, text messaging, and phone calls. Soon we will be moving our cell phone service over to this smart phone, because we are tired of having to talk to so many different confused people about the problems on our phone bills.
What’s the problem with Tyler area ad agencies? Our local ads have been nothing short of painful for years! Growing up my brothers and I often joked about starting our own ad agency, because honestly, how bad could we be? Clearly the bar had been set so low that failure seemed impossible. Both radio and television commercials are to blame by the way. And unfortunately the ads seem to be getting worse! A certain jeweler continues to produce ads that are condescending, sexist, unromantic and screechy, one local car dealer tries to double as a stand- up comedian and yuck it up with his employees while inviting his audience to the party / sale he’s throwing, and another sits around with his buddies and watches football games, making wise acre (and unfunny) remarks, while somehow promoting his car business. One of the worst is a new series being put on by a local mattress store. The business has created a new not so- superhero as a mascot, who’s powers and mission are vague at best, creepy at worst! The end of the commercial features the caped… uh crusader, or …salesman (I guess) standing atop the building, like Michael Scott poised to dive into a bouncy house.
Another annoyance is what these ads imply about East Texans. I’ll never forget the series of commercials put on by a local restaurant a few years back. It was run by a Tyler area buffet and portrayed its patrons as obese, bad tempered and rude. The ads went so far as to depict frenzied customers reaching for their, oh so desirable food, with bare hands and two fists! I don’t believe that this fine dining institution is still in business, so evidently there is such thing as cosmic justice. As bad as the terrible attempts at nostalgia and humor are, the dishonest gimmicks are just as bad. Who can forget the classic “key in the mail,” trick? The local advertising in our otherwise fair city is enough to make me pine for the days of the inflatable Gorilla. Better yet, how about finding the occasional retired Dallas Cowboy or Texas Ranger to endorse a product and maybe even show up to sign a few balls?! Now there’s an ad campaign I for one, would get behind. But maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe our problem is that there are no ad agencies and we’re just out there winging it! I hope that’s not the case. It would be sooo much more satisfying to be able to blame a particular institution. And I just really hope that we as East Texans are smarter and funnier than it appears. The upshot is this, if you’re about to create a new ad for whatever medium, please stop and consider the following questions: “Does this ad make me look foolish? Does this ad make my customers look foolish? Is my audience really going to find this ad as funny as I do? (I would also suggest getting an honest second and third opinion on this one). Please remember your audience! Inform us, don’t annoy us and we’ll patronize your business for years!
NetFlix is a great way to watch the most movies from your home, and they keep making their business more convenient. For a while you had to wait for the mail to come in to get to watch a new movie. You would pre-choose your top movies that you would want to watch and make your list on the NetFlix website. They then send you one movie at a time starting with your first choice. They still use this old way of doing things, but they have added even more simple ways to watch movies from home. They first started the ability to instantly watch movies through their website. They give you many options of tons of movies to watch. Last year NetFlix came out with the technology to watch movies over your Wii or Playstation. They use to send you a disc to plan on your console but now you can now download a NetFlix application right to your game console. You can then scroll through the many different categories, such as; children and family, foreign, horror, television shows, drama, and romantic comedy. You can put any movies on your instant queue to watch whenever you want. You can also watch your instant queue through your computer. You can rate the shows and movies that you like and NetFlix will suggest movies to you that are like the movies that you liked the most. Do not expect that movies that have just been released to be on instant NetFlix, you can get all new releases through the mail though.