patrick.net

I was wondering how many David Lereah related threads I had posted over the last 2 years, so I checked the archives.
Result: more than I would have guessed.

http://patrick.net/wp/?p=75
http://patrick.net/wp/?p=264
http://patrick.net/wp/?p=303
http://patrick.net/wp/?p=354
http://patrick.net/wp/?p=399
http://patrick.net/wp/?p=407
http://patrick.net/wp/?p=428

Most awesome graphic yet! :)

That'll be hard to top. Blanche (the douchebag) Evans was on her book signing tour so she was unavailable for the group photo. Suffice to say wherever TCDL winds up his primary function will be continued defense of the 6% commission and the "good fight" of battling disintermediation.

Absolutely amazing. What a day this has been. This couldn't have happened any better even if we had choreographed it.

I love this threads graphic and Muggy that is a great piece!

Good one Muggy. Some of those deals used to seem fishy.

Ha Ha,

Those numbers are in line with my observations. We were at the Home Despot last Saturday getting some planting-related stuff, and the place was empty. No lines, maybe 1 customer per aisle at the most. Eerie.

Ug, these stupid brand extensions always seem to come back to bite you in the end. They cost so much for just a little increase in market share. I'll never figure out why companies keep trying to be everything to everyone instead of focusing on their core competency.

Randy, I just know you've got a take on this.

I’ll never figure out why companies keep trying to be everything to everyone instead of focusing on their core competency.

The perfect example of this phenomenon is the Porsche Cayenne - what an abomination of a car! It's ugly, and it dilutes the Porsche name...All in the name of making money off the (now dwindling) SUV craze.

Perfect example.

HARM

You are the master at contextually artful graphics. My hats are off.

Malcolm

Skibum pretty much sums it up for me. And in about 15% as many words as I'd have used.

Here in San Marcos, we have a Home Depot, and 1/2 a mile away we have a White Cap which is another one of these silly spinoffs. All they are doing is cannibilizing their own base and doubling the overhead, real smart.

Across the street from Home Depot is a Lowes, so basically to use a military analogy they are trying to out flank them. The problem is they flank so far out that they weaken their whole core. They'd be better off if they would invest resources in efficiency since they can't differentiate a DIY warehouse. Lowes went with the high end experience. Polished floors, wide aisles, a cleaner experience. Home Depot has the self checkout which I love, but the service in the stores is God awful. Retail sucks, I don't know why it attracts so many ventures. You have so much crap to deal with with ever decreasing margins, and the disability lawyers just waiting to say your aisles aren't wide enough.

Krispey Kreme is another example. Their doughnuts suck in my opinion but the original glazed ones are great when they are hot. So they make it a pain in the ass to get the hot ones because they have to take the line down to make all the other ones. They'd be better off scaling back and producing a consistent lower volume, and doing something with the surplus rather than limiting the main product for the purpose of variety.

Who is the lady next to Casey and guy next to Greenspan in the photo above?

FAB

In defense of the crossovers -- and no, I haven't pulled the trigger on buying an X3 yet, and am now thinking that a 535xi is preferable:

Crossovers are far safer than SUVs because of their center of gravity and safety profile. I'd much rather face eminent rollover in an X5 than in my old 99 Denali Yukon.

That said, the trunk in a X3 is smaller than the one in my old 328i, which will hold a fully assembled Kettler Tricycle.

And they have all needed recall services. I believe more than once, and my mechanic told me that in some cases they even bought them back because they were hurting the brand. (unverified but for a while I saw none on the road.)

I don't know about the newer ones but Porsche quality is actually quite poor in general. VW has as well. My friend had a 99 Passat and nothing but problems.

Cayenne is brand dilution but I really like the VW Toureg.

Wagons still make more sense in most circumstances. I don't see the point of an SUV unless the owner plans to go really off road on a regular basis -- in which case, a Jeep or a beat up truck probably makes the most sense.

Here it comes. On Fox News San Diego, prices are dropping and few are celebrating see the change in San Diego's housing market. I just set the DVR, this should be good. It's going to be followed with some spin, after that see how foreclosed homes may not be the deal they seem to be.

ha ha ha ha

BUYER BEWARE is the headline.

They actually said don't buy a foreclosure in areas full of foreclosures. They didn't mention the auction, but they talked about auctions in general and how they are commission driven and you can get a better deal elsewhere. I actually agree with this which is why this auction is bad bad news here.

Bap33

That's great advice, and if I'd known that and you when I still had the thing, I might still have the thing. It was a decent truck and served me quite well when I needed the towing capacity. I had the short version too, but 4wd and 5.9L engine. It was great when I had 4 adults, 1 infant, and 3 large dogs (retrievers & a Shepard). But a nice AWD wagon will probably suffice now, even when we get another dog*.

*post McCrapsion renting phase of life

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_5900084?ref=patrick.net&nclick_check=1

"It's not something I wanted to hear or would like to do," Portales said. She thought she'd achieved the American dream for herself, her 10-year-old son and her mother. Now she's fighting depression at the thought of moving into a rental unit and praying for a good outcome."

Wow, I didn't know renting caused depression. How come I'm not depressed after all these years of renting.

Thanks everyone for all the kind words! This was definitely one of my most complex graphics.

@FAB,

The lady next to Casey is CAR's Leslie Appleton-Young ("LAY"), and the guy next to Greedspan is Gary "bagman" Watts.