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KIA Motors is complaining because sales are down to a new low for its flagship EV6 electric car. Could it be because since its introduction, Kia dealers in the U.S. have been tacking on extra “market adjustment” fees of $5-10,000 on every new EV6, on top of the already high MSRP, catering only to the wealthiest and most impatient buyers, and taking advantage of short supply as justification. Starting in 2023, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will no longer extend the $7,500 Federal tax credit to EV car buyers, unless the electric car purchased is primarily made in the U.S.A, which KIA isn’t. At that point, KIA would need to re-price its EV cars at least U.S. $7,500 below the original MSRP, just to make up for the tax credit exclusion, not to mention the “market adjustment” add-on that has been driving away many customers. Think they’ll do that?
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Why are medicine bottles only filled a little bit? Do manufacturers think we’ll look at the big bottle on the shelf, thinking we’re getting a lot for our money, and then not care that the bottle is barely filled, with tiny pills or tablets that would have fit just fine in a much, much, much smaller bottle. The number of pills for the money is one thing, but the larger point is that putting them in an unnecessarily large bottle seems a lot like deceptive advertising. Plus, it’s a colossal waste of resources like plastic, filler cotton, labels, space taken in shipping containers, shipping and associated fuel costs, taking up shelf space that could be used for other products — All these costs, passed on to the consumer. Isn’t there some sort of federal agency or something that might regulate this sort of thing?
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Et Tu Elon (the short version)? You were such an inspiration, until you weren’t. Like many others, I started out revering Elon Musk, for his courage, audacity, and commitment to making electric cars mainstream. He forced Detroit to the table and changed the world. SpaceX? Amazing, along with so many other accomplishments. But did something then happen to Elon? Or were we simply wrong about him from the beginning? First came his commitment to conquering Mars, just because he can afford to, apparently. Forget about planet Earth. Why commit his fortune to fighting climate change and saving humanity, when he could arrange for a tiny group of chosen elites to populate Mars one day? More recently, his Twitter adventure has already turned the platform over to right-wing trolls, racists, Neo-Nazis and worse. During the midterms he endorsed DeSantis and other Republicans in the name of a stronger democracy? WTF? Like many others, I thought buying a Tesla would feel great. But along with a multitude of other likely electric car buyers, it doesn’t feel that way anymore, for some reason.
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Why is water imported from Fiji even legal? It weighs more than 8 pounds per gallon. It takes up huge cargo space and consumes enormous amounts of energy to be transported all the way across the Pacific ocean to America, where undue amounts of fuel are used to further ship it to countless destinations around the country that could just as easily have harvested equally pure water locally. Water is an extremely precious resource. So while we wait for the wasting of it to become illegal, can’t we at least stop buying it from Fiji?
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Dump de Jour. There have always been questionable marketing decisions — head-scratchers where people end up saying “Who approved that, anyway?” You may recall McDonalds’ now deceased McWrap veggie roll, which could only be pronounced “McCrap.” Then there was the infamous line of high-end women’s clothing, specifically targeting older women. What did they name that brand? SAG. That’s right. You know, the word that every older woman wants to be associated with. Well, now from a popular Arizona eatery (that shall remain un-named) comes a special desert. It’s not the dessert itself that commands special attention, it’s the marketing photo for the dessert. A picture is worth a thousand words, so below is the photo that will certainly cause Instagramers everywhere to wonder how long it will take for this tasty temptation of an ad to find its way to the toilet. The actual dessert might be delicious, but who’s gonna be the first to take that chance? Just sayin’…
This story also appears on Richard Lang’s Substack: RichardLang.Substack.com